Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Kelly O'Donnell at the start of a very big week in politics,

with Election Day tomorrow for major races coast to coast as the government shutdown is poised to become the

longest in U.S. history. All of it, as our brand new NBC News poll reveals how Americans

are reacting to this unprecedented moment and which political leaders are shouldering the blame.

But first, some temporary relief is on the way for tens of millions

of Americans whose SNAP benefits expired this weekend because of the government shutdown.

Today, the Trump administration announcing that in order to comply with an emergency court ruling,

it will use all of the money in the program's contingency fund to partially fund the

critical nutrition assistance program for the month. But the fate of the program and the 42

million Americans who rely on it, that remains an enormous wildcard with no clear path

to reopen the government and with both parties continuing to trade blame.

Democrats refusing to budge on their demands to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act

with open enrollment officially underway and premium sticker shock setting in.

Are Democrats prepared to keep the government closed through Thanksgiving if it comes to that?

The question is why are Republicans continuing to keep the government shut down?

They have the House, the Senate, and the presidency.

Donald Trump just made clear over the weekend repeatedly that Republicans have the ability to reopen this government.

They don't want to do it because they'd rather continue to gut the health care of the American people.

President Trump saying that talks about health care have to come after Democrats agree to reopen the government.

But he notably struggled to articulate any proposed reforms to the ACA

during a 60 Minutes interview last night. It's bad health care at far too high a price.

We should fix that. We should fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats. All they have to do is

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