Politics and views in the United States.

Donald Trump urges Republicans to vote for Epstein documents to be released. Finger-pointing over the government shutdown continues and federal cuts impact the youth mental health crisis.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Donald Trump appears to have chickened out on the Epstein scandal.

He's caved, it's a complete and total surrender.

House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, says President Donald Trump has stopped hiding his connections to dead billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The president has changed position to urge House Republicans to vote today to force the Justice Department to release all documents relating to its investigation of Epstein, calling the scandal a Democrat hoax.

Democrats say Trump could release the files anytime he wants, and note he just ordered the Attorney General to investigate Epstein's connection to his political enemies.

In a surprise to many, Trump says he's negotiating with Democrats on direct payments to consumers to offset spiking health insurance premiums, a central issue in the government shutdown.

Former Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones says the eight Democratic senators who broke ranks to reopen the government shouldn't be attacked by progressives in the party who doubt the GOP's sincerity on the issue.

"The biggest deficit we've got in Capitol Hill right now is one of trust.

Democrats just didn't trust Republicans.

Republicans don't trust Democrats.

And I think that's why they held out for as long as they did."

Trump pushed Senate Republicans to end the filibuster to reopen the government by passing a budget stopgap with a simple majority.

The party's leader refused to do that, and former Ohio Republican Congressman Steve Stivers points out that once the filibuster was removed from the confirmation process for judges, it never came back.

He calls the so-called "nuclear option" a bad idea.

The Senate, even though it gets me frustrated in serving in the House, is supposed to be the saucer that cools the emotions.

And so the filibuster rule, I think, is good for America.

It does give the minority some power.

Food banks nationwide are still feeling the ripple effects of delayed USDA food assistance.

Jason Aldrich with the West Ohio Food Bank says full SNAP benefits were just reauthorized in the state, and they're still scrambling to meet an exploding need.

Between September and October, we here at the Food Bank have seen an 11 percent increase in the number of folks seeking food assistance from us.

And those numbers are staying up, if not getting higher.

The federal government is announcing the 2026 cost increases for Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare Part B will rise almost 10 percent, taking up the cost of living increase in next year's Social Security payments.

Tatiana Fasiu is with the California Health Advocates Senior Medicare Patrol.

Not only do you have to think about your potential health care spending dollars for next year, but also how is that Social Security income going to offset increases in your Medicare costs.

Schools and providers say federal cuts are making it harder for them to deal with an ongoing youth mental health crisis.

In Chicago, the non-profit Juvenile Protective Association serves hundreds of mostly students with individual school-based programs, with 70 percent having Medicaid coverage.

The association's Karen G. Foley says principals and educators were already stretching limited resources.

Then you layer on top food cuts, you layer on top of that ice rage, you layer on top of that. and social media and I give kids enormous credit for even showing up and trying.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org