Daily briefing by Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer @nicolefallert!

Quick look at Monday's news:

• The government shutdown is days awayfrom becoming the longest in American history.  • Meet the women making their ownEpstein list. • The Dodgers' win was World Series history.

The last time a government shutdown broke records, a 35-day funding pause in December 2018 and January 2019, it ended partly because of increasingly tight staffing at some of the nation’s busiest airports.

What about this time? Although air traffic controllers are largely seen as having played a central role in ending the previous shutdown, representatives from their union say they hope to remain apolitical and focus on the traveling public’s safety.

Is travel hurting? Despite sporadic staff shortages at air traffic control facilities across the country since the shutdown began, flight operations have been largely normal.

What about federal food assistance? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that President Donald Trump wants to hear from the courts about how to legally move money around to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, but he noted during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" that it "could" flow by Wednesday.

Is a turning point on the way? In recent days, both Democrats and Republicans desperately tried to avoid the SNAP cutoff, introducing competing measures to insulate the program from the shutdown. Yet none of those efforts have gained any real traction.

Is travel hurting? Despite sporadic staff shortages at air traffic control facilities across the country since the shutdown began, flight operations have been largely normal.

What about federal food assistance? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that President Donald Trump wants to hear from the courts about how to legally move money around to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, but he noted during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" that it "could" flow by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a little party…

President Trump hosted a Great Gatsby-themed party Friday at Mar-a-Lago, as multiple federal judges ruled the administration could not stop funding food aid amid the ongoing government shutdown. The party was labeled "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody!