Trump's Shutdown Travel, SNAP Benefits Gap, NYC Mayoral Race

0:02President Trump shrugs off the government shutdown. He says ending it is up to the Democrats. All they have to do is vote to open the country. He spent the weekend at his Florida resort. What's the White House strategy for reopening the government? I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.

0:20Food assistance for more than 40 million Americans ran out over the weekend. The idea that SNAP benefits wouldn't continue has never really been on the table before. A court ordered the White House to use emergency money to fund supplemental nutrition. So when will families actually get it? Also, Tuesday is Election Day in many places, which means the end of voting in New York. Frontrunner Zoran Mondani has excited supporters, dismayed some Democrats and drawn criticism from the political right. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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1:58From emails to reports and project proposals, it's hard to meet the demands of today's competing priorities without some help. Grammarly is the essential AI communication assistant that boosts your productivity at work so you can get more of what you need done faster. Just a few clicks can tailor your tone and writing so you come across exactly as you intend. Get time back to focus on your high-impact work. Download Grammarly for free at grammarly.com slash podcast. That's grammarly.com slash podcast. President Trump, who prides himself on dealmaking, is signaling no interest in a deal with Democrats.

2:34He spent the weekend in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort, far from Washington, D.C. It was one of five trips he's taken since the government shutdown began. Last night on Air Force One, a reporter asked the president, what's his role in ending the shutdown? He said it's up to Democrats. All they have to do is vote to open the country, and we only need five Democrats. In other words, he's hoping a few Democrats defect and reopen the government with no deal on the health insurance subsidies the Democrats have been holding out for. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith finds the president's departures depart from past practice.

3:08Tam, good morning. Good morning. Couldn't resist a dad joke. Where's the president been? Last week, President Trump spent less than 24 hours in Washington. The bulk of the week was devoted to a three-stop tour of Asia, where he met with leaders and talked trade. Then he was only back at the White House very briefly before departing for Florida, where on Friday he hosted a glitzy Halloween party with a Roaring Twenties Great Gatsby vibe. Think sequins, feathers, fedoras. The official theme was a little party never killed nobody. But this comes as federal workers have missed paychecks, snap benefits for millions of Americans didn't arrive over the weekend, and travel delays are stacking up.

3:51Travel delays are stacking up for everybody else, but not for the president who's traveling. So how does his schedule compare with past presidents in this situation? Adding it all up, Trump has been on the road 15 days since the shutdown began on October 1st. That's more than double the travel he did in his first term during the longest shutdown in history. and significantly more than Presidents Clinton and Obama did during the shutdowns when they were president. Clinton, Obama and first term Trump all canceled planned international travel because of government shutdowns. But in his second term, Trump just isn't adjusting his schedule.

4:28White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the president, saying, in short, the president was making great deals for America and shouldn't stop just because Democrats are refusing to do their jobs. OK, why does it matter that he wouldn't stop? Well, other presidents have felt they needed to stay in D.C. to get a deal done or at least look like they were trying. This time around, Democrats say they want to negotiate, but Trump says he won't do it. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a short-term funding bill back in September and has been on recess ever since. The goal is to put pressure on Senate Democrats to fold and vote for the House bill.

5:07I spoke with Doug High, who was a top Republican congressional aide during the 2013 shutdown. And he's often critical of Trump. But in this case, he says strategically, there's no reason for the president to change his plans. House leadership has a very simple message. We've done our job. Let's not hold anything hostage. And let's just keep the government open. And so if that is your baseline argument, then you don't need the House of Representatives to be in session. and you don't need the president necessarily to be in town either. Okay, I get the political strategy, but the shutdown is causing real pain.

5:42Can it last? Well, there appear to be the beginnings of some bipartisan conversations happening in the Senate, but that comes after an unproductive month. Leon Panetta was White House chief of staff during the 1995 shutdown and says a shutdown used to be treated like a crisis. The very people that we elect to try to deal with these kinds of issues have basically advocated their responsibility. Panetta was pretty exasperated when we spoke, telling me that what's happening now is depressing and a failure of leadership. NPRS Tamara Keith, thanks so much. You're welcome. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are trying to figure out how they will eat this month.

6:22The national food aid program known as SNAP ran out of federal money this past Saturday. Let's review here. the administration said it would not pass along funding for the country's largest anti-hunger program to states due to the federal government shutdown. Two separate federal judges ordered the administration to tap into emergency money to keep SNAP afloat on Friday, but it is unclear how quickly the administration could restart that program. NPR's Joe Hernandez has been following this, and he's with us now. Good morning, Joe. Good morning. So will the government begin distributing money for SNAP benefits this week or not?

6:56Well, we still don't know. The U.S. Department of Agriculture manages the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The USDA's website says, quote, the well has run dry and blames Democrats for the government shutdown. Then you have President Trump posting on social media that he would fund the program if his administration got direction from the federal courts on how to do that. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday and suggested SNAP funding could resume within days. Here's what he said. President Trump wants to make sure that people get their food benefits.

7:29So it could be done by Wednesday? Could be. And that's because, as you mentioned, there are at least two federal lawsuits pushing the Trump administration to restart SNAP. Judges in both cases have ordered the administration to resume payments using emergency funds. In one of those cases in Rhode Island, the judge ordered the government to either make full SNAP payments by Monday or partial payments by Wednesday. So if the USDA does have these emergency funds, why haven't they been used to pay for SNAP benefits this month? Well, the Trump administration has argued that it's not legal for them to use these contingency funds for regular SNAP benefits.

8:06They say that money is meant more for situations like natural disasters. But a coalition of Democratic state officials behind one of the lawsuits argues that the government has to use those emergency funds and that if SNAP benefits stop, it will lead to greater food insecurity across the country, which state governments will then be left to manage on their own. Now, some states are already putting up state money to try to keep benefits going, but that will probably only last days or weeks and won't be enough to replace a national federal government program. And just to give you a sense of how vast a program that is, nearly 42 million Americans rely on SNAP.

8:42Okay, so recognizing what you just said, that some states are trying to fill in the gap at least for a little bit. But having said that, how is the lapse in funding affecting those 42 million people. Yeah, it's really a historic moment for this program, which dates back to the Great Depression and has not been disrupted like this before. NPR has reported that food banks across the U.S. are already seeing a spike in demand. Jill Dixon runs the Food Depot, that's a food bank serving northern New Mexico, and says this is really uncharted territory. The idea that SNAP benefits wouldn't continue has never really been on the table before.

9:16There's no no history for that to have occurred. So I think that that caught everyone by surprise and is incredibly disheartening and fear-inducing. And Dixon says people are starting to stock up on food now. At one recent distribution, the Food Depot held where they typically have fewer than 100 families in attendance, they had 150 show up. Okay, before we let you go, even once SNAP does get funded again, there are still some major changes coming to the program. What are those? That's right. And that's due to some provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Trump signed in July.

9:49Things like the age limit going up, certain immigrants such as refugees will lose access to the program, and some states may have to start contributing their own money to SNAP benefits for the first time in history. That is. And Pierce Joe Hernandez. Joe, thank you. You're welcome.

10:12Tuesday is Election Day in much of the country. Voters choose new governors in Virginia and New Jersey, and many places have local elections, including New York City. The mayor's race there could shape America's largest city and influence the Democratic Party. The Democratic nominee, Zohan Mamdani, identifies as a Democratic Socialist. Andrew Cuomo is also a Democrat running as an Independent. There's been a massive surge in early voting compared to previous elections. NPR's Brian Mann is covering this story in New York City. Brian, good morning. Hi there, Steve. Just remember here, it's an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

10:44Sometimes people do vote for a Republican for mayor, but not lately. The divide here is on the Democratic side. What's happening? Well, let's start with Mamdani. He's the frontrunner. He's been talking to huge, energized crowds, lots of volunteers. He even went trick-or-treating over the weekend. He showed up at nightclubs to campaign. Andrew Cuomo setting a much slower pace, talking to small groups of voters throughout the city. But Steve, Cuomo's campaign has been bolstered in these final days by tens of millions of dollars in super PAC ads, some of the city's wealthiest leaders and residents paying for ads, supporting the former governor, attacking Mamdani, who was mentioned as a Democratic socialist.

11:19I want to mention Republican Curtis Sliwa. He's also been out on the campaign trail. But as you say, heavily Democratic city. So Sliwa trailing behind in third. And he's determined to stay in the race and has stayed here to the end. So what are the candidates saying? You know, this has been a fierce campaign for weeks, but things really started to escalate and turn nasty late last month after Cuomo appeared on a conservative talk show. The host on that program suggested that Mamdani, who would be New York's first Muslim mayor, would cheer if another 9-11 style terror attack happens. Cuomo didn't push back on that accusation.

11:53Instead, he said, and I'm quoting here, that's another problem. There have been attack ads attempting to associate Mamdani with, quote, jihad on New York City. So at a rally Saturday, Mamdani predicted there would be more of these bigoted attacks from Cuomo's allies. And our answer to that is a vision of a city where all of us belong. Over the weekend, Steve Reverend Al Sharpton also condemned what he described as Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani. How does Cuomo defend himself? Yeah, well, I was there when he was asked about these accusations of bigotry on Saturday at a stop in Queens. Cuomo pushed back.

12:30He says Mamdani is at fault for not doing enough to support Israel and the city's Jewish residents. His verbiage with the Jewish community has been highly offensive to the Jewish community. If you don't realize that, then you haven't been in this city. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has really been a flashpoint in this race in much the way it's roiled the Democratic Party nationally. A September poll by Siena found most New York voters actually favor Mamdani's positions, but more than 1 ,100 U.S. rabbis have signed a letter condemning his rhetoric. Yeah, and a lot of Democrats have very, very clearly been torn by the nomination of a Democratic Socialist, by the nomination of this particular person as well.

13:11So what does this race say about the fractured state of the party? Yeah, the excitement Mamdani has generated in this race thrills a lot of Democrats, especially younger voters, not just here but around the country. But, you know, Mamdani's embrace of the socialist label makes a lot of Democratic leaders nervous. Many New York Democrats have refused to endorse him. Others have offered only lukewarm support. There's a huge age divide in this. What we've heard out on the campaign trail here is many younger Democratic voters are much more skeptical of capitalism. They're much more critical of Israel.

13:42So this race is being watched closely. If Mamdani is the next mayor of America's largest city, he's going to have a big bully pulpit, Steve, to talk about this much younger, more left-leaning version of the Democratic Party. And P.R.'s Brian Mann is in Manhattan this morning as New York City's mayor's race comes toward its end. Brian, thanks so much. Thanks, Steve.

14:07And that's Up First for this Monday, November 3rd. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. Up First is made possible by listeners like you. If you enjoy starting your day with Up First and our radio program morning edition, please consider donating to your local NPR station. Your money goes to supporting reporters on the ground in your community and many others. Keep the NPR network strong. Visit donate.npr.org slash upfirst to contribute. I was visiting last week the NPR station in Normal, Illinois, where hundreds of people were there and supporting the station. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Kalamer, Russell Lewis, Andrea DeLeon, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Martha Ann Overland.

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