AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Forty days into a record-breaking government shutdown, and the consequences are becoming more severe. Some food banks are scrambling to serve unpaid federal workers and people who rely on SNAP benefits, while there's a big legal fight going on over those benefits. The Federal Aviation Administration has begun reducing air traffic, and key economic data is not being released by the federal government. Joining me now is NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Good morning, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So let's start briefly with SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What's the latest on that?
KEITH: Yeah. SNAP is the nation's largest anti-hunger program, but funding ran out more than a week ago. The Trump administration's position is that it can't tap reserve funds as has been done in past shutdowns. So there's been a flurry of legal action, and as a result, some payments have gone out. On Friday, the Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and got a temporary stay, all of which is to say that there are millions of people in this country whose ability to buy food is in limbo, and the cleanest solution would be to end the government shutdown, but that is easier said than done.
RASCOE: OK. Well, let's talk about the economic data blackout. What do we know about the state of the U.S. economy without a monthly jobs report or information about retail sales?
KEITH: Yeah. Friday marked the second month without that all-important jobs report. The last report from August showed anemic job growth and the unemployment rate ticking up. What we did get this week was some private data, which provides an incomplete but concerning picture. A report from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas tallied 153,000 job cuts in October and hiring at its lowest point in 14 years. And consumer confidence, measured by the University of Michigan, took a hit too, with the shutdown dragging on and inflation worries growing. In addition to there being economic consequences, there are real political consequences too when people don't feel good about the state of the economy.
RASCOE: But, Tam, we've been told for over a year now that President Trump was elected because Americans were very unhappy about the economy, and it seems like you're telling me they're still unhappy. The state of the economy proved to be a winning issue for Democrats in last week's election. What's the message now from the White House?
KEITH: A top Trump political adviser acknowledged during a Politico podcast interview that the president needs to pivot to affordability. And in just the past few days, the president has been talking about it a lot, which is a change from before the election. And he keeps getting asked about people's concerns about the cost of living. As that has happened, he's been getting pretty defensive. On Thursday, he even said he didn't want to talk about affordability, which led to this on Friday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The fake news yesterday, they talked about that. They said, oh, I don't want to talk about affordability. The reason I don't want to talk about affordability is because everybody knows that it's far less expensive under Trump than it was under sleepy Joe Biden.
KEITH: Egg prices are down from the peaks they hit early in the Trump administration. Gas prices are down somewhat, though not as cheap as the president has been claiming. Beef prices are up, so Trump said he's ordering an investigation into meat packers. But at least in part because of Trump's tariffs policy, inflation has been persistent this year.
The reality is, presidents don't have that many levers to juice the economy or bring prices down. Promising to fix the economy is a great campaign message, but it is harder to deliver on. Just this morning, President Trump posted that we are the richest and most respected country in the world. He said 401(k)s are the highest ever. But voters are getting daily reminders of how their own personal economy is doing.
RASCOE: OK. Does that mean that there's more pressure to end this shutdown standoff?
KEITH: The pressure points keep growing, but so far, this shutdown has been immune to all kinds of pressure. Senate Democrats offered to vote for a government funding bill if it includes a one-year extension of health care tax subsidies that are expiring and giving people major sticker shock. That was rejected immediately by Republicans. Meantime, President Trump has been in Florida this weekend, posting on social media a lot of all-caps ideas that so far have been nonstarters, like terminating the filibuster in the Senate and addressing the health insurance cliff by giving people money directly.
RASCOE: That's NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Thanks, Tam.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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