With The Great East Wing Calamity Cycle apparently behind us (zero seconds on ABC, CBS, NBC’s 10/27 nightly newscasts), one would think that the legacy networks would move off of their Democrat-coded shutdown coverage and relay increasing pressure in favor of the clean Continuing Resolution languishing before the Senate. Alas, this was not the case.
The new Democrat pressure comes via the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation largest government worker union, which endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. Per NBC News:
The country’s largest union representing federal workers is calling for lawmakers to pass a short-term spending measure to immediately end the government shutdown, urging Democrats to abandon their current position and join Republicans in supporting a stopgap solution.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley wrote in a statement first shared with NBC News. “It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.”
This is a significant piece of pressure on the Democrats and yet, no mention on the nightlies. Watch ABC’s report in its entirety, note its continued Dem-coding, and note the major omission:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
10/27/25
6:38 PM
DAVID MUIR: Tonight, Day 27 now of the government shutdown. Tens of thousands going without pay, including air traffic controllers. They’re now setting up food banks at the airport. Jay O'Brien on The Hill for us.
O'BRIEN: Tonight, tens of millions of Americans feeling the pain of this 27-day-long government shutdown like never before. Air traffic controller shortages triggering delays in Los Angeles and a ground stop in Austin. More and more air traffic controllers calling out sick, forced to work without pay.
TSA WORKER: All right. Drive safe. Have a good day.
O’BRIEN: Food pantries now popping up at airports for struggling federal employees.
TSA WORKER: We have a food bank.
O’BRIEN: For TSA workers. That's got to be alarming to see.
TSA WORKER: It's- it’s sad. It's unfortunate because they have to go to work. And they're not being paid. And they're doing a critical safety function for all of us.
O'BRIEN: And tonight, fears of a looming hunger crisis as S.N.A.P. food assistance, a life line for roughly 42 million low-income Americans, is set to run out by the end of this week. In Michigan, Simone Wilks, a single mom of two young boys, worries how her family will get by without federal food assistance.
SIMONE WILKS: My stomach dropped because I'm like, I’m already struggling. I'm already stretching food. It has been days where the kids will eat and I'll just survive off water. You know, because that's what I’ll have to do in November.
O'BRIEN: At this pop-up kitchen serving unpaid federal workers in Washington, D.C., we met dozens fearful the shutdown could drag on for weeks.
You don't have a lot of faith in congress to end this?
FEDERAL WORKER: I do not, as much as I would hope that they would end it, I don't see it ending anytime soon.
O'BRIEN: David, the Senate returned to Washington tonight, but there's no deal in sight to end this shutdown. Meantime, the House of Representatives is out on recess for the fifth straight week by order of the Speaker. Remember, Members of Congress by law are still paid even when the government is shut down. David.
MUIR: Jay O’Brien live up on The Hill for us. Jay, thank you.
Those TSA employees that Jay O’Brien interviewed? They are represented by the AFGE. And yet, there was no mention of the union call for an end to the shutdown anywhere to be seen. Instead, ABC runs a Democrat-coded item centered on hardship and suffering, intended to shift blame away from Senate Democrats who voted to shut the government down in the first place. For added emotional manipulation, there is the bit with the SNAP recipient under duress.
CBS’s item by Caitlin Huey-Burns runs along similar lines- centered on federal employees and SNAP recipients, with no mention of the AFGE. This is a prime case of anti-news- wherein the public is given bits and pieces of narrative as the networks omit key details that might shift their thinking on any given issue. In other words, propaganda. Same as always.
For the record, NBC ran no item on the shutdown. However, they were the only legacy nightly to cover the deranged bounty, advertised on TikTok, on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s head. Which CBS and ABC also omitted.
Click “expand” to view the aforementioned report in its entirety, as aired on the CBS Evening News on Monday, October 28th, 2025:
JOHN DICKERSON: The dark clouds of the government shutdown are spreading.
MAURICE DuBOIS: It is now day 27, no negotiations are scheduled and Caitlin Huey-Burns reports federal workers and people who depend on government help are about to feel more pain.
CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: The turbulence of the government shutdown is getting worse. Many air traffic controllers will miss their first full paycheck tomorrow and flight disruptions are rising. More than 8800 lights were delayed nationwide yesterday. Landing in Washington, D.C., World Central Kitchen, Jose Andres' food charity often deployed to war zones and natural disasters, today it provided free meals for furloughed federal employee. But one free meal won't help the more than 40 million Americans, 1 in 8, who rely on federal food assistance. The USDA declared that “the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1st.” Erin Anis never thought she’d need SNAP benefits. But three bouts of cancer and a double knee replacement left her unable to work.
Having those resources, what does it mean for your life?
ERIN ANIS: Everything. It means everything to me.
HUEY-BURNS: What exactly do you think you would need you're going to do?
ANIS: I will have to ask my children to help me. That's an awful feeling.
HUEY-BURNS: How so?
ANIS: For them to have to help me. It's tough to think about sometimes.
HUEY-BURNS: She will also turn to her local food pantry. Shila Ulrich is CEO of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, and says she expects demand to increase.
SHILA ULRICH: People are scared. It’s a moment where people don't know and understand what is about to happen, whether or not they will get those benefits should the government open back up or when.
HUEY-BURNS: Anis says she just wants lawmakers to talk to each other and find a solution.
ANIS: This should not be a political issue. This should be a human privilege to be fed.
HUEY-BURNS: And the USDA says it will not tap into a contingency fund to pay for SNAP benefits because they say that's reserved for things like natural disasters. Now- there is a Republican proposal in the Senate to help pay for this program but, John and Maurice, it's unclear whether and when that would get a vote.
DICKERSON: Caitlin Huey-Burns, thank you so much.
