Jordan Klepper Previews the White House Correspondents' Dinner
*By Alisha Haridasani*
Michelle Wolf will be a strong host for this year’s White House Correspondents dinner, said fellow comedian Jordan Klepper.
“She’s been a pro for years and one of the funniest voices out there,” Klepper told Cheddar Friday. “I’m just excited to sit back and watch her kill it.”
This year, President Trump has decided to again buck tradition and skip the dinner, a move that he will probably keep doing for years to come, said Klepper.
“The ability to have thick skin and play around with people” is not the president’s forte, the host of Comedy Central's "The Opposition" said. “The fact that he’s flying to Michigan [instead] on Saturday kind of proves that it’s going to be a while before he finds his way back into the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
Last year’s dinner was hosted by comedian Hasan Minhaj, who opened his speech by calling the event the [“series finale,”](http://time.com/4761644/hasan-minhaj-white-house-correspondents-dinner-speech-transcript/) taking a dig at Trump’s hatred for the media.
The dinner, sometimes called "Nerd Prom", is organized by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), which was founded in 1914 and champions a free, unfettered press. It takes place this Saturday.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-art-of-political-satire-with-comedian-jordan-klepper).
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.