--:-- Kristen Wright: This message comes from Capital One with the Venture X-Card. Earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, get premium benefits at a collection of hotels when booking through Capital One Travel. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Details at CapitalOne.com.
--:-- Kristen Wright: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. There are no obvious signs the government shutdown will end quickly. Congress is responsible for voting on how to fund federal agencies. But members are sharply divided along party lines after multiple rounds of voting.
--:-- Kristen Wright: The White House just held a briefing. Vice President Vance says now isn't the time to negotiate. We all understand that Democrats and Republicans have policy disagreements. Democrats want to do things. Look, when Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries were in here a couple of days ago, they made some suggestions that the president was more than happy to say, yes, let's sit down and talk about how we can solve the health care crisis that we inherited from the Biden administration.
--:-- Kristen Wright: But it's one thing to say that we should solve the health care crisis for Americans. It's another thing to say that we're going to shut down the government unless we give the Democrats every single thing that they want. Democrats are holding firm on wanting to fund health care subsidies that are expiring under the Affordable Care Act. Those insurance premiums could spike.
--:-- Kristen Wright: The White House says layoffs of furloughed workers are imminent. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed. Others are expected to work without pay until Congress reaches a deal to reopen the government.
--:-- Andrea Hsu: The Congressional Budget Office estimates some 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed. That includes roughly half of the Department of Agriculture, half of civilians working for the Defense Department, and close to three-quarters of the Labor Department.
--:-- Andrea Hsu: Where most employees are still working, although mostly without pay, include the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Transportation.
--:-- Andrea Hsu: Separate from the shutdown, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced layoffs of 1% of its staff, more than 100 people, including those in communications and the patents unit. That agency is not funded by Congress, but rather by user fees, so it remains operational.
--:-- Brian Mann: The Trump administration says it's cutting off billions of dollars of infrastructure funding from New York City. This move comes after President Trump threatened to punish the city if voters elect the Democratic mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani.
--:-- Brian Mann: Russell Vogt, head of the Federal Office of Management and Budget, says roughly $1 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been frozen. Vogt said the goal is to make sure tax dollars don't go to what he described as unconstitutional DEI principles.
--:-- Brian Mann: But the move comes days after Trump threatened to cut off federal funds to the city over his opposition to Zoran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist State Assemblyman who leads the mayoral race. In a social media post, Trump said Mamdani, quote, needs the money from me as president in order to fulfill all of his fake communist promises. He won't be getting any of it. So what's the point of voting for him?
--:-- Brian Mann: This is only the latest effort by Trump to intervene in the city's election.
--:-- Will Stone: The federal government is coming up with new advice on alcohol as part of its new dietary guidelines. The existing guidelines say no more than two drinks a day for men and one for women.
--:-- Will Stone: But there are questions about whether the updated advice will underplay the harms of alcohol, as NPR's Will Stone reports.
--:-- Will Stone: Federal health officials were going to consider two different reports on alcohol. One of them from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of dying, including from cardiovascular disease.
--:-- Will Stone: The other study essentially came to the opposite conclusion that even low levels of drinking increase your risk of dying for many causes including cancer and stroke.
--:-- Will Stone: Scientists who worked on that report were told recently it would not be considered as part of the new guidelines.
--:-- Mike Marshall: To be focused on making America healthy again without addressing alcohol is inexplicable.
--:-- Will Stone: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not comment on why the report was being excluded.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: A closely watched employment report out today shows private businesses got rid of jobs in September for the third time in four months.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: The data from private payroll processor ADP says the private sector decreased by 32,000 jobs last month.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: Analysts say it's another sign of weakness in the labor market.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: The U.S. Labor Department's report will not be released as scheduled this Friday because of the government shutdown.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate in September to guard against a softening job market.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: This is NPR News.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: America's global role is shifting fast. On Sources and Methods, we explain how and why.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: I'm Mary Louise Kelly. I've talked to spies. I've reported from war zones. I've interviewed ambassadors, generals, presidents.
--:-- Mary Louise Kelly: Want to understand what is happening around the world and how it affects us? Join me and my fellow reporters as we break it down for you.
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