MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, February 10 | By Jared Gans

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In today's issue:

▪ Retirements on the rise ahead of midterms

▪ Moderate Senate Dems in tough spot on DHS

▪ DOJ accused of covering up names in Epstein files

▪ Monk peace walk arrives in D.C.

GOP lawmakers head for the exits as midterms approach

Congressional retirements are on track to hit their highest level in a decade this election cycle, fueled in part by Republicans increasingly looking to exit the halls of Congress with the midterms fast approaching.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) late last week became the latest lawmaker and 30th House Republican to announce he doesn't intend to run for reelection. Along with nearly two dozen House Democrats who have also said they don't plan to seek another term this November, the number of retirements in the chamber stands at 51.

That's a higher number in the House than in any election cycle of the past decade except for 2018, which saw 52 retirements, according to data kept by Ballotpedia and The Associated Press.

Meanwhile in the Senate, nine incumbents are retiring either to end their political careers or seek another office outside Congress — already the highest number of any cycle in the past decade.

While about 1 in 10 House Democrats are stepping aside this year, as the party continues in its internal push for generational change, the trend is more prominent among Republicans.

Republican strategists said the motivations driving members' retirements aren't unusual compared to past cycles but are more pronounced in an increasingly polarized Washington dominated by gridlock.

"D.C. right now is a hard place to get something done," GOP strategist Vinny Minchillo told Morning Report. "Everything is difficult. Everything is a battle. Everything is a fight."

While many members have cited personal reasons for their retirement, like spending more time with family, others have been more direct in attributing their decision at least in part to the heated political environment.

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) remarked in his announcement last June that his colleagues had noticed he wasn't enthusiastic about running again.

"That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home," he said at the time.

Nineteen House Republicans are retiring to seek another office, while eight Democrats are doing the same. Still, there are slightly more Democrats than Republicans in Congress retiring from public office entirely.

GOP strategist Mark Weaver, who has worked with members of both the Senate and House, said the lower chamber is "just far less congenial."

"The Republicans and Democrats do not socialize much in the House, whereas in the Senate, there's some of that, not as much as there once was, but some of that. And in fact, it's downright antagonistic [in the House]," he said.

The high number of retirements could also be a sign of what's pending in the midterms, when the president's party has historically lost seats in Congress. In each of the past four election cycles, the party with the higher number of House retirements has been in the minority in the next session.

The prospect of returning to the minority may not be appealing for many House Republicans, even those serving in solidly red seats, GOP strategists say.

Minchillo also noted the high pressure and exhaustion of having to run every two years taking its toll.

"You've got to do a lot of things. The fundraising is a big part of the job, too. It's a wonder there's any time left for lawmaking," he said.

▪ The Hill: Which lawmakers aren't seeking reelection in 2026?

3 Things to Know Today

President Trump threatened to block the opening of a bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada over his frustrations with trade relations between the countries. The bridge is set to connect Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan measure aimed at improving housing affordability, sending it to the Senate. The bill would direct officials to study gaps in federal housing programs and modernize the Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME Investment Partnerships Program, among other initiatives.
Another deadline in the purported ransom note for the return of Nancy Guthrie has passed, as Savannah Guthrie pleaded for the public's help in locating her in the family's "hour of desperation."

LEADING THE DAY

DHS DILEMMA: A group of moderate Senate Democrats are facing a tough decision on what to do as the prospects of reaching a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appear slim and time is running out.

The deadline for lawmakers to reach a deal to extend funding for DHS arrives at the end of Friday, but the parties are far apart on any potential compromise.

Democrats are insisting on a wide range of reforms to immigration enforcement agencies in the aftermath of the killings of two Americans at the hands of immigration officers in Minneapolis, while Republicans are rejecting them.

Instead, President Trump's allies in the Senate are preparing to battle with Democrats this week, working to go back on offense on the key issue of immigration, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports.

Republicans have been on their back foot in recent weeks on the issue following the killings, but Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) — who attended Trump's Super Bowl watch party Sunday — are pushing for votes this week to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions and require prison sentences for migrants who enter the country illegally, among other proposals.

The votes almost certainly won't succeed, but they're designed to change the narrative as polls have shown wide public backlash to the Trump administration's immigration policies in recent weeks.

This has all put the eight Senate Democrats who voted with Republicans to end the record-long government shutdown in the fall in a tough spot as they weigh what to do, The Hill's Al Weaver reports.

Democrats have signaled they're unified going into this funding fight and don't expect any of their members to fold to Republican demands to fund DHS without the Democratic-demanded reforms.

But without a deal, DHS will run out of funding at the end of the week, having implications for many nonimmigration agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.

▪ The Hill: DHS requests list of ongoing investigations from watchdog.

▪ Politico: White House draws red lines on DHS.

EPSTEIN FILES REVIEW: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said after reviewing the unredacted versions of the Jeffrey Epstein files that the Department of Justice (DOJ) appears to have improperly shielded some names included in them, flouting the law passed by Congress.

His comments came on the first day that lawmakers were granted access to view the files without redactions following backlash against the DOJ over what has remained concealed. The law signed by Trump late last year required disclosure of the files except in certain limited cases.

The ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, Raskin said the DOJ revealed the names of victims that were supposed to remain covered and seemed to wrongly conceal the names of individuals who spent time with Epstein. The congressman alleged it was just to "spare them potential embarrassment, political sensitivity or disgrace of some kind," The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch reports.

"I was able to determine, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims, and so that's troubling to us," Raskin said.

Meanwhile, former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions Monday as she asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has been investigating the disgraced financier.

An attorney for Maxwell said in a statement to the committee that she chose to do so because she is challenging her conviction on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. The attorney also asserted Maxwell has information that could exonerate Trump, as well as former President Clinton, from any wrongdoing if the president grants her clemency.

Trump has previously not ruled out clemency for Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

▪ Politico: Lawmakers consider exposing redacted names of powerful men in the files.

▪ The Associated Press: King Charles will back police investigating former Prince Andrew.

THE HILL EXLUSIVE: A group of progressive Democrats are introducing a resolution to combat the president's campaign to establish American dominance over the Western Hemisphere through his revitalization of the Monroe Doctrine.

The resolution, shared exclusively with The Hill's Laura Kelly, seeks to put Congress on record rejecting the Monroe Doctrine and pursuing a "New Good Neighbor" policy. It comes after the surprise military operation capturing Venezuela's president last month and an expanding armed campaign in the Caribbean targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats.

"The Trump administration's dangerous return to gunboat diplomacy in our hemisphere makes this resolution more urgent than ever," Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), the lead sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement. Read more from Kelly's reporting here.

CLIMATE ROLLBACK: The Trump administration plans to repeal the landmark "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health, pulling the legal basis for federal regulations on them.

The Wall Street Journal reported the rule set to be made public this week strikes Obama-era requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles. It would also repeal related compliance programs, credit provisions and reporting obligations for industries.

"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin told the outlet in an interview.

The rule wouldn't affect emissions from power plants and oil and gas facilities but could open the door to rolling back regulations for them as well.

The development is the latest in what has been an aggressive campaign to pull back climate regulations during Trump's second term, as The New York Times reports the president's allies are approaching "total victory" in wiping out climate regulation.

▪ The Hill: Trump administration seeking to 'unleash' nuclear energy.

VESSEL INTERCEPTED: The U.S. military said it intercepted an oil tanker violating the president's quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean.

The Pentagon didn't clarify whether the U.S. seized the ship, called the Acquilla II, which left Venezuela after the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month.

U.S. personnel have seized at least seven other tankers in the Caribbean linked to Venezuela as part of enforcing its quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the region.

▪ The Associated Press: Venezuelan opposition leader's ally arrested after release.

▪ Politico: Energy Secretary Chris Wright visiting Venezuela.

WHEN & WHERE

The president will participate in signing time at 4:30 p.m. He will participate in a policy meeting at 5:30 p.m. and then have a private dinner at 7 p.m.
The House and Senate will convene at 10 a.m.

ZOOM IN

BACK IN SPOTLIGHT: Former Vice President Kamala Harris is further reentering the political fray in rebranding her 2024 campaign social media account to push back against the Trump administration.

The account that was known as KamalaHQ throughout Harris's unsuccessful presidential bid has been renamed Headquarters, inheriting its massive follower count of 1.1 million on the social platform X and 5.5 million on TikTok, Fiona Bork reports for The Hill.

Lauren Kapp, one of the people behind Headquarters, told Bork the team hopes to address what they view as a "Democratic digital crisis" by building the infrastructure to match the conservative podcasts and social media influencers that helped Trump connect with voters from Generation Z.

The rebrand got off to a bumpy start as it launched with the handle @headquarters_67, an apparent nod to the viral "6-7" craze that was mocked by online users. The handle was soon after changed to @HQNewsNow.

The latest iteration of the social media account could generate more attention for Harris, who quickly coalesced support to become the Democratic nominee in 2024 after former President Biden dropped out but fell short of defeating Trump. She hasn't closed the door on potentially launching a third White House bid in 2028 and was back in the spotlight with the recent release of her book about the 2024 campaign, "107 Days."

▪ The Hill: Harris slams White House for blaming Obama video on staffer.

▪ Silver Bulletin: Harris has Liz Cheney syndrome.

ELSEWHERE

VANCE'S VISIT: Coming off leading the U.S. delegation at the Winter Olympics in Italy, Vice President Vance made history Monday as the first sitting vice president to visit Armenia.

No sitting president has visited the Caucasian country, which is located at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Vance's trip comes as the Trump administration continues to push its peacemaker role in the international community and to advance a U.S.-brokered deal to end Armenia's long-standing conflict with Azerbaijan, which he is visiting today.

Vance signed an agreement Monday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to move forward negotiations on a civil nuclear energy deal. The vice president said the U.S. also plans to export computer chips and surveillance drones to Armenia and invest in its infrastructure.

While Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed agreements affirming their commitment to sign a peace treaty, only their foreign ministers have initialed the text of the treaty. The leaders still must sign, and their parliaments must ratify it.

▪ The Hill: Denmark says no 'solution yet' with U.S. on Greenland.

▪ The Guardian: Olympic music dispute between Armenia, Azerbaijan resolved.

NO REGRETS: Olympian Lindsey Vonn said she has no regrets following her crash while competing in downhill skiing with a torn ACL. She said her previous injury wasn't tied to her crash but has broken her leg, requiring multiple surgeries to fix and ending her comeback attempt.

▪ NBC News: Team USA with strong start at Olympics.

OPINION

Puerto Rican statehood is a national security no-brainer, Cesar Conda and Thomas Trask write in The Hill.
Virginia Democrats will fail if they copy-paste a California agenda, Ray Nothstine writes in The Hill.

THE CLOSER

And finally … A months-long "Walk for Peace" by Buddhist monks is set to end this week in the nation's capital.

The monks yielded large crowds as they embarked on their 2,300-mile journey that began in Texas in late October. Hundreds lined the streets in Fairfax County, Va., on Sunday to cheer them on as they approached Washington, D.C., the local D.C. affiliate Fox 5 reported.

The monks plan to reach the city as soon as Tuesday morning and go to the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. The Washington National Cathedral is also set to welcome them on Tuesday.

The walk's aim has been to spread the message of peace as the monks go on their way through the country.