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Government shutdown updates: Judge lays out path for SNAP benefits
The administration could use $5 billion in emergency funds and tariff revenue.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at a stalemate on finding a government funding solution to end what is now the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The Senate on Thursday adjourned until Monday afternoon, which will mark the 34th day of the government shutdown.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has laid out a path for the administration to fund SNAP benefits, which ran out on Saturday, saying the administration could tap more than $5 billion in emergency funds, as well as a much larger pot of tariff revenue collected by the Agriculture Department to fund the program.
Key Headlines
Johnson diminishes House's role in shutdown, 'It doesn't matter what we do'
House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Wednesday that the impacts of the government shutdown this week are "getting really tough for the American people" and placed the onus squarely on Democrats.
"You've got families and children that rely upon SNAP benefits that are going to go hungry here at the end of the week," he said at a news conference.
Johnson downplayed pushback from Republicans who want the House to return to session amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke up on a private GOP conference call Tuesday and urged leadership to bring the House back as well as articulate a plan to address the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.
"By our count, there are about three or four members of the House Republican conference who have only mildly questioned working in the districts as opposed to being here on the floor," Johnson said.
The speaker bluntly stated that bringing the House back in session would be a "futile exercise" when asked about the need to pass another bill to fund the government as the Nov. 21 date approaches.
"If I brought the House back and we passed another CR, it would meet the exact same fate from Chuck Schumer," Johnson said. "He would mock it. They would spike it, and they would try to blame it on us. So, what is the point?"
Johnson added that "it doesn't matter what we do in the House," diminishing the chamber's role in the shutdown.
-ABC News' Lauren Peller
Shutdown will cost at least $7B, but negative effects could be reversed: CBO
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown will delay federal spending and have a negative effect on the economy that will mostly, but not entirely, reverse once the shutdown ends.
The report, issued Wednesday, found that the shutdown will reduce annualized real GDP growth. After the shutdown, real GDP will be temporarily higher than it would have been otherwise, the report said.
Although most of the decline in real GDP will be recovered eventually, the CBO estimates the shutdown will cost between $7 billion and $14 billion.
The CBO estimates that the output lost because furloughed employees worked fewer weeks during the shutdown would not be recovered.
By the end of 2026, the reduction in hours worked by furloughed federal employees would result in a cumulative loss of real GDP of $7 billion in the four-week shutdown scenario, $11 billion in the six-week scenario, and $14 billion in the eight-week scenario, according to the report.
-ABC News' Zunaira Zaki
Rep. Greene criticizes GOP leadership as having no alternative health care plan
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene -- who has been critical of Speaker Mike Johnson’s shutdown strategy -- spoke up on a private GOP conference call Tuesday and urged leadership to bring the House back as well as articulate a plan to address the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.
The congresswoman further explained publicly what she said on the private call, saying she disagreed with the House being out of session.
"And I demanded to know from Speaker Johnson what the Republican plan for healthcare is to build the off-ramp off Obamacare and the ACA tax credits to make health insurance affordable for Americans. Johnson said he’s got ideas and pages of policy ideas and committees of jurisdiction are working on it, but he refused to give one policy proposal to our GOP conference on our own conference call. Apparently, I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!” she wrote in a post on X.
ABC News' Lauren Peller and Justin Gomez
Trump suggests he'll work with Dems on health care -- once government reopens
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during his Asia tour, President Donald Trump suggested he's willing to meet with Democrats on health care after the federal government reopens.
“I’d say, open up the government and we’ll work it out,” he told reporters.
After the government reopens, Trump suggested he’d work together with Democrats on proposals aimed at lowering profits for insurance companies.
"That's something I think that could come out of this with the Democrats," he told reporters. "Work with the Democrats, because right now, the insurance companies are making too much money, and they're making a fortune, and the health care, Obamacare, is … poor, and the premiums are ridiculous."
He added, "I think it's a great time for the Republicans and Democrats to get together and make something that will work and let the insurance companies make money. They're entitled to that, but not the kind of money that they're making."
-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa