Good morning. The government shutdown is entering its third week. We have more on that below, plus news about another deadly U.S. strike in the Caribbean and a coup in Madagascar.
Still shut down
Flights are delayed. Tax hotlines are quiet. Farmers can’t get their loans. The government shutdown, two weeks old, is beginning to reach Americans. Congress has moved no closer to a deal to bring the government back to life. And in the meantime, President Trump is using the impasse to shrink the government and to punish political foes. His administration has frozen or canceled around $28 billion for projects primarily in places governed by Democrats. (The president posted a parody video last week that depicts his budget director as Democrats’ “reaper.”) Today’s newsletter is a guide to what’s happening. An openingFrom the start, Trump has hailed the shutdown as an “unprecedented opportunity” to trim fat from the government. The administration has so far targeted two main buckets of federal funding, a Times analysis found.
Transportation. Trump withheld billions of dollars that Congress had approved for transportation projects in New York and Illinois. The White House said it was checking to see whether the contracts contained diversity provisions. But Trump has muddled that story by talking openly about targeting Democrats amid feuds with party leaders in those states. Energy. The administration said it would terminate at least $7.6 billion in grants for energy projects in 16 states, 14 led by Democrats. The Energy Department said the projects were “not economically viable” or did not advance Trump’s agenda. At the same time, the administration says it will fire more than 4,000 government workers. The White House insists the cuts are necessary to keep essential government services up and running. But budget experts say that’s a pretense, and the maneuver may be illegal. Trump promised that he would soon publish a list of agencies and programs he plans to cut permanently. “We are closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with, and they’re never going to open again,” he said. The president has also threatened to deny furloughed workers back pay, which would violate a federal law he signed in 2019. Carve-outsNot everyone is feeling the pain. The administration used money from customs duties to fund a federal nutrition aid program, and it worked to keep rural airports open. It also reversed layoffs for hundreds of C.D.C. scientists who it said were fired by mistake. My colleagues Tony Romm and Catie Edmondson explain: Mr. Trump has behaved much differently with agencies and programs he supports, or those that present risk of political blowback. There, the administration has relied on creative accounting to keep some workers paid and programs functioning. Now Trump says he has “identified funds” that would allow the government to pay military troops during the shutdown, even though Congress hasn’t allocated money for that purpose. Usually, more than one million active-duty service members stop receiving paychecks while the government is closed. It’s politically unpopular to let the troops languish, so during previous shutdowns, their financial hardship brought lawmakers to the negotiating table. But Trump is circumventing the problem, which means the shutdown may drag on longer this time. More coverage
Supreme Court
U.S. Boat Strikes
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Israel and Gaza
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Other Big Stories
The R&B star D’Angelo died yesterday at 51. His family said the cause was cancer. D’Angelo found fame in the 1990s and early 2000s with an innovative and sensuous take on the genre, but he spent much of the rest of his career removed from the public eye. Jon Pareles, a pop music correspondent, writes: He could be a one-man studio band in the mold of Prince and Stevie Wonder, overdubbing nearly all the instruments. He had a silken falsetto to rival Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. He could also multitrack himself to simulate the collective yowl and cackle of Funkadelic or Sly & the Family Stone. He had voices to convey richly seductive physical pleasures, unwavering devotion and gritty political resistance. Americans were searching online for news about D’Angelo. For a sampling of his extraordinary musical scope, Jon put together a list of D’Angelo’s 14 essential songs. We also have an account of how he made his most acclaimed album, “Voodoo.”
This question comes from a recent edition of the newsletter. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link will be free.)
Which famously beautiful city has proposed removing an unusual public fountain? A. San Francisco: the Vaillancourt Fountain B. Seoul: the Banpo Bridge Fountain C. Paris: the Stravinsky Fountain D. Valencia, Spain: the Water Boat Fountain
“The enthusiasm gap is real”: New Jersey will vote for its next governor this November. Eleven local leaders assessed the candidates’ qualifications and visions for the state. The best safeguard against tyranny is the belief in something greater than the authority of one man, be it family, equality or God, Jonathan Freedland writes. Here’s a column by Thomas Friedman on Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
“I’m losing who I am”: Dr. Sue Goldie found acclaim explaining the world’s biggest health problems. Now, she’s trying to understand how one disease — Parkinson’s — is changing her own body. An industry of theft: About 80,000 phones were stolen in London last year. The police finally know where they went. Your pick: The most-clicked story in The Morning yesterday was an Opinion article by a woman who decided to stop making family dinner. |
