Doug Jones' election caps off the month that the #MeToo movement made its way to Washington. Bustle's Erin Delmore joins Cheddar to discuss how Senator Kirsten Gillibrand became the face of the new wave that's beginning to enter the political arena. We put the Alabama special election in context as the first time voters went to the polls in the post-Weinstein era.
Delmore also discusses President Trump's targeting of New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter. The senior political correspondent says the fact the president already has a nickname for the senator proves he's taking her seriously as a threat. We consider Gillibrand's presidential aspirations and look back at the history of her work fighting against sexual harassment.
Finally, we focus on UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's statement that President Trump's accusers ought to be heard. Delmore says this breaks with the official White House stance on Trump's history of sexual misconduct allegations. She says both Haley and Ivanka Trump prove there is at least some dissent among the president's inner circle regarding the issue.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
