The partial federal government shutdown isn't over yet, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying it will be a few days before a funding package comes up for a vote. The delay prolongs a standoff over President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement operations. Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
As we approach midterm elections, we are exploring ways to improve Ground Game. Please click here (groundgame@apnews.com) and tell us what changes you'd like to see. Where else are you getting your politics news, and what don't you see that you do want? Would you want Ground Game as a daily newsletter? Let us know.
|
Policy changes, but facts endure. AP delivers accurate, fact-based journalism to keep the world informed in every administration. Support independent reporting today. Donate. |
Tourists are seen on the Washington Mall, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) |
Johnson says no quick House vote to end partial government shutdown |
Trump struck a deal with senators to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broader package after outrage over two incidents where federal agents fatally shot people in Minneapolis. But House Democrats are demanding more restrictions on ICE agents, so Johnson is signaling that he’ll need political pressure from Trump to secure passage. Republicans have only a slim majority in the House. “It’s his play call to do it this way," the speaker said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Democrats want to prevent federal immigration agents from wearing masks and conducting roving patrols, among other changes.
“What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” Read more. |
|
|
Of note:
Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdown in history, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of health insurance tax breaks. This time, the administration is signaling its interest in more quickly resolving the shutdown, but Democrats say immigration operations are out of control, and growing numbers of lawmakers are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be fired or impeached.
|
|
|
Trump's immigration surge ripples across swing House district in Colorado |
Trump's immigration operations in Minnesota, and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, have resonated across Colorado's 8th Congressional District, a swing seat stretching northeast from Denver.
In interviews with The Associated Press, some voters across the district who have supported Trump – including on his signature issue of border security – said they were increasingly distressed by images of immigration agents detaining children and splitting families apart. If such sentiments hold until the fall, it could imperil House Republicans who won their seats by narrow margins and could jeopardize the party's full control of Congress. Read more. |
|
|
Of note:
Even a small shift is significant in the 8th District, one of the Democrats' top targets as they push to retake the House in November. Republican Rep. Gabe Evans was elected to Congress in 2024 by 2,449 votes out of more than 333,000 cast. A former police officer whose mother is Mexican American, Evans has urged the administration to focus on deporting criminals rather than people in the country illegally who are otherwise obeying the law — as Evans puts it, “gangbangers, not grandmas.”
|
|
|
Young Democrats target old guard to send a new generation to Congress |
There’s a nationwide cadre of young Democrats who are trying to oust some of their party's most stalwart figures in Washington, channeling angst that an aging generation of lawmakers is unable or unwilling to mount a bare-knuckles opposition to Trump.
In his first term, grassroots Democrats focused their ire on Trump. But now, after Joe Biden's reluctance to step aside helped pave the way for Trump’s return to the White House, many see their party’s own veterans as part of the problem.
Some level of generational change is already coming in the next Congress, no matter what. A number of representatives in their 70s and 80s, like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her longtime deputy, Steny Hoyer, are retiring from Congress when their current terms end. Read more.
|
|
|
Of note:
Rep. Steve Cohen, 76, of Tennessee, is running for an 11th term. He's up against Justin Pearson, 31, who was a sixth grader promising better school lunches as president of the student government when Cohen was first elected to Congress.
Pearson was one of two Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee Legislature by Republicans after leading a gun control protest inside the state Capitol building. |
|
|
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as he arrives to attend the wedding of White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and Erin Elmore, the director of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) |
- Trump has no public events on his schedule for Monday.
|
|
|
|
