Flight cuts coming amid record-breaking government shutdown. Live updates.

Federal officials said Wednesday, Nov. 5, that flight cuts are coming to major airports amid the funding crisis, which has now lasted for 37 days. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there will be a 10% reduction in flights at 40 major airports at the end of the week.

"We are going to work with the airlines to do this in a systematic way," he said.

Duffy did not specify how long the restrictions might last or which airports would be impacted, but officials stated they will begin on the morning of Friday, Nov. 7.

The flight cancellations are the latest indication of the rising stakes of the shutdown, which President Donald Trump acknowledged on Wednesday seemed to hurt Republicans at the polls on Election Day this week. Democrats swept a series of high-profile races in New York, Virginia and New Jersey, as well as a consequential ballot initiative in California that could help them gain more seats in Congress next year.

Those wins may cause Democrats to dig their heels in even more, potentially prolonging the shutdown. Though bipartisan talks to reopen the government have been gaining steam in recent days, the election results seemed to put new pressure on moderate senators in the party who've been wary of the crisis continuing much longer.

"The Democrats now are winning because they're standing with working people," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. "When you cave, you lose."

But the consequences of the political gridlock are already hurting millions of Americans, and the situation is getting worse with each passing day. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have missed paychecks for more than a month now. People reliant on government services to eat and stay warm are terrified as funding for those programs runs out. Even lawmakers are having issues flying back home to their districts amid shortages of air traffic controllers.

"I don't frankly care who gets the blame, or the credit, or whatever," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. "What I care about is that people eat."

Compass Coffee offers a free drink daily to furloughed federal workers

Compass Coffee is offering to "help fuel the federal workforce" with a free drink and a food item daily to anyone with a valid employee ID in the DC, Maryland and Virginia region, to soften the blow of the government shutdown.

The company commended federal workers for working often without recognition to keep the skies safe and care for the parks.

"Federal workers are the backbone of Washington,” the company said in a statement. “Now, many of them are facing a difficult time."

-Bart Jansen

Airports advocate urges Congress to reopen government

Kevin Burke, CEO of an advocacy group for airports, urged Congress to reopen the government because airline travel is "reaching a breaking point" from absences of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers during the shutdown.

About 13,000 controllers and 50,000 TSA officers remain on the job as essential workers during the shutdown. But they aren’t getting paid, so absences are higher than usual, leading to longer security lines and delayed and canceled flights.

"From the start, airports and their partners have stepped up in inspiring ways to support these workers and their families," said Burke, head of Airports Council International-North America. "But we are reaching a breaking point, and the current trajectory is unsustainable."

-Bart Jansen

Flight reductions illustrate safety risks of shutdown: union president

Sara Nelson, president of a flight-attendants union with 55,000 members at 20 airlines, said the Federal Aviation Administration’s warning about reducing flights at 40 airports illustrates the risks of reduced air traffic control staffing during the government shutdown.

"Safety is not a political game," said Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. "The only way aviation keeps moving during a shutdown is because air traffic controllers and TSA officers come to work without getting paid, while everyone who supports their work for our safety and security is sent home without pay."

Nelson said reducing flights will cut deliveries of medicine and packages, and curb the amount of food heading to restaurants and grocery stores. She urged lawmakers to "end this shutdown now."

-Bart Jansen

How does the shutdown affect air traffic controllers?

Air traffic controllers and many other Federal Aviation Administration employees are considered essential workers, so they're required to report for duty even though they're not earning paychecks during the government shutdown.

While employees at both agencies are expected to get back pay for the duties they performed once the shutdown ends, many advocates say going weeks without pay puts them under additional stress and can result in them having to find other ways to earn temporary income.

When air traffic controllers or Transportation Security Administration officers fail to show up for work, it can result in flight delays and longer security lines.

-Zach Wichter

Trump's push to end the filibuster divides Republicans

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) talks to reporters as he walks to the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on June 25.

Despite the president's pleas Wednesday to end the filibuster, many Senate Republicans remained unwavering in their support for the 60-vote threshold, which they say incentivizes bipartisanship and will protect the country when Democrats regain power in the future.

"We killed a lot of President Biden's goofy ideas through the filibuster," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana. "And someday the shoe will be on the other foot."

Still, notable defections began to emerge after GOP lawmakers met with Trump at the White House for breakfast. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who's up for reelection next year and is still waiting on an endorsement from the president, indicated he could be open to nixing the rule, specifically for budget bills.

"Having a willful minority being able to shut down the government any time they want to, obviously we can't tolerate that," he said. "I think that calls for some changes."

-Zachary Schermele

Will Americans receive SNAP benefits for November?

Partial payments are expected to be sent out to the millions of Americans who receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the Trump administration said.

The administration said Monday, Nov. 3, in a court filing that it would "fulfill its obligation to expend" funds during an emergency, using a reserve to cover "50% of eligible households’ current allotments."

It's unknown when those funds will actually reach SNAP recipients, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said payments could begin as soon as Wednesday during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

SNAP benefits were to be paused on Nov. 1 due to the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture posted on its website, saying the "well has run dry." The message continues to be displayed on the USDA website, though rulings by judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ordered the department to use contingency funds to cover benefits.

- Natassia Paloma

When will SNAP benefits be paid in November?

There isn't a national distribution date for SNAP benefits, so recipients will have to look to their state governments for information about when their next benefits could be sent out.

Here's how a few states are handling the situation:

• The North Carolina DHHS said on Nov. 4 that partial payments will be loaded onto Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards "by next week" if federal funds are provided as expected.
• Pennsylvania and Ohio stopped short of estimating a time frame for benefit distribution, adding that state officials will notify recipients when they can expect payments.
• A handful of states have mitigated the disruption by taking action with their own funds. California, Colorado, Connecticut and others have announced plans to supplement SNAP funding in some capacity or use state money to purchase food for food banks.

-Mary Walrath-Holdridge