On today's podcast:
1) A record-setting 41-day US government shutdown is on a path to end as soon as Wednesday after the Senate passed a temporary funding measure backed by a group of eight centrist Democrats. The Senate’s 60-40 vote Monday comes amid escalating flight disruptions, food aid delays and frustrations in a federal workforce that has mostly gone without pay for more than a month. The Republican-controlled House must still approve the spending package, which keeps most of the government open through Jan. 30 and some agencies through Sept. 30. But Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects it will pass quickly.
2) Air travel disruptions mounted across the US as lawmakers pushed to end the federal government shutdown, with an air traffic controllers’ union warning of “the erosion of safety” as the critical workers missed their second-straight full paycheck. Almost 2,100 flights were canceled as of 6:15 p.m. in New York on Monday, according to data compiled by aviation analytics firm Cirium. That’s about 8.2% of the day’s 25,735 scheduled flights. Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the most cancellations, with nearly 25% of its scheduled flights scrapped. Over 16% of services in and out of Boston Logan Airport were scrubbed, as were 15% of trips at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. The growing fallout stems from the Federal Aviation Administration’s directive to reduce flight capacity by 10% at the roughly 40 busiest US airports, a bid to alleviate what US aviation officials have said are signs of strain in the nation’s airspace system.
3) President Trump said he “at some point” would reduce the tariff rate on Indian goods, saying the US was getting “pretty close” to a trade deal with New Delhi. The comments were the latest signal of a possible thaw in the trade dispute that has soured the relationship between Washington and New Delhi. Earlier this year, Trump slapped additional tariffs on India’s exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, raising the rates on many Indian goods to 50%. That added tensions to an already contentious negotiation over what the US has cast as India’s high levies and other barriers on American goods.
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