Bipartisan congressional pressure helped push Mexico’s legislature to approve a joint military exercise between the U.S. and Mexican militaries, according to two people familiar with a U.S. delegation to the country.

The U.S. and Mexico had been considering a joint exercise where 19 U.S. Marines would train with the Mexican Navy in the city of Campeche along the Gulf of Mexico (the U.S. calls it the “Gulf of America”). But Mexican lawmakers balked at approving the exercise after the U.S. conducted a Jan. 3 operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The plan got back on track following a visit from a congressional delegation led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), according to two people familiar with the visit who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. U.S. lawmakers raised the issue with their counterparts in the Mexican Senate, urging them to approve the exercise and telling Mexican lawmakers they would closely track the matter, the people said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum officially requested the Marines’ entry earlier this week for the exercises, which will run from Feb. 15 to April 16. The nudge from Congress apparently helped, and Mexico’s Senate unanimously approved the Marines’ entry on Wednesday.

The involvement of the congressional delegation in securing the approval of the exercise has not been previously reported.

McCaul, who chairs the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group, and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the top Democrat for the group, said in a joint statement that they “welcome the approval” and said it was a “key objective of our bipartisan delegation to Mexico this past weekend.”

“We are grateful for the Mexican Senate’s commitment to shared security, which will enable our countries to enhance intelligence-sharing and naval capabilities, intercept dangerous shipments before they reach our shores, and better protect communities on both sides of the border,” McCaul and Cuellar said.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in his own statement that the delegation “in its meetings with Mexican authorities and Senate counterparts, reflects the profound depth of our bilateral cooperation.” He added it was also part of the embassy’s round-the-clock efforts “to work alongside the Government of Mexico and deliver greater security and prosperity for the American and Mexican peoples.”

At least in this case, the episode underscores that lawmakers still have some ability to sway foreign policy.

And the approval of the exercise comes at a critical juncture for the bilateral security relationship between Mexico City and Washington. President Donald Trump has previously warned he might consider using military force against Mexico’s drug cartels in the name of combating fentanyl trafficking.

Meanwhile, drug cartels, which control an increasing amount of territory in Mexico, have continued to expand their technological capabilities. On Wednesday, the U.S. abruptly closed the airspace around El Paso International Airport, saying that a Mexican cartel’s drone had breached U.S. airspace and counter-drone operations around the airport could have endangered commercial flights.

Lawmakers are heading for the exits following a failed Senate vote Thursday, all but guaranteeing the Department of Homeland Security shuts down early Saturday morning.

The funding lapse, which will hit parts of DHS harder than others, comes as the White House and congressional Democrats have failed to move closer to a deal after trading proposals to rein in immigration enforcement practices in the wake of two high-profile shootings in Minneapolis.

Democrats called the latest offer from the White House insufficient Thursday and are expected to send a counteroffer.

“Democrats have been very clear: We will not support an extension of the status quo,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

Democrats went on to block progress on a DHS funding bill the House passed last month, which would have been the vehicle for a short-term funding punt or a larger immigration agreement. The procedural vote was 52-47, well short of the needed 60 votes.

Prior to the vote, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced that ICE would be ending its enhanced immigration enforcement, a step that Democrats have called for. But Schumer said Thursday that “ICE’s abuses cannot be solved merely through executive fiat alone — we first and foremost need legislation.”

Republicans are expected to try to pass at least one weeks-long stopgap for DHS Thursday afternoon. But because every senator would need to agree to quick passage, it is expected to be blocked on the Senate floor.

While the negotiations have centered on ICE and Customs and Border Protection, a shutdown will affect a wider variety of agencies including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he thought the White House offer went “a long ways” toward an agreement, adding, “There are a couple of issues obviously that they’re going to have to work through and work out [with Democrats], and lines that neither side is probably going to be able to cross.”

Thune added that Democrats are “posturing right now” but that “progress has been real.”

With no deal close at hand, the Senate is on track to adjourn Thursday for a previously scheduled one-week recess. The House also adjourned Thursday for its previously scheduled recess, though members are on call to return within 48 hours if an agreement is reached. Thune said Thursday if a deal is struck, senators will need to get back to the Capitol within 24 hours.

Some GOP senators publicly pushed to stay in session in the event of a DHS shutdown, but many others pleaded with their colleagues during a closed-door lunch earlier this week to let them go back home and campaign.

Others are scheduled to leave Thursday to go on international trips, including a bipartisan group heading to the Munich Security Conference. House Speaker Mike Johnson has barred members from traveling to Munich or going on other government-funded trips over the break.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump’s nominee for a high-ranking State Department post told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday he will not stop making posts and statements as he waits for congressional confirmation.

Members from both parties on the committee grilled Jeremy Carl, who the White House tapped to serve as assistant secretary of state for International Organizations, during a confirmation hearing, over a string of comments Democrats call antisemitic and racist that have surfaced in recent months.

“I greatly understand the importance of restraint and conduct,” said Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank with members dispersed throughout Washington. “I unfortunately have to balance that with my current job, which involves advocacy and I can’t, as I’ve explained, just totally put away my day job. I’m not being offered a job here yet.“

In the past, Carl has appeared to endorse the “great replacement theory,” slammed the Juneteenth holiday and called for the execution of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, according to CNN. He deleted nearly 5,000 social media posts since before his nomination, the outlet reported in September.

“We are essentially moving,” he told conservative media commentator Tucker Carlson in April 2024, “to what is effectively, a post-White America.”

Democrats also hit out at Carl, who grew up Jewish before converting to Christianity, for what they say are derisive comments he’s made about Jewish Americans, including statements that diminish the effects of the Holocaust.

“No person who thinks Jews should get over the Holocaust and spreads pernicious Jewish stereotypes can claim to have the character or judgment necessary to serve as a diplomat for this country,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, said in a statement this week.

Democrats on the foreign relations committee, including ranking member Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), a former synagogue president, panned Carl for his past statements.

A vote for Carl “tells Americans you’re willing to use your sacred vote, not just to ignore but to endorse the hateful statements,” Rosen implored her colleagues.

“It tells Jewish Americans they simply don’t matter,” she said.