USA News and Discussions

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Let's be happy for the soybean farmers getting what they voted for.

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Blast at a Tennessee explosives plant leaves multiple people dead and missing, sheriff says

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/bl ... r-AA1Oeu9d

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More than 4,000 federal workers fired as Trump targets 'Democrat-oriented' staff
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fir ... 54893.html

More than 4,000 federal employees received layoff notices Friday as part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to reshape the government while it remains shutdown, according to a court filing Friday.

The filing provides greater insight into an announcement from President Donald Trump’s budget chief earlier in the day that the administration had begun government-wide reductions in force that had been anticipated since federal funding lapsed on October 1.

“The RIFs have begun,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted on X, without elaborating on how many federal workers had received RIF – or reduction in force – notices.

As of Friday evening, RIF notices had gone out to employees at the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury, according to department spokespeople, union representatives and sources directly impacted.

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Some Indigenous Peoples Day events strike conciliatory tone amid Trump’s focus on Columbus

https://apnews.com/article/columbus-ind ... cbda03f756

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Arizona AG threatens to sue House Speaker over Grijalva swearing-in delay

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/10/14/ari ... -in-delay/

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USDA's Rollins says food stamp funding to dry up in two weeks

Source: Roll Call

Posted October 16, 2025 at 6:16pm

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday that the food stamp program will run out of funds in two weeks because of the partial government shutdown, potentially leaving nearly 42 million people without monthly benefits. “We’re going to run out of money in two weeks. So you’re talking about millions and millions of vulnerable families, of hungry families, that are not going to have access to these programs because of this shutdown,” Rollins said outside the White House.

The Agriculture Department later in the day released an Oct. 10 letter to regional SNAP directors directing them to stop work on November benefits.

“Considering the operational issues and constraints that exist in automated systems, and in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are forced to direct States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State EBT [electronic benefit transfer] vendors until further notice. This includes on-going SNAP benefits and daily files,” the letter said.

The Agriculture Department has limited options to find another source of money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, after the GOP budget reconciliation law earlier this year drained the Commodity Credit Corporation, a possible funding option.

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/10/16/usdas-r ... two-weeks/

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US courts set to run out of money, begin furloughs as shutdown lingers

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) -The U.S. federal court system starting on Monday will begin curtailing non-essential functions and furloughing some employees after exhausting what funds it had left to sustain paid operations during the U.S. government shutdown.

The announcement, in a Thursday internal memo reviewed by Reuters, means the federal judiciary will for the first time in nearly three decades be forced to send some of its over 33,000 employees home and require others to work without a paycheck after Congress failed to pass legislation keeping the courts and the rest of the government funded.

The shutdown has already caused widespread delays in civil lawsuits involving federal agencies, as many of their employees have been furloughed. However, judges overseeing numerous legal challenges to Republican President Donald Trump’s policies have frequently denied government requests to pause those cases.

Unlike executive branch agencies operating under Trump’s purview, the judiciary had after the government shutdown that began on October 1 been able to sustain its paid operations for a few weeks by using fees and other funds not dependent on Congress authorizing new spending.

But tight budgets in recent years meant the judiciary entered the shutdown with less cash available than it had during a 2019 shutdown in Trump’s first term in office, during which the courts sustained paid operations for the full five weeks. Funding was, as a result, projected to be exhausted on Friday.

Courts will remain open, and judges and Supreme Court justices will still get paid, thanks to a bar in the U.S. Constitution against a diminution in their pay. Officials in various district courts said they had been informed they could continue paying jurors, at least for now.

Read more: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... rs-4295105

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