Overview
- The funding lapse is now the longest in U.S. history, with roughly 650,000 workers furloughed and about 600,000 working without pay.
- Transportation officials said a 10% reduction in flights at 40 major airports will begin Friday, Nov. 7, because of staffing shortfalls among unpaid air traffic controllers and related personnel.
- Agency furlough notices recently dropped assurances of guaranteed back pay after an OMB legal theory questioned whether 2019’s back‑pay law is self‑executing.
- Unions sued over the White House move to terminate roughly 6,000 federal employees, and a federal judge ordered the administration to pause the planned firings.
- The administration told a court it will use reserves to fund about 50% of November SNAP benefits, as economists peg weekly economic losses in the low‑to‑mid tens of billions and the CBO warns of a potential hit to fourth‑quarter growth.