Congress

Congress just launched itself onto a nine-day runway to overcome deep partisan divides over the fate of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda — and conditions are trending toward another lengthy shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security. According to several senators, DHS funding talks were largely on hold while lawmakers waited for the House to clear the Senate-passed, five-bill spending package Tuesday and end the brief partial government shutdown. Now lawmakers have little time left before the Feb. 13 deadline to reach a bipartisan agreement on major changes to DHS policies and avoid a funding lapse that will also […]

Democrats and Republicans can barely decide on who should be negotiating — let alone how to agree on immigration enforcement.

Sen. Mitch McConnell checked himself into a local hospital Monday night "in an abundance of caution" after experiencing "flu-like symptoms," a spokesperson for the Kentucky Republican said Tuesday. McConnell missed Senate votes on Monday and Tuesday. A polio survivor, McConnell has had increasingly public mobility challenges, including a series of falls in recent years, and is often seen requiring assistance navigating the Capitol halls. He announced last year he would not seek reelection an eighth time. David Popp, the spokesperson, said McConnell's "prognosis is positive" and that he remains in "regular contact with his staff and looks forward to returning […]

A presidential pardon of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would not end Sen. Thom Tillis’ one-man blockade of central bank nominees, the North Carolina Republican said Tuesday. Only the Justice Department resolving its investigation into Powell’s Senate testimony on a massive Fed renovation project would suffice, he added, doubling down on his intention to use his vote on the Senate Banking Committee as a bulwark against any attempt to dilute the bank’s independence. Tillis is the main obstacle to the swift confirmation of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Powell as Fed chair. He has vowed to oppose […]

President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the legislation.

A spending package that would fund the vast majority of the federal government cleared a key procedural hurdle Tuesday, setting up votes later in the day to send the measure to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature. Final passage of the measure, which also includes a funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, would end the partial government shutdown that began Saturday. Republicans stayed mostly united on the 217-215 test vote to advance the package that would fund the Pentagon and departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and […]

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview Tuesday he has made no decisions about bypassing Senate filibuster rules to skirt the normal 60-vote margin required to advance legislation in the chamber. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said Monday she had White House-brokered "assurances" that the Senate would allow for a "standing" or "talking" filibuster that could allow the SAVE Act, a House-passed elections bill pushed by conservative hard-liners, to be enacted into law. Thune was not party to Luna's conversation with President Donald Trump, which prompted Luna to indicate she would support a massive spending bill moving through […]

Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview Tuesday morning that Republicans have given Bill and Hillary Clinton a noon deadline Tuesday to provide details of how they plan to comply with a pair of subpoenas issued by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which have until this point gone unheeded. Otherwise, Johnson said, Republicans will move forward with votes later this week to hold the former president and secretary of state in criminal contempt of Congress. “We're holding off until noon,” Johnson said. “They have a deadline until noon to work out the details, and if it's not done […]

House Republican leaders are facing a white-knuckle vote Tuesday morning as they move to end the partial shutdown after four days. Here’s what we’re watching on both sides of the aisle as an unpredictable day shakes out in the House. — Razor-thin rule vote: Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump got involved in wrangling hard-liner holdouts Monday who were threatening to oppose the procedural measure setting up final debate of the $1.2 trillion spending package. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) started the day threatening to tank the rule if the SAVE Act, a partisan elections bill, […]

A bipartisan agreement to temporarily extend Homeland Security funding is rekindling tensions between the two chambers.

House leadership is eyeing the week of Feb. 9 for a vote on a bipartisan housing package, according to four people with direct knowledge of the planning. Senior lawmakers have also been mulling whether to consider the widely supported bill under suspension of House rules, which would expedite passage of the legislation, said three of the people who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. However, plans for the bill are not locked in and could be subject to change as the House deals with a partial government shutdown. The Housing in the 21st Century Act, which overwhelmingly advanced through […]

It's a stunning change of heart for the former first couple as a contempt vote loomed.

Senior House Democrats are going in different directions on a massive funding bill headed to the House floor as soon as Tuesday, underscoring the sharp divisions inside the Democratic ranks on the $1.2 trillion spending package. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Monday she would vote for the funding package when it goes to the floor Tuesday — breaking with a large swath of colleagues who oppose the measure over its extension of Homeland Security funding, including immigration enforcement operations. "I will support this package," DeLauro said during Monday meeting of the Rules […]

Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing forward with a plan to get a massive funding package through the House without changes Tuesday, ending a brief partial government shutdown. Johnson met with Rules Committee Republicans Monday, shortly before the panel convened to take up a floor plan for the funding bill. The meeting was expected to include discussion of how to handle conservative hard-liners’ demands to attach a partisan elections bill to the $1.2 trillion spending package. But any change to the bill could add days more to the three-day partial government shutdown that Johnson is hoping to end Tuesday with House […]

House GOP leaders face an uphill battle to pass the revamped government funding package from the Senate, potentially dragging out the shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to pass the five full-year funding bills and the two-week DHS stopgap Tuesday relying only on Republicans, after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told him he wouldn’t help secure the Democrats needed to expedite the legislation. GOP leaders will have to quell an internal Republican revolt before they get there. Here’s how things are shaping up ahead of Tuesday: — Democrats divided, Republicans seek unity: Most House Democrats who spoke during a private caucus call […]

The House speaker projected confidence about swiftly getting his caucus in line to pass spending for the Department of Homeland Security.

House GOP leaders expect to delay a vote on $1.2T spending package due to Democratic opposition.

Government funding is set to lapse at midnight Friday for the military and many domestic programs, but cash will continue to flow at a slew of federal agencies Congress already funded. House leaders are aiming to send a funding package to President Donald Trump Monday, days after the Senate passed the legislation just before the deadline to avert a partial shutdown. The effect on most federal programs is expected to be minor, and employees who are furloughed would miss just one day of work if the House acts on schedule — which is not assured. This time, many of the […]

With the House not voting until Monday, the Pentagon and most domestic agencies are set to shutter briefly.

Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans on a private call Friday night he intends to hold a vote on a sprawling funding package by Monday evening. Leaders are likely to pursue a bipartisan path for passage, he said, rather than relying on the thin GOP majority to approve it. The planned vote would end a partial government shutdown after more than two days. The Senate passed the package Friday night, just ahead of a midnight shutdown deadline, but the House has been in recess this week and is not scheduled to reconvene until Monday. The vote would happen Monday by […]