Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Sahil Kapur dives into the latest disconnect between President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. Plus, Lawrence Hurley reports on the oral arguments in a Supreme Court case that could have significant midterm implications.
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— Adam Wollner
Trump puts Republicans in a bind on the DHS shutdown
Analysis by Sahil Kapur
President Donald Trump rejected an off-ramp to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown and instead called on congressional Republicans to refuse any deal with Democrats unless they agree to pass the SAVE America Act, his sweeping bill to overhaul elections nationwide.
Trump initially made the demand last night on Truth Social and doubled down on it today in Memphis.
“You don’t have to take a fast vote. Don’t worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus. OK, make this one for Jesus,” Trump said, referring to the scheduled upcoming congressional recess.
“The most important part of homeland security is voter ID and proof of citizenship,” he added, pointing to two of the main planks of the SAVE America Act. “Nobody can vote on homeland security without voter ID or proof of citizenship.”
His theory boils down to pairing one bill that Democrats oppose (a DHS funding measure without restrictions on immigration enforcement) with another bill that Democrats oppose (the SAVE America Act) — and hoping that prompts Democrats to cave and support both items.
Not surprisingly, Trump’s proposition quickly fell flat on Capitol Hill — among both parties.
“I think you all know that’s not realistic,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters this afternoon when asked about Trump’s strategy to tie the two bills together.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., put it this way: “I agree with the goal, the objective, but it’s much easier said than done.”
And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the idea “ridiculous” and “callous,” labeling it a “temper tantrum” by Trump.
“He doesn’t give a damn about the American people. He cares about his own election. He thinks the SAVE Act, which isn’t going to pass, will change how the election comes out,” Schumer said on the floor. “And he uses millions and millions of Americans as hostages. How can our Republican friends on the other side of the aisle go along with this? It stinks on its face.”
The bottom line: It takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass DHS funding, as well as the SAVE America Act. Neither one has the votes, and Trump’s gambit has probably pushed Congress further away from agreement on reopening DHS than it was 24 hours ago, when there was at least a regular line of communication between the White House — with border czar Tom Homan visiting the Capitol for bipartisan meetings.
Trump’s comments illustrate how eager he is to pass his election bill, which he has labeled his No. 1 priority. But it has given Democrats an opening to try and pin blame on him for the DHS shutdown and airport chaos that has gradually gotten worse.
The off-ramp that some Republicans support would essentially embrace the Democratic offer to fund TSA and the noncontroversial agencies within DHS, while saving ICE for a separate bill. The Republicans who favor this idea say they can pass an ICE funding bill on their own through the filibuster-proof “reconciliation” process, while cutting out Democrats and refusing their demands.
But at least for the time being, Trump’s latest demand puts that strategy in limbo.
Katie Taylor and Scott Wong contributed reporting.
✈️ Read more: ICE agents sent to airports to assist TSA as partial shutdown drags on, by Suzanne Gamboa, Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler
Supreme Court conservatives appear skeptical of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day
By Lawrence Hurley
Conservative justices on the Supreme Court questioned whether states should be allowed to count ballots that are mailed on time but arrive after Election Day.
The court today heard more than two hours of arguments as President Donald Trump has ramped up his opposition to mail-in voting and urged Congress to ban it in most cases.
The court is considering a Mississippi law, similar to measures in 13 other states, that allow for mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
Based on the oral arguments, the court is closely divided on whether a federal law that sets election dates prevents ballots from being received after that day. Some justices also questioned whether a ruling placing limits on late-arriving ballots would also raise questions about the legality of early voting.
California, New York and Texas are among the states with comparable laws to Mississippi’s. Eligibility for mail-in ballots differs among those states, with Mississippi limiting it to a list that includes elderly and disabled people.
If the court were to strike down the Mississippi statute, it would upend election rules in the affected states, as well as potentially for people who live overseas, including members of the military. In total, 29 states allow extended deadlines for voters abroad and the military, according to a brief filed by former national security officials.
While the Constitution gives states a major role in overseeing elections, the legal question revolves around the federal law that sets Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Justice Samuel Alito, one of the six conservatives on the court, echoed some of Trump’s concerns that late-arriving ballots can give an appearance of fraud by radically changing the trajectory of an election as votes are counted.
He asked whether the court should take into account Congress’ decision to set an election date “for the purpose of combating fraud or the appearance of fraud” in weighing Mississippi’s law.
🗞️ Today's other top stories
- ➡️ Iran war: Trump announced he was postponing his threatened military strikes against Iranian power plants for at least five days, hours ahead of his deadline for Tehran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route. The development resulted in a rise in U.S. stocks and a fall in oil prices. Follow live updates →
- 🇨🇺 Cuba update: Cuba’s deputy foreign minister told “Meet the Press” over the weekend that the nation’s military is preparing for “the possibility of military aggression” from the U.S. and that it would be “naive” for Cuba’s leaders to ignore the possibility of conflict. Read more →
- 🔎 New probe: Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have launched a new inquiry into outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s top aide, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly sought personal payments from contractors, as was outlined in an NBC News investigation. Read more →
- 🗺️ Redistricting roundup: After putting an aggressive redraw of the state’s congressional map before voters, some Virginia Democrats are growing uneasy about its prospects for passage one month out from the special election. Read more →
- 🗳️ Vote watch: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor in California, seized more than 650,000 ballots from election officials last week, saying he is investigating potential fraud in last year’s election. Read more →
- 🤖 New frontiers: At least 15 campaign ads featuring AI-generated content have run since November, stoking concerns that the now-ubiquitous technology could cause confusion or even mislead voters. Read more →
- 💰 Cash dash: AIPAC’s super PAC seeded two anonymous groups that spent more than $14 million to influence pivotal House Democratic primaries in Illinois last week. Read more →
- ⚫ RIP: Robert Mueller III, the long-serving FBI director who later served as the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, died at 81. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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