President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a bit more insight into his proposal that Obamacare subsidies should go directly to Americans' Health Savings Accounts to pay for health care rather than sending funds to insurance companies through the Affordable Care Act.
Meanwhile, the Senate voted Sunday night on a test vote that would fund the government through Jan. 31 and end the 40-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Enough Democrats voted to pass the bill.
And the Department of Agriculture in a late Saturday night memo ordered states to reverse any steps they've taken to issue SNAP benefits and threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly.
Order to fully fund SNAP remains after appeals court denies Trump administration request; states begin issuing benefits
An appeals court has denied the Trump administration's request to lift a judge's order that it fully fund SNAP for November, as several states have already begun issuing benefits.
As of Friday evening, nine states said they had begun processing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits: Kansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Jersey, Minnesota, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina.
Senate fails to advance bill to pay federal employees working during shutdown
The Senate failed to advance a bill Friday evening that would’ve paid federal workers who are actively working during the shutdown.
It would have needed 60 votes to advance. The measure, introduced by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., failed by a vote of 53-43.
Democratic Sens. Ben Ray Lujan, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock voted with all Republicans to advance the bill. All other Democrats voted against it.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Nov 07, 2025, 6:30 PM EST
Senate votes on bill to pay federal workers after several heated speeches
The Senate began voting Friday on a bill led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that aims to pay federal workers who are currently reporting to work amid the shutdown. The vote delayed due to well over an hour of floor debate.
The GOP speeches seemed partially inspired by frustration over the Democratic funding offer made earlier Friday. There was noticeable irritation among those who spoke on the need to end the shutdown and pay federal workers.
Johnson, in a speech ahead of the vote, urged Democrats to back his bill, which will need 60 votes to advance when it is finally called.
Senator Ron Johnson speaks to members of the media after a bipartisan luncheon, weeks into the continuing government shutdown on Capitol Hill, Oct. 23, 2025.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters
"Think about what your vote means to people that don't want to be used as pawns," Johnson said.
Johnson yielded time to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee. Cruz, in his remarks, expressed the strain that the lack of pay for air traffic controllers is putting on those airlines and the flying public.
"Yesterday I had a conversation with the administrator of the FAA. It was chilling," Cruz said.
"God, I hope it literally doesn't take planes falling out of the sky," Johnson said. "Tonight you can continue your shutdown or you can vote to pay the air traffic controllers so that is far less likely. If you vote no, and God forbid it actually happens, can you live with yourself?"
Ahead of the vote Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., gave a speech reiterating his concern that the bill "uses federal employees as pawns" and gives the administration too much discretion about how funds are used.
Still, the frustration was palpable.
"Are the Democrats deaf? Do they not hear from the people that they are putting in these situations? This is their shutdown!" Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., nearly screamed on the Senate floor.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Nov 07, 2025, 4:33 PM EST
SNAP benefits begin flowing in 6 states, despite ongoing emergency appeal
At least six states say they have begun issuing November SNAP benefits as of Friday afternoon, despite the Trump administration actively fighting a court order requiring the government to fund the program.
Officials from California, Wisconsin, Kansas and Pennsylvania said that full SNAP benefits are already available to some recipients.
Additionally, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she has directed state agencies to issue full SNAP benefits for November. She said in a statement that New York SNAP recipients should be able to access their benefits by Sunday.
The source of these funds is not immediately clear. Kansas has already distributed more than $31.6 million to 86,000 households, and Wisconsin has distributed $104.4 million to 337,137 households, state officials said.
In a statement, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that his state “acted immediately” to process SNAP benefits after receiving funding from the USDA on Friday morning.
Vermont also has processed full SNAP benefits for November, according to state treasurer Mike Pieciak.
Funds have already been loaded onto residents’ SNAP cards, and direct wire transfers should be completed by the end of the day. -ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Justin Gomez, Peter Charalambous and Michael Pappano
People pick up food at a pop-up food distribution organized by the Alameda County Community Food Bank in cooperation with Alameda County Social Services Agency in Oakland, Calif., November 6, 2025.
