Congress
Republicans worry shutdown will overshadow Trump’s State of the Union
President Donald Trump is barreling ahead with the first State of the Union address of his second term, despite concerns among Republicans that it’s set to hit during a partial government shutdown.
The speech, set for 11 days from now, is poised to land in the middle of a funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security – the product of a standoff with Democrats over immigration enforcement that the White House had hoped to avoid. Behind the scenes, some administration officials and senior Capitol Hill Republicans are quietly fretting about the optics, according to six people granted anonymity to describe private conversations.
The concerned Republicans believe it would be less than ideal for Trump to stand in the well of the House and declare that the state of the union is strong when a critical part of the federal government remains shuttered.
“It doesn’t exactly scream ‘a functioning GOP trifecta,’” said one House Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Asked whether postponing the address was under discussion, a senior White House official said Friday, “Not as of yet.” Senior Hill Republicans believe the president is full steam ahead as well. In 2019, Trump publicly battled with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi for more than a week over whether to delay his State of the Union address during an earlier government shutdown. He eventually relented.
Republicans expect Speaker Mike Johnson, who is responsible for extending the formal invitation to the president to address a joint session of Congress, not to delay the speech unless the White House specifically asks.
The latest shutdown, which will begin when DHS funding lapses overnight, is expected to drag on until at least the week of Trump’s Feb. 24 State of the Union speech because the White House and Senate Democrats appear to be far apart on how far to rein in Trump’s immigration enforcement activities as part of a funding agreement.
Both sides are continuing to negotiate, but lawmakers left Washington Thursday for a week-long recess with little expectation they would be called back early. The address is scheduled for one day after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill.
White House officials and senior Hill Republicans have been eager for Trump to use the prime time address to tamp down a swirl of negative headlines over the past few weeks, from the fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minnesota to the release of the files of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They instead want to focus on the GOP’s economic messaging heading into the midterms.
Some Republicans also see it as an opportunity to blame Democrats for the DHS funding lapse, which impacts TSA baggage screeners, who will work without pay, FEMA and the Coast Guard.
“President Trump has been, and always will be, on the side of the American people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview Friday. “He wants our government to remain open, and unfortunately, it appears that Democrats are barreling our government towards another shutdown for political and partisan reasons.”
Among the considerations for Republicans is how difficult Democrats plan to make things for Trump during the speech itself. Senate Democrats are having discussions about whether to boycott the event and talked it over during a closed-door lunch this week, according to two people granted anonymity to share details of the private conversations. Some members of the caucus are currently expected to attend, though a swath is undecided.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday declined to say whether he believed the speech should go forward during a DHS shutdown.
“That’s an open question,” he told reporters. “We’ll have more to say about that next week.”
Jeffries advised Democrats during a private leadership meeting earlier this week that his members should either sit in “silent defiance” or attend alternative programming, according to two people granted anonymity to describe his comments.
Heckling has become increasingly common from a president’s political opponents during State of the Union speeches.
Johnson pleaded with his own members to maintain decorum during former President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union appearance, only for several House GOP hard-liners to openly taunt him. During Trump’s address to Congress last year, Democrats showed up with signage and jeers, with multiple members walking out either on their own accord or at the insistence of Capitol Police.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who stood up to yell at the president at the very beginning of Trump’s speech last year, was later censured by the House for his actions.
Asked Thursday whether he would attend this year’s State of the Union address, Green said, “I’m not making an announcement right now.”
Eli Stokols and Diana Nerozzi contributed to this report.
Congress
GOP leaders prepare to steamroll opponents of DHS funding plan
Conservative lawmakers are throwing up roadblocks to a GOP-only immigration enforcement funding plan. But party leaders are hitting the gas anyway, hoping to quickly flatten any skeptics as they race to meet a June 1 deadline set by President Donald Trump.
At stake is the final endgame of the 58-day-and-counting Department of Homeland Security shutdown. The Senate has passed the biggest piece of the funding puzzle, and top GOP leaders are now embarking on the multistep budget reconciliation process to sidestep Democratic opposition and fund enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he would pursue an “anorexic” bill narrowly focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Republicans hope that will allow them to skip months of agonizing infighting — as they endured before enacting last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.
Still, some agony looms.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) insisted Monday on spending cuts to offset the new enforcement funding. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he wants to include money for the military and other GOP priorities. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) argued parts of a hot-button GOP elections bill should be in the mix. And across the Capitol, the House’s right flank insisted Republicans fund all of DHS through the party-line process — not just ICE and Border Patrol.
Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to discuss the path forward during their private weekly meeting Tuesday. The House is stalling for now on the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would fund the bulk of DHS, waiting for progress on the second bill under discussion.
Even Kennedy, who said it was a “mistake” not to include parts of the SAVE America Act in any upcoming reconciliation measure, warned Thune against expanding its scope.
“If he starts making deals with individual senators … then he’ll have an avalanche on his hands,” he said. “I know a number of senators who will take a run at Thune and say, ‘Look, you’ll only get my vote if you include my stuff in it.’ Well, if he starts that, then I’ve got some of my own stuff.”
The ultimatums could start pouring in as soon as the Senate GOP’s closed-door Tuesday lunch, when Thune and Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will get the chance to talk through the plan with their colleagues.
The first step will be for Republicans to take up a budget resolution — a fiscal blueprint for the party-line legislation, which Graham’s committee could release as soon as Tuesday. That blueprint is expected to task the Senate Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with drafting legislation that would fund immigration enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Typically reconciliation bills include at least some attempt to offset new spending with other savings or revenue. But GOP leaders are ready to argue that won’t be necessary in this instance since it involves funding that would have gone through the appropriations process — had Democrats not insisted on enforcement policy restrictions after federal agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in January.
Thune also warned Monday that expanding the bill by instructing additional committees — such as the Finance panel, which deals with taxes and federal health programs — would expose Republican senators to politically tough votes that could threaten the overall package. Any amendment that is germane to a reconciliation bill and under the jurisdiction of the instructed committees is eligible for a simple-majority vote — and the minority party aims to use those “vote-a-ramas” to put the majority on the spot.
“It gets really complicated procedurally, politically, and so, you know, to execute on it — to do it with any speed — you’ve got [to] keep it really tight,” Thune said.
In a sign of just how fast Senate Republicans want to move, Graham is expected to skip a committee vote on the fiscal blueprint for the reconciliation bill, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private planning. While Graham indicated Monday he still hasn’t made a final decision, going straight to the floor would deny Budget committee members, including Scott and Kennedy, a first bite at making any potential changes.
Instead, Republicans are aiming to bring the budget resolution straight to the floor as soon as next week. That would give the House time to adopt it before both chambers are scheduled for a recess in early May, though it’s possible that timeline could slip — especially if Republicans also struggle to meet an April 20 deadline to extend a key surveillance program.
To get the budget blueprint or the subsequent reconciliation bill through the Senate, Thune can lose as many as three GOP senators, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a possible tie.
Republicans are closely watching one of their own committee chairs who will be tasked with helping write the bill, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. He didn’t say how he would handle the budget resolution Monday but told reporters that he generally supports “spending less money, not more.”
Besides the grumbling from fiscal hawks, there are also Republican senators who are skeptical of any new reconciliation bill — especially appropriators concerned that the party-line approach is encroaching on their bipartisan turf.
But GOP leaders are cautiously hopeful they will be able to move quickly after months of sparring with Democrats over immigration enforcement policy frustrated many in their ranks. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters Monday her panel has been giving “technical assistance” to Graham’s panel while lamenting the breakdown in the appropriations process.
“It obviously would have been better if we came up with a bipartisan compromise to finish up the one remaining bill,” Collins said.
But the bigger threat could be in the House, where Republicans have an even tinier majority and a more rambunctious band of ultraconservative lawmakers.
One of their ringleaders, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, reacted negatively to Thune’s “anorexic” vision for the funding bill Monday. He suggested funding all of DHS through a party-line reconciliation bill, not just ICE and Border Patrol.
“Well – he isn’t the only voice in this, is he?” Roy wrote on X. “We should move other priorities with ALL of DHS… we’re running out of time to deliver and to clean up these repeated swamp messes.”
Congress
Tony Gonzales says he will resign from House
Rep. Tony Gonzales said he plans to resign from the House Tuesday, weeks after the Texas Republican admitted to having an affair with a staff member.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all,” he said in a statement on X. “When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”
The Texas Republican, who previously announced he would not seek reelection due to the allegations, said he would resign outright just over an hour after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California announced he would leave his seat amid his own allegations of sexual misconduct with staff.
Gonzales is facing an Ethics Committee investigation into the alleged violations, which will be closed upon his resignation. He admitted last month to having an affair with staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide.
Republican leaders previously called on Gonzales to suspend his campaign, which was headed toward a runoff against conservative influencer Brandon Herrera. But in what was widely viewed as recognition of the GOP’s tiny House margin, they had not called on him to resign while they awaited the Ethics investigation to play out.
Had he not announced his resignation, Gonzales would have faced an bipartisan expulsion effort later this week.
Congress
Tony Gonzales eyed for expulsion vote after Swalwell resignation
Rep. Tony Gonzales, who has admitted to having an affair with one of his own staffers, is set to face an expulsion vote later this week despite the decision of another embattled House member to resign.
Some House members believed the Texas Republican should be sent packing alongside California Democrat Eric Swalwell, who stands accused of sexually assaulting a staff member — accusations he has denied.
Now that Swalwell has announced he intends to resign, members of both parties say they will still seek Gonzales’ expulsion this week.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was preparing to lead an expulsion effort against Swalwell, said in an interview she would still vote to expel Gonzales: “He should resign. But he probably won’t.”
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) plans to unveil an expulsion resolution targeting Gonzales Tuesday, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss her plans.
Speaker Mike Johnson has previously called for ethics investigations to play out in the Gonzales case, but that was before he admitted to the affair with staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, who later died by suicide, and announced he would not seek reelection.
A independent congressional investigation separately found “substantial reason to believe” Gonzales had violated House rules with the relationship. An official Ethics Committee investigation is pending.
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