Trump calls on Republicans to “Get rid of the Filibuster”
In a series of Truth Social posts late Thursday night, the president called on Republican lawmakers to do away with the filibuster.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Mr. Trump wrote. “Just a short while ago, the Democrats, while in power, fought for three years to do this, but were unable to pull it off because of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.”
The president was referring to an attempt by Senate Democrats in January 2022, when they tried to push through voting rights legislation by changing the chamber’s filibuster rule. The effort failed due to objections from then-Democratic Sens. Manchin and Sinema. Both have since left the Senate and registered as independents.
While Senate legislation only needs 51 votes to pass, under the Senate’s filibuster rule, it takes 60 votes to end debate on a bill and bring it to the floor for such a passage vote, a procedure known as cloture. A filibuster occurs when the Senate does not have the 60 votes needed, as has been the case during the shutdown with the House-passed short-term government funding bill.
“If the Democrats ever came back into power, which would be made easier for them if the Republicans are not using the Great Strength and Policies made available to us by ending the Filibuster, the Democrats will exercise their rights, and it will be done in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday.
Food banks already strained by shutdown brace for surge with SNAP benefits set to expire
A month into the shutdown, food banks across the country are already straining to meet rising demand from hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay.
Now, they are bracing for an even bigger surge.
Carlos Gomez, a federal employee based in San Antonio, Texas, has been relying on a local food bank to feed his family during the government shutdown.
“I have a very large family, so it’s getting kind of hard. Whether the government is shut down or not, bills need to get paid,” Gomez said.
Read more here.
Omar Villafranca and Allie Weintraub
Food banks “can’t possibly meet” extra demand caused by SNAP cutoff, nonprofit rep says
The head of a group that represents charitable organizations said Thursday that food banks will be “pushed past the breaking point” if federal food aid is cut off this weekend.
“Nonprofits can’t possibly meet the tremendous new need that’ll be created when 42 million people lose access to basic food security,” National Council of Nonprofits CEO Diane Yentel said on CBS News’ “The Daily Report.”
Payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are set to come to a halt on Saturday due to the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.
The National Council of Nonprofits and several other groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government Thursday, arguing the Trump administration doesn’t have the legal authority to suspend SNAP benefits and must tap into a USDA contingency fund to keep the program going. USDA argues it doesn’t have the legal authority to use that $5 billion fund, which the lawsuit pushed back on.
Yentel told CBS News that if SNAP benefits are cut off, food banks and food pantries will shoulder the burden of helping the approximately one in eight Americans who use SNAP to get groceries.
She said that, even prior to the end of SNAP, food banks have been under pressure due to high grocery prices and a government shutdown that has left thousands of federal workers without pay.
“It’s more than most food banks can handle,” she said. “They’re having to turn people away or they’re having to ration assistance so that everybody gets something.”
