Biden to attend Dick Cheney’s funeral, Bush will deliver tribute
: Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Sunshine Summit opening dinner at Disney’s Contemporary Resort on November 12, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Tom Benitez – Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral will be held in Washington on Thursday, with several high-profile political figures set to be at the service for the man considered one of the most influential vice presidents in U.S. history.
Former President Joe Biden plans to attend, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The funeral will be held at Washington National Cathedral at 11 a.m. ET.
Former President George W. Bush, who Cheney served for two terms, will offer a tribute at the service. According to the cathedral’s program, Cheney’s daughter, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, and his grandchildren will also give remarks.
Cheney died on Nov. 3 at the age of 84 due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family said in a statement at the time. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building is visible November 10, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is close to being over as the House is slated to convene on Wednesday to vote on the federal spending bill.
The Senate passed the measure Monday night with eight members of the Democratic caucus joining Republicans.
President Donald Trump said he supports the deal, and pushed for its passage in the House. If it passes and if Trump signs it, federal agencies and services are expected to immediately return.
Here’s what to know about the implications of the bill that addresses SNAP benefits, federal workers and more.
When will the government reopen?
The bill reopens the government through Jan. 30, 2026, starting at the time Trump signs the legislation.
Some agencies, like the Department of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, will be funded for the remainder of the fiscal year.
When will SNAP benefits resume?
The bill includes a provision to fully fund SNAP benefits through the end of September 2026.
The money will immediately go out to SNAP beneficiaries once the bill is signed.
Federal courts ordered the administration to pay SNAP benefits during the shutdown, however, the Supreme Court paused the order as the appeals litigation continued.
When will federal workers go back to work?
At least 670,000 federal employees were furloughed during the shutdown, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Furloughed workers will be expected to return to work after the bill is signed.
When will employees receive back pay?
Federal workers deemed essential, including Capitol Police officers, TSA workers and air traffic controllers, had been forced to work without pay during the shutdown.
During the shutdown, the administration issued layoffs for federal workers in various agencies.
The Senate bill includes language to reverse Trump administration firings due to the shutdown and ensures that furloughed workers receive back pay.
Trump signaled Monday that he would abide by the Senate reversing his administration’s mass firing.
“I will be. I’ll abide by the deal. The deal is very good,” Trump told ABC News’ Karen Travers.
All federal workers are entitled to back pay under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, which was signed into law by Trump during his first term in office.
The law covers both furloughed employees and those required to work without pay during a government shutdown.
When will air traffic controllers be fully staffed?
The shortage of air traffic controllers, who were not furloughed, was so dire during the shutdown that the Federal Aviation Administration was forced to reduce flights by 10% at 40 airports — leading to thousands of flights being canceled and delayed across the country.
As many as 15-20 resigned during the shutdown, according to the Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Amid the shutdown, Trump said in a social media post on Monday that he was recommending a $10,000 bonus to air traffic controllers who did not take any time off during the shutdown, though he did not provide specifics on how that would be done.
To those who took time off, he said, “I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” and called for them to leave the profession “with NO payment or severance of any kind,” despite ongoing staffing shortages.
Once the Department of Transportation sees staffing levels return to pre-shutdown levels, it will ease the 10% flight cuts.
It is still unknown how the controllers will respond to the shutdown’s waning hours.
When will flights go back to normal?
It is not immediately clear how long it will take for flights return to their normal schedules and capacity once the spending bill is signed.
When asked on Monday by ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers if he could guarantee to Americans that travel will go back to normal once the government re-opens, Trump responded, “It’ll go better than normal,” and talked about upgrading technology in control towers, though he did not address the personnel issues.
Where do ACA subsidies stand?
Affordable Care Act subsidies demanded by Democrats were not included in the Senate bipartisan deal to reopen the government.
The enhanced ACA tax credits don’t expire until Dec. 31, and if no deal is reached, health premiums will jump for over 20 million Americans.
Sources told ABC News Monday that Senate Republican leadership promised to allow a vote on a bill of Democrats’ choosing related to the ACA in December.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday that he would not commit to holding a vote in the House on the subsidies.
– ABC News’ Justin Gomez, Alexandra Hutzler and Sam Sweeny contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immunizations chief Dr. Demetre Daskalakis said Sunday that he’s concerned with the direction the agency is going and worried about public health going forward.
Daskalakis, who served as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, submitted his resignation from the CDC on Wednesday in protest following the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removing CDC Director Susan Monarez from her position. In his resignation letter, Daskalakis denounced HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership of both the HHS and the CDC.
“From my vantage point as a doctor who’s taken the Hippocratic Oath, I only see harm coming. I may be wrong, but based on what I’m seeing, based on what I’ve heard with the new members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, they’re really moving in an ideological direction where they want to see the undoing of vaccination,” Daskalakis told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Daskalakis disagreed with changes to recommendations on who should get the new COVID-19 vaccine this fall, with the new dosage has been approved only for people aged 65 and up and children and adults with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk, creating confusion and uncertainty for people who want the latest vaccination who don’t meet these parameters.
Daskalakis said there is now no separation of political ideology and science with Kennedy leading HHS.
“I didn’t think that we were going to be able to present science in a way free of ideology, that the firewall between science and ideology has completely broken down. And not having a scientific leader at CDC meant that we wouldn’t be able to have the necessary diplomacy and connection with HHS to be able to really execute on good public health,” Daskalakis said in explaining why he resigned.
Former acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser, now president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told Raddatz he’s heavily concerned amid the major shakeup at the CDC.
“The difference is going to be profound. The CDC is an absolutely critical piece of the protection for Americans from any public health threat. Now, with the director being removed, senior leadership leaving, I have great fears for what will happen to this country the next time we face a public health emergency, whether it’s a massive earthquake, a new infectious agent or, unfortunately, the next pandemic,” Besser said.
Besser also has concerns on how Kennedy’s opposition to vaccine mandates is going to impact public health.
“When I think about mandates, I think about children going to school. I think about young parents who are sending their children to school and want to know that their children are safe, and the way children are safe from vaccine-preventable diseases is by getting vaccinated themselves. But no vaccine is 100%. And so you count on the other children in that classroom being vaccinated. I think with this secretary, we are on a path to it being largely parental choice, and that is going to put at risk those people for whom the vaccine didn’t work and children who may have medical conditions where they can’t get vaccinated. That is a major step backwards for public health,” Besser said.
(NEW YORK) — On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance promised their supporters that they would release the Justice Department files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if elected.
Since then, however, the administration has been reluctant to divulge more details about the investigation or release all of the files, angering some Republicans and Democrats and raising questions about Trump’s past connections to Epstein.
Here is a timeline of the major events surrounding the Epstein files saga since Trump returned to office.
Feb. 21, 2025 In an interview with Fox News, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients and if the Justice Department was planning to release them.
Bondi responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
The attorney general clarified in July that she was referring to the Epstein case files, and not an alleged client list.
Feb. 27, 2025 The Justice Department invites conservative bloggers and influencers and shares with them binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” Most of the evidence had already been released to the public.
Bondi and her team did not inform White House officials in advance that she planned to distribute the binders, sources with information about the event told ABC News.
May 8, 2025 The House’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets demanded the release of the Epstein files in a letter to Bondi.
Bondi did not respond to the request before the May 16 deadline.
July 7, 2025 The DOJ and FBI released a joint statement that stated a review of its holdings uncovered no evidence of any client list kept by Epstein or other evidence that would predicate a criminal investigation of any uncharged parties.
The department also released hours of purported footage as part of its review, which officials say further confirmed Epstein died by suicide while in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019.
The video from the Bureau of Prisons showing the moments before Epstein’s death was later determined to have been missing footage. Several conservative influencers slam Bondi and the Justice Department over the memo.
July 12, 2025 Trump defended Bondi in a social media post amid the pushback from some in his MAGA base over the handling of the Epstein probe.
Trump praised Bondi for doing a “fantastic job” and urged his “boys” and “gals” to stop criticizing her.
July 15, 2025 Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna seek a House vote for a discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
The same day, House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Bondi to “come forward and explain” her handling of the probe.
Signatures for the petition continue to grow, however, do not reach the 218 needed to move forward.
Asked what Bondi told him about the review of the Epstein files and if his name appeared at all, Trump responded, “No, no, she’s given us just a very quick briefing,” before making baseless claims that the files were created by some of his political foes.
“Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release,” Trump said.
July 24-25, 2025 Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, interviewed Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking and other charges related to Epstein’s illicit activities.
Maxwell initiated the meeting, multiple sources told ABC News.
A month later, the Justice Department released a transcript of the interview, which was not under oath, where she claimed there was no client list.
Aug. 1, 2025 Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida, which is labeled “low security” to a federal prison camp in Texas, which is labeled “minimum security,” the Justice Department announced.
Sept. 8, 2025 Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a 238-page PDF document of the 50th birthday book to Epstein that includes a prologue by Maxwell and a page allegedly written by Trump.
Trump’s page features a typed letter written inside a doodle of a woman’s body, with his signature located in a provocative spot on the body.
The president denied that he wrote and signed the letter.
Nov. 12, 2025 Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails that were part of more than 20,000 from the Epstein estate.
Some of the messages show Epstein talking about Trump, including one where he claimed Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of the sex-trafficked victims.
The White House accused Democrats on the House Oversight Committee of releasing “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative” about Trump.
Later that evening, Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into office, a month after she won a special election, and became the final signature on the discharge petition to get it over the 218 threshold.
Johnson announced that he would bring a bill to release the Jeffrey Epstein files to a vote on the floor next week.
