The U.S. Senate cleared a key hurdle on Sunday to reopen the federal government, as eight Democrats joined Republicans in support of a budget agreement. But as the Washington Post’s team notes, the deal does not include an extension of tax credits that made health coverage through the federal Marketplace affordable, a key demand from the minority party:
But the deal would not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, which Democrats have warned will cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket for millions of Americans. Instead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) committed to holding a separate vote on legislation to extend the subsidies by the second week of December, after the government reopens.
Here’s what the agreement does include:
The agreement aims to reverse more than 4,000 federal layoffs the Trump administration attempted to implement earlier in the shutdown. It also includes language that would prevent future layoffs through Jan. 30 in a federal workforce reeling from tens of thousands of layoffs earlier this year. Lawmakers would also appropriate funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, through September 2026.
SNAP drama continues
The confusing back-and-forth over whether the Trump administration must fully fund November SNAP benefits during the government shutdown continued over the weekend. A federal judge last week ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fully fund this month’s benefits. But on Saturday, the USDA ordered states to only fund partial amounts. The Washington Post’s team reports that a federal appeals court denied the administration’s effort to block the full funding:
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said a district court had acted within its discretion in concluding “the overwhelming evidence of widespread harm” from halting the payments outweighed the potential harm to the government and the Child Nutrition Programs. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision, prolonging the tug-of-war over the nation’s largest public initiative to combat hunger. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of food insecurity as winter nears.
The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Jenna Ross reports from Grace Place Soup Kitchen in Monroe:
Before the pandemic, about 100 people might have shown up, said Misty Loe, the nonprofit’s executive director. By the time they shut their doors and pulled the shades on this Wednesday, church volunteers had served 355 sloppy Joes alongside baked beans and salad. It’s a number Loe expects to grow through the month, as Thanksgiving approaches and the federal shutdown wears on. “People just can’t afford to live,” Loe said, pointing to the persistently high cost of groceries and rising rents in the area, among other factors.
Ultra wealthy are getting even more tax breaks
The federal tax and budget megabill that President Donald Trump signed in July includes massive tax breaks that will primarily benefit the wealthy and large corporations, which will be partially offset by cuts to safety-net programs used by people with low-incomes. The New York Times’ Jesse Drucker explains how the White House is giving even more tax breaks to big companies and the ultra-rich:
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, through a series of new notices and proposed regulations, are giving breaks to giant private equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real estate investors, insurance providers and a variety of multinational corporations. The primary target: The administration is rapidly gutting a 2022 law intended to ensure that a sliver of the country’s most profitable corporations pay at least some federal income tax. The provision, the corporate alternative minimum tax, was passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Drucker explains the fiscal consequences of the administration’s moves and the problem with carrying out these actions through the Treasury:
The Treasury’s actions are probably contributing hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal deficit, tax experts said. That is on top of the trillions that the legislation signed by Mr. Trump in July is already adding to the deficit. Yet unlike laws passed by Congress, Treasury is under no obligation to publicly account for revenue lost by its actions — such as cutting spending to offset the money no longer being collected.
Free tax-filing service terminated
The Trump administration has terminated Direct File, the IRS’s free tax-filing service. The AP’s Fatima Hussein explains how the program saved taxpayers time and money:
The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. … The Center for Taxpayer Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request for IRS’ latest evaluation of the program and the report says 296,531 taxpayers submitted accepted returns for the 2025 tax season through Direct File. That’s up from the 140,803 submitted accepted returns in 2024.
Number of the Day
12% – Percentage of U.S. married couples with at least one spouse in their 30s or 40s who have two incomes and no children, up from 8% in 2013. (Source: Pew Research Center)