October 30, 2025 – US government shutdown news

Our live coverage of the government shutdown has concluded for the day. Please scroll through the posts below to learn about Thursday’s developments as well as other news involving the Trump administration.

US President Donald Trump during a Halloween event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

The 30th day of a federal government shutdown is coming to a close and much has happened in the world of politics.

These are political headlines across CNN that you should know:

Trump in Asia:

Shutdown latest:

Elections:

Other headlines:

The Federal Aviation Administration is leaning on air traffic control supervisors to keep flights flowing into Orlando International Airport tonight after the agency initially warned there would be no controllers working, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The preliminary information was written in a publicly available federal air traffic operations plan and warned airlines to “expect a period of time later in the evening when no arrivals will be able to land as there will be no certified air traffic controllers available.”

The alert did not make it clear which specific air traffic control facility was experiencing the shortage.

“More information on MCO’s operation as the evening progresses,” the FAA alert said.

The FAA has published delays for flights bound for Orlando averaging 161 minutes starting at 10 p.m. due to air traffic control staffing.

US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump arrive to host a Halloween event at the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday.

Halloween started early at the White House on Thursday, as President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump handed out Hershey’s chocolate bars to families trick-or-treating on the South Lawn.

Members of the military band played several ghoulish songs including the theme song to “Game of Thrones” as military families, law enforcement families, foster and adoptive families, and administration officials’ families lined up the driveway of the South Lawn, per the first lady’s office.

“Thriller” played loudly through the South Lawn as the first lady and the president, fresh off his three-country trip through Asia, walked out to greet the parents and children.

The Trumps did not appear to be wearing Halloween costumes — as the president wore a red “USA” hat while the first lady wore a beige trench coat with orange trimmings.

Though at one point, the president spotted a child dressed almost the same way he was — with a navy suit, red tie, and red hat. The president high-fived his doppelgänger before having the boy turn around and wave to the cameras.

In his first term, the president placed a chocolate bar on the costumed head of a child in a minion costume. The president made the same move this year —placing a chocolate bar on the top of a child’s head who appeared to be dressed as EDM artist Marshmello.

Trump also appeared tickled at another set of trick-or-treaters riding in a stroller decked out with McDonald’s logos. The president donned an apron to work as a fry attendant in a notable campaign stop at a Pennsylvania-area location last October.

The White House was adorned with dozens of carved pumpkins, which the first lady’s staff says will become part of meals and food assistance provided by DC Central Kitchen. There are also floating leaves in various autumnal colors adorning the south front of the White House.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and his wife Katie Miller alongside their children were amongst the first trick-or-treaters to the White House. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt came soon after, with her husband and baby — who was dressed as a pumpkin.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency today to “address the economic impacts of the federal government shutdown and help deliver resources to support Marylanders’ health and welfare.”

And as benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could be at risk amid the shutdown, the Democratic governor also issued an executive order that will supply food security partners in the state with $10 million of emergency funding.

Moore joins Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who recently took similar measures to provide assistance to those impacted by the shutdown.

The control tower stands at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as a plane takes off on October 27.

The Federal Aviation Administration has again reported air traffic control staffing problems today.

We are updating this report as we get more details throughout the day.

Here’s a look at where things are at around 6:33 p.m. ET:

According to the FAA, 295 staffing problems have been reported since the start of the shutdown 30 days ago.

Controllers are considered essential staff and must work during the shutdown, despite not being paid. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says some have called in sick in protest while others are taking time to work other jobs.

Furloghed federal workers and volunteers collect groceries during the People's Pantry Food drive to replenish food banks ahead of SNAP lapse in Washington, DC on Thursday.

Leaders in Ohio, Washington, DC, and North Carolina announced plans today to provide food assistance as funding for food stamps is set to lapse on Saturday.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, will use city funds to assist those enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Meanwhile, in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order to give up to $18 million in emergency relief benefits to Ohioans that rely on SNAP, along with $7 million to food banks in the state.

In a statement announcing the assistance plan, DeWine blamed Democrats for the ongoing shutdown and called on them to support the House-passed continuing resolution to reopen and fund the government.

North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Josh Stein also announced that $10 million in state funds and $8 million from donations will be sent to food banks across the state.

Other states have announced similar measures: New Mexico, Minnesota, Washington and West Virginia have committed millions in funding to support relief programs, while Virginia is setting up its own food assistance system for residents who receive SNAP benefits.

People receive groceries from Curley's House Food Bank days before the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits may expire due to the government shutdown on Thursday, in Miami, Florida.

Thirty days into this government shutdown, it’s worth noting that most Americans are not directly feeling the effects.

We have been reporting today on those who are feeling the strain, including government employees who are going unpaid and travelers facing increasing air travel delays. And a huge deadline looms this weekend, when food stamp recipients could see their benefits halted.

But while the shutdown has caused a fair amount of anxiety for others in the country, it has not yet touched most Americans’ daily lives in tangible ways.

A look at the numbers: In a recent poll conducted by Yahoo and YouGov, about one-third of American adults, 34%, said they had not been impacted at all by the shutdown.

Overall, 32% of Americans said they felt it through increased stress or uncertainty; 31% said their cost of living had gone up; and 24% said they worry about their access to health care or health insurance.

Anxiety isn’t nothing, as CNN’s Brianna Keilar writes in this report about the life of military families in the age of shutdowns.

But fewer Americans said their lives had been directly affected. Less than one-fifth, 18%, said services they rely on have been disrupted. A similar 17% said benefits they rely on have been disrupted. Ten percent said a government office they tried to call or visit was closed.

Less than 10% said they had travel disrupted or were unable to visit a park or memorial, or had been laid off or furloughed without pay.

And 11% said they had been impacted for another, unlisted reason.

With Republican and Democratic leaders dug in, it’s fair to expect this shutdown will not end until people start to feel it.

Zachary B. Wolf writes the What Matters newsletter for CNN: Subscribe here.

The US Capitol in Washington, DC, seen on Thursday.

Senators are departing Washington, DC, for the weekend while millions of Americans are at risk of losing critical food aid and little progress is being made to end a government shutdown that has now lasted 30 days – and looks like stretching into next week.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis blamed Democrats for the impasse and told reporters that it would be a “waste of time” if lawmakers stayed in Washington to try to work out a deal. Meanwhile, Democratic senators are sticking to their demands as a major federal worker union urges lawmakers to immediately reopen government. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman lambasted fellow Democrats for not getting their “sh*t together” with SNAP food benefits on the line.

GOP leadership: House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the idea of passing a bill that would reopen a significant part of the government through next year, saying that Congress needs to pass full funding. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also said he’s not open to it, but said he expects senators to continue talking over the weekend, after previously noting that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.

Democratic leadership: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the administration and Republicans in Congress of committing “policy violence” against the American people. He blamed Republicans for cuts to Medicaid, food insecurity programs and the refusal to extend the Obamacare tax credits, which Democrats have demanded be addressed in any bill to reopen the government.

More furloughs: The Department of Veterans Affairs announced an increase in the number of its employees who are furloughed during the government shutdown. That’s nearly 37,000 VA employees or 8% of the VA’s total workforce who are now “furloughed or continue working without pay”, the VA said.

White House roundtable: Vice President JD Vance led a roundtable focused on the shutdown’s impact on aviation. As Thanksgiving approaches, airlines are pleading with Congress to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the government, so air traffic controllers and TSA agents get paid.

Reporting contributions to this post come from CNN’s Alayna Treene, Adrienne Vogt, Ted Barrett, Elise Hammond, Brian Todd, Camila DeChalus, Britney Lavecchia, Alison Main, Manu Raju, Casey Riddle, Logan Schiciano and Morgan Rimmer.

Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy walk to speak to reporters outside the White House on Thursday.

Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday that Americans could face a travel “disaster” as Thanksgiving approaches next month without an end in sight to the government shutdown.

Their comments came after Vance hosted a roundtable of aviation, travel and union leaders at the White House, during which they aired their concerns with the current state of the industry and worked out potential, temporary solutions to ease the strain on Federal Aviation Administration employees who are being forced to work without pay to ensure Americans can fly safely, two White House officials told CNN.

“Look it could be a disaster. It really could be, because at that point you’re talking about people have missed three paychecks. They’ve missed four paychecks. How many of them are not going to show up for work?” Vance said.

“That’s going to lead to massive delays. We want people to be able to get home for Thanksgiving. We want people to be able to travel for business,” he continued.

Duffy chimed in adding, “Our traffic will be snarled, but it will be a disaster in aviation.”

Read more about the roundtable.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso railed on Senate Democrats refusal to vote for the GOP stopgap bill to reopen the government, as flight delays hit Reagan National Airport as senators left for the weekend.

“Flights are being delayed because the Democrats continue to play a very dangerous political game. It’s costly. Americans are suffering as a result of it. I don’t worry about my flight, I worry about the flights of thousands and thousands of people,” he said.

“That is a sign of a party that is way off the rails. We need to make sure that the flying public is protected, and we need to make sure that the best way to do that is to pay these folks and open the government.”

Asked if he’s seeing any reason for optimism as the shutdown drags on, Barrasso argued that Democratic senators are focused on the politics of the shutdown, rather than its consequences.

“I’m not sure what’s going to move these Democrats. They don’t seem to be concerned with any of this other than paying homage to the far-left part of their party,” said Barrasso.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that he expects senators to continue talking over the weekend, after previously noting that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.

“I think there will be, yeah, I’m sure they’re going to be discussions. We got members on both sides who are continuing to dialogue,” he said.

Asked if he had started speaking with rank-and-file Democrats after saying yesterday that he’d speak with them soon, Thune said, “I don’t have anything to report on that. But again, like I’ve said before, when they’re willing to produce
the votes to open up the government, we’re going to talk.”

Thune also expanded on the president’s message that he is willing to meet with Democrats after the shutdown ends to discuss health care subsidies, emphasizig that he cannot promise them a specific outcome from those conversations.

“Once the government’s open, I think, as you know, the president does like to negotiate, and I don’t know what, where that would lead, I can’t predict that — and that’s what I told the Democrats here, that I can’t guarantee an outcome or result,” he said. “What I can promise them is a process, and they would get their vote, and they can have their vote by a date certain, which I think is, you know, initially, this is what a lot of them were asking for.”

Democrats have insisted on an agreement to save the expiring enhanced health care subsidies, not the opportunity to vote on the issue.

Pressed on whether he thinks the shutdown could end in the next week or two, Thune told reporters, “I’m always optimistic. Aren’t you?”

Volunteers with New York Common Pantry distribute food on Thursday.

The Senate has left town for the weekend with no measurable progress toward a deal to reopen the government, with impatience inside the Capitol skyrocketing with millions at risk of losing critical food aid the shutdown.

Senators will not return until Monday, which will mark day 34 of the shutdown — one day shy of the longest-ever shutdown.

Key senators of both parties took part in some private meetings on Thursday to discuss potential off-ramps to the 30-day shutdown, including how to get both parties to support a deal on long-term appropriations bills. But lawmakers involved in those talks offered no more clarity about whether it could indeed end the standoff.

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona described the state of discussions as constantly changing, saying the talks will take a turn, and then it “changes back… sometimes in a good way” — but offered no substantial details.

Frustration is mounting on both sides about the lack of solution, particularly as millions of Americans who rely on federal food aid are on the verge of seeing their benefits dry up, as well as other major effects on programs like Head Start educational centers.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis told reporters it would be a “waste of time” if lawmakers stayed in Washington over the weekend to try to work out a deal to reopen the government, blaming Democrats for the impasse.

“We’ve been here every week, even we’ve worked weeks when we were supposed to not be here. We have bent over backwards, voted 13 times to try to open the government with current funding,” Lummis told reporters on Capitol Hill.

CNN’s Camila DeChalus and Morgan Rimmer contributed.

President Donald Trump vowed today to begin testing US nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, heralding a potentially major shift in decades of US policy at a time of growing tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed superpowers.

Here’s some of what we’ve heard from officials about the move:

United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq told CNN a nuclear explosive test should never be allowed, citing risks that he says are “already alarmingly high.”

“All actions that could lead to miscalculation or escalation with catastrophic consequences must be avoided,” Haq said.

Robert Floyd, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, also warned against the tests.

“Any explosive nuclear weapon test by any state would be harmful and destabilizing for global non-proliferation efforts and for international peace and security,” Floyd said.

The treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, by anyone, and for all time. Nearly every country supports the treaty, with 187 nations including the US signing it, and 178 formally ratifying it, according to the Vienna-based organization.

However, the treaty is not binding without 44 key countries ratifying it — and the US is the only country in North America and Western Europe not to have done so.

Take a closer look at Trump’s announcement here:

Why is the US restarting nuclear weapon testing?

President Donald Trump announced the United States' intention to restart testing nuclear weapons "on an equal basis" with Russia and China. CNN's Nic Robertson looks at the history of nuclear weapons testing in the US and explains what that would mean politically.

01:52 • Source: CNN

Why is the US restarting nuclear weapon testing?

01:52

CNN’s Simone McCarthy, Brad Lendon, Betsy Klein and Tori B. Powell contributed reporting.

President Donald Trump spent more than a day and half flying on Air Force One this week during his three-country trip to Asia, according to the pool reporters who traveled with the president.

The pilot told reporters aboard the plane that they had traveled for 41 hours total on this trip, covering 20,027 miles.

The president traveled to South Korea, Japan and Malaysia during his trip, which included a high-stakes face-to-face meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping.

Several US airlines are offering meals to federal aviation employees who are working without pay during the government shutdown. Many of the federal workers will begin to miss entire paychecks.

Here’s what some of the airlines are saying:

CNN has reached out to other domestic carriers to see if they have any similar outreach to impacted federal workers.

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Food bank president expects nearly 60% increase in need ‘likely overnight’ as SNAP deadline nears

01:59 • Source: CNN

Food bank president expects nearly 60% increase in need ‘likely overnight’ as SNAP deadline nears

01:59

Loss of food assistance and missed paychecks is causing the need for food banks to skyrocket as the government shutdown stretches on, the president of the North Texas Food Bank told CNN today.

More than a million federal government employees are missing paychecks as the government shutdown is now in its 30th day. Many will missed their first full paycheck, while others will feel the loss early next week, depending on their agency.

Additionally, funding for SNAP food aid is set to lapse on Saturday — another sector of people who may need to start relying on food banks.

“People are really desperate to know where they can get access to this additional food,” Cunningham said, adding that the bank is anticipating a nearly 60% increase in the number of people needing its resources.

The North Texas Food Bank packages and distributes food to about 400 food pantries and community organizations in the area, according to its website.

Cunningham said “no food bank has the resources to be able to meet that deficit” caused by loss of SNAP benefits in particular. She said they put in a request to the Texas governor for additional funds that would be used to purchase food from farmers and local producers.

But, states have been told that they won’t be reimbursed by the federal government if they use emergency funds to keep food banks and other assistance going, Cunningham said, which has been a challenge.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the US Capitol Visitors Center on Thursday.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday criticized President Trump’s call to resume nuclear weapons testing, warning the move could violate long-standing international agreements.

“It appears that the resumption of nuclear testing would be a massive breach of international treaties that have been in place for decades,” Jeffries said.

He added, “It’s just another example of Donald Trump and Republican policies going too far, being divorced from reality, and that Donald Trump and Republicans are not focused on the main thing that the American people want us in the Congress to address,” he said, seeking to draw a contrast with what he said was Democrats’ focus on Americans’ cost of living and health care.

The Democratic leader also reiterated Thursday he hasn’t received an intelligence briefing or an explanation from the administration on the legal justification for its strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has briefed the Gang of Eight – the GOP and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and their intelligence committees — on the boat strikes.

Jeffries noted Thursday he doesn’t consider Rubio’s briefing as one from the US intelligence community.

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday.

President Donald Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland a short time ago after wrapping up this week’s Asia tour.

During the trip, Trump held a high-stakes meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea — their first face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term. Trump indicated the two came to an agreement on “almost everything,” including key trade issues.

Now the president returns to the US government shutdown, which shows little signs of abating.

We’ll be watching for any developments on the ongoing legal battle over his administration’s refusal to use emergency funds to extend food stamp benefits, which could halt for millions of Americans this weekend due to the shutdown.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly warned that President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China could spur China to do the same.

“This benefits the Chinese,” Kelly told CNN, adding, “we know our systems are reliable. If they start testing again, they could build greater reliability into their strategic forces - all legs of it.”

“It’s best to keep the temperature down if we’re not expanding our arsenal of weapons,” he added.

Trump made the announcement before his meeting with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping, heralding a potentially major shift in decades of US policy at a time of growing tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed superpowers.

“They haven’t tested in decades. We don’t have a need to test our nuclear weapons. We can model this stuff, and we also have enough data from the hundreds - maybe up to a thousand - tests that we’ve already done,” Kelly said.

The Arizona Democrat, who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told reporters he was “kind of concerned” that Trump saw the news that Russia had tested a new nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile and a nuclear-powered torpedo this week and confused it with a test of actual nuclear warheads.