Trump’s Asia Trip Could Delay Shutdown Deal: Starting Line

Shutdown Pessimism

Though President Donald Trump has consistently refused to negotiate for essential Democratic votes to help reopen the government, the minority party keeps bringing up how much they want to talk to him.

As Jack Fitzpatrick and Ken Tran report in this morning’s BGOV Budget, Trump’s upcoming trip to a summit in Asia adds a layer of frustration for Democrats.

Republicans on Capitol Hill lack “the ability to make any kind of deals without the president, and the president’s leaving town for 10 days,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). “So that’s my most immediate concern.”

During his 22 hour and 39 minute floor speech, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also criticized Trump for not negotiating directly with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Republicans “will not sit down and offer ideas and work out a deal without Trump in the room, or Trump guiding the outcome,” Merkley said.

Unlike the shutdown in his first term, when Trump canceled planned travel to Florida for Christmas 2018 and posted on social media that he was alone at the White House “waiting for Democrats to come back,” Trump this time has taken a business-as-usual approach with a full schedule of foreign-leader visits and a busy travel lineup.

Lillianna Byington reports that Senate Republican leaders are preparing for votes on bills that would allow paydays for a portion of federal workers who are on the job but living without their checks. Read more in this morning’s Congress Tracker.

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Next Redistricting Moves

Now that North Carolina has heeded Trump’s call to make its congressional map as red as possible, the next states to watch are California and Utah.

California has a chance to offset some Republican gains with a more Democratic Party-favoring map that can take effect if voters give permission on Nov. 4. Another state with a new map in progress is Utah, where a judge has scheduled evidentiary hearings today and tomorrow, with plans to pick a new map by Nov. 10. We’re also watching:

Texas: Federal judges held a trial on a new GOP map and will soon rule on a request for an injunction.

Ohio: The state’s redistricting commission has until Oct. 31 to pass a map. If that deadline is missed, the GOP-dominated legislature could draw a new map by Nov. 30.

Kansas: Republicans are trying to get enough signatures from legislators to call for a special session on redistricting, thus circumventing the Democratic governor.

North Carolina finalized its new district lines for 2026 yesterday, negating a swing seat and keeping Democrats packed into super-majority districts that supported Kamala Harris by between 34 and 46 points. It joins Texas and Missouri in building bigger GOP advantages with mid-decade redistricting. — Greg Giroux

Drug Discount Scrutiny

A safety-net program that has raised eyebrows for its escalating costs gets a close look today from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senators are examining whether the second-largest federal drug program, known by the shorthand 340B Drug Pricing, benefits low-income and uninsured patients.

A Congressional Budget Office report found that part of the program’s growth is from expanded use of off-site pharmacies.

The program’s backers include hospitals and other health-care providers. Of the opposing view: the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which said “there’s little oversight or transparency and no evidence” of the program’s benefits to patients. Erin Durkin and Nyah Phengsitthy have more details in BGOV Health.

Eye on the Economy

Critique a Trump administration decision and then stand back for the reaction, as beleaguered cattle ranchers are learning after they expressed displeasure about more tariff-exempt imports of beef from Argentina.

Trump said that cattlemen should be grateful because his tariff policies helped boost their profits. At the same time, he said they should be charging less, Skylar Woodhouse and Alicia Diaz report.

“If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible! It would be nice if they would understand that,” the president posted on social media. “They also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”

Ranchers are “finally getting to the point where they’re making money again and they’re very concerned about these actions,” said Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). Read More

Ahead of Trump’s trip to Asia that will include talks with Chinese President Xi Jingping, a White House official says the administration is weighing restrictions that would bar the purchase of a wide swath of critical software. “Everything is on the table,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters. Read More

Before You Go

UVA Signs: The University of Virginia became the latest college to strike a deal with the Trump administration, settling civil rights investigations that threatened the school’s federal funding and cost its former president his job. As part of the accord, the university agreed to provide the government with data on its admissions and hiring processes, as well as campus programming, through 2028. Read More

Gander-Goose Argument: Rep. LaMonica McI’ver’s (D-N.J.) lawyers are arguing the broad immunity the Supreme Court said Trump had should apply to Congress too, and therefore she’s immune from any criminal charge related to a confrontation with immigration officials at a Newark immigration detention center, Celine Castronuovo reports. Read More

NY Face-off: Trailing by double digits in the race for New York City mayor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a debate that frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is unprepared to run the nation’s largest city. Mamdani tried to address concerns by confirming he will ask the current police commissioner to remain in that role. Read More

Not Just the Caribbean Anymore: The US military struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Courtney McBride reports. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said two people were killed. The lethal nature of the strikes has some critics accusing the US of conducting extrajudicial killings rather than the standard approach — stopping the boats, confiscating drugs and arresting those on board. Read More

Targeted Advocacy: Taiwanese officials are courting Trump-aligned podcasters and influencers, Yian Lee, Miaojung Lin, and Eric Martin report. The full-court press across conservative US media reflects anxiety over President Trump’s intentions,” said Bloomberg Economics’ Adam Farrar. Read More

Russia Sanctions: The Trump administration announced sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil producers, rolling out its first major package of financial punishments on President Vladimir Putin’s economy as part of a fresh push to end to the war in Ukraine. Read More

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To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Rizzo in Washington at krizzo@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Leven at rleven@bloombergindustry.com; Herb Jackson at hjackson@bloombergindustry.com

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