Good afternoon! The Trump Administration continued to manage the ongoing Iran conflict, announcing a five-day pause on threatened strikes against Iranian power plants as the campaign entered its fourth week. The administration has deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operations. The Senate was in session over the weekend. This week, they will continue debating the SAVE Act and are expected to vote as early as tonight to confirm a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary. The House will vote again on a DHS funding bill and will take up aviation and water quality program legislation.
WHITE HOUSE
-
President Trump announced Sunday that he would deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports. Agents arrived this morning to help manage growing security lines caused by the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, now more than five weeks old. Close to 400 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have quit since the shutdown began.
-
President Trump announced Monday he would delay strikes on Iranian power plants for five days, citing “productive conversations,” hours before a 48-hour deadline he had issued Saturday night demanding Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face bombardment of its power infrastructure. US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the military campaign is “ahead or on plan” and that Iran’s military capabilities are deteriorating. Iran has threatened to mine Persian Gulf Sea lanes and strike energy and water infrastructure across the region if its power plants are targeted.
- The US Ambassador to the European Union (EU), Andrew Puzder, urged the European Parliament on Monday to approve the Turnberry trade deal ahead of a full parliamentary vote Thursday, warning that further delay would be economic “malpractice.” The agreement, struck last July, would have the EU scrap import duties on US industrial goods and commit $750 billion to purchasing US energy, in exchange for a 15% tariff ceiling on most EU exports to the US.
SENATE
-
The Senate spent the weekend in session debating the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a voter identification bill, while continuing to negotiate a deal to reopen the partially shuttered Department of Homeland Security. The White House presented an updated immigration enforcement offer to Senate appropriators Friday night but remained unwilling to yield on two Democratic demands: requiring agents to remove masks and obtain judicial warrants before entering private property. A potential new complication emerged Sunday when President Trump suggested he would accept cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding only if paired with the passage of the SAVE America Act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has threatened to cancel spring recess if no deal is reached by week’s end and has not ruled out separating immigration funding from the rest of the department’s appropriations.
- The Senate is expected to confirm Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary as early as tonight, following a 54-37 procedural vote Sunday to advance his nomination. Trump chose Mullin to succeed outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem in early March.
HOUSE
-
The House is set to vote this week on another DHS funding bill, its third attempt this year, as the department enters its sixth week of a partial shutdown. The legislation is nearly identical to two previously passed House bills. If passed, it will face the same uphill battle in the Senate as previous versions.
-
The House will also take up H.R. 6422, which would reauthorize several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water quality protection and restoration programs. Programs in the bill include the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Long Island Sound Partnership program, the Columbia River Basin Restoration Program, the National Estuary Program, and the BEACH Act program.
- Additionally, the House will consider H.R. 6618, which would require the FAA to study and report to Congress how drones, flying in an airspace that is temporarily restricted due to a wildfire, affect wildfire suppression on federal lands. The bill would direct the FAA to consider the feasibility of deploying counter-drone systems to prevent and mitigate the drone incursions.
