Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Pressure Mounts to End Shutdown as Trump Admin Slashes Flights; Judge Orders Trump Admin to Make Full Food Benefit Payments; Democrats Expected to Block GOP Push to Reopen Government. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 07, 2025 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, travelers are trying to navigate the chaos at airports across the country, the Trump administration slashing flights because of the shutdown. Hundreds of flights have been canceled so far today and that number expected to grow as air traffic staffing shortages get worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're deferring their mortgages, they're trying to figure out how long can I continue to pay for childcare, which allows me to come to work anyway, because you can't bring your child to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: How those air traffic controllers working without pay are now trying to make ends meet other ways.

Plus, new details this morning after a mysterious white powder was found inside a suspicious package at Joint Base Andrews.

I'm Sarah Sidner with Kate Bolduan, John Berman out today. This is CNN News Central.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The breaking news this morning, hundreds of flights already canceled, unfortunately, and this is just the beginning. Travelers across the country are bracing for chaos, and that is what the transportation secretary said was going to happen, as the Trump administration begins slashing air traffic while the record- long government shutdown hits day 38, and they say it is in the name of air safety. The major airlines are scrambling, canceling more than 800 flights around the country so far. That is four times as many as just yesterday.

The cuts are happening to 40 major airports, 40 of the country's busiest airports. And new this morning, the FAA is now reporting that staffing problems are mounting and impacting three of the airports. Already on that list, Newark, Boston, and Ontario, California, which handles heavy cargo traffic.

At the center of this are air traffic controllers stuck in the middle of this. They are working without pay and facing staffing shortages that already existed as the shutdown drags on and it's been going on so long, they can't do it anymore. The COO of American Airlines says that this has gone on long enough. Here is what he told ABC this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SEYMOUR, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, AMERICAN AIRLINES: But let me be clear, we need to get the government reopened. We need to get this aviation system back and implore our members of Congress to get together and get the government reopened so we can get back to normalcy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Jason Carroll live at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Whitney Wild is at Chicago O'Hare and, obviously, Chicago.

Jason, let me start with you. What are you seeing there at this hour?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, I know you've heard the expression, looks can be deceiving. That is the situation here because, look, when you look at the board here, the departure board -- security lines here, they seem to be flowing through just as well.

But when you talk to passengers here, you get a completely different story, lots of frustration here on the ground. As you said, the FAA has cut flights to 40 of the busiest airports across the country, this being one of them, another one in Chicago where my where my co-worker, Whitney Wild, is standing by, but it's also in Miami. In places like Los Angeles, places like Houston. This is where we're going to be seeing a lot of the cuts and a lot of the problems.

When you look at what's happening with some of the airline carriers, we're already hearing from them, Delta cutting, 170 flights, United, 200, American, 220, Southwest, 100 flights. These are some of the issues that we've been seeing here on the ground.

I spoke to a passenger traveling through here just a short while ago, a couple. They flew in from Hungary. They're trying to get back to North Carolina. They finally gave up and decided to rent a car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CURLEY: They said, yes, you're still going to be flying out at 10:00. Well, of course, 10:00 came and went --

CARROLL: This is 10:00 --

CURLEY: 10:00 at night.

CARROLL: Okay.

CURLEY: And then they said cancel flight. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it wasn't even on the board. And we just went to an agent and they looked it up and they said, nope, that's canceled too. And, of course, the whole board, there were so many cancellations. So, we're going to just rent a car and drive.

CURLEY: So -- well, we ended up in a hotel.

CARROLL: Drive from where?

CURLEY: From here to Wilmington, North Carolina.

People are really hurting out here. And it's not just the traveling public, but it's affecting the whole economy and you people are to blame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: That message you hear directly to lawmakers, so much frustration here on the ground, from passengers who are saying this has got to be worked out, because in the meantime, people are suffering.

[09:05:00]

Kate?

BOLDUAN: And that frustration, it's different than a snowstorm, right? You can see outside an airport window to see a snowstorm. This level of frustration is very different, which is concerning, right. This is totally human-created and being made only worse by humans as well.

Jason, thank you so much. Jason is in Newark, a huge, busy airport in New Jersey.

Let's go to Chicago now, that is where another major hub where Whitney Wild is standing by. Whitney, what are you hearing from people there this morning?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, things here are going pretty well. I mean, you have to consider that news about the cancellations was starting, you know, over the last few days. So, for the most part, you know, the people here, you know, had that in mind and are able to get on their flights. We haven't spoken with anybody who said that their flight was canceled.

Although if you come and look at the board here, I'll just give you a quick look. So, you can see that there's some delays here. I think, let's see, one, two, three, it is like seven or so flights that are delayed right now in total coming in and out of O'Hare today. There are dozens of flights that are delayed. There are dozens of flights that are canceled, but for the most part, things are very calm here.

I'll give you just a quick look at the security line. It's only five minutes. So, you're not seeing major delays like we saw at Houston a few days ago where there were these like three-hour delays. This is going very smoothly.

And I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what you said about the weather, because I think when people think about flight delays and flight cancellations, especially when you're talking about Chicago, which can get slammed with snow, that's where people's minds are.

Today, could not be more perfect. It is a bluebird day. There is not a cloud in the sky. In theory, this should be the perfect day to fly. But there are these minor disruptions, again, with dozens of cancellations and dozens of delays. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Whitney, thank you so much for being there, Whitney in Chicago, Jason and New Jersey. Thank you both. We're going to track this all throughout the day. Sara?

SIDNER: You know this all too well, that early in the morning is the best time to try to get out. Yes, once the afternoon comes around, things get -- yes.

BOLDUAN: And then it's just going to mount and snowball and I -- yes.

SIDNER: Not good. All right, thank you, Kate.

This morning, Senate Democrats are signaling they are ready to block Republican plans to force a vote today to reopen the government until they get firm commitments from their GOP colleagues to deal. With the rising healthcare costs.

The shutdown has created a battle over the SNAP program, which helps feed more than 40 million Americans, most of them children. A federal judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the program, but the White House said it's going to appeal that ruling. As lawmakers negotiate, Americans are really struggling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy, so I've been disabled since birth. So, I rely on food stamps and Social Security to survive. I've been struggling. It's been really hard. I've literally been eating spaghetti for four days because it's all I have in my apartment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Arlette Saenz is on Capitol Hill. Arlette, we're hearing these version of these stories over and over again, long lines at food banks and now the line's starting to grow at airports. What is the latest? Is there any negotiation that looks like there's any movement toward a solution here?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, these conversations about ending the government shutdown appear to be deadlocked, all but guaranteeing that this will likely extend into next week and potentially much longer. There had been some glimmers of hopes about negotiations that were happening behind the scenes, but right now, the Senate Democrats appear to be united and have signaled that they would block a GOP effort to reopen the government with a vote a little bit later today.

Now, there was an emerging deal that could have seen an additional stopgap funding measure, which would've funded the government for an extended period of time along with a few appropriations bill to fund certain agencies for the full year. And along with that plan would be a commitment to vote on extending those Obamacare subsidies. But Democrats right now want to see further commitments to ensure that those subsidies would actually pass and be signed into law. And right now, both sides still appear to be at odds. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring the shutdown to an end. Well, I have good news for the president. Meet with Democrats. Reopen the government. Fix the ACA crisis. That's the best way to put this crisis behind us.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): These folks need to grow up open the government and understand that people like me and other Republicans are prepared to come up with a reasonable outcome for the Obamacare substance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now one of the concerns for Senate Democrats is that even if they held a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, there's no guarantee that that would pass in the Senate. And then if it did even pass in the Senate, it would still have to go to the House where House Speaker Mike Johnson has been non-committal about a vote.

[09:10:02]

So, that is some of the different issues that Senate Republicans and Democrats are juggling in this moment at a time when many people across the country are feeling the pain of this government shutdown. As you said, those who receive SNAP assistance for food stamps are basically in limbo waiting to learn what kind of assistance they'll be receiving this month. As we heard from both Jason and Whitney, these issues of cancelations of flights due to a lessening of the flights that will be taking place, that's also something that's really creating a pressure point.

So, right now, it's still waiting to see how these senators come together to try to end the shutdown, but it does not seem that anything is happening imminently.

SIDNER: Yes, it's truly disturbing to the American public to see people suffering like this and having Congress be in such a deadlock, not being able to work together to fix this.

Arlette Saenz do appreciate you. Thank you. Have a great weekend. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this. Joining me right now, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Senator, thank you for being here. There -- I mean, Arlette was getting to it. There were murmurs that a deal could be struck yesterday. John Thune now says that this newly drafted bill had input from Democrats and he says this now, quote, they, Democrats, seem to be walking back or slow walking this. That is what they asked for. Is there a deal emerging or is this deadlocked, and why aren't Democrats going for it?

SEN. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-WI): Look, there's a lot of conversation going on and I want to say that a lot changed this week. We had an election on Tuesday where voters resoundingly said, we can't afford to make ends meet. And that was something that caught President Trump's attention. For the very first time on Wednesday this week, he engaged in this. He told Republicans in the United States Senate, you have to reopen. You have to reopen immediately.

And that creates an opportunity for us to both lower healthcare costs with this looming crisis in the Affordable Care Act. People are shopping right now and many opting not to renew health insurance because they simply can't afford it.

We can reopen government and bring down these healthcare costs at the same time, and that's what we must do this weekend. While Trump was halfway around the globe in Asia, I've been here, my Democratic colleagues have been here in Washington, ready to negotiate. It appears that this week finally the president is willing to engage in negotiation. That's what we've got to do, reopen the government and bring down costs.

BOLDUAN: What Senator Thune is saying is that there is a commitment in this new draft of a future vote on healthcare subsidies issue. I guess the question then comes down to, at this moment, what does a kind of, quote/unquote, firm commitment look like to you to resolving healthcare subsidies that would be included in the bill to make you okay with signing onto it?

BALDWIN: Look, right now, they have said consistently reopen now, we'll have a conversation later about the Affordable Care Act tax credit extension. That is not enough for the millions of Americans who, starting November 1st, are shopping for health insurance --

BOLDUAN: Well, what then is enough? What is the (INAUDIBLE) in your view?

BALWDIN: That we do it together, that we do it together, that we reopen and extend the tax credits, bring the house back who's been on vacation for six weeks and have them pass what we send them.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you as well, the Supreme Court is meeting today to consider which appeals it's going to hear in the coming months, and one they are considering is a case that could lead to overturning same-sex marriage rights. The court could announce the way it's being seen as soon as Monday kind of what cases they're going to take up or not. This court now looks very different than the court in 2015 when the original ruling came about. What do you think is going to happen?

BALDWIN: It's hard to predict what the Supreme Court will do in their private conference as they decide which cases they're going to hear. But one of the things that I think back at is how -- you know, exactly how I felt and after decades of work towards marriage equality, the day that the Obergefell decision was announced.

And you're right, it's a very different Supreme Court after they overturned a woman's right to choose in the Dobbs case, they signaled in that case what rights they were going after next. And Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion, called them out, said, maybe this court should reconsider the Obergefell marriage equality case.

[09:15:05]

And so it's not a surprise that they are considering whether to hear an appeal on this. And I guess it's a reminder to all of us that we should not mistake progress for victory. This is something that we have to remain vigilant about.

BOLDUAN: They're meeting today, we could hear as early as next week what direction, at least where this might be headed.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, thank you so much for coming in. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, a security scare at Joint Base Andrews, several people getting sick after the delivery of a package with a mysterious white powder in it.

And Tesla shareholders approving a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk, hard to wrap your mind around that. That could buy the world's largest cruise ship 465 times. We'll talk about that coming up.

And just in time for your Thanksgiving dessert table, Taco Bell introducing a new Baja Blast Pie. That is a very interesting color.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

SIDNER: This morning alarm inside of one of the nation's most notable U.S. military bases, authorities are investigating a suspicious package sent to Joint Base Andrews. We're learning that at least seven people became ill and had to be taken to the hospital on the base. Two buildings were also evacuated.

CNN's Zach Cohen is joining us now. What are you learning about what was in this package, this white powder that we're hearing about? Is there any indication as to what it is?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. As you said, an ongoing investigation after at least seven people reported feeling sick at Joint Base Andrews yesterday when the suspicious package was opened, and we're told unknown white substance, white powder was found inside.

Now, that's going to be something and that we know in law enforcement. And investigators are trying to confirm exactly what it is, right? And they're also looking into the origins of the package itself, who sent it, and their motivation for doing so.

Now, as of now, those are still relatively unanswered questions. We asked Joint Base Andrews about this suspicious package and what our source described as that white powder inside, and they acknowledged the ongoing investigation saying, quote, as a precaution, the building and connecting building where the package was sent were evacuated. Joint Base Andrews first responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats, and have turned the scene over to the office of Special Investigations and investigation is currently ongoing.

Now, an initial review of that white substance we're told did not find anything hazardous. Now, that's going to go through multiple additional layers of review before investigators can confirm exactly what it is.

We're also told that inside this package, there was a piece of political propaganda that will almost certainly factor into the investigation as well, especially as investigators try to determine the motive of the person who ultimately sent this package.

And I just want to remind folks as well that Joint Base Andrews is not just any U.S. military base. It is known as the home of Air Force One, which, of course, is the plane used by the president of the United States. And President Donald Trump was actually at the base just yesterday or just on Wednesday, 24 hours before this incident took place.

SIDNER: Yes, it's terrifying, very concerning.

Zach Cohen, I know you'll be watching this to see where this investigation leads. We really do appreciate your reporting on this Friday.

All right, ahead, right now, flights, those cuts underway at major airports across the country due to the government shutdown. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled. More are expected to be slashed soon. The CEO of a major airline is saying it's time to get the government reopened.

And a D.C. jury deals a defeat to the Trump administration. We'll hear from the man acquitted in the infamous sandwich throwing case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

BOLDUAN: Let's take you to Washington right now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy taking questions at Washington Reagan.

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: As I reviewed that with the safety team at the FAA, they said the safest way to do this is to get to 10 percent, to do a step approach and do it -- we'll do it at 4 percent and then, as you see, four days later, we do two, two days later we do another two, and then two days after that, we're at 10 percent. They thought from the safety team and the administrator, that was the best way to do this and the safest way to do this, which is why that's what we rolled out.

REPORTER: Secretary, can you clarify if it's 10 percent across all flights across America, or 10 percent impact on the 40 airports that you have --

DUFFY: It's 40 airports. So, we're doing 10 percent on the 40 airports. That's where we saw the most pressure.

REPORTER: So, how many flights per day is that? Because it's not 4,500, right? It's going to be less than that.

DUFFY: So, it's going to be 4 percent today in regard to those 40 airports. And, again, we're going to step ladder that up to get to 10 percent next week. The exact number, I can't give you. And I don't want to see the disruption. I don't want to see the delays.

Now, there could be a benefit if I can get the controllers to come back to work, I asked the head of the air traffic controller union to reach out to its controllers to ask them to show up. It is their jobs. If they start coming to work, we may have the same experience we had in Newark. We had delays and cancellations in Newark in the early summer. We reduced the capacity and then the flights were on time, right? We had less cancelations, less delays. It was the most on-time months we had at Newark ever.

So, that could be an outcome of what we're doing and we'll see probably more people on less flights, which means less pressure on control.

REPORTER: Sir, have you spoken to the president today? Any expectation he has in the middle of this tense situation across the country?

DUFFY: So, I haven't talked to the president today, but I've talked to the president, I've talked to the White House.

[09:30:02]

They're fully read in on what we're doing. And when I look to the safety team, the White House also looked to the safety team.