| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
USDA said it will tap emergency money to cover about half of this month’s SNAP benefits. | Nam Y. Huh/AP | SNAP BACK TO REALITY: Tens of millions of Americans who receive federal food aid will get some — but not full — relief from a government shutdown-fueled lapse, as the Agriculture Department said this afternoon it will partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, per POLITICO’s Marcia Brown. The details: USDA’s response in court, after a federal judge ordered the resumption of benefits over the weekend, says the Trump administration will tap $4.65 billion in emergency money to cover about half of this month’s benefits. It declined to dip into other contingency pots to fund the full $8 billion needed to cover SNAP. The upshot is that some money will restart flowing to Americans who need it, but not the usual payout, and it could take weeks or longer for them to receive it. Any new applicants this month will also be out of luck. Also back from the brink: The administration is tapping emergency funds for $450 million to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children — better known as WIC — going, Marcia scooped. This program, which supports roughly 7 million people, was previously held afloat by a $300 million emergency tranche from USDA during the shutdown. The new infusion could keep WIC funded for another two to three weeks, but that timeline might be shortened if families facing a SNAP crunch lean more heavily on WIC. More shutdown pain: Other effects of the shutdown continue to compound and redound on America’s most vulnerable groups. Some Head Start centers have started closing around the country today, as the shutdown wiped out grant money that was supposed to come in Saturday, AP’s Moriah Balingit and colleagues report. That will leave some low-income children out of preschool, where they also get meals and therapy, and force working parents to figure out other plans. Some programs are managing to stay open for now with state or local money. Meanwhile, court-appointed defense lawyers are going without pay — which could eventually threaten the justice system’s ability to provide counsel, Reuters’ Nate Raymond reports.
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Explore our ongoing work. | | | | Broader fallout: With holiday travel and shopping coming up, potentially surging health care and food costs for lower-income families (and fed furloughs) could start to put pressure on consumer spending and the economy as a whole, Reuters’ Howard Schneider reports. On the Hill: As the shutdown likely equals and surpasses the all-time record of 35 days tomorrow, Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged today that Republicans are now considering a longer-term continuing resolution, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports. The current “clean” CR would go through only Nov. 21, so “we’re very mindful of the calendar” and GOP leaders are meeting soon to talk about it, Johnson said. “We’re very frustrated by that.” Bipartisan talks over a deal to reopen the government continued over the weekend. The political impact: Democrats think that even once the shutdown ends, the elevated salience of health care in the national political conversation will give them a boost in the midterms, MSNBC’s Kevin Frey and Mychael Schnell report. They plan to focus on rising Affordable Care Act costs and health care affordability more broadly, along with Medicaid cuts. Some Republican strategists are concerned about Trump taking a political hit on the economy, NBC’s Matt Dixon and colleagues report, though the White House maintains that GOP policy moves will increasingly pay off and benefit Americans over the next year. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | Washington is fixated on the shutdown fallout — and POLITICO is tracking every move.
Inside Congress breaks down how lawmakers are navigating the politics, policies, and power plays driving the debate.
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West Wing Playbook follows how the administration and federal agencies are responding — and what it all means for the people running government day to day.
➡️ Sign up for West Wing Playbook | | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. WAR REPORT: The Trump administration is now intently planning ground operations in Mexico against drug cartels, and some initial training is already underway, NBC’s Courtney Kube and colleagues scooped. But officials haven’t yet made the final call on whether and when the plans will go forward. They would involve CIA officers and Joint Special Operations Command troops secretly going into Mexico — mostly targeting drug facilities and cartels with drones, though some of the operators would be on the ground. U.S. officials say they’d prefer to cooperate with the Mexican government, but that’s not necessarily a prerequisite. Speaking of troops on the ground: Trump’s threat to send the U.S. military to Nigeria to protect persecuted Christians there doesn’t really comport with the country’s reality, Bloomberg’s Neil Munshi and Nduka Orjinmo report. The right-wing claim of a genocide against Christians is false. Though Nigeria faces significant political and ethnic violence, the vast majority is not based on religion, and terrorism has hit Muslim regions hardest. 2. SURVEY SAYS: CNN/SSRS is the latest poll with very poor numbers for Trump, whose disapproval rating — 63 percent — is now at an all-time high in CNN surveys across either of his terms. More than six in 10 voters say Trump has made the economy worse and gone too far in using presidential power. And Democrats are more enthusiastic about voting in the midterms. But but but: Dems’ own unpopularity has blunted their advantage, as they lead on the generic congressional ballot by 5 points — less than half their margin at this point in 2017. Similar trends: The WaPo/ABC/Ipsos poll finds a majority of voters opposed to Trump’s power plays, saying he is going too far against his political opponents and is not committed to free and fair elections, a fair criminal justice system, freedom of speech or freedom of the press. Yet here, too, Democrats mostly poll only modestly better. 3. ALL EYES ON SCOTUS: When the Supreme Court takes up Trump’s tariffs Wednesday, one of the big-picture questions hanging over the case is whether the conservative justices will rein in Trump’s authority like they did Joe Biden’s, AP’s Mark Sherman reports. Tariff challengers argue that the major questions doctrine should prevent Trump from declaring an emergency to justify the tariffs because Congress “had not clearly authorized” it — the same principle that tripped up Biden’s student loan forgiveness, eviction moratorium, vaccine mandate, climate actions and more. But the Trump administration says the doctrine doesn’t apply to foreign affairs and national security moves. Handicapping the outcome: “Experts say the case is a tossup that poses difficult legal and political considerations for the justices, made all the more tense by Mr. Trump’s efforts to personalize the dispute,” NYT’s Ann Marimow reports. Reality check: Even if the justices rule against Trump, U.S. officials expect to be able to switch to other authorities to keep his protectionism going, Reuters’ David Lawder notes. Notably, the case against tariffs is being brought by small businesses, as major corporations sit this fight out — a move that’s “unusual and likely based at least in part on a fear of retribution from the White House,” CNN’s John Fritze reports.
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| | | | 4. THE TRUMP TRIALS: “‘If it was anybody else, we’d arrest him tomorrow,’ Justice Department aide said of Trump,” by Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis for MSNBC, adapted from their forthcoming book, “Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department” ($32): “[In 2022, Matt] Olsen turned to his top Justice Department expert on the mishandling of classified records, Julie Edelstein, to ask what they should do next. She delivered a startling assessment. … “Knowingly taking classified documents outside of a secure government facility was a crime, plain and simple, she explained. Trying to conceal them after receiving a May subpoena to return all classified records, as Trump had, made the crime far worse, she argued. But Olsen’s team knew that with Trump, all bets were off. The Justice Department would invariably treat the former president more gingerly.” Trump denied all wrongdoing, and the case has now been dismissed. Flash-forward to 2025: Now as Trump demands that Jack Smith be imprisoned, the former special counsel is itching to fight back, NYT’s Glenn Thrush reports. Smith “appears unintimidated … [and] eager to publicly challenge a foundational pillar of MAGA canon: that the president was a sinned-upon innocent who did nothing to deserve scrutiny, much less two prosecutions. Mr. Smith has told people in his orbit that he welcomes the opportunity to present the public case against Mr. Trump denied to him by the Supreme Court.” 5. CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: In California and Congress, a growing number of Democrats expect Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to declare that she won’t run for reelection, sometime after this week’s elections, NBC’s Scott Wong and Jonathan Allen report. For now, she’s focused squarely on passing Proposition 50, the ballot measure that would allow California Dems to gerrymander several House seats away from Republicans as a counter to the Texas GOP. On the flip side: If Prop 50 is Pelosi’s swan song, it could be rocket fuel for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions as he reaches an apex on the national stage, POLITICO’s Blake Jones reports from Sacramento. (POLITICO’s Jeremy White and Melanie Mason have a helpful breakdown of his inner circle leading this effort.) 6. HOT ON THE RIGHT: Ben Shapiro slammed Tucker Carlson’s approach to his Nick Fuentes interview and the Heritage Foundation’s defense of Carlson on “The Ben Shapiro Show” today. Carlson is “the most virulent super-spreader of vile ideas in America” and should have fought against the white supremacist/Holocaust denier’s views more sharply in the interview, Shapiro said. More from POLITICO’s Samuel Benson 7. 2026 WATCH: As Kansas Republicans consider gerrymandering Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids’ seat to be more conservative, she is weighing a bid for Senate, Samuel reports in Morning Score. She sat down with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to talk about making the jump. 8. DEEP DIVE: “‘A Big Positive’: How One Company Plans to Profit From Medicaid Cuts,” by NYT’s Sarah Kliff and colleagues: “Beginning in 2027, states must verify that tens of millions of low-income adults work, volunteer or take classes at least 80 hours a month before giving them Medicaid or food assistance. … For Equifax and a handful of businesses, the change also represents the chance to become a lot richer. Equifax already has a robust business providing income data to states, which some critics say borders on a monopoly. The company has made a practice of steeply and frequently increasing prices without improving its product.”
| | | | Global Security is POLITICO’s new weekly briefing on the policies and industrial forces reshaping transatlantic defense. From Washington to Brussels and beyond, we track how decisions ripple across borders — redefining the future of security and industry. Sign up for the free preview edition. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Erika Kirk will receive the inaugural Charlie Kirk Legacy Award this week at Fox Nation’s Patriot Awards, with Jason and Brittany Aldean presenting the honor. Jake Ciattarelli, son of Jack, returned from Army service in Kuwait to surprise his dad right before the election. SPOTTED: Joe Biden at Carbonara in Ballston last night. Pic CLICKER — N.Y. Mag’s Matt Stieb and Kaleigh Rogers asked dozens of Democratic strategists and observers to identify the party’s rising stars, beyond the most ultra-famous names. They came up with a next-generation list of 25 Democrats to watch, from prominent members of Congress to attention-grabbing state reps. OUT AND ABOUT — The 76th annual Arthur S. Flemming Awards ceremony honored a dozen civil servants for science and leadership achievements last night at the National Academy of Sciences Building. Susan Swain emceed the program, which awarded Amara Holder, Julie Hess, Shannon Duff, Benjamin Prince, Laura Sinclair, Michelle Stephens, Supriyo De, David Goff Jr., Melissa de Vera, Heidi Nielson, Nick McDaniel and Sung-Yun Pai. Also SPOTTED: Ellen Granberg, Kathryn Newcomer and James-Christian Blockwood. MEDIA MOVE — Carly Dunleavy is joining POLITICO as a weekend and states editor. She most recently worked at NBC, and is an ABC and Washington Examiner alum. TRANSITIONS — Mental health advocacy organization Inseparable is adding Craig Obey as SVP for federal affairs, Marianne Gibson as VP of youth mental health and workforce policy, Jason Wentworth as associate VP of state affairs, Michaela Gaughan as VP of development, Kim DiFonzo as press secretary and Anastasia Goodstein as senior digital director. … Grayson Westmoreland is now staff director for the House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee. He previously worked for the House Oversight Committee. … Iain Gillott is now VP of technology and innovation at the Wireless Infrastructure Association. He previously led iGR. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Friday’s Playbook PM misstated Derek Dooley’s support in a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll of the Georgia Senate GOP primary. He had 12 percent.
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