Senate Democrats want to use a marathon voting session this week to hammer Republicans on cost-of-living issues.

As part of the amendment free-for-all known as “vote-a-rama,” Democrats can force a vote on any proposal they want before the Senate votes on the GOP’s budget blueprint for an immigration enforcement bill. They are vowing to try to show a “contrast” that hits at the heart of their midterms message.

“Republicans want to shell out billions of dollars to Donald Trump’s private army without any common sense restraints or reforms. Democrats want to put money in people’s pockets by lowering their costs,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday.

“We’re going to keep at it, and keep at it, and keep at it,” Schumer added.

The Senate could move as soon as Wednesday to kick off the hourslong voting marathon. Republicans have to adopt the budget resolution before they can take up a subsequent bill they expect will provide roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement.

Republicans decided to go it alone on funding for ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies after they were unable to get a deal with Democrats to impose new restrictions on the funding in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting two people in Minneapolis in January.

Few, if any, of the Democratic amendments are likely to be adopted. But they could provide fuel for campaign season attacks as Republicans unite to keep their party-line funding plan intact.

Schumer declined to offer specifics on his caucus’ amendments, but he said they will relate to reducing costs on issues like housing, health care, food costs and child care. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, indicated that Democrats will force amendment votes related to local law enforcement funding, lapsed Obamacare subsidies and housing costs.

“Those are the choices we are going to present to them over these next few days,” she added.

Virginia just delivered the moment Hakeem Jeffries has been waiting for.

Voters approved a new congressional map that adds up to four Democratic-leaning districts, handing the party a stronger chance of retaking the House. The minority leader is leaning in, taunting Republicans and vowing “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

“Democrats defeated Donald Trump’s gerrymandering scheme in Virginia tonight,” Jeffries said in a statement Tuesday evening. “We will crush the DeSantis Dummymander in Florida next.”

Jeffries has staked much of his credibility as a party leader on the effort, pouring time, money and political capital into a nationwide push to create new blue districts as Republicans rush to do the same in red states.

Tuesday night’s narrow win marks a major feather in Jeffries’ cap that will help burnish his reputation in the Democratic caucus as an operator and foil to Trump. It’s also a signature win for a rising leader who is often compared to his iconic predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.

Democrats are reading the success as a promising bellwether ahead of the midterms and a sign of mounting voter frustration with Trump and the GOP trifecta.

Yet Tuesday night’s buzz could quickly become a political hangover, as a handful of Democratic primaries spring up in new seats and Republicans take a fresh look at other newly competitive districts.

“We don’t take anything for granted,” Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw said in an interview. “All of the districts will get a little bit more competitive.”

Walkinshaw listed five districts, including his own in Northern Virginia, that he thinks could require renewed attention from Democrats to hold. He said Democrats are bracing for the likelihood that “strong Republican candidates” may be waiting in the wings.

But House Republicans aren’t exactly projecting confidence about sudden pick-up opportunities, and they seem to be more focused on the sudden need for defense. All five Virginia Republicans — Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith, Jen Kiggans, John McGuire and Rob Wittman — skipped votes Tuesday.

Notably, Wittman serves as vice chair on the Armed Services Committee. A loss in his new district — which Kamala Harris would have won by over 17 points in 2024 — throws a wrench into his not-so-secret plan to become the panel’s next top Republican.

NRCC Chair Richard Hudson said in an interview Tuesday that he hopes the state Supreme Court “will step in and stop” the new map.

Pressed on whether NRCC strategy or funding will change at all, Hudson did not offer any specifics — just that he believes Kiggans, who Republicans saw as their most vulnerable Virginia member, “can win either map.”

What else we’re watching:

— Vote-a-rama time? Senate Republicans are preparing to start a marathon voting session as soon as Wednesday to kick off consideration of Trump’s $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill. It may slip to Thursday.

— FISA latest: House GOP leaders are exploring bipartisan options for extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as Republican hard-liners dig in over privacy concerns with the spy program. Speaker Mike Johnson met Tuesday evening with Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Darin LaHood, who have been talking with Democrats including Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member on House Intel.

Jordain Carney, Jennifer Scholtes and Mia McCarthy contributed reporting.

Americans’ disapproval of Congress has matched an all-time high, a new poll from Gallup finds, as the beleaguered institution grapples with scandals, expulsions and its role as a co-equal, independent branch of Congress.

The survey released Wednesday shows that only 10 percent of Americans approve of Congress, just barely above 2013’s all-time low of 9 percent. In contrast, 86 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing — matching the historic high in the over 50 years Gallup has been asking Americans for their opinions on the legislature.

The last time 86 percent of Americans disapproved of Congress was in 2015.

The poll shows much of the disapproval likely stems from repeated government shutdowns, including the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Approval ratings for Congress fell sharply during the October shutdown and have not recovered since.

However, Congress has broadly grappled with other challenges, including concerns over the war in Iran, sexual assault allegations and high-profile ethics investigations against multiple members that may also be impacting Americans’ views of Capitol Hill.

Approval ratings, which hovered around 17 percent after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, briefly peaked at 31 percent in March last year.

Gallup’s poll also shows that those who lean or identify as Republican are leading the recent decline in approval ratings.

Republicans, who previously offered a 63 percent approval rating shortly after Trump was inaugurated, now offer the GOP-led Congress barely 20 percent approval rating.

The Gallup poll was conducted via telephone from April 1 through April 15, 2026, with a sample of 1,001 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.