Sunday Fun Day

Today’s notice: Lawmakers in the Senate attempt to make a law, but will the House let them? What Democrats learned from the Virginia AG race. MAHA opposition wants to be cooler online. And: How moderate Yankee Republicans thrive in blue states.

THE LATEST

So much for unity? Months of Democratic harmony came to an end last night after some of the more moderate members of the Senate Democratic caucus — including Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, and Angus King — brokered a whirlwind deal to end the government shutdown, NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz, Avani Kalra and Jade Lozada report. The bill cleared a key procedural hurdle in the chamber late last night, and the question now becomes: How long will the whole process take?

What’s in the deal: A short-term funding resolution to Jan. 30, SNAP funding through the end of fiscal year 2026, a reversal of all shutdown layoffs since Oct. 1 and a freeze on any further layoffs through the rest of the CR, plus backpay for furloughed workers.

What’s not in the deal: A deal to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, however there’s an agreement to vote on a bill of Democrats’ choosing in December.

Who’s happy: Those who voted “yes” defended it as a win for federal workers. And the lack of a real ACA deal? Sen. Dick Durbin told CNN that critics just didn’t know how the Senate works: “We have brought this issue as a major national issue from zero to a major factor,” he said.

The Tuesday factor: Yesterday morning, Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger raised Democratic eyebrows after demurring when asked on CBS if Tuesday’s results gave her party a reason to hold the line on the shutdown. Sunday night, Sen. Tim Kaine emerged as one of the new Democratic votes in favor of reopening the government. He cited, like Spanberger, the need to give some clarity to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who live in Virginia.

Who’s not happy: “I am proud of the majority of Senate Democrats who opposed this vote,” DNC chair Ken Martin said in a statement Sunday night. He was joined in outrage by basically every House Democrat and many of the party’s potential 2028 candidates. Sen. Bernie Sanders torched the deal on the Senate floor moments after it was introduced by Sen. Susan Collins.

Hakeem Jeffries also put out a scathing statement ahead of the vote, blaming Republicans while adding that House Democrats would “fight the GOP bill.”

Open tabs: ‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison (NYT); Duffy: Air travel will be reduced ‘to a trickle’ before Thanksgiving (The Hill); BBC Bosses Step Down After Furor Over Edited Trump Speech (NOTUS); ICE considers buying large warehouses to hold immigrants (NBC)

From the Hill

Here we go again: Once the Senate passes the full bill (they just needed to hit cloture last night), it goes to the House. Yes, after seven weeks, the House will be forced to return and pass another bill. It’s unclear whether the deal will have the votes — most Democrats seem to be opposed, and it’s a big question whether Speaker Mike Johnson can hold his conference together.

From the White House

As the voting was underway, Donald Trump and White House went quiet, letting the drama play out on the Hill and inside the Democratic Party. It was a rapid shift, which happened after a palpably annoyed Trump posted more than a dozen times over the weekend about ending the shutdown, the filibuster and the Obamacare subsidies. “He wants this to be over,” a senior White House official told Jasmine over the weekend, “and the damn government to be open.”

NOTUS INTERVIEW

One week later, the remarkable win of Jay Jones in the race for Attorney General of Virginia stands out as a sign of just how well Democrats were able to use Trump as a foil. Sean Rankin, president of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, talked to us about what his group learned.

On Democrats taking heat for not calling for Jones to drop out: “That tactic didn’t work [for Republicans] in Virginia, and it won’t work in other places. So as Democrats, we need to continue to stick with what matters to voters.”

The tactics: “Our spend in Virginia this year was about $5.6 million. It was heavy on digital, more heavy on digital than we’ve ever spent. We were focusing on the issues that matter and tying those issues, and the inaction of [incumbent AG] Jason Miyares, to Trump. That’s a breakthrough strategy, that messaging works, and we will continue to do that.”

What that means for 2026: “The change with [the Supreme Court’s national injunction ban] just means that the relief that Democratic AGs would have gotten that would have been nationalized and gone to red states doesn’t go there anymore. So Republican AGs can’t hide behind our wins.”

The Farm Belt is an electoral target. Red states “may not agree with Democrats as a party, but they will agree with AGs who are going and forcing the Trump administration to improve or fix policies, like the lawsuit AGs are filing right now on tariffs.”

THE BIG ONE

Is MAHA beatable online? A recent KFF poll found 55% of Americans use social media to find health advice, and when asked their go-to sources, MAHA influencers Dr. Phil, Dr. Eric Berg and Dr. Mehmet Oz came up often.

In other words, MAHA is going viral. Can science? There’s an emerging ecosystem of scientists, doctors and public health professionals trying — and struggling — to counter MAHA, NOTUS’ Margaret Manto reports.

“Physicians, scientists, nurses, people in healthcare in general, in the sciences, those with credible expertise, need to step up to try to explain to people what’s really going on,” Dr. Zachary Rubin, a pediatric allergist and clinical immunologist with over a million followers on Instagram, told Margaret.

This conversation has played out in so many parts of American politics in recent years. But for the scientific community, the need to figure it out is especially urgent as childhood vaccine rates drop and support for scientific research projects dries up.

NEW ON NOTUS

Stopping SNAP: “To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” the USDA said in a memo sent to state agencies over the weekend. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Distanced from MAGA. “Are the roads repaired? Are the taxes relatively low? Are the police doing their jobs? You know, just the basic things like that,” Andrew Smith, director of polling at UNH, told NOTUS’ Torrie Herrington of the secret to lasting moderate Republican success in New England. “They stay away from the social issues.”

More: Reagan-Appointed Federal Judge Resigns to Speak Freely Against Trump, by Amelia Benavides-Colón

NOT US

• The Crack-Up at the Heritage Foundation Is a Warning Sign for MAGA World, by Tarini Parti and Maggie Severns for The Wall Street Journal
  
• Trump Wine Hits Government Shelves, by Zach Everson for Forbes
  
• The Limits of the Democrats’ Big Tent, by Elaine Godfrey for The Atlantic

WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday: Veterans Day.

Wednesday: Sen. Chris Murphy is scheduled to speak in New Hampshire.

Thursday: The October Consumer Price Index is scheduled to be released (if the government is open, of course).

Friday: Sen. Cory Booker is scheduled to speak in New Hampshire.

Saturday: MSNBC officially becomes MS NOW. Please, uh, take the appropriate steps. Whatever they may be.

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