The first step toward ending the US government shutdown has been made after a handful of Democrats and dozens of Republicans voted to advance legislation in the Senate.
The funding bill will still need to be deliberated and passed by the Senate and approved by the House to end what has been the longest government shutdown in US history.
The compromise bill received exactly the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, with almost all Republicans voting in favor along with eight Democrats, many of whom are moderates or serving their final terms.
But the measure leaves out the healthcare subsidies that Democrats had demanded for weeks, leading most Democrats to reject it.
Here are the key stories at a glance:
Senate advances funding bill to end longest US government shutdown in history
The Senate on Sunday made significant progress towards ending the longest US government shutdown in history, narrowly advancing a compromise bill to reauthorize funding and undo the layoffs of some employees.
But most Democratic senators rejected it, as did many of the party’s lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which will have to vote to approve it before the government can reopen.
US flight cancellations rise
Flight cancellations and delays are set to grow as airline passengers across the US spent the weekend grappling with those issues at major airports nationwide after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated a 4% reduction in air traffic in response to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
If the shutdown continues, the FAA has instructed airlines to cut 6% of flights on Tuesday – and to do the same to 10% by 14 November.
Trump weighs giving Americans $2,000 from tariff revenues
Donald Trump on Sunday mused about giving most Americans $2,000 funded by tariff revenues collected by the president’s administration – an evident bid to rally public support on the issue.
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. For such a plan to take effect, congressional approval would likely be required.
Trump shares false claim about Obama
Donald Trump promoted the false claim that Barack Obama has earned $40m in “royalties linked to Obamacare” in a post to his 11 million followers on Truth Social on Sunday.
The fictional claim that the former US president receives royalty payments for the use of his name to refer to the Affordable Care Act, which he signed into law in 2010, has been repeatedly debunked since at least 2017.
Trump attacks BBC after Tim Davie resignation
Donald Trump on Sunday attacked the BBC after its chief resigned in a scandal over the editing of a documentary about the US president.
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and the head of BBC News resigned after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Trump, Gaza and trans rights.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that “very dishonest people” had “tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election”.
What else happened today:
Longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, has reportedly said that she is “much, much happier” after the Trump administration transferred her to a minimum-security federal prison in Texas, according to emails obtained by NBC News.
Donald Trump became the first sitting president in nearly a half-century at a regular-season NFL game, attending the Washington Commanders’ contest against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. There were boos from large sections of fans in the stands – as well as scattered cheers.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 8 November.
