Dems Send Counteroffer, but DHS Shutdown Grinds On

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Tuesday! The Trump Organization has filed to trademark the use of the president's name on airports and related items found at airports, such as shuttle services, lounges, umbrellas and luggage. The company reportedly says the applications were driven by a proposal to rename the airport in Palm beach, Florida, after Trump and that the president and his family will not receive compensation from the proposed renaming of that airport. Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer who posted about the filings yesterday, wrote that the filings are unprecedented: "While presidents and public officials have had landmarks named in their honor, a sitting president's private company has never in the history of the United States sought trademark rights in advance of such naming."

Dems Send Counteroffer, but DHS Shutdown Set to Drag On

It's Day 4 of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown - and it's understandable if you hadn't noticed, especially since congressional lawmakers and President Trump have demonstrated relatively little urgency about getting a funding deal done.

Democrats on Monday reportedly sent a counteroffer to the White House as they continue to seek restrictions on the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics in exchange for funding DHS. The department shut down on Saturday after two weeks of stopgap funding expired without a deal.

The shutdown affects a range of federal functions and services, including those of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and the Secret Service, in addition to Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Still, most of the department's more than 270,000 employees are deemed essential, meaning that they are required to continue to work even if they don't get paid until funding is restored.

The administration's immigration crackdown is not expected to be disrupted given that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Republicans last year provided $75 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $65 billion for Customs and Border Protection

How we got here: After federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, Democrats demanded changes to the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement. The list of demands issued by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries included a ban on federal agents wearing masks, an end to roving patrols and requirements that immigration officers wear body cameras and obtain judicial warrants for searches and arrests.

Democrats, emboldened by polling that finds most Americans think the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has gone too far, last week rejected a White House counteroffer as insufficient.

"It's very unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they would prefer to shut down FEMA, shut down the Coast Guard, and shut down TSA as opposed to actually getting ICE under control, reining them in because the American people know they have gone too far," Jeffries told "PBS NewsHour" on Monday. He added that Democrats are trying to ensure that ICE and CBP behave like other law enforcement agencies in the country - and he criticized Trump for playing golf in Florida on Sunday, which Jeffries said displayed a lack of seriousness about shutdown talks.

Republicans have pushed back on some Democratic demands, including the idea of banning masks and requiring judicial warrants. "I don't like some of the things they're asking for," Trump told reporters on Monday. "We're going to protect law enforcement. We're going to protect ICE. They're part of a whole system that is working."

Some Republicans also wonder whether Democrats are serious about reaching an agreement or are posturing for political gain ahead of November's midterm elections.

What's ahead: Details about the negotiations have been sparse, but Congress is out this week and, though Trump told reporters he'll be sitting down with Democrats, there is little sign that a deal may be near. The president is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address next Tuesday. Some Republicans reportedly worry that his speech will be overshadowed by the ongoing DHS standoff. "It doesn't exactly scream 'a functioning GOP trifecta,'" one unnamed House Republican told Politico, referring to the party's control over the House, Senate and White House. But Trump said Monday that he's not concerned and would be fine making the speech if DHS funding hasn't been resolved. "It wouldn't bother me," he said.

The bottom line: Congress has passed 11 of the 12 bills to fund federal operations for fiscal year 2026, so the DHS funding lapse is likely to be far less painful than last year's record shutdown - and lawmakers may feel far less pressure to make a deal in the near term. Trump's State of the Union and a scheduled DHS payday on February 27 may dial up that pressure.

Gateway Tunnel Project Still Stalled as Trump Admin Releases Partial Funding

The Trump administration has released about half of a delayed $205 million payment for the massive Gateway Tunnel project under the Hudson River, but work remains stalled as local officials await the full amount, now overdue by more than four months.

In October, the Department of Transportation halted payment on the $16 billion project, citing concerns about how the project manager, the Gateway Development Commission, is implementing the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. President Trump then said he was "terminating" the project, noting that it involved "billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get" - a reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that fueled perceptions that the president's motivations were largely political. In any event, without the payment, the project ran out of funds and reportedly exhausted a credit line, halting construction earlier this month and idling about 1,000 unionized workers.

Soon after the funds were frozen, the states of New York and New Jersey sued the Trump administration, and earlier this month a federal court ordered DOT to release the full $205 million payment, even as the case makes its way through the courts. The Department of Transportation released $30 million for the project last Friday and another $77 million this week, but the project's managers said they need to receive the full payment - another $98 million - before they can resume work.

The political battle: In a social media post Monday, Trump accused the Gateway project of being a "future boondoggle" that will cost far more than projected. He declared that the federal government will not be responsible for any cost overruns.

Trump also denied reports that he had asked Schumer to agree to rename New York's Penn Station after him in exchange for resuming the funding. "[T]he naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and 'eating New York's lunch!') to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me," he wrote.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, pushed back against Trump's characterization of the project. "The only person who can make Gateway a boondoggle is Donald Trump," she said on social media. "Until his illegal actions forced the project to shut down, threw 1,000 hard-working men and women off the job, and threatened the commutes of 200,000 people a day, Gateway was on time and on budget."

At a rally with union leaders Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called on Trump to stop interfering with the funding. "We're only halfway home, but it cannot continue like this," Hochul said. "When you give us the full $200 million that you owe us, I don't want to have this happen day after day, week after week, year after year. ... So let's stop the chaos, let's stop the insanity. Let them work, Mr. President - let them work. Let them get back to work right now."

Voice of America Is Funded, but Many Employees Are on Paid Leave: Report

The Trump administration has sought to shut down the Voice of America, the international broadcasting agency founded during World War II that transmitted American-style news shows to dozens of countries around the world. Hundreds of VOA employees were put on paid leave soon after President Trump took office for the second time last year. But Congress had other ideas and provided $643 million in funding in 2026 for VOA and its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, leaving those employees in limbo - even as many continue to collect paychecks and earn benefits.

As congressional reporter Jamie Dupree writes Tuesday, VOA has recalled about 100 journalists, who are producing some programming in a few languages, but far less than the agency previously created. The original plan by USAGM chief Kari Lake - a former TV anchor who unsuccessfully ran to be governor and then senator from Arizona, with Trump's endorsement - was to keep just 11 journalists on VOA staff.

"I know one VOA worker who has been on paid leave for the past 11 months," Dupree says. "This employee has no idea what's next - but is getting full pay and benefits for staying at home. If Uncle Sam is going to be paying hundreds of people at VOA - wouldn't it be better to have them on the job?"

Number of the Day: 10.9%

The average tax refund in the early days of this tax season is $2,290, up 10.9% from the beginning of last year's tax season, the IRS said. In a release providing statistics for the week ending February 6, the agency said it has processed 12% fewer returns thus far in 2026 than it did over a similar period last year and has processed 8% fewer refunds. It added that the refund numbers expected on February 27, reflecting data through February 20, are expected to be higher since the current figures do not yet include millions of refunds for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit.

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