The business-as-usual shutdown: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, we examine how President Donald Trump and members of Congress are largely carrying on as usual while the government shutdown drags on with no end in sight. Plus, Kristen Welker previews her exclusive “Meet the Press” interview this weekend with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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— Adam Wollner

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What shutdown? Congress and Trump go about business as usual

By Frank Thorp V, Monica Alba, Julie Tsirkin and Carol E. Lee

On Day 15 of the government shutdown, a U.S. senator hosted a well-attended birthday party for his bulldog.

Dozens of Hill staffers lined up inside the Capitol to wish West Virginia Republican Sen. Jim Justice’s pup a happy birthday as she sat under a balloon arch wearing a pink-and-white hat. They noshed on cakes and dozens of cake pops shaped in 6-year-old Babydog’s likeness.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Donald Trump gathered some of the richest people in the country for dinner at the White House. There was beef Wellington, butterscotch ice cream and gold-rimmed china but no mention of the funding impasse during Trump’s 37-minute-long remarks thanking his guests for their donations for a new White House ballroom.

“This is really a knockout crowd,” Trump said Wednesday evening, noting that their collective donations had exceeded the ballroom’s $250-million price tag.

And so it has been for the power brokers in Washington during a government shutdown that appears to have no end in sight. While thousands of federal workers are furloughed — or fired — and trying to stay afloat without paychecks, the ones responsible for the shutdown are literally, and figuratively, eating cake.

The business-as-usual nature for elected officials in Washington, and some of their aides, is in contrast to the experience of others in the nation’s capital, where federal offices, as well as many parks, landmarks and museums, are closed, and of many people across the country. It also solidifies what now seems to be a bygone era of government shutdowns — one when elected officials wouldn’t want to be caught anywhere near parties or other nonessential indulgences.

“Everything still seems to be the same, except it’s not. Except most of these people aren’t getting paid,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told NBC News, noting that the Senate has continued its committee hearings, constituent meetings and normal voting schedules despite the shutdown. “I don’t think that’s right. I just don’t think that’s right. And so, yeah, it’s — and it just feels different than any other shutdown.”

Read more →

🗣️ Meanwhile, in Middle America: The mayors of Kansas City, Missouri; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Minneapolis; and Cleveland said in interviews with Natasha Korecki that they’re hearing from their residents about the fear, economic insecurity and sheer anger over the chaos wrought by a standstill in the nation’s capital.

💻 New frontiers: Senate Republicans’ campaign arm posted a video blaming Democrats for the shutdown on X that used AI video of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Dareh Gregorian reports.

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✉️ Mailbag: Why do lawmakers get paid during the shutdown?

Thanks to everyone who wrote in this week! We received several questions from readers asking why members of Congress still get paid during a government shutdown, even as furloughed federal workers do not.

The answer is fairly simple, according to our Capitol Hill colleagues, Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V.

Members of Congress’ pay is protected under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which states: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

But some lawmakers don’t like the optics of that, given that they are the ones with the authority to force or end a shutdown. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., for instance, is one of a handful of lawmakers asking that their paycheck be withheld during the shutdown.

Presidents also get paid during a funding lapse. President Donald Trump donated his government salary during his first term and said he’s doing the same this time as well.

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After securing a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump turns back to the Russia-Ukraine war

Analysis by Kristen Welker

It’s a pivotal week here in Washington in terms of the war between Russia and Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy having just left the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump.

The meeting comes one day after Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone and teased an in-person summit in Hungary, as the White House’s direct diplomatic efforts pick up steam and the war drags on.

One big item on the agenda: whether the U.S. would give Ukraine long-range missiles that could strike far deeper into Russia, a move that Ukraine has framed as important as it tries to deter future Russian attacks.

Shortly after Zelenskyy left the White House, Trump posted on Truth Social that the meeting was “very interesting, and cordial, but I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!”

“Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,” Trump added.

While the wheels of diplomacy seem to be turning in public, there’s deep skepticism that Putin is actually interested in peace. One Ukrainian source told me ahead of Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy that “Putin is only interested in diplomacy under the threat of a gun or a Tomahawk missile.” And French President Emmanuel Macron told me in August, after the last round of direct talks between Trump and Putin, that he didn’t think the Russian leader was “very willing to get to peace now.”

For Trump, his talks with Putin and Zelensky are the latest examples of his recent focus on foreign affairs. They come on the heels of a ceasefire in Gaza that was brokered in part by his administration, and pronouncements by Trump and his allies that the Nobel Peace Prize could be in his future — especially if he’s able to help secure a similar peace agreement in Ukraine.

And there’s some hope that if a deal in the Middle East can be attainable, so can one in Ukraine — Zelenskyy made reference to that hope multiple times ahead of the White House meeting.

I’ll have the chance to discuss all this and more with Zelenskyy in an exclusive interview that will air on “Meet the Press” this Sunday. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., will also join us for exclusive interviews.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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