Chapter 1: What is the latest on the government shutdown and funding measures?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. The House Rules Committee is debating over a Senate-passed funding measure to end the government shutdown. The Senate has already passed the bill. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are facing a backlash after eight of them compromised with Republicans, as NPR's Dominica Montanaro reports.
Democrats are going to have a lot of work to do to heal this divide within their base, but they're banking on voters having short-term memories and that the issue landscape is going to continue to benefit them. We saw Democrats win sweeping victories last week, and voters said affordability was their top issue.
That's likely to carry through to next year's midterm elections, and during this shutdown, Democrats were able to elevate health care as an important issue, too. As part of the deal to reopen the government, Senate moderates say they were promised a vote on extending health care subsidies sometime next month, And if Republicans block those subsidies, the GOP will own higher health care costs.
Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington.
The Supreme Court has extended its order blocking full SNAP payments for two more days amid signs that Congress may soon vote to end the shutdown. The delay gives lawmakers more time to resolve differences over a short-term spending plan to continue fiscal year 2025 funding levels. Some states are already providing full monthly allocations to residents who rely on SNAP to buy groceries.
The record lows being reported in the southeast and the first snow of the season may make it seem as if winter has come early to parts of the U.S., but NPR's Giles Snyder reports that the freezing temperatures are on the way out.
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Chapter 2: How are Democrats responding to internal backlash after the funding compromise?
The National Weather Service says the unseasonably cold weather will gradually come to an end. Forecasters say temperatures will moderate toward normal for the second part of the week in the southeast, which was hit by a major cold snap that affected states like Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Significant snow fell further north.
Icy interstate bridges led to multiple interstate crashes in West Virginia.
NPR's Giles Snyder. Baby formula maker BiHeart is recalling all of its products. As NPR's Maria Godoy reports, the move comes amid an outbreak of infant botulism, a serious illness caused by bacterial toxin.
Since August, at least 15 infants in at least 12 states have been hospitalized with botulism after consuming BiHeart's infant formula. No deaths have been reported. The voluntary recall includes Beihardt's Whole Nutrition infant formula and its Anywhere pouches of powdered formula. Over the weekend, Beihardt had announced it was recalling two lots of its infant formula.
On Tuesday, the company said its decision to expand the recall to all of its products came amid an ongoing investigation with, quote, too many unanswered questions. It said the safety of infants is its biggest priority. BioHeart says all of its products should be discarded. The company says it's collaborating closely with the Food and Drug Administration. Maria Godoy, NPR News.
U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. A rare full blackout in the Dominican Republic is being blamed on a series of failures in the transmission system for the Caribbean nation's electrical grid. According to the state-owned Dominican Electricity Transmission Commission, two power plants shut down, triggering a cascade of failures.
But the country's energy minister says the exact cause is not clear. The blackout has paralyzed business and transportation businesses. It also caused hospitals, banks, and other institutions to rely on generators. Iraq has held parliamentary elections that were largely peaceful. Jane Araf has the story from Oman.
An election boycott by the movement led by Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr led to relatively low turnout. As in other elections, Iran-backed parties dominated the political scene in central and south Iraq. Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, who came to power with support from Iran-backed parties, but also maintains good relations with the U.S., is hoping for a second term.
Initial results are expected Wednesday. But because Iraq's political scene is so fragmented, it will likely take weeks or even months of backroom negotiations to determine which coalition has the most support and the right to choose the president and prime minister. For NPR News, I'm Jane Araf in Amman.
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