Judge to Rule on Emergency Ruling to Open Snaps and How Things Stand
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Where Things Stand
Food stamps: A judge is set to rule Friday on whether the Trump administration must reverse course and continue to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, during the government shutdown. Without a last-minute intervention, the decades-old safety net program that now aids roughly 42 million people is set to run out of funds on Saturday. Read more ›
Government shutdown: President Trump called on Senate Republicans late Thursday to eliminate the filibuster in order to force an end to the government shutdown. The move would strip away a longstanding Senate rule that means most legislation needs 60 votes to pass rather than a simple majority. Both parties have sought to curtail use of the filibuster in recent years but have stopped far short of eliminating it. Read more ›
Air travel: The administration warned there would be an air travel meltdown next month if the government shutdown continued, predicting chaos as controllers miss additional paychecks and the busy holiday season begins. Read more ›
Reporting from Geneva
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The United Nations human rights chief has condemned the Trump administration’s military strikes on boats that it says are being used to smuggle drugs from South America, saying that they violate international law and should be investigated.
Volker TĂ¼rk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement released on Friday that there was no justification under international law for the strikes, which have killed at least 61 people since the start of September.
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A federal judge is expected to decide on Friday if the Trump administration must continue to fund food stamps during the government shutdown, as state officials scramble to spare millions of low-income Americans from losing benefits starting on Saturday.
The looming decision from Judge Indira Talwani, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, comes as the administration holds firm in its refusal to tap billions of dollars in reserve to aid roughly 42 million people at risk of hunger. Show more
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President Trump called on Senate Republicans late Thursday to eliminate the filibuster to force an end to the government shutdown, a move that would strip away a deeply rooted Senate rule.
The president said in a late-night Truth Social post that it was time for G.O.P. leaders “to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’” and get rid of the longstanding rule that means most Senate legislation needs 60 votes to pass rather than a simple majority. 
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Air traffic controller absences delayed or temporarily halted operations at airports on Thursday, as the Trump administration warned of worsening disruptions while workers go without pay.
The worst of the staffing interruptions was at Orlando International Airport, where the Federal Aviation Administration warned in an advisory Thursday evening that for a period of time, “no arrivals will be able to land as there will be no certified traffic controllers available.” By Thursday night, the airport was reporting average delays of about 2 hours and 40 minutes, with some flights delayed for nearly 12 hours, and several canceled.
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Lawyers for James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, sought on Thursday to dismiss the perjury and obstruction charges against him, arguing that federal prosecutors botched the indictment by misusing the grand jury process and by accusing him of telling a lie that he never actually told.
The motions, filed in Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., added to the panoply of legal challenges that Mr. Comey’s defense team has already raised against the indictment. Mr. Comey, who has long been a critic of President Trump, was charged last month under extraordinary circumstances: after Mr. Trump ousted the career U.S. attorney who was reluctant to file a criminal case and installed an inexperienced loyalist in his place.
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