Dems turn up heat on ICE
With a DHS shutdown looming, House Democrats stage a shadow hearing to press for ICE reforms—escalating the standoff with the White House over accountability and funding.
Today in Congress
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his leadership team will try to sharpen the stakes in the Department of Homeland Security funding standoff this morning with a Steering and Policy Committee shadow hearing focused on ICE accountability, as the clock ticks toward a potential shutdown if Democrats and the White House can’t bridge their impasse over reform demands.
Members are expected to contextualize the session around what they describe as unchecked enforcement tactics under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, with testimony from a local police chief, a pastor, a Marine veteran whose father was affected by enforcement actions, a family attorney for Renee Good and an immigration policy expert. The hearing is an effort to continue building congressional Democrats’ public case that any DHS funding extension—for the duration of the fiscal year ending in late September, or on a short-term basis while negotiations continue—must include guardrails on the use of force, judicial warrants and oversight.
The event will underscore how Jeffries is pairing closed-door negotiations with a sustained messaging campaign designed to raise the political and human cost of maintaining the status quo.
Happenings
All times Eastern.
The House is in at 9 a.m. and will vote at 10:15 a.m. on a bill to update federal gun law definitions under the Gun Control Act of 1958.
The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. on ICE accountability.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah) will host a dedication at noon to the Frederick Douglass Press Gallery.
The Senate is in at 11 a.m. and will vote at 12 p.m. on final passage of a Republican disapproval resolution to block a Washington, D.C. law related to local tax policy from taking effect. The Senate is also expected to vote on the House-passed DHS funding bill and a separate short-term funding extension for the agency.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. on the American email drone industrial base.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. to examine fraud prevention in child care assistance programs.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on the NTSB final report on the DCA midair collision.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold an oversight hearing at 10 a.m. of the Securities and Exchange Committee.
President Trump will receive his intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. in the Oval Office, make an announcement with the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin at 1:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room, and participate in policy meetings at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. in the Oval Office.
In the Know
— January’s jobs report showed U.S. employers added 130,000 positions and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%, with gains concentrated in health care and community services while banking, real estate and federal government jobs declined. Revisions to late-2025 payrolls were downward, trimming prior job growth and underscoring a labor market that remains resilient but softer than earlier data suggested. Look for this dynamic to temper expectations for near-term rate cuts.
— A new NBC News/Decision Desk poll found President Trump facing softening support on immigration and border security—long one of his strongest issues—with independents driving much of the erosion and overall disapproval outweighing approval. The numbers suggest a growing political vulnerability for Republicans as the midterms approach, particularly if the debate shifts from border crossings to enforcement tactics and agency conduct.
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation that would block President Trump from personally benefiting from any federal lawsuit settlement, a direct response to Trump’s $10 billion suit against the IRS and Treasury over the leak of his tax returns. The Stop Presidential Embezzlement Act would impose a 100% tax on any settlement a president, vice president, Cabinet member or member of Congress receives from the government while in office, escalating Democrats’ effort to frame the lawsuit as a potential abuse of public funds.
Read All About It
“What Trump is the best at, hands down” by Nicholas Kristoff: “New disclosures underscore that the White House is enveloped in a culture of corruption with no precedent in American history.”
“AI’s threat to white-collar jobs just got more real” by Eric Levitz: “You’ve become increasingly replaceable.”
“The mega-rich are turning their mansions into impenetrable fortresses” by Katherine Clarke and E.B. Solomont: “Anxiety over high-profile violence has the wealthy spending big on armed security, bunkers and even moats to keep themselves safe from intruders.”