Americanswers… on 5 Live! What next after US government shutdown?

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Wednesday, 1 October 2025 - 28 minutes

In another extraordinary week in U.S politics, the US government has shut down for the first time in almost seven years after members of Congress failed to agree a last-ditch funding deal. Donald Trump has said federal workers could start losing their jobs in the coming days, but what are the other consequences of the shutdown for American citizens? And how long will the shutdown last?Meanwhile, Donald Trump has hosted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu again at the White House, this time to reveal proposals for a peace plan in Gaza. The plan itself has been accepted by Israel and welcomed by a number of Arab countries including Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey. Hamas is yet to respond to the peace plan. We answer your questions about whether Trump’s proposals are a serious attempt at peace.And, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have been speaking to U.S generals and military leaders from around the world, calling out “fat” soldiers and generals while announcing a new set of physical standards in the U.S military. But why did Donald Trump use his speech to suggest the military should use U.S cities as “training grounds”?HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondentGET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
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• Or use #AmericastThis episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm
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