Roughly one million federal employees are estimated to be going without pay. About half have been furloughed, while the other half are considered essential workers, so theyre still showing up to work, even as their paychecks are frozen.

Earlier this week, lawmakers voted down a measure that would have allowed essential workers to continue receiving pay during the shutdown.

I would have never thought in a million years that I wouldve been in this position, that I would have to go to a food bank, Denise Blake, a Department of Defense employee, told Scripps News.

Blake joined hundreds of other federal employees at a food bank in the Washington, D.C. area this week, a growing trend as workers go weeks without income.

It's like reality is really hitting now because [this shutdown] has gone past like the ten days or the two weeks, Blake said.

At one D.C. food bank, organizers say theyre seeing record demand.

I think were going to see 310 clients -- federal workers -- today. The demand is incredibly, incredibly high.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not use any of the more than $5 billion in emergency funding it maintains to provide food assistance to needy families during the government shutdown, nor will it reimburse states that try to provide such benefits themselves, according to an agency memo obtained by Scripps News on Friday.

According to a Bipartisan Policy Center analysis, more than 700,000 civilian employees at the Department of Defense, in addition to tens of thousands more at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Justice, have now missed at least one paycheck.

Missing a paycheck is a difficult thing for anyone, said Jonathan Burks, the Executive Vice President for Economic and Health Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. And there's a variety of income levels that federal workers are at; some will have some savings and be able to weather a missed paycheck or two, but others are living paycheck to paycheck.

Burks said the longer the shutdown drags on, the greater the financial strain will be.

To help bridge the gap, federal credit unions are stepping in. Some of them, like Veridian Credit Union in Iowa and Westerra Credit Union in Denver, are approving short-term, interest-free loans for members struggling to cover bills and groceries until pay resumes.

Meanwhile, though air traffic controllers are still working deemed essential roles if the shutdown continues, theyll miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday.

I don't want my air traffic controllers to take a second job. I want them to do one job, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace.

The Federal Aviation Administration has already warned that travel disruptions could worsen. More than half of a recent weeks flight delays were linked to staffing shortages, according to the agency.

The Trump administration appears to be trying to calm markets and investors seem to be responding after Fridays sharp sell-off and a tense weekend between Washington, D.C., and Beijing.

Stocks, oil and crypto were all back in the green on Monday after nosediving on Friday. The sell-off was triggered by the threat of steep new tariffs on China in response to China's announcement of export controls on rare earths. President Donald Trump also had threatened to pull out of a future meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Over the weekend, the president tried a different tone on Truth Social, writing: "Don't worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn't want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it."

That softer message marks a notable pivot from Friday's fiery rhetoric and seems to have helped soothe Wall Street nerves. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance was more direct about the need for China to decide on how it wants to negotiate with the U.S.

"It's going to be a delicate dance and a lot of it is going to depend on how the Chinese respond," Vance said in an appearance on Fox News Sunday. "If they respond in a highly aggressive manner, I guarantee you the president of the United States has far more cards than the People's Republic of China. If, however, they're willing to be reasonable, then Donald Trump is always willing to be a reasonable negotiator.

In a statement posted online, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said, "China's stance is consistent. We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one."

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Tensions are unfolding as China moves to tighten exports of rare earth materials key ingredients in everything from electric vehicle motors to smartphones and U.S. defense systems. Its a reminder that while the United States leads in innovation, China still controls the vast majority of the worlds rare earth processing.

Some in corporate America are now angling to get involved; JPMorgan Chase announced a $10 billion investment Monday in U.S. companies focused on defense and aerospace, cutting-edge tech like AI and quantum computing, and energy technologies, including batteries and advanced manufacturing.

CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in a statement that it's become "painfully clear the U.S. has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals and manufacturing all essential for our national security."

Markets seem to be responding more to tone than policy at the moment, with traders betting that tensions could ease at least for now as long as the president signals openness to dialogue.

Presidents Trump and Xi are set to meet in South Korea in late October. The two countries remain in talks to reach a trade deal before their truce, which reduced tit-for-tat tariffs from both sides, expires on November 1.

The scientific community is expressing confusion and overwhelming criticism following President Donald Trump and his administration's claim on Monday that acetaminophen the active ingredient in Tylenol is linked to autism.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is advising doctors to limit its use during pregnancy, despite countless medical organizations maintaining that the medication is safe for pregnant women.

Many of those same medical organizations have warned that potential risks of not addressing fevers with acetaminophen properly may lead to heart and facial defects in babies, as well as preterm labor.

The White House and FDA are focusing on one newer study from Mount Sinai that suggests prenatal exposure to acetaminophen may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and ADHD. However, the study itself notes that further research is needed to confirm the associations and determine causality.

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Dr. Brian Lee, a biostatistician and epidemiologist with Drexel University who has studied potential prenatal factors in neurodivergent diagnoses, emphasized the importance of genetics in autism research.

"The big elephant in the room for neurodevelopmental disorders is genetics. Autism is a highly heritable condition, and genetics, when you just look at users versus non-users, it sort of ignores that aspect," Lee said.

"I think what people should take away from all of this is that physicians remain the sort of the keystone in terms of being the best source of information, because they are the ones who have to process the scientific information," Lee added.

Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, has also pushed back against the White House in a statement, writing that "over a decade of rigorous research endorsed by leading medical professionals and global health regulators confirms there's no credible evidence linking acetaminophen to autism."

The World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are holding firm in their research and data from the past couple of decades.

The administration bypassed typical FDA approval processes in changing language on Tylenol bottles and advising that another supplement, leucovorin, is an option for treating autism despite it not going through the FDA approval process either.

"The difficulty with promoting leucovorin at this time is that the existing evidence for leucovorin and for treatment or alleviation of autism symptoms is remarkably premature," said Lee. "There's only been a handful of very small studies which have some methodological issues, but no therapeutic recommendations, in my opinion, should be made based on this really preliminary evidence. In short, more research is needed."

In referring to the recent study cited by the Trump administration, medical experts point out the key difference between association and causation.

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"This is where it gets tricky. Association means that if people take Tylenol in pregnancy, they may have a child who has autism," explained Dr. Kristin Lyerly, who is a practicing OB-GYN. "But association does not mean that something causes something. Ice cream is associated with drowning. It doesnt cause you to drown. Theyre just two things that are present when the weather is warm."

Pregnancy research is often limited to observational studies, making it difficult to account for genetic and environmental factors something particularly important in autism research.

Doctors emphasize that for pregnant women with fevers or debilitating pain, Tylenol is currently one of the only guided medications considered safe. Not treating these conditions could be more harmful for both the pregnant woman and child.

Medical professionals also express concern about placing blame on mothers, suggesting that if they took Tylenol and their child received an autism diagnosis, it's their fault. This adds to stigma around the diagnosis when there's no firm medical research backing up the claims.

Meanwhile, the European Union has said it's not changing its guidance at all regarding acetaminophen use during pregnancy.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.