Q: Will U.S. citizens receive stimulus or tariff-based checks of $2,000 in November?
A: No checks are being issued. President Donald Trump said he wants to use tariff revenue to give “dividend” payments of “at least $2,000” to “middle-income people and lower-income people.” But no formal plan has been finalized and approved by Congress. Fiscal policy experts say there’s not enough tariff revenue for that.
Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving meal consisting of pre-selected products costs about one-quarter less than last year’s meal, but it also includes fewer grocery items and different food brands. Yet President Donald Trump has been misleadingly touting the decline in the price of this year’s meal without mentioning the reasons for the big decrease.
In defending his Oct. 23 pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, President Donald Trump claimed that Zhao was the victim of a Biden administration “witch hunt.” We’ll look at the basis of the Zhao case, Trump’s claims about the Biden administration’s prosecution of Zhao and concerns about Trump’s pardon.
Over the course of the six-week shutdown — which may be ending soon — President Donald Trump has repeatedly made the false claim that Democrats “want $1.5 trillion for health care for illegal aliens.”
A presentation by scientists on a work group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel highlighted various alleged “safety uncertainties” of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, including those about cancer and changes to the immune system. Scientists, however, told us that many of the cited studies are either misconstrued or of poor quality.
As justification for a Food and Drug Administration review of a drug used in medication abortion, two Trump administration health officials have referenced an April report from an anti-abortion group that claims to show a far higher rate of serious side effects from the drug than has been found previously. However, the report, which is not peer-reviewed research, didn’t disclose where it got its data and has substantial methodological issues, reproductive health experts say.
Q: Did Democrats request funding for “climate resilience” in Honduras, “civic engagement” in Zimbabwe, and “LGBTQI+ democracy grants” in the Balkans, to end the government shutdown?
A: A Democratic proposal would restore almost $5 billion in unused funding for foreign aid that President Donald Trump let expire on Sept. 30. The proposal did not specify which international projects should receive the funds.
In a lengthy “60 Minutes” interview, President Donald Trump made false and questionable claims about nuclear weapons testing, inflation and military strikes in the Caribbean Sea. He also repeated numerous misleading claims he has made before on a range of topics.
Republicans say funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits — formerly known as food stamps — will run out on Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Democrats say there’s a contingency fund that could and should continue to fund regular SNAP benefits.
In the shutdown standoff over expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, Democrats emphasize thousand-dollar premium increases for middle- or “working-class” Americans, while Republicans say people who are well-off unfairly benefit from the subsidies.
