Pessimism is increasing across the Capitol that lawmakers will reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they point fingers over the lack of talks and float canceling the upcoming recess.
Senators return to Washington on Monday facing a sprint to strike a deal and avoid a shutdown that would affect agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard.
Democrats, facing intense pressure from their base to rein in Trump's deportation crackdown, have insisted GOP lawmakers acquiesce on including far-reaching immigration reforms in the funding bill. Republicans have little appetite to even put most of those demands on the table. And, with a Feb. 13 deadline looming, negotiations hadn't even gotten off the ground by the end of last week. |
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled Saturday that he could move to bring Democrats' proposal for an overhaul of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics to the Senate floor, saying the plan "deserves a vote."
"While I believe the Democrats' proposal regarding [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and immigration are fatally flawed and will take us backward on immigration enforcement, I think it deserves a vote in the U.S. senate," he wrote in a lengthy post on social platform X. "Therefore, if no one else will, I will introduce the Democrat package to ensure it gets a vote on the floor — and I will enthusiastically vote no," the South Carolina Republican added. |
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Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's aim to push through a $40 billion defense spending plan is mired in a stalemate as the opposition parties demand compromises, drawing fire from China hawks in the Senate who fear a looming invasion by Beijing.
President Trump has pushed Taiwan to increase its defense spending in light of the growing threat from China, which views the island as part of its territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has instructed his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by next year, warned Trump during a recent phone call that the U.S. should be cautious about its arms sales to Taipei. The two leaders are set to meet in person in April.
Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party, which lost the majority in the Taiwanese Parliament, said it would increase defense spending to more than 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026, but political divisions have resulted in the defense spending proposal being blocked 10 times, creating a political deadlock that shows no signs of easing. |
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The courts have proven to be a big roadblock in the Trump administration's education plans.
President Trump's efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on school grounds, his push to remove "gender ideology" from education and his moves against Harvard University have all suffered losses in court, with the administration often decrying the rulings of what it calls "activist judges."
To be sure, Trump has also scored major legal victories on education, particularly regarding his desire to downsize and eventually eliminate the Education Department.
But opponents of his agenda are getting results after lawyering up. |
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Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is coming under scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties for delays in transmitting a whistleblower complaint and her involvement in two different seizures of voting records.
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gabbard's office had failed to relay a whistleblower report made last May accusing her of wrongdoing to Congress. Two days later, Gabbard's office confirmed its involvement in the seizure of voting machines in Puerto Rico, news that came after the DNI was spotted during the execution of a search warrant in Fulton County, Ga. |
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The search for Savannah Guthrie's mother will hit the one-week mark on Sunday.
In a new video posted to Savannah Guthrie's Instagram account on Saturday, the "Today" show anchor addressed her mother's captors.
"We received your message, and we understand," she said while seated between her siblings Annie and Camron. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."
Nancy Guthrie was last seen outside of her home near Tucson, Ariz., at 9:30 p.m. last Saturday, and her family notified police the following morning after she did not show up for church. |
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President Trump is planning to host the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace later this month, a source familiar with the plans told The Hill's sister network, NewsNation.
The meeting will coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House, which had already been scheduled for the day before, Feb. 18. The news was first reported by Axios, which said the summit would be held at the rebranded Institute of Peace and serve as an opportunity to raise money for reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. |
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The Washington Post's publisher and CEO is stepping down amid widespread layoffs at the company, the paper announced on Saturday.
In an all-company email sent on Saturday, Lewis said it's the "right time for me to step aside" and thanked Post owner Jeff Bezos for his leadership at the company, The New York Times reported. "During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day," Lewis wrote. |
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Progressive Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman (D) on Saturday made a last-minute bid to challenge Mayor Karen Bass (D) in the June primary election.
Raman made the announcement hours before the 12 p.m. filing deadline for candidates be on the ballot. She praised Bass in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, calling the mayor "an icon" but said the city needs someone who will tackle its problems. "I have deep respect for Mayor Bass," Raman told the Times. "We've worked closely together on my biggest priorities and her biggest priorities, and there's significant alignment there. But over the last few months in particular, I've really begun to feel like unless we have some big changes in how we do things in Los Angeles, that the things we count on are not going to function anymore." |
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OPINION | Republicans woke up in a panic last Sunday. Why? Because the night before, Democrat Taylor Rehmet had pulled off a 32-point swing in a Texas state senate district that President Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
That's right — in Texas. Ken Martin is chair of the Democratic National Committee. |
OPINION | For more than a decade, policymakers and advocacy groups have cast teenagers' use of social media as a looming public health crisis. This now widely accepted assumption has fueled calls for bans and sweeping restrictions on teen use of social media, including Australia's enactment of a ban for children under 16 in 2025, a House of Lords recent vote in favor of a similar proposal, and growing interest in comparable measures across the European Union and New Zealand.
However, the assumption that social media use harms teens has always relied on an inconclusive body of research. New research from the University of Manchester complicates this narrative, finding that increased time spent on social media or online gaming does not, by itself, cause mental health problems in adolescents. |
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BY KENNETH P. VOGEL, LISA FRIEDMAN & DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLD |
President Trump's allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to a new group supporting flashy initiatives he is planning around the nation's 250th birthday, according to documents and interviews.
The group, Freedom 250, is threatening to overshadow years of plans meant to reach the broadest cross section of Americans for semiquincentennial celebrations. They are now taking on a Trumpian flare, replete with marble and machismo. |
An aging political class in Washington is prompting fresh calls for forcing older officeholders to step aside in favor of younger faces.
Working well past retirement age is an area of rare bipartisan agreement in Washington. President Trump will turn 80 this year, and Joe Biden left office at age 82, both breaking Ronald Reagan-era records for age in office. In Congress, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) is 92 years old, while Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) is 87. It isn't unusual for members to die on the job, as three did in 2025 alone. |
The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the recent flare-up in tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump's designs on Greenland.
The creator of the "Made O'Meter" app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March. |
On Tuesday, Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino (R-New York) plans to lead what is likely to be the most contentious and closely watched hearing of his short tenure as a House committee chairman. The focus is the Trump administration's surge in immigration enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere that has included the shooting deaths of two people in Minneapolis by federal authorities. |
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