Flight cancellations surged as the FAA required a 4% reduction in allowable flights at about 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, citing shortages of air-traffic controllers. By evening, roughly 1,400 commercial flights had been canceled, with Newark, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and San Francisco among the hardest hit. Airlines initially cut smaller regional flights to ease into the mandates and said they would refund passengers and offer waivers; projections that cuts could reach 10% early next week raised the prospect of far larger daily cancellations and knock-on effects for trains, buses and road travel.
Federal food aid was also in flux during the shutdown. The Agriculture Department, responding to a federal court order, said it would release full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding. SNAP served about 42 million Americans last year — roughly 12% of the population — at a cost around $100 billion. Average benefits were small in dollar terms — about $187 per person ($332 per household), roughly $6 per day — and 60% of recipients were children or seniors. SNAP participation rose sharply after the Great Recession and has hovered around 40 million in recent years. States set eligibility; SNAP is widespread across the competitive states President Trump won, and uncertainty about funding can deepen hardship for vulnerable households.
Shutdown negotiations remained stalled. Senate Majority Leader efforts to move a bill to pay federal workers failed amid anger on the floor; Senate Democrats proposed a one-year continuing resolution paired with an extension of the health-care premium tax credits that Democrats say are central to protecting affordability, but Republicans called the proposal a nonstarter. Senate Republicans refused to negotiate in current sequence, insisting on first opening the government and only then negotiating on health-care policy. The White House publicly pressured lawmakers to end the filibuster or take other actions to resolve the impasse, a threat that raised institutionalist concerns on both sides.
On the ground at airports, CBS reported understaffing and ground delays at major hubs. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said mandatory capacity reductions were based on air-traffic control staffing data and would begin flowing through the system over the weekend; the FAA warned the cuts would ripple across the national network. Airlines described attempts to mitigate impact by trimming smaller flights, offering refunds and rebooking options, and avoiding changes to long-haul international service where possible.
Capitol Hill: the impasse and Senate strategy
Senate Democrats, led by Schumer, presented a proposal to reopen government funding at current levels for a year while extending Obamacare premium tax credits for a year — an attempt to force a negotiated exit that addressed both reopening and health-care affordability. Senate Republicans rejected it. With the House out of session and the shutdown extending into weeks, tempers rose and leaders traded accusations about holding federal workers “hostage.” Some Senate Republicans privately indicated unless pressure on them is sustained, they would not end the filibuster to resolve the crisis; the president encouraged such a move to break the stalemate.
Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey criticized the House Republicans for staying out of session and called their strategy “absent without leave,” urging them to return to work. He said Chuck Schumer’s one-year CR and ACA credit extension was a good-faith effort, but that Senate Republicans called it “political terrorism.” Ivey emphasized Democrats’ concern that refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits could lead to millions losing coverage or seeing sharply higher premiums.
New Jersey transition, governors on affordability
New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill began naming transition staff and emphasized urgency on affordability, promising day-one action on energy and costs. In an interview with Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan, Sherrill said voters want quick, practical steps to lower costs rather than long-term letters or decade-long plans. Brennan noted that affordability dominated messages for incoming state leaders, citing rising utility costs in New Jersey versus national averages as a central driver.
Politics and the Pelosi succession
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she will not run for re-election in 2027. That kicked off early interest in her San Francisco seat, with Saikat Chakrabarti — former AOC chief of staff and activist — among the first to announce his candidacy. Chakrabarti framed his run as part of a broader effort to recruit a new generation of Democratic leaders who will address structural issues: single-payer health care, the cost of housing, education and childcare, and rebuilding manufacturing to create large-scale middle-class jobs. He praised Pelosi’s career and legislative skills while arguing Democrats need leaders with “courage” to resist authoritarian trends and demonstrate democracy can improve people’s lives.
The Takeout interviewed Chakrabarti about his goals and the need for new energy in the Democratic Party; he compared the present moment to past threats from authoritarian movements and cited the New Deal as an example of federal action restoring public trust.
Sudan humanitarian crisis
CBS reported on the crisis in Sudan, where more than two-and-a-half years of civil war have produced enormous suffering: roughly 150,000 killed, about 12 million displaced and 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Aid organizations described siege tactics and deliberate obstruction of relief into areas like El Fasher in Darfur, which suffered shelling, blocked food and water and mass killings as people fled. Mercy Corps’ Katy Crosby explained that local groups and volunteers are the main providers of aid in many hard-to-reach areas; a US-backed but fragile ceasefire offered a temporary window, but air strikes and continued fighting demanded a durable end to violence to scale assistance reliably. She described the cost of fleeing for displaced families as prohibitive — often hundreds of dollars per person — and reported repeated reports of robbery, ransom demands and very difficult treks to safety.
Courtroom and redistricting battles
Republicans sued to block California’s new congressional map adopted by voters, arguing race predominated in the redistricting. Experts expect a hard case for Republicans: they must prove race, not partisanship, was the primary driver. The litigation is part of broader partisan redistricting fights nationwide as each party tries to use maps to gain advantage where possible. David Becker, an elections-law expert, warned voters are the losers when maps change frequently and districts are redesigned mid-decade.
Election deniers and officials
Local election officials faced an onslaught of false claims after elections; Becker praised civil servants for conducting secure, paper-backed processes and said rumors about turnout or unusual margins are often disconnected from the actual mechanics of voting.
New York politics: Stefanik runs for governor
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced a run for New York governor, setting up what may be an expensive, high-profile race against incumbent Kathy Hochul. The race could hinge on whether Hochul delivers on policy promises and whether progressive or moderate wings of the Democratic Party coalesce around her. Panelists noted the political dynamics: pragmatic governors who can deliver on “kitchen-table” issues like affordability performed well in recent cycles.
Other items
– ICE detainee population reached record levels, according to Homeland Security data obtained by CBS, at about 66,000 in custody.
– US military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean have continued, with some strikes producing controversy and civilian deaths reported by families and governments.
– California Republicans filed suits to block a new congressional map that voters had approved, fueling new national debate about partisan gerrymandering.
The Takeout recapped a fast-moving news day: travel disruptions and food-aid legal fights, an intractable shutdown at the Capitol, gubernatorial politics, a looming battle over Pelosi’s seat, and one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes in Sudan — each story part of a broader political and human tapestry the program continued to follow.
