Government & Politics

The U.S. House voted to revoke a mining ban in the Superior National Forest, sending H.J. Res. 140 to the Senate and prompting hundreds of protesters at the Minnesota Capitol who oppose lifting federal protections upstream of the Boundary Waters. Friends of the Boundary Waters executive director Chris Knopf warned water from the affected lands flows directly into the BWCA and could be fouled by mining, while outfitter Ginny Nelson and Mining Minnesota executive director Julie Lucas acknowledged local economic stakes and said any mine must first prove it will not harm the wilderness.

Both chambers of Congress have moved to block President Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports, with the Senate voting earlier and the House now passing a bipartisan resolution to end the tariffs. The House measure directly targets the emergency declarations Trump used to justify the duties and sets up a likely veto fight and subsequent court challenges.

The FAA has scaled back its mandated flight‑capacity reductions at 40 major U.S. airports from a planned 10% ramp (held at 6%) to 3% as controller attendance improved, but the order — in effect since Nov. 7 amid unpaid air traffic controllers, staffing shortages and missed paychecks — remains in place and continues to limit operations at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International (MSP). The cuts and earlier staffing shortfalls have caused widespread delays and thousands of cancellations nationwide (dozens at MSP), prompted airlines to offer refunds and waivers, and spurred an FAA probe into carriers’ handling of the reductions.

President Trump signed a stopgap funding bill ending the 43‑day shutdown, OPM directed federal employees to return Thursday and agencies will issue back pay in four tranches beginning by Nov. 19 while the measure reverses shutdown‑era firings and bars new layoffs through January. The package restarts programs including SNAP, releases $3.6 billion in LIHEAP heating aid to states and tribes, and extends funding through Jan. 30, though SNAP and other benefits may take days or longer to reach recipients and a separate vote on ACA premium subsidies is expected in December.

Congress has passed a stopgap funding bill that includes a national cap of 0.4 mg hemp‑derived THC per container, taking effect in one year and overriding higher state per‑serving limits (Minnesota currently allows ~5 mg), a measure pushed to close a 2018 Farm Bill looph and intended to block unregulated intoxicating hemp products. Minnesota brewers, retailers and hemp beverage makers warn the cap would effectively ban most THC edibles and drinks and devastate a roughly $140–200 million local market — though regulators say licensing and oversight remain unchanged until the cap’s effective date and industry groups urge business as usual in the interim.

After the federal shutdown prompted USDA to pause SNAP disbursements and initially push a roughly 65% partial‑payment plan, a coalition of states sued and district judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts ordered USDA to use contingency and other funds to provide full November benefits. The 1st Circuit upheld the lower‑court order requiring full funding (after a brief Supreme Court stay), leaving some states that already issued full payments in limbo as the Supreme Court prepares to decide whether the administration may enforce the 65% cap.