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The Situation Room

Shutdown Breakthrough; Senate Reconvening After Breakthrough Vote To End Shutdown; Lake-effect Snow Hammers Chicago, Puts Freeze On Travel Plans; Aired 11:00-11:30p ET

Aired November 10, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Game, but some things that happen in the game that's similar to what happened in some of the NBA bets as well. And you had folks on the inside feeding information to folks on the outside who were betting. So at their core, they're different. Now, obviously, everyone's innocent, proven guilty. These are different states, different individuals, different defendants. But at their core, there's huge similarities.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Cracking down on this.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Those of us who love Major League Baseball, like you and I, are very disappointed this is going on.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Elliot Williams, Coy Wire, to both of you, thank you very much. The next hour of The Situation Room starts right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BROWN: Breaking news after 40 days, including air traffic chaos, no paychecks for federal workers and snap benefits frozen for millions, a possible break in the longest government shutdown in history. Seven Democratic senators and one independent broke with their party to end the funding stalemate. Will the deal survive when the Senate reconvenes in just moments?

BLITZER: And we want to welcome 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.

We begin with the breaking news. The Senate has now set to convene after last night's truly breakthrough vote on ending the federal government shutdown, which has been impacting so many aspects of life for millions of Americans since October 1st.

BROWN: Seven Democrats and an independent who aligns with them, Angus King, who was just on our show in the last hour, voted with Republicans on a deal that would reopen the government and in exchange they would get a vote by mid-December on whether to extend Obamacare subsidies. Senator King was here in The Situation Room, and he explained why he

felt like Democrats who bucked party lines didn't care cave to Republican pressure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN ANGUS KING (I) MAINE: What happened was people like Jean Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who voted no all the way along, said, you know, it's 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. So what can we expect this hour, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right now the Senate is reconvening and there are a lot of negotiations happening behind the scenes right now because they have to reach an agreement among all 100 senators to actually schedule a final vote to pass this bill. We do expect this bill to pass after eight Democrats broke ranks, cut a deal to reopen the government up until January 30th. And as part of that deal, having a separate vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies that have been a chief demand of Democrats all along to try to tie that to the funding bill, because they said it must be dealt with immediately to avoid an increase that people will feel over their health care premiums. But as part of this deal, a separate vote will happen on the Affordable Care Act. That won't happen until at the latest, the second week of December.

And there is no guarantee that will become law. In fact, it is very unlikely to become law. That is a question that I put to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is one of the chief negotiators as part of this deal, about whether she did, in fact capitulate. According to many Democrats who are critical of this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D) NEW HAMPSHIRE: There was no vote that we were going to get on the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. We have a guaranteed vote by a guaranteed date on a bill that we will write, not that the Republicans will write, although I do think it's important for us to engage with him because we need a bipartisan bill that we know is going to get enacted to provide the relief that Americans need. And I think there's a commitment on the part of many of our colleagues to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But there's no guarantee this will become law.

(END VIDEOTAPE) RAJU: And the last question I asked earlier, there's no guarantee that

there will be a vote on this. She said there was never a guarantee that this would ultimately become law or there would be a -- that this would move ahead here. So with those members, eight of them represented a minority of the 47 member Senate Democratic Caucus.

In fact, the Democratic leaders in the United States Senate, including Chuck Schumer, are opposed to this plan, as well as the House Democratic leaders as well. Hakeem Jeffries has come out opposed to this. So expect that when the votes do happen, it would pass by the narrowest of margins with most Democrats voting in opposition to it. Expect the votes when there's an agreement, Wolf and Pamela, to pass probably within the next couple of days.

And then the House would come back into session perhaps by the middle of this week. It would take 36 hours for the House members to come back because they have been out of sessions since September 19th. All as a strategic move by the speaker of the House to try to pressure Senate Democrats to move ahead on this plan. But the end is in sight. After the painful consequences of the shutdown piling up for so many Americans. This deal now reached, now it's just a matter of when, not if, the government will reopen.

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BLITZER: And Manu, in order for this deal to pass the Senate, they're going to need 60 out of the 100 members to pass it, right?

RAJU: That's absolutely right, Wolf. So if any one of those eight members breaks ranks and decides to vote no, that could scuttle the whole thing altogether. But we do not expect that to happen. We do expect this to be essentially on a glide path to passage. But because of the way the Senate works, you need a consent of all 100 senators to just schedule a vote on a bill. If one senator objects to that could drag out the process for several more days. So that is something to watch here because so many Americans who are want to go back to work for the federal government and get their paychecks are waiting on the senators to reach an agreement to schedule that final vote. And then the House will have to vote as well.

BLITZER: We will watch it together with you, Manu. Thank you very much.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, breaking news. Intense lake effect snow is slamming the Chicago area. This right here is what it looked like just this morning. A couple driving to Chicago after their flight was canceled got stranded on the highway. These blizzard like conditions, can you imagine?

Forecasters say the arctic blast could bring thundersnow and near zero visibility. And of course, this all comes as thousands of flights are being canceled or delayed because of the FAA mandate to deal with air traffic control staffing issues.

BLITZER: CNN's Whitney Wild is over at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for us. Whitney, what are you seeing there now? WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing more and more flights be

delayed and the number, you know, the time for a delay is beginning to take up. So let's take a look at the board here. This is not what anybody wants to see. There are all of these yellow tabs here. That means flights are delayed. And some of these flight delays are significant.

For example, if you're on United Flight 2092, O'Hare to LaGuardia, that flight is delayed three and a half hours. So this is a pretty significant delay here. The average though, across the board, according to the airport authority here, is around 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your flight. The arrivals coming in to here, that delay is around 51 minutes. Leaving it's around 30 minutes.

But what we've seen over the morning is that this is ticking up and this is really a perfect storm here in Chicago. We've got a literal storm and we have this winter weather, lake effect snow slamming the area of Chicago that hugs the lake. Further, there is a staffing shortage here. That's a problem we're seeing in airports all across the country that these FAA is putting out these warnings because they're concerned about their ability to staff airports safely. The staffing shortage here at O'Hare is expected to last until 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

And then finally, as you mentioned, we have these mass cancellations. We have seen hundreds of cancellations here in Chicago. We've seen, you know, mass amount of cancellations all across the country because we know that there's this contraction in air traffic.

I spoke with one woman today who is flying from Burbank. She was supposed to go Burbank, San Francisco, Chicago. It was supposed to be a two-hour delay. Then she was supposed to go to New York. That two- hour delay is now closer to a 30-hour delay. Here's what she said about her experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The text message says it's weather disturbance. And I'm like, that's crap. Because no flights are grounded. I'm exhausted. I am tired. I am mad.

I had to call the customer service. They couldn't give me anything. Yes, I'm tired. I just want to sleep. It's been. No, it's not okay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILD: I'll leave you with the final numbers here because they're staggering. The delays into or out of the United States today, 3,300 total cancellations across the country till today coming into or out of the United States, 1,671. So not the way you want to start the season, which is going to get busier as we get into Thanksgiving and Christmas. Back to you guys.

BROWN: Yes. Not a pretty picture at all. Whitney Wild, thank you.

BLITZER: All right. There's other breaking news we're following right now. Significant developments. President Trump is hosting the new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, for a historic meeting at the White House. This is the first time a Syrian head of state has visited the White House. Al-Sharaa was also once considered by the US government a jihadist militant with a $10 million US bounty on him.

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His forces, though, overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime late last year. And now he's welcomed here in Washington.

BROWN: Incredible turn of events, right? let's go live now to CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, what are the two leaders looking to gain from this meeting?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, I mean, I think it's incredibly historic and remarkable the fact that even the Syrian leader is going to be at the White House. As you both had mentioned, Wolf and Pamela, this is the first time ever in history that a Syrian head of state has been at the White House, particularly since it gained independence from France in 1946.

Now, I'd remind you that Ahmed al-Sharaa had led the rebel forces topple the half a century old Assad regime back in December. Al-Sharaa was made officially this their leader, Syria's leader in January. And it comes even though this is the first time that the Syrian president is going to be at the White House. This isn't the first time that President Donald Trump and Al-Sharaa have met.

I'd remind you they actually met for the first time back in May when President Trump was visiting the Middle East. They met in Saudi Arabia. They had tea together. And the former jihadist who as you mentioned, Wolf, previously had a $10 million bounty on his head, he used to have ties to Al Qaeda. The two of them talked about how they can on relationships to better the situation in the Middle East. And that's supposed to be the continuation of these talks today.

We heard from White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, who essentially said that the visit is part of the president's efforts in diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in pursuit of peace. Now, another notable thing to point out here is that it comes after we saw the US Lift sanctions as well on Syria after Al-Sharaa had become the new head of state.

Syria has their own goals for today. They want to see those lifting of sanctions made permanent. They want to make sure that this isn't an issue they have to see in the future because those sanctions really crippled Syria's economy. They were targeted to the Assad, the previous regime, the Assad regime's different type of human rights abuses. And so they're looking to kind of have a resetting of relations.

But just the fact that Al-Sharaa is going to be here today is very remarkable, particularly for Syria. We'll have to see what the White House, though, thinks that they can get out of this. One thing to note, it's unclear if he has arrived yet. He was set to

arrive at 11:00 a.m. we are not going to see that arrival. And also for now, that meeting between these two leaders is expected to be closed to press. We're hoping that might change and we'll have an opportunity to go and ask questions, but we'll have to wait and see what the White House decides.

BLITZER: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House for us. Alayna, thank you very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. I want to go to HHS Secretary RFK Jr. who's making a big announcement Advancing Women's Health. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I want to begin by acknowledging the second lady of the United States, Usha Vance, who's here today to celebrate a new era in women's health. And we're grateful for your presence and for the attention that you're bringing to this historic announcement. I also want to recognize Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez Deremer. And thank you again for standing with us. And a big hello to my friend, first lady of West Virginia, Denise Morrissey, and thank you for being with us today. I also want to recognize my wife, Cheryl Hines, and my daughters Kat and Kick, who are here.

For more than two decades, the American medical establishment turns its back on women. Millions of women were told to fear the very therapy that could have given them strength, peace and dignity through one of life's most difficult transitions, menopause that ends today.

The FDA is initiating the removal of a broad black box warnings from hormone replacement therapy products for menopause. We're challenging outdated thinking and recommitting to evidence-based medicine that empowers rather than restricts. When prescribed responsibly and started early, hormone replacement therapy transforms the lives of women.

Hormone replacement therapy has been found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality by as much as 50 percent, Alzheimer's disease by 35 percent, bone fractures by 50 to 60 percent, as well as reducing cognitive decline and all-cause mortality. In other words, extending the lives for as much as 10 years.

It helps women sleep better, think more clearly and live fuller, longer and healthier lives. In short, it restores balance not just hormonally, but emotionally and physically. That's why in 1999, approximately 27 percent of postmenopausal women took hormone replacement therapy. Then in 2002, a study called the Women's Health Initiative found that women taking hormone replacement therapy may have an increased risk of breast cancer diagnoses, not mortality, but diagnoses.

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The study was not statistically significant, but it triggered a media frenzy and led to the FDA applying unscientific black box warnings to all hormone replacement therapy products in 2003. The label was designed to frighten women and to silence doctors. It warned of diseases and dangers that the data simply did not support. Bureaucrats at the FDA reacted out of fear, not gold standard science. And instead of correcting the record, the medical establishment doubled down in groupthink.

The consequences have been devastating. Since that decision, more than 50 million American women have been scared away from treatments that could have eased their suffering and extended their lives. Before the panic, one in four women used hormone replacement therapy. Today, it's fewer than one in 20. That's not progress. That's neglect. That's malpractice.

We can no longer accept a culture of fear that blocks innovation and keeps patients from proven therapies. But today, thanks to President Trump's bold leadership, an unwavering commitment to restoring trust in public health, and the courage of Commissioner Marty Makary, the FDA is correcting that mistake.

After a thorough evidence-based review of decades of scientific data, an expert panel, and public testimony, the FDA is announcing today that it will remove the misleading black box warnings from all HRT products. For the first time in a generation, the FDA is standing with science and standing with women. The era of ignoring women's health is older. The era of patronizing women is older. The FDA will follow this science and America's women will finally get the care, the respect and the honesty that they deserve.

Today, we are restoring integrity to medicine, restoring faith in public health, and we are restoring balance to the lives of millions of women who have been ignored for too long. And that's what it means to make America healthy again. And now it's my honor to introduce my friend, Doctor and Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, who will share some more about this landmark decision and the steps that FDA is taking to improve the lives of millions of women.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to monitor this news conference. We'll get back to it.

I want to bring in our CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell right now. Meg, first of all, what more can you tell us about these new labels.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, so what's going to happen is right now for products of things like estrogen, which are used for menopause hormone therapy, if you look at the sort of drug information in the label, there's this big black box, physical black box written at the top of this label that includes the warnings of risks for things like cardiovascular disease, stroke, breast cancer and dementia. And what the FDA is saying now is it's taking the steps to remove that black box warning. So that won't be the first thing if you were looking at the drug label that you would then see. And this comes after it's essentially been found within the scientific

community that the results of that big government study that we heard the secretary talking about, it came out in around 2002 and it warned that the use of menopause hormone therapies could raise the risk of things like that. Essentially since then, it's been found that some of those risks were misrepresented, overstated, and that typically within 10 years of menopause onset, this can be a really safe and beneficial thing for women to use, not just to prevent symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, but also for potential longer-term benefits like preventing bone fractures and things like that.

So what the FDA is saying is essentially within the next few months we're going to start to see that change in those labels. And what they hope then is that removes some of the fear around prescribing menopause hormone therapy for a lot of women who could really benefit from it guys.

BLITZER: So what will the new labels Meg warn women about?

TIRRELL: Well, they'll still have some of those warnings, they'll put them into context, but it just won't be that absolute strongest warning, that big black box at the top of the drug label. So it'll note that different scientific studies have found different things, and there are still contraindications for some women for using this. And so it's really important that women talk with their healthcare providers about how to most appropriately think about their own situations when it comes to risks and benefits of these kinds of hormone therapies.

[11:20:16]

BLITZER: All right, Meg Tirrell reporting for us. Meg, thank you very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right, so here now to help us dig deeper, Wolf, is Dr. Mary Claire Haver, an OBGYN, a Menopause Certified practitioner. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller the New Menopause. I follow her on Instagram, and she is a leading voice in this area.

Dr. Haver, I want to start with your reaction to this. How significant is it?

DR. MARY CLAIRE HAVER, OBGYN AND MENOPAUSE-CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER: I feel like this is a very big win for women and for women's health. We've gone to the FDA for over a decade asking to have these black box warnings modified because it really represents a lot of fear for patients. So, I had multiple times in my clinical practice where I would prescribe something like vaginal estrogen. Safe, efficacious, really, almost no systemic absorption.

She goes to the pharmacy, she gets her medication, she gets home, she opens that warning, and she's terrified and calls me in a panic. And I think now we can replace panic with precision.

BROWN: So let's talk a little bit more about that replacement of panic with precision and what this means practically for women in menopause or even perimenopause. Because now, from everything I gather, even if you're in perimenopause, it might be a good idea to look into hormone replacement potentially.

HAVER: Potentially. So we know that the benefits of hormone therapy definitely quality of life. There's no question it is the gold standard of treatment for hot flashes, which can begin in perimenopause. It's also FDA approved for the prevention of osteoporosis, therefore, hopefully preventing up to 50 percent of fractures of long bones in our bodies as we age.

BROWN: And tell us a little bit more about the considerations you make as a doctor in terms of what a woman might be going through and what kind of hormone replacement you might provide them. Because this really is about precision and nuance, right?

HAVER: So there is a lot of nuance to this. When a patient comes in and she's having hot flashes, night sweats, vasomotor symptoms, the conversation initially begins with, what are her goals? What are her risks and benefits? Does she have any contraindications, like a tumor that is being fed by estrogen, like a breast cancer. Does she have a recent history of a thromboembolic, like a blood clot? You know, those are all things we have to consider.

However, for most women, at least before the age of 60, it is safe and beneficial and will give her the best chance of the best quality of life.

BROWN: And just to reset for our viewers, because I remember my mom going through this, she actually went off of hormone replacement therapy because of this Women's Health Initiative study. Yes, exactly. And I remember at the time it was a big deal. There was a lot of fear that these hormones could cause breast cancer because of this study. And just help us understand the different iterations stemming from that study.

HAVER: So there are multiple forms of estrogen therapy and unfortunately, the black box warning extended to all. So when we talk about nuance, we have local estrogen therapy, like for the vaginal area. Most women will suffer from genital urinary syndrome of menopause, which causes recurrent UTIs, pain, discomfort, dryness. And so almost all patients, I would say 99 percent plus, are candidates for that particular therapy without any of the warnings. When we talk about systemic, again, it gets more nuance.

How old is she? How long from her menopause has it been? What are her personal goals? Does she want to reduce her risk of osteoporosis? You know, have we. Do we have a bone density on? So it just really opens the door for a lot more effective counseling. And also a lot of clinicians were scared when they saw the warning.

We have a whole generation of physicians who really haven't been trained how to prescribe hormone therapy safely.

BROWN: And what were the flaws though, in that initial Women's Health Initiative study that led to this? The 23 years of fear essentially.

HAVER: Sure. So the average age of the patient in the study, because the end result they were looking for was heart disease. Is she going to have a heart attack? You know, is this medication truly going to prevent a potential heart attack in a woman?

So the oldest, the average age was 63. Most women start menopause hormone therapy at their menopause, which is somewhere between 50 to 51. So it's a much older population. This population also had six, several preexisting cardiovascular risk factors. Most of them were obese, a lot of them smoked, et cetera. And so while they started therapy, they were older. A lot of them may have had preexisting breast lesions that hadn't been identified. And then so what they found was in the estrogen only arm.

So women who had a hysterectomy or didn't have a uterus, they were allowed to get estrogen only. They actually had a decreased risk of breast cancer. And it was the combination of a very specific drug that really isn't used in modern hormone therapy, this estrogen. It was a Premarin and Provera combination called Prempro. They saw a very slight increased risk of breast cancer. But again, these were much older patients.

When we re-stratify and looked at the ages and said, okay, what did the 50-year-olds do? We did not see an increased risk in the first five to seven years of therapy.

[11:25:07]

BROWN: But yet there were these black spots -- black box warning, that were --

HAVER: For all, even for the vaginal.

BROWN: -- preventing women like my own mother from getting the treatment that really could have helped her during this tough time. And you've gone through all the symptoms, you know, I mean with, you know, insomnia and body composition.

HAVER: Body composition, bone density, musculoskeletal issues, cholesterol going up. Right. Just really, there's not a cell that's not affected in our bodies from this change.

BROWN: From menopause. And I just want to ask you, while we're on this topic, there is this new FDA approved once a day menopause pill that works without hormones to help with hot flashes. What are your thoughts on that?

HAVER: Yes, so we have a lot of non-hormonal options. So that's specifically to treat vasomotor symptoms, the hot flashes, the night sweats. So it affects a certain area of the brain that controls our temperature regulation system which really goes cattywampus in perimenopause and early menopause. And so it's a neurokinin that the new medication can block and stabilize so you don't have the hot flashes and night sweatshirts. For someone looking for a non-hormonal option, this would be a great option for her. BROWN: Dr. Mary Claire Haver, thank you so much for helping us better

understand the significance of this announcement from HHS and the impact it will have on so many women. We'll be right back.

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