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Soon, Senate Reconvenes After Breakthrough Vote to End Shutdown; Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Comments on Possible Shutdown Breakthrough; Today, 1,600-Plus Flight Cancelations so Far as Shutdown Continues. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 10, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news closer to a deal. A handful of Democrats come to the table and the Senate advances a measure to end the shutdown.

Plus, the damage is done. It's a travel nightmare, coast to coast, thousands of cancelations of delays. The big question this morning, when will things go back to normal?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a White House first, the former Jihadist turned Syrian president makes a truly historic visit to Washington after taking control of the country from Bashar al-Assad.

And Major League scheme, two professional pitchers now charged in an alleged sports betting and money laundering scheme.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we're following the breaking news. After 41 days, the longest government shutdown in the nation's history could be almost over. About an hour or so from now, the Senate is set to reconvene and could possibly vote on a measure that would ultimately reopen the federal government.

We got to this point after eight Democrats broke away from their party last night. They voted with the Republicans on a deal to end the impasse, and that has impacted so many aspects of American life from the kitchen table to the airport.

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SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Now, I understand that not all of my Democratic colleagues are satisfied with this agreement, but waiting another week or another month wouldn't deliver a better outcome. It would only mean more harm for families in New Hampshire and all across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju's, of course, up on Capitol Hill. Manu, I understand there are a lot of moving parts still out there. The Senate will reconvene next hour. When will the house come back?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the one of the questions we'll ask the speaker who's going to talk to reporters here being the podium behind me in just a matter of minutes. He has advised the House that it will come back within 36 hours after the Senate acts. Remember, the House has been out of session since September 19th, amid this standoff.

But the first big question is when the Senate will final passage to this bill, which cleared a key procedural hurdle last week by last night by the narrowest of margins, with 60 votes, eight Democrats voting in favor of advancing this package.

But in order to get to a final vote, it would require all 100 senators to actually agree to schedule that vote. So, that could take some time, which also could mean that this could push reopening the government until sometime perhaps in the middle of the week, maybe a little bit later. That is a key question.

Also, the political fallout of all this, we're seeing a lot of pushback on the left flank of the House and Senate Democratic caucus, other Democrats who believe that the deal that was ultimately cut was not sufficient because what Democrats who voted for this bill ultimately agreed to was not to include an extension of those expiring Obamacare subsidies as part of this funding package. Instead, they agreed to a standalone vote, a separate vote on this issue where. They got a commitment from the Republican leader in the Senate to have a vote on that by the second week of December.

I caught up with Senator Tim Kaine, one of those eight Democrats who voted for this plan, and I asked him whether or not he believed the shutdown fight was worth it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Was the shutdown worth it?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): To federal employees who are not going to be traumatized by risks (ph) going forward, yes.

You know, I've got some folks who didn't like the vote, but I'm going to have a whole lot of federal employees who are going back to work and they're getting their paychecks and they can live through the holidays without warning that they're going to get a bad email at 5:00 A.M. tomorrow morning telling them they're laid off. They have been living under a cloud of anxiety since January 20, and we've lifted that cloud to some degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): -- appears to be the beginning of the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, as shameful as that is. I don't think it's coincidental. You know how I think. But it's after 40 days of wandering in the wilderness and making the American people suffer needlessly. Some Senate Democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain. It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we're grateful for that.

At least some Democrats now finally appear ready to do what Republicans and President Trump and millions of hardworking American people have been asking them to do for weeks. But as we said from the beginning, the people's government cannot be held hostage to further anyone's political agenda. That was never right. And shutting down the government never produces anything. It never has, if you study history. And so here we are.

I want to remind everybody this morning of another critical point that you've heard me hear I repeat over and over, over the last several weeks.

[10:05:03]

It's something that I and Leader John Thune and President Trump and every Republican leader have all said repeatedly from the beginning. We have always been open to finding solutions to reduce the oppressive costs of healthcare under the Unaffordable Care Act. We just made clear that we would not and should not ever do that, that is negotiate as hostages.

And I've also reminded you here every morning that this press conference throughout the shutdown, Republicans have not just been talking about reducing costs and fraud and abuse in so many areas. And in healthcare, we've been actually passing new laws to accomplish that urgent mission for the people, and we will continue to do so.

So, here's where we are by way of schedule, just so you know, you're following. And if you're not at home, if you're waking up to this good news this morning, that the Senate's vote late last night of 60-40 opens the door now. The Senate is moving forward on an amended house C.R., continuing resolution, that will reopen the government until January 30th.

Added to that are provisions to fully fund SNAP provisions through the end of the next fiscal year, which is September 2026, guaranteed back pay for all federal workers who have been made to endure these hardships over the last several weeks. And it also includes passage of three appropriations bills, which we're grateful to be moving through the process. That is the Military Construction Veterans Affairs bill. It's the agriculture bill and the legislative branch bill.

The Senate will be back in session this morning to finish their job and we're certainly praying that they do. They'll need unanimous consent from all senators to fast track their final vote. As you know, there are some procedural hurdles that one or more could throw in the way, but we certainly hope that they won't do that because so many people across this country are desperate for the government to reopen.

At the very moment that they do that final vote, I will call all House members to return to Washington as quickly as possible. We'll give a 36-hour formal and official notice so that we can vote as soon as possible to pass the amended C.R. bill and get it to the president's desk. As you all know, and he said as recently as last night, I was with him, and he told the press. He said, we want to get the government open. He's very anxious to get the government reopened and to end the Schumer shutdown. We all are.

With regard to the travel challenges, I spoke yesterday at some link with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, my former colleague and good friend, and he lamented the serious situation that we have with air travel in the U.S. He's bent over backwards, as all members of the administration and the cabinet have done in all of their areas of jurisdiction, to try to keep the government working for the people and to mitigate the pain and the harm.

But the problem we have with air travel is that our air traffic controllers are overworked and unpaid, and many of them have called in sick. That's a very stressful job and even more stressful exponentially when they're having trouble providing for their families. And so air travel has been grinded to a halt in many places. And as of Sunday, nearly half of all domestic flights, U.S. flights, were either canceled or delayed, and it's a very serious situation.

So, I'm saying that by way of reminder, I'm stating the obvious to all my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats in the House, you need to begin right now returning to the Hill. We have to do this as quickly as possible.

Now, we look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back to our regular legislative session. We have a lot of business to do, as you all know, and we will be working in earnest. We'll be -- there'll be long days and long nights here for the foreseeable future to make up for all this lost time that was imposed upon us.

I want to close with something that's important. I think it's important to say that I, this is genuine. I mean this sincerely. We applaud the seven Senate Democrats and one independent senator who did the right thing. They decided to put principle over their personal politics. And my urgent plea of all my colleagues in the House, and that means every Democrat in the House, is to think carefully, pray and finally do the right thing, and help us to bring an end to the pain of the American people. This has gone on too long. Too many people have suffered and it's long overdue.

That's the update I wanted to give you this morning. There are probably lots of questions, but I'm going to get a lot of my own questions answered later today, so stay tuned for more. Thanks so much.

BLITZER: All right. So, there you have the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, making the statement, important words, our long, national nightmare, he says, finally coming to an end. It appears to be the end of the federal government shut down. But there's still plenty of things that need to be done in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. So, there's still plenty of work that needs to be done, but let's see how all this unfolds. Pamela?

BROWN: Yes. And you heard him say giving credit to the seven Democrats and the one independent, he said, for putting principle over politics.

[10:10:02]

We have one of them here with us. Joining us now is independent Senator Angus King of Maine. He voted with Republicans to advance the deal to reopen the government.

Thanks for being here with us. I just want to start with getting your reaction from what we just heard from Speaker Johnson.

SEN. ANGUS KING (R-ME): Well, I'm a little -- I don't know what to make of being complimented by Speaker Johnson. I don't know what that's going to do to my reputation, but I'll let that pass.

Here's where we are and where we were and what got me to the point where I'm saying, let's reopen. The strategy at the beginning of the shutdown on behalf of the Democrats was twofold. Stand up to Donald Trump and bring the Republicans to the table to negotiate an end to these drastic cuts to the ACA premiums or actually drastic increases to the ACA premiums.

The problem was after over 40 days, neither of those goals was being accomplished, and in the meantime, a lot of collateral damage was happening. People's lives were being hurt. We've heard talk about air travel, but I'm more worried about 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP benefits to put food before their families. That's what was suffering.

And so the question I was wrestling with is if the tactic isn't working and there were no prospects that it was going to work, then let's move on, not make a lot of other people suffer in order to get a goal that wasn't attainable.

What we did get in this agreement was, the speaker mentioned, there are three appropriations bills. That wasn't in the original discussion. One of them is agriculture. When that passes in this part of this agreement, SNAP is safe until next year, until next fall. And there are a lot of other benefits that are in those bills.

Secondly, for the first time in my experience, the majority leader has agreed to put a bill on the floor drafted by the Democrats on this healthcare and ACA issue. And, historically, that doesn't happen. The majority leader decides what comes to the floor.

Now, is that bill going to pass? What are the prospects? You know, 50 percent, 25 percent. But the point I want to make is, as of yesterday morning when the shutdown was still going, the chances were zero of getting anything on the ACA.

BROWN: So, your projection is that the separate ACA vote has a 50 percent to 25 percent chance of passing?

KING: Yes. It's some measurable percentage, which is a lot more than zero.

BROWN: So, then what do you say to the Democrats who argue this deal is a terrible mistake, it's an empty promise, or even a betrayal, especially after the recent election, where you saw Democrats have big wins? Why exactly in your view are they wrong on that?

KING: Because they don't tell us how it ends. Are we going to stay in the shutdown for another month through Thanksgiving into Christmas? There's no endgame. And people are going to feel the same way they do two weeks from now or a month from now. Only a lot of Americans are going to suffer in the meantime.

So, if they had a plan, if the Democrats said, okay, here's what's going to happen on this, this, this, and this, there's no such thing as just continue the shutdown and hope that the Republicans come to the table, which we know they won't. We've learned that and there's no evidence that they're going to come back in, in a week or in two weeks or three weeks, and in the meantime, we're hurting a lot of people.

If this was just a debate between politicians in the Senate about, you know, we're here for the weekend and we want to get it over with, that'd be one thing, but people are being damaged by virtue of the continuation of the shutdown that's not getting us anywhere.

A good general, if the battle plan isn't working, you change the battle plan, you try another tactic, especially if what's happening is danger to your troops. And that's what we're talking about, is danger to the American people in the service of a strategy that isn't working and has no prospects of working.

BROWN: So, then do you think the Democrats who voted against this deal caved?

KING: Who voted against it, well, no. They were saying, no, we want to keep going. We want to keep fighting. And my problem is that --

BROWN: I'm sorry, you voted -- I'm sorry, the Democrats who voted for it, did they cave?

KING: No. No.

BROWN: because some they had been holding out and they had been holding out for the reasons that you laid out, and then they voted for it.

KING: And then -- but what happened was people like Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan who had voted no all the way along said, you know, we're not getting anywhere. I mean, that's the basic point. We've been at this at the longest shutdown in American history and neither of the goals that were originally set forth at the beginning of this have been achieved or will be achieved.

And I checked in, you know, with some of my Republican colleagues this morning. I said, what are the chances if the shutdown goes on for another two or three weeks or a month, that you guys are going to come and negotiate a deal on the ACA? He said, zero. And that's where we are.

[10:15:00]

Now, this bill that we're talking about will deal with the ACA, but there may be other things in it in order to get enough votes to make it go. It's going to need a dozen or more Republican votes. And, again, it's not that I'm arguing that that is a sure thing. Yes, it's a promise of a vote, but a chance, whether it's 20 percent, 30 percent, 50 percent, is better than no chance, which is where we are now.

BROWN: Do you think the government's going to reopen this week?

KING: I do. I do.

BLITZER: And so how many senators will need to vote in favor of this new compromise?

KING: 60.

BLITZER: 60. And there will be a separate vote on continuing the benefits for the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans who rely on that health coverage?

KING: Correct.

BLITZER: And they will need 60 votes for that too?

KING: That's correct.

BLITZER: And you think there'll be enough Republicans to vote in favor of that? Because they think the Affordable Care Act is terrible.

KING: If I could predict that, Wolf, I'd own this building. I don't know. I think it -- well, we do know that if it was a straight up extend the benefits for a year or two years, we wouldn't get the votes. I mean, the Republicans have made that plain. They haven't voted for the ACA ever, any part of it. The question is whether we can fashion a bill that has attractive provisions for the Republicans and deals with this problem.

By the way, plenty of Republicans' constituents are being hurt by these ACA increases. In fact, the majority of the increases are in red states. So, we believe that's why the vote is not until mid-December in the next month, the Republicans going to hear from their constituents, and I think the pressure will build up on them. The shutdown was not pressure. Their constituents getting double and triple their health insurance premiums will be pressure. And that's why I think we have a chance to get something across the finish line.

BROWN: Before we let you go, I just want to ask you about President Trump floating this idea of paying Americans' healthcare directly using the subsidy money rather than paying the insurance.

KING: I don't know. You know, I have no idea what he's proposing. And, I mean, it sounds good, but what I found in healthcare, it's incredibly complicated and I just -- I can't comment.

BROWN: All right.

BLITZER: And his proposal now out on the table to give $2,000 to Americans, except the wealthiest Americans.

KING: On -- for healthcare, well, but the problem is a lot of people are going to be facing $10,000 and $15,000 increases in their premium. So, $2,000 isn't going to do it for a couple making $80,000 a year who's facing a $15,000 increase. Also, I'm not crazy about the idea of a check going out that he's going to sign. That's too cute by half for me.

BROWN: All right. Senator Angus King, thank you for your time today.

KING: Thank you.

BLITZER: I appreciate it very, very much. You're always welcome here in The Situation Room.

KING: Glad to be here.

BROWN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And still ahead while a deal may be close, it's not a done deal yet, and that means more flight cancellations and delays as air traffic controller staffing shortages persist. We'll have much more on that coming up.

BROWN: Plus, ten days into November, and it's still unclear when or if Americans could receive their food assistance. We're going to talk about that, coming up.

You're in The Situation Room.

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[10:20:00]

BROWN: Right now, a nightmare at the nation's airports despite glimmers of hope for an end to the shutdown. More than 2,000 flights have already been canceled for today and tomorrow, and that's coming off the worst weekend for staffing at air traffic control since the start of the shutdown. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled yesterday. That's according to FlightAware.

Also happening now, the head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, is holding a news conference. We're going to hear from him in just a moment.

But I want to bring in our CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean New York, Pete, how soon after the shutdown ends? Could things return to normal if ever? Because we know during the shutdown, several air traffic controllers have left.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, and also transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is saying the shortage of air traffic controllers, about 1,000 to 2,000 controllers, he says, will persist beyond this government shutdown, and we may see more of the same. You know, over the weekend, we saw the worst weekend for air traffic control staffing shortages since the start of this shutdown, the toughest for cancelations and delays as well.

These numbers were really pushed up by the fact that there were so many facilities short staffed between Friday and Sunday. We're talking about 10 different staffing shortages at about 50 different facilities, which led cancelations to be almost twofold greater than they were Saturday. Throw a little weather into the mix, and that comes the deck of cards to come tumbling down. Really, San Juan to Anchorage are the places where we saw staffing shortages on Sunday. It was a really, really tough day for air travel. Delta Airlines alone canceled about one in every five of its flights.

It's important to remember not all of those are because of staffing shortages. Some of those are because of bad weather, but the staffing shortages hit pretty much every major hub in the U.S.

I want you to listen now to National Air Traffic Controllers Association Union President Nick Daniels. He says that controllers are really bearing the brunt of all of these problems with the second $0 paycheck about to hit their bank accounts tomorrow. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: for decades, air traffic controllers have held the line through staffing shortages, outdated equipment, hiring freezes, terrorist attacks on September 11th, pandemics and every crisis that this country has lived through, they have kept their focus, their composure and their commitment to safety.

[10:25:12]

But now they must focus on childcare instead of traffic flows, food for their families instead of runway separation. This is not politics. This is not ideology. This is the erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees but America relies on every single day.

Now, history will remember who is responsible for the shutdown. The public and media will debate who won. But we all know who carried the weight of it and who has to pick up the pieces when it finally ends. It's us, the federal workforce that has been the rope in this game of tug-of-war.

Now, let me be clear, not just air traffic controllers and aviation safety professionals or federal employees, no American should ever be forced to work without a paycheck.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: It begs the question, why do federal workers have to go to work without pay during a government shutdown, especially the 10,000 air traffic controllers in the U.S. There are these Trump administration mandates for airlines to cancel flights, and tomorrow, the rate of cancelations mandated by the federal government goes up. Today it is 4 percent, tomorrow at 6 percent, Thursday, 8 percent, Friday 10 percent flights. So, we're not really out of the woods yet. And airlines have warned that even if this shutdown ends right away, those cancelations have already been baked into their schedules. It's very hard for them to uncancel flights.

So, even if this shutdown ends with immediacy, we will still see the reverb here in the short-term and also in the long-term. The air traffic control shortage nationwide does not go away when they get paid.

BROWN: Yes, this doesn't necessarily mean it's all of a sudden going to be smooth sailing over the upcoming holidays.

MUNTEAN: That's right.

BROWN: Pete Muntean, thank you so much.

And we are also following the breaking news out of the Supreme Court. Justices have just decided whether to take up same sex marriage.

You're in The Situation Room.

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