WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump on Oct. 30 urged Senate Republicans to scrap the upper chamber’s longstanding filibuster rule to end the federal government shutdown.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to make SNAP payments, as an expected lapse on Nov. 1 prompted concern from groups that serve the hungry, including Catholic ministries. Trump also ordered the U.S. military to resume nuclear testing after a pause of more than three decades.
Senate GOP pushes back on Trump’s filibuster demand
Although Republicans control both chambers of Congress, their majorities are slim. They can afford to lose just a few of their members in the House without any Democratic support, and generally must garner some Democratic support in the Senate to pass the upper chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold for most legislation.
Congress failed to pass funding legislation by Oct. 1, which prompted the ongoing government shutdown, after a GOP-backed spending bill failed to garner enough support to meet the filibuster threshold.
But in a series of social media posts, Trump called on them to scrap the longstanding Senate rule.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump wrote.
But a number of senators said on social media or through their spokesperson that their position supporting the filibuster remains unchanged.
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement he shared on social media Oct. 31 that “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”
Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, wrote on X, “The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate. Power changes hands, but principles shouldn’t. I’m a firm no on eliminating it.”
In his first term, Trump also attempted to end the filibuster rule, but faced pushback within his party. Former President Joe Biden backed changes to the filibuster in an attempt to codify abortion protections and pass voting rights legislation, but also faced pushback, notably from former Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who changed her party affiliation from Democratic to independent before her departure.
Federal judge orders Trump administration to make SNAP payments
A federal judge in Rhode Island on Oct. 31 blocked the Trump administration from ceasing to pay for federal food assistance during the government shutdown, and ordered it to use approximately $6 billion in contingency funding that is available.
The Trump administration previously said funding for SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a major part of the nation’s social safety net — was scheduled to lapse Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown.
Judge Jack McConnell said the Agriculture Department must distribute the contingency funds “timely, or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made.”
Despite the ruling, it remained unclear what the extent of the disruption in funds would be, as they were scheduled to lapse Nov. 1. Some interruption is therefore expected.
About 42 million Americans rely on SNAP. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that in fiscal year 2023, 79% of SNAP recipient households included either a child, an elderly individual or a nonelderly individual with a disability.
Catholic leaders and ministries are among those who have expressed grave concern at the prospect of the lapse in federal food assistance, which 1 in 8 Americans rely on.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement released late Oct. 28 the bishops are “deeply alarmed that essential programs that support the common good, such as SNAP, may be interrupted.”
Catholic Charities USA, the network organization dedicated to carrying out the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States, announced a national fundraising effort to provide an emergency supply of food to Catholic Charities agencies around the country.
Trump orders U.S. military to resume nuclear weapons testing
Trump said Oct. 29 he instructed the Department of Defense to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” to other nations.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump said on his social media website Truth Social, using a secondary, ceremonial title for the Defense Department that he authorized in September.
The post came shortly before Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, and it named Russia and China as nations he said would be “even within 5 years” to the U.S. supply.
According to NBC News, China’s last known testing of a nuclear weapon was in 1996, and Russia recently conducted weapons testing, including the delivery technology for nuclear weapons, but not the weapons themselves.
“That process will begin immediately,” Trump said of the tests.
The last confirmed nuclear test by the U.S. was in 1992, when then-President George H.W. Bush announced a moratorium.
Trump’s order runs athwart recent calls by the Vatican for the world’s nations to sign onto the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear test explosions, whether for military or civilian purposes, as well as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Napa Legal scores religious freedom by state
The Napa Legal Institute Oct. 27 launched their third annual “Faith and Freedom Index,” in which the group scores state laws across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, concerning religious freedom protections.
The group’s report gave Alabama and Kansas the highest overall scores for protecting religious freedom, while Michigan and Washington state had the lowest.
The group said its results do not necessarily “fall along partisan lines.”
Napa Legal said it found in some cases “blue states” have some important religious freedom and regulatory protections for faith-based nonprofits, while some “red states” need to make improvements. It ranked, for example, New York state higher than Alaska, Tennessee, and South Carolina. It also cited versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Connecticut and Illinois, noting that states like Alaska and Ohio do not have such legislation enacted. It also found that Hawaii and Maine have stronger employment law protections for religious organizations than South Dakota or West Virginia.
Frank DeVito, Napa Legal’s senior counsel and director of content, said in a statement, “The many religious freedom attacks over the past few years are chilling reminders that without staunch state-level protections for religious freedom, ordinary Americans will suffer, regardless of how supportive the current Administration may be.”
“From Catholic priests in Washington to concerned parents in Montgomery County, Maryland — incidents from two of the lowest scoring states on the 2025 Faith and Freedom Index — too many Americans have been forced to spend precious time and money litigating issues that should never have gone to court in the first place,” he said.
Survey: Most likely voters support requiring a doctor visit for abortion pill prescription
The results of a survey released Oct. 28 by a GOP-aligned pollster found seven in 10 likely voters — including 57% of self-described liberal voters — approve of requiring a doctor visit in order to receive a prescription for drugs that are intended to bring about the abortion of an unborn child.
The national survey of 1,600 likely voters conducted in August by McLaughlin & Associates — a firm known for working with Republican candidates, including as a Trump campaign pollster — also found a similar margin also said they approve of requiring doctors to screen for and report signs of coercion or abuse before prescribing such drugs.
The same survey also found nearly 6 in 10 voters, 59%, reported having a favorable opinion of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider; while 3 in 10 voters said they have an unfavorable opinion of Planned Parenthood. A majority, 57%, described themselves as “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion, with 40% identifying as “pro-life.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect pro-life candidates to public office, said in an Oct. 28 statement, “The harmful impact of Biden’s FDA removing safeguards on abortion drugs, like in-person doctor visits, is an issue that overwhelmingly unites voters of all stripes.”
“The Trump administration promised a fresh review of the evidence on the risks of abortion drugs, and we eagerly await their following through,” Dannenfelser added. “Right now, at minimum, they should heed the emerging science and the will of the people and immediately reinstate in-person doctor visits that existed before Biden’s harmful COVID policy. Twenty-one states whose laws are being undermined and their most vulnerable populations threatened by the flood of out-of-state drugs will thank them.”
The group also said it would push the Trump administration for more information regarding the Food and Drug Administration‘s recent approval of a new generic form of mifepristone — a pill commonly, but not exclusively, used for early abortion.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
The post Washington Roundup: Trump wants filibuster nixed; SNAP payments ordered; nuclear tests back, and more first appeared on OSV News.
