Republicans argue ‘big-hearted president’ Trump is keen to end shutdown | Donald Trump
Leading Republicans portray Donald Trump as a “gutsy president” desperate to reopen the US government, which has delayed funding food aid to millions of low-income Americans and is accelerating construction of the gilded $300 million White House ballroom.
As the government shutdown entered its 33rd day, Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, portrayed Trump as angry and desperate to break the impasse to ease the growing pain of ordinary Americans. “He is desperate to open the government, he did what he could,” Johnson said, adding that Trump “is a brave president, he wants everyone to get service.”
Allegations made by the speaker in an interview Fox News Sunday Two days after Trump hosted a spectacular, Great Gatsby-themed party at Mar-a-Lago, he offered a skewed take on the president’s stance. While Trump protests that he has no authority to end the impasse, he continues to maintain a tight grip on the shutdown, resisting political and even federal court pressure to ease the burden on vulnerable Americans.
Two federal court judges ruled Friday that the Trump administration must use $5 billion in emergency funds to continue paying food aid Snap benefits to as many as 42 million low-income Americans. Payments were halted on Saturday due to the shutdown, putting millions of people at risk of starvation.
Despite two court decisions, it remains unclear when or whether the administration will restart payments. Trump said he was waiting for clarification from federal judges on where the money should come from.
Federal court orders require Snap’s partial payments to begin as early as Wednesday. Asked by CNN’s State of the Union whether that deadline would be met, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replied: “It could happen.” He said the administration would not appeal Friday’s decisions.
Instead of authorizing the use of emergency funds, Trump urged Republican senators to break the impasse by ending the filibuster in the Senate. The mechanism requires 60 votes in the 100-vote chamber to pass most types of legislation, including ending the shutdown.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Trump of “weaponizing hunger” on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. Funding is available to continue food aid assistance through November, he said.
Without naming the president’s $300 million ballroom construction project, Jeffries added that Trump and his administration “could find funding for other projects, but somehow they couldn’t find the money to keep Americans from going hungry.”
As the impact of the shutdown is felt across the country, impoverished Americans are threatened and there are increasing delays at US airports, polls show Trump’s Republican party bears much of the blame. One NBC News poll In the survey conducted at the end of October, 52 percent of voters blamed Trump and congressional Republicans for the deadlock, and 42 percent blamed Democrats.
The split stemmed from familiar partisan divisions, with Trump blamed by self-described liberal, young, Black and highly educated voters, and Democrats blamed by white men and rural voters, supporters of the president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement.
So far, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in their refusal to support Republicans on reopening the government. Only three Democratic senators have broken ranks so far, and the majority insists that any deal to shut down must be contingent on extending health tax credits to avoid sharp increases in premiums in 2026 under Affordable Care Act health plans.
John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, one of three Democrats who joined Republican senators in voting to end the shutdown, turned on his own party on Sunday. He told CNN’s State of the Union: “Democrats really need to own the shutdown, so we’re shutting down… This is wrong, we’re hurting the very people we’re fighting for.”
Airports are starting to experience delays due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, who are considered essential federal employees and are required to work but whose pay is being cut. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said 80 percent of controllers in the busy New York area did not show up for shifts on Friday.
At least 35 FAA facilities, including some of the largest airports in the country, are reporting staffing problems.
Transport minister Sean Duffy told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday that safety would not be compromised, adding: “The real bottom line is, what kind of delays are you having across the system? I think it’s going to get worse.”
He said that as the shutdown continues, more air traffic controllers “will make decisions to finance their families, put food on their tables, put gas in their cars, rather than take jobs. That’s not what I want, but I’m a realist.”
