The shutdown should end today — but it's far from over

IN THIS EDITION

Trump wins over GOP holdouts – for now

Clintons seek deal with Comer to stave off contempt

Tech: Sarandos to stress Netflix plans for U.S.

Dem infighting muddies Virginia redistricting

THE TOP

Trump wins over GOP holdouts – for now

Happy Tuesday morning.

The partial government shutdown, all of three days old, is likely to end at some point this afternoon. It was a mostly fruitless exercise, and it sets Congress up for another, more politically charged funding cliff at the end of next week.

Later today, the House will take up and vote on legislation to fund critical departments such as the Pentagon, State, Health and Human Services, Transportation and others until Sept. 30. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security will be extended until Feb. 13 while the White House and Democrats try to work out a deal — if possible — on new restrictions for ICE and CBP.

There’s a real chance that Congress won’t be able to notch a deal, leaving DHS funding in a precarious position for the rest of the year.

In what’s become an-all-too-familiar pattern this Congress, President Donald Trump convinced Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) to drop their blockade of the funding measure. The pair — close political allies — were threatening to vote against the rule unless Speaker Mike Johnson attached a voter ID bill (the SAVE Act) to the funding package. Trump made clear that wasn’t going anywhere.

Anything can happen in the House these days, but clearing Luna’s objection should allow the chamber to adopt a rule and pass the funding package using a simple majority threshold. If and when the House adopts the rule, we expect the five underlying FY2026 funding bills to pass handily with dozens of Democratic votes.

But what you should really be focusing on is the mess that this entire process sets up next week, which we recently laid out.

In 10 days from now — right up against the Presidents Day recess — DHS funding will run out once again. That’s fine with lots of Democrats, who point out the department got tens of billions of dollars under the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill last year. They think it can keep going for a while if needed, maybe the rest of FY2026.

“I don’t like the 10 days,” South Carolina GOP Rep. Ralph Norman said of the DHS CR. “What’s going to change in 10 days? [Democrats are] going to dismantle ICE. They’re gonna shut it down, which is fine. I’d say, do it.”

The obvious hurdle here is that the two sides are nowhere near any kind of consensus on potential ICE reforms. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s only had “preliminary conversations” on Democrats’ proposed changes to ICE operations. The White House will be taking the lead on the negotiation with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Even with a deal in hand today, it would take the Senate and House more than a week to get it passed. But any agreement is looking further off than ever.

Johnson said Monday that he wants the ICE negotiations to include the “unsafe law enforcement practices in some of these sanctuary cities.” Any conversation of new restrictions or mandates on sanctuary cities is going nowhere with Hill Democrats.

Meanwhile, Senate conservatives are already digging in against some of the ICE reforms Democrats are seeking, planning proposals to require judicial warrants and stop agents from wearing masks. In an even bigger challenge, hardline Republicans want to seize the moment to achieve their own priorities.

“If Democrats get anything, we have to demand all kinds of things,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told us. “Ending sanctuary cities would be one. Shutdown Fairness Act would be another one. [The] SAVE Act.”

Some hardline conservatives are thinking ahead to attaching the SAVE America Act — the new voter ID law that replaced the SAVE Act — to the next funding bill.

Luna has suggested that the White House will push Thune to force Democrats to conduct a live, “standing” filibuster if they want to block the SAVE America Act. This would be akin to changing the rules of the Senate, the so-called “nuclear option.” We don’t think Thune is willing to go there, as he’s stated numerous times.

Thune has already said he plans on holding another vote on the SAVE Act at some point soon. So it’s unclear what exactly Luna is suggesting, or whether Thune has made any commitments to her or anyone else.

The South Dakota Republican appears more focused on next week’s DHS deadline — and he’s looking ahead to it with some skepticism.

Thune told us he wants to start those negotiations “right away” once the House clears the funding package, but said most of the specifics will be up to the White House and congressional Democrats. Thune added that the Senate will need to be “ready” to tee up another short-term funding patch for DHS given the short timeline and the unlikely prospect that both chambers will be able to meet the Feb. 13 deadline.

Senate Democrats are cautiously hailing what they called a “de-escalatory” move by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday when she announced that all federal agents in Minneapolis will wear body cameras. But they warned that this isn’t nearly enough.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said these kinds of moves are simply “a prerequisite to a negotiation, but the negotiation is about a statute. Executive action, at this point, gets them in the room.”

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio, Laura Weiss and Samantha Handler

Join us tomorrow for a conversation with Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.) at 8 a.m. ET. We’re discussing the many factors shaping youth mental health. RSVP here!

OVERSIGHT WATCH

Clintons seek deal with Comer to stave off contempt

Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify under oath as part of the House Oversight Committee’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein, a dramatic last-minute cave to avoid being held in criminal contempt of Congress.

The Clintons have long resisted sitting for depositions for the Epstein investigation, insisting they had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and accusing Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) of unfairly targeting them for political reasons.

The Clintons’ lawyers confirmed in an email to Comer on Monday evening that Bill and Hillary Clinton would appear for separate depositions “on mutually agreeable dates.” The Clintons’ lawyers also requested that Comer confirm the House wouldn’t move forward with criminal contempt proceedings if the Clintons testify.

The House Rules Committee then postponed further consideration of the contempt resolutions, Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) announced on Monday night.

But Comer isn’t committing yet to taking contempt off the table. In a Monday evening statement, the Oversight Committee chair said the Clintons’ “terms lack clarity yet again and they have provided no dates for their depositions.”

“I will clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members,” Comer said.

How we got here. In an earlier bid to stave off contempt over the weekend, the Clintons’ legal team said Bill Clinton would sit for a four-hour transcribed interview in New York with a limit on questions. Their lawyers maintained Hillary Clinton would only provide written responses.

That wasn’t good enough for Comer, who rejected the offer on Monday and claimed the Clintons were seeking special treatment.

The Clintons’ legal team charged that Republicans were breaking tradition by subpoenaing a former president, which they said violated the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

As for Hillary Clinton, the couple’s lawyers repeatedly said — as she did in a statement to the committee last year — that the former secretary of state and senator had no information on or awareness of Epstein’s criminal activities. They saw the subpoenas as harassment and an attempt to distract from President Donald Trump’s ties to Epstein.

“They negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña replied to Comer on social media. “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”

The developments could avert what would likely have been an embarrassing vote on the House floor exposing how far the Clinton political dynasty has fallen. Nine Democrats advanced the Bill Clinton contempt resolution out of committee last month. Three Democrats did the same for the Hillary Clinton contempt resolution.

Oversight Democrats — many of them younger members who came to power long after Bill Clinton’s presidency ended — had no allegiance to the couple. They were more interested in using the Epstein case against Trump than being seen as protecting the former president.

Behind the scenes, some Democrats also complained that the Clintons’ lawyers overplayed their legal and political hand in their negotiations with Comer.

Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Oversight Democrat, greeted the Clintons’ latest offer as a positive development.

“They’ve accepted every single term that James Comer has put in place. We need to set the dates for President Clinton and Secretary Clinton to appear,” Garcia said. “They want to speak to the Oversight Committee.”

— Max Cohen

REDISTRICTING WARS

Dem infighting muddies Virginia redistricting

A disagreement between Democrats in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates has upended plans to redraw the state’s congressional map.

Democrats in both chambers want a 10D-1R map, but they disagree on what that map looks like and blew past their self-imposed deadline last week to release a proposal.

Leaders from each chamber were supposed to resume negotiations on Monday, but the meeting was cancelled, according to sources close to the process. Some Democrats still hope a new map can be agreed on this week.

Virginia is critical for Democrats in the battle for control of the House this November. National Democrats hope to net a three-to-four seat gain via redistricting, but it’s a complicated process and time is of the essence. That’s why this dispute is so important both in Richmond and Washington.

What’s happening: At the heart of the dispute: Both sides feel the other is advancing maps to elevate members of their own chamber.

Leaders in the House of Delegates are in favor of using a map drawn by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. That map targets GOP Reps. Ben Cline, John McGuire, Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman, and creates a new district anchored in northern Virginia.

For some Senate Democrats, that last seat is a non-starter because they believe it is drawn to favor state Del. Dan Helmer, who has twice run for Congress and clashed with some in the legislature. Helmer is close, however, with state House Speaker Don Scott.

The state Senate’s proposal creates a second seat in Loudoun County and another in the Richmond area. Opponents of this map claim those seats are drawn to help two state senators, Lamont Bagby and Russet Perry, make the jump to Congress.

Another complicating factor: The state Senate’s map would likely loop two top Democratic recruits into one district — Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor and former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.).

Virginia Senate leaders have communicated to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that they strongly dislike the NDRC proposal, per sources familiar with the conversations. And the Senate has a heavier lift to redistrict. Democrats have a very narrow majority and can’t lose any votes in the state Senate if they hope to pass a map.

Jeffries has been in contact with Scott during the redistricting process. And the NDRC has shown its map to members of the congressional delegation.

Plenty of Democrats are optimistic about finding a solution. The state House and state Senate are working toward a compromise 10D-1R map that satisfies both sides, per a source working to mediate between the two chambers.

— Ally Mutnick

THE CAMPAIGN

Iowa endorsement. EMILYs List is backing Sarah Trone Garriott in Iowa’s 3rd District, the latest sign that the Democratic establishment is uniting around Garriott’s bid to knock off Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa).

Georgia latest. The Georgia Democratic Party is trolling Senate hopeful Derek Dooley’s ill-fated tenure as University of Tennessee football coach in a new video.

— Max Cohen

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