February 15, 2026

Continuing Resolution

The Democrats have voted against a DHS funding bill that effectively creates a government shutdown. They claim to be doing it to shut down ICE operations, even though it is clear ICE will NOT be affected by this shutdown. What WILL be shut down are services that are needed by people, including disaster relief from FEMA.

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Democrats Want To Stop Deportations By Shutting Down DHS – thefederalist.com

Just like the last time Democrats threw the government into a shutdown, they have no leverage but are now withholding votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security while making ridiculous demands that the Trump administration is entertaining.

If Congress doesn’t push more money to DHS by Saturday, funding to TSA and FEMA will be cut off this weekend. Democrat leaders say they won’t agree to any deal that doesn’t reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is to say, make it effectively impossible to deport illegal aliens.

But everyone in Washington knows Democrats are in no position to force concessions, given that even without more money for DHS, ICE remains funded with billions in cash by way of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” law passed last year. In short, the hand Democrats are playing is: Neuter immigration law enforcement or they’re going to clog up air travel and federal emergency response assistance.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump reportedly convinced Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Tim Burchett of Tennessee to drop their demand that the SAVE Act be included in legislation to reopen the government.

The House voted Tuesday to end the government shutdown — 217 to 214 — with 21 Republicans voting against the package and 21 Democrats voting for it.

Luna and Burchett both voted against the legislation, but voted in favor of the rule that allowed it to be considered by the whole House.

Trump signed the measure Tuesday afternoon.

President Donald Trump has ended the four-day partial government shutdown by signing yet another continuing resolution rather than a full budget. The bill includes funding for DNC projects, including USAID funding, but preserves additional funding for ICE. More importantly, it doesn’t include a Voting Rights requirement as some republicans were pushing for. It passed the Senate 71-20, and the House 217-214. The total budget for the bill is $1.65 trillion.

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Trump Signs Bill to End Partial Government Shutdown – American Greatness

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The government will run out of money soon. It’s been something of a dirge atmosphere since the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which has animated leftists and sent Democrats huddling in the corner on how to screw over the Department of Homeland Security, including a new provision on ICE warrants, which is to say they want to hamstring the agency from making more illegal alien arrests.

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has warned his fellow Democrats that a government shutdown would not halt Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, noting that the agency is already funded under existing law.

Fetterman issued the warning as Democrats refuse to support a broader spending package that includes ICE funding.

Speaking on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing,” Fetterman said it is “absolutely true” that a shutdown would have little effect on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or ICE.

Blurb:

The shutdown Washington is preparing for this weekend has several key differences from the government funding battle last fall.

That 43-day shutdown became the longest in U.S. history, ending in November 2025. It centered on Democrats’ concerns that legislation to keep the government open did not contain a provision to extend Obamacare subsidies. And before the shutdown was triggered on Oct. 1, it was widely expected due to the known deadline for renewing the expiring Obamacare subsidies.

Unlike last fall’s controversy, the latest looming government shutdown would be only partial and stem from unexpected unrest in Minnesota. And key Senate Democrats who proved critical to ending the last shutdown have announced that they will not aid the Trump administration this time around in backing the Department of Homeland Security funding bill for ICE.

The U.S. House has passed a bill to repeal a provision included in the continuing resolution that ended the historic government shutdown. The bill is NOT addressing the provision that makes most of the CBD industry illegal. The bill removes the permission for Federal employees who were victims of Operation Arctic Frost to sue the Federal government.

The operation, run by DNC attorney Jack Smith, spied on mostly Republicans’ phone records, including its top leadership, including Marco Rubio. The bill required a two-thirds yes vote to pass, which it did. Seven members, three Republicans and four Democrats, chose not to vote at all. It must now pass the Senate, which is not a guarantee as of right now.

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The House has passed a bill to repeal a provision in the government shutdown-ending continuing resolution that allowed lawmakers surveilled by the federal government to seek damages.

The House passed the bill to repeal the funding bill provision that would permit U.S. senators to sue the government for “$500,000 or the amount of actual damages” if the government has subpoenaed or seized their data without notification by a vote of 426 to 0. Two hundred and sixteen Republicans and 210 Democrats voted to strip the provision from the stopgap measure.

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The Schumer Shutdown has officially ended!

President Trump just signed the funding bill to re-open the government, which was passed by the House this evening.

Watch the historic moment here:

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The longest shutdown in U.S. history has just ended but voices on both sides of the aisle are warning that another shutdown may be looming at expiration of the current funding ends on Jan 30.

A number of tax credit subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are set to expire at the end of this year and Democrats have insisted that they be renewed as a condition to supporting any new funding bills.

Republicans acknowledge that another fight over the ACA tax credits could cause another government closure at the end of January.

Blurb:

The Senate approved a government funding package to reopen the federal government Monday night over the objections of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a majority of Democrats.

Lawmakers voted 60 to 40 to pass the legislation with eight Democrats joining with Republicans to support the measure. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote “no,” citing the measure’s insufficient spending cuts.

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Dick Durbin of Illinois voted “yes” on the legislation to bring an end to the 41-day shutdown standoff. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, also supported the funding package.

The bipartisan shutdown package will fund the government through the end of January and advance a slate of appropriations bills that will fund the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Agriculture, the legislative branch and military construction for the current fiscal year.

Blurb:

Democrat Senator Dick Durbin exposed Schumer’s shutdown plan during remarks on the Senate floor on Monday.

In a stunning admission, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin said the Democrats’ shutdown strategy was designed to starve children.

After 40 days of a government shutdown, eight Senate Democrats caved and joined Republicans on Sunday evening to advance legislation to reopen the government. Durbin was among those who broke ranks with his party to help push the bill forward.

Democratic senators and independents who caucus with them voted in favor, including King (ME), Fetterman (PA), Cortez Masto (NV), Shaheen (NH), Hassan (NH), Rosen (NM), Kaine (VA), and Dick Durbin (IL).

Blurb:

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday that he will call House members back to Washington as soon as the Senate passes an amended Continuing Resolution (CR) to reopen the government.

“We’ll give a 36-hour formal and official notice,” Johnson told reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Monday morning.

The deal, having passed its first procedural hurdle in the Senate, is expected to lead to the government reopening in a matter of days, pending final votes in both chambers and President Trump’s signature.

Johnson sent House members home on September 19 and has kept the chamber in recess, effectively preventing further legislative action until the Senate approved the House’s funding bill with 60 votes.

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The White House committed in writing Wednesday that President Donald Trump will sign the bill to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history once the House passes it.

In a statement of administration policy, the Trump administration urged every lawmaker to back the measure, which would reopen the government through Jan. 30 and fund some federal agencies through next September. The House is expected to vote Wednesday evening to clear the legislation for Trump’s signature, after the Senate passed the package Monday night.

Even as the White House encouraged House lawmakers to vote in support of the bipartisan measure, the administration took partisan swipes in the official memo, claiming that the funding lapse was “forced upon the American people by congressional Democrats.”

The U.S. government looks to re-open after the filibuster is broken. The U.S. Senate has finally passed a filibuster vote on the continuing resolution to keep the government open. Eight democrats, including Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, voted in favor of the motion, helping the GOP reach the 60-vote threshold. Now, the vote for the CR is expected to pass within days. The Democrats will NOT get their requested Obamacare subsidies that Republicans claim supported illegals.

Senate Votes to Move Forward With Deal to End Government Shutdown – Axios

Blurb:

Eight Senate Democrats voted with Republicans on Sunday night to move forward with a package that would reopen the federal government.

Why it matters: It’s a critical procedural vote that serves as a clear sign that a bipartisan deal has been reached to fund agencies, eventually vote on health care subsidies, undo federal layoffs — and end the record-breaking shutdown.

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The Senate voted 60-40 to overcome a filibuster on an updated continuing resolution proposed by the GOP, which would end the 40-day government shutdown. Eight Senate Democrats acquiesced to their insistence on including provisions to extend government subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Later, the Senate adjourned for the evening and will reconvene on Monday at 11 a.m. The Senate is then expected to proceed with an official vote to reopen the government on Tuesday, according to reports.

While the bill does not include the ACA subsidies, it does include stipulations to reverse the layoffs of federal employees that happened in October. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) were the Democrats who joined the GOP.

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Deep cracks are forming within the Democratic Party as several Democrats have moved to negotiate a deal with Republicans to reopen the government, undermining Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) shutdown agenda.

A handful of Democrats have entered talks on ending Schumer’s shutdown, as he continues to hold out for concessions from Republicans.

As the costs of the shutdown continue to mount, some Democrats, including Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Gary Peters (D-MI), are working on a deal to end the impasse, The Hill reported.

The shutdown became the longest in U.S. history this week as the impacts continued to spread, with funding lapsed for food stamps and millions of federal workers missing paychecks.

Republicans need at least eight Democrats to cross the aisle in order to break the 60-vote filibuster.

For weeks, only three Democrats have voted to end the shutdown consistently, and they are Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Angus King (I-ME), an independent who caucuses with the party.

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After 36 days of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) historic federal government shutdown, Democrats are quietly scrambling to find a way out.

It comes as divisions within the Democrat ranks and a growing backlash from unpaid workers are complicating any move to end the standoff.

The shutdown, which entered record-breaking territory Tuesday night, has now surpassed the 2019 mark to become the longest in U.S. history.

Despite public frustration and mounting economic fallout, Democrats have continued to block Republican efforts to reopen the government.

Inside the Senate, Democratic Party leaders huddled behind closed doors for nearly three hours.

During the meeting, Democrats were debating possible off-ramps, including a vote on Obamacare subsidies and attaching spending bills to an extended continuing resolution (CR) that could run into December or January.

Blurb:

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., elaborated on the group’s support for a longer-term continuing resolution in an interview this week with The Daily Signal.

The group had released a statement on Monday supporting the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government “as far into 2026 as possible (ideally, past the November 2026 election and with necessary defense stop-start anomalies).”

The statement went on to note that such a CR would “effectively keep federal discretionary spending flat at the same levels since 2023,” and “block any further effort by Democrats and the Swamp to advance a budget-busting, pork-filled, lobbyist-handout omnibus in November or December.”

The Daily Signal also received a statement from Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who concurred. “Congress must act responsibly and pass a long-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government—not another short-term patch that merely delays the inevitable. These constant, stopgap extensions have become a political crutch, allowing Congress to lurch from one manufactured crisis to the next instead of governing with fiscal sanity and discipline.”

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President Trump on Wednesday redoubled his efforts to end the Senate filibuster rule, despite opposition from key Republicans.

Trump has repeatedly called for the elimination of the filibuster, urging GOP senators to use the so-called “nuclear option” to pass legislation with a simple majority. The filibuster currently requires 60 out of 100 senators to agree on most legislation, which has been a major obstacle in ending the government shutdown that began on October 1.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and would be able to pass bills with a simple majority if the filibuster were removed.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republican leaders have resisted weakening the filibuster, citing concerns about long-term consequences and precedent.

Thune and Johnson have failed to enact federal election security measures or impeach activist judges accused of bias in the ten months since Republicans gained congressional majorities.

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The Federal aviation Administration (FAA) will reduce flight capacity by 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country starting Friday due to critical shortages among air traffic controllers and other flight support staff, thousands of whom have been forced to work without pay for a month due to the Democrat-led government shutdown.

The restrictions will go into effect Friday morning, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced during a press conference on Wednesday. The airports affected will be announced Thursday, officials said.

According to a report from ABC News citing sources familiar with the matter, reductions will start at four percent as early as Friday and work up to 10 percent over the course of the weekend. The flights impacted by these reductions are scheduled during the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has become a problem. She’s shooting inside the ship, blaming GOP leadership for the Democrat-induced Schumer shutdown, and opted to go on The View. She’s doing everything she can to break from the MAGA wing of the GOP, or is she? What the hell is happening? Well, Tara Palmeri had an interesting post on her Substack, where she alleges that President Trump’s political team nuked Greene’s plans to run for Senate in Georgia. Yet, the first reported slight was when Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) was asked to deliver the GOP response to Biden’s State of the Union address (via The Red Letter):

When Greene flirted with a statewide run in Georgia, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s political team quietly told her she wouldn’t beat Senator Jon Ossoff. That hit hard. Some people point to that moment in May as the catalyst for what we see now. It’s not just rejection of Speaker Mike Johnson. It’s a series of perceived slights from the broader MAGA machine, and she’s not hiding her bitterness even while insisting, “I support President Trump.”

Her recent Washington Post interview makes her grievance plain. “Whereas President Trump has a very strong, dominant style — he’s not weak at all — a lot of the men here in the House are weak,” Greene told the Post. “There’s a lot of weak Republican men and they’re more afraid of strong Republican women. So they always try to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something and actually want to achieve.”

Blurb:

The once-promising marriage between Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Republican Party appears to be headed for a nasty divorce.

Greene — who rose to prominence as one of the loudest and staunchest supporters of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement — has been headed down this path for a while now.

The outspoken Greene has been excoriating her own Republican Party over the last month, particularly raging about the ongoing government shutdown and the battle over healthcare premiums.

(In a clear break from her party line, Greene doesn’t seem too interested in blaming Democrats for the shutdown.)

WARNING: The following post contains vulgar language that may offend some readers. 

Blurb:

Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has mysteriously changed his tune on eliminating the Senate filibuster shortly after President Donald Trump called on Republicans to end the procedure.

On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Democrat declined to say whether he supports eliminating the filibuster, despite previously being a vocal supporter of such efforts.

Raskin previously endorsed calls to end the filibuster during the Biden administration.

The congressman was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about President Trump’s recent comments urging Republicans to end the filibuster.

He was also asked about the GOP’s losses in several races on Tuesday and the ongoing government shutdown.

“One of the things that he has been talking about for the last couple of days more intensely is getting rid of the filibuster,” Bash asked.

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The Trump administration agreed earlier this week to release $4.65 billion of its $5 billion contingency fund to keep SNAP payments flowing. However, the administration made no promises that full SNAP payments would be allocated, and President Trump said the other day that no more payments would be made until Democrats ended the Schumer Shutdown.

The media are, of course, trying to blame the SNAP shortages on President Trump and Republicans. They’ve done their job and voted more than a dozen times to reopen the government. Democrats, on the other hand, have made it very clear they plan to use Americans’ suffering as leverage.

It would perhaps be easier for the media to garner sympathy if they chose stories about people who are more sympathetic. The other day, they spoke to a woman who had been on SNAP for three decades, which proved SNAP critics correct.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson says that he’s ‘hoping and praying’ that there are enough Democrats in the Senate willing to break ranks and ‘do the right thing’.

But apparently there’s an actual plan in place, and it’s gaining steam.

Reports are now indicating that a group of rogue Democrats are willing to work behind Chuck Schumer’s back to help Republicans end the government shutdown…

Here’s a clip of Speaker Johnson confirming that change of approach:

Speaker Johnson was apparently referring to a very specific group of Democrats in the US Senate.

Blurb:

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has a real problem. People are realizing that the extended government shutdown is his own deliberate, cynical strategy.

The Democrats and the propaganda media desperately want Americans to blame President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans for the shutdown. But the facts are simply in their way. The House Republicans did their job on Sept. 19.

They passed a clean budget resolution to keep the government open without increasing spending. There were no new policy issues. There were no so-called poison pills to cost Democratic votes. There was no clever maneuvering. It was a simple, clean resolution – specifically designed to avoid drama and fund the federal government while the Congress and the President negotiate next year’s funding.

Further, this was a normal move. Simple, clean continuing resolutions have been used by Democratic-and Republican-led Congresses and presidents for many years.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) reminded Americans on the “Alex Marlow” show that due to the ongoing shutdown she put at the feet of Democrats, American troops would not be paid were it not for Donald Trump.

She said, “My daughter is an active-duty servicemember, her husband is also an active-duty servicemember. So, there’s a two-member family that would not be receiving pay if President Donald Trump hadn’t cobbled together the pennies to pay our servicemembers.”

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On Thursday’s “Alex Marlow Show,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) talked about the government shutdown.