Good afternoon! This week, the Trump administration focused nearly all of its attention on the Iran conflict. The president met with AI company leaders to discuss AI power consumption. On Thursday, the president fired Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. The Senate and House both acted on Iranian war powers resolutions and a Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Homeland Security bill. The Senate passed their version of a comprehensive housing bill, and the Farm bill crossed its first hurdle by passing out of the House Agriculture Committee.
WHITE HOUSE
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On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kristi Noem appeared before Congress and defended her work at DHS, including a $220 million border-security ad campaign, which drew bipartisan scrutiny. The controversy deepened when Trump later said he had not approved the spending.
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That dispute became part of the broader backlash over her leadership and helped lead to her firing Thursday. President Trump promptly nominated Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to lead the department and made Noem the “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
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The Trump administration plans to release its FY2027 budget request the week of March 30. The submission would formally launch the annual appropriations process, with House appropriators aiming to begin action on funding bills in mid to late April. The President’s budget is arriving later than the statutory deadline, in part because Congress is still considering the FY26 Department of Homeland Security funding bill.
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The U.S. conflict with Iran has entered its seventh day, with continued strikes across Iran and the broader Middle East. The conflict has also widened politically, with uncertainty overIran’s leadership after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing and President Trump saying he wants influence over who succeeds him.
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The State Department said it is expanding its efforts to assist Americans attempting to leave the Middle East region. The conflict has disrupted air travel across the region, stranding thousands.
- President Trump joined major tech executives on Wednesday to announce a voluntary pledge to ensure AI buildout will not drive up American’s electricity bills. Companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, Oracle, xAI, and OpenAI agreed to negotiate separate electricity rate structures with utilities and states, pay not only for the power they use but also for any infrastructure needed to serve new data centers, and support hiring and workforce training in the communities where those facilities are built.
SENATE
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The Senate voted 47–53 to block Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) resolution to end U.S. military involvement in Iran. Supporters said it was a constitutional check on presidential war powers, while opponents argued that President Trump needs the ability to continue the campaign. Even if it had advanced, the resolution faced no chance of surviving a veto.
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The Senate failed to advance a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, with the procedural vote falling 51-45, short of the 60 votes needed. Democrats blocked the measure and remained steadfast in their demand for ICE and CBP reform.
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The Senate overwhelming passed a bipartisan housing package aimed at lowering housing costs and expanding supply, signaling strong support for what leaders described as the most significant housing effort in years. The Senate amended the recently passed House bill as their legislative vehicle. The amended bill now goes back to the House for consideration. It is unclear whether the House will make changes or take up the Senate version.
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Senate Democrats said they will resume negotiations on permitting reform and a broader energy and infrastructure package after talks stalled late last year. They pointed to recent signs from the Trump administration, including possible approval of solar projects and court decisions allowing blocked offshore wind projects, as positive developments.
- The Senate unanimously passed COPPA 2.0, a bipartisan bill that would expand online privacy protections for teenagers and revive a stalled effort to update social media child safety rules. The bill would bar platforms from collecting personal data from users ages 13 to 16 without consent, create stronger privacy and safety tools for families, and require an “eraser button” to allow parents to delete their children’s personal information. The legislation updates the original 1998 children’s privacy law.
HOUSE
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House lawmakers on Thursday rejected, 212-219, a war powers resolution that sought to curb ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran, one day after the Senate voted similarly to quash its own effort.
- The House Agriculture Committee advanced the Farm bill in a 34-17 vote after a lengthy markup, with seven Democrats joining Republicans in support. The bill updates farm and nutrition policy for the first time since 2018. The measure is now ready for a floor vote, but scheduling its consideration may prove difficult in the near term.
