Shutdown

Independent, UK  - Over 2,000 flights were delayed Monday across the U.S., as the Federal Aviation Administration continues to struggle with staffing shortages caused by the ongoing government shutdown.

A total of 2,041 flights within, into, or out of America had been affected as of Monday morning, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. A total of 38 flights have been canceled.

NPR - The government shutdown is entering day 20 with no serious negotiations underway to bring it to an end. The longest shutdown was 35 days and happened during Trump’s first term in the White House. However, this time it is different as there is less pressure to get a deal because some of the impacts are not being widely felt, NPR’s Deirdre Walsh says. 

Instead of feeling pressure to fold due to their projects being targeted, Democrats are digging in and saying that this is more of the same tactics the Trump administration used before the shutdown happened. The Senate has unsuccessfully voted 10 times on a House-approved stopgap bill to fund the government. The next vote is expected tonight. Senate Democrats are expected to keep blocking that bill, not budging on their position that health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year need to be extended. 

Roll Call - A federal judge in California indicated Friday she would expand her temporary ruling blocking federal worker layoffs during the government shutdown, signaling her support for adding members of three additional labor groups.

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who is overseeing a challenge to the Trump administration’s shutdown layoffs, warned the government to err on the side of caution and said she does not think that layoffs should be happening while her temporary retraining order is in place.

“It is not complicated,” Illston said at a hearing. “During this time, these agencies should not be doing RIFs [reductions in force] of the protected folks that we’re talking about that have been enjoined.”