Washington, DC

1. Partial shutdown looms
2. Minneapolis latest
3. Venezuela plan doubts
4. Fed’s big week
5. Ukraine war talks
6. Bores’ ICE cease-and-desist

Washington View: Employers face little risk from immigration crackdown

Senate vote postponed until Tuesday; federal offices closed … Storm leaves at least 17 states with a foot of snow … EU probes Musk’s xAI

Republicans plan to move forward with DHS funding

The Democratic rebellion against a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security is setting up a challenging week that’s on course to end in a partial government shutdown absent a surprise deal. Senate Democrats are already vowing to tank a six-bill funding package if it includes a DHS bill with billions for ICE, following a second fatal shooting in Minnesota. The shutdown deadline is Friday evening, and the House would have to return if the bill is changed. A Senate Democratic leadership aide told Semafor that Democrats are in contact with the White House but “realistic solutions” aren’t yet on the table. Senate Republicans plan to move forward with the funding bills, including DHS, “and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us,” a GOP aide said. The solution, they believe, is for Democrats to support the bipartisan package they just negotiated.

— Burgess Everett

Some Republicans challenge Trump on Minnesota

President Donald Trump faces growing pressure from business leaders — and members of his own party — to turn down the temperature in Minneapolis following the killing of Alex Pretti. A few Republicans publicly questioned the Trump administration’s actions: Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., called the events “incredibly disturbing,” and Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., demanded a “prioritized, transparent investigation.” The bipartisan National Governors Association called on federal officials to cooperate with state and local authorities. And some House Republicans are demanding more oversight following the shooting, video of which contradicted federal officials’ account. Meanwhile, CEOs from companies headquartered in Minnesota — like 3M, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, Target, and UnitedHealth Group — signed an open letter calling for “peace and focused cooperation.” Asked about the shooting Sunday night, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that “we’re reviewing everything” and said agents could leave Minneapolis “at some point.”

Doubts over Venezuela disbursements

Florida Republicans worry that Caracas’ current leadership will circumvent Washington’s efforts to spend oil proceeds on the Venezuelan people, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott report. Trump, who plans to sell up to 50 million barrels of crude, has already sent $300 million back to the country with instructions for Secretary of State Marco Rubio to oversee it. But key GOP lawmakers worry interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s current cooperation belies a patronage system that’s changed little since Nicolás Maduro’s capture. “We know what those people do with that money,” Rep. María Salazar, R-Fla., said. “They’re not going to give it to the hospitals in Caracas.” As Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., put it: “Maybe some public servants need to be paid, maybe there’s some things that need to be bought, etc., for the people — but it’s not to put in the regime’s pocket.”

Fed to stay course as Trump touts economy

The Federal Reserve is expected to buck Trump’s calls for lower interest this week after recent economic data revealed persistent inflation. Central bankers in other countries — including some who came to Chair Jerome Powell’s defense after the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into him — are on track to follow suit. Powell’s Wednesday press conference will be his first since both the probe’s disclosure and the Supreme Court hearing on Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook. Meanwhile. Trump, who last week declared inflation “defeated,” will kick off a pre-midterms blitz of domestic travel when he delivers his own remarks on the economy in Iowa Tuesday. The president’s visit comes as he doubles down on a recent raft of populist proposals that seeks to retain voters’ trust on affordability and as he nears a final decision on Powell’s replacement.

— Eleanor Mueller

US eyes another round of Ukraine war talks

US-led talks to end the war in Ukraine will extend into this week as the conflict’s fourth anniversary nears. Kyiv hailed trilateral talks between the US, Russia, and Ukraine — the first such negotiations — as “constructive,” buoying US negotiators’ hopes for a deal to end a war that Trump had vowed to stop in one day. Further talks are scheduled in Abu Dhabi next Sunday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that the US-Ukraine security guarantee agreement is “100% ready.” One US official said they hope this next meeting will “push this deal towards its final culmination,” Reuters reported. But the same sticking points around territory remain. Russia’s Vladimir Putin “continues to play the president like a fiddle,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said on Fox, calling for the passage of secondary Russia sanctions, which she said the White House “continues to oppose.”

AI critic targeted for Palantir work

New York state Assemblyman Alex Bores issued a cease-and-desist to an AI industry super PAC for promoting a “false and defamatory” ad regarding his work at Palantir, which provides software to ICE. The ad, produced by a Leading the Future-affiliated PAC, alleges that Bores profited from “powering [ICE’s] deportations.” Bores, who is running to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York’s 12th congressional district, told Semafor that he refused ICE-related projects while at Palantir, and departed over the company’s relationship with the agency. “This is a PAC funded by a co-founder of Palantir, putting out an ad criticizing Palantir,” Bores told Semafor. “If they are successful in lying here, then they will go to every single member of Congress and say, ‘If you try to pass real regulation of AI, we will drop $10,000,000 on your head.’”

— Brendan Ruberry

When the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans ramped up last summer, I asked immigration czar Tom Homan an obvious question: Why is the federal government spending all its energy chasing individual migrants through the streets? Couldn’t the US, like other developed countries, discourage illegal work at scale by sanctioning employers? Homan was definitive: That was coming. “Worksite enforcement operations are going to massively expand,” he told me in June. Now Trump’s deportation push, which has provoked high-stakes confrontations in Democrat-led cities, appears to be at its political limits after a Border Patrol agent shot a man dead in Minneapolis. And there’s little evidence that the administration has focused on reducing the demand for unauthorized workers, or that American business, large or small, will pay a price for hiring immigrants illegally.

We’re thrilled to announce that Nicholas Wu is joining our DC team next month to cover the House of Representatives. He’s a veteran congressional reporter, coming to us from Politico, and he previously worked at USA Today.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The IRS begins tax season today without a confirmed commissioner at the helm, but Republicans said they aren’t too worried about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent juggling the additional job. “It’d be better if we had a commissioner, but this can’t affect the tax season,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Playbook: Democrats face an uphill battle in the midterms despite President Trump’s low approval ratings, according to former Clinton adviser Doug Sosnik. “Democrats have hemorrhaged support from working class voters, who constitute 60 percent of the electorate,” he wrote in a new memo.

Axios: The “noticeably large” number of Republicans who are demanding an investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti suggests that “broader backlash is brewing.”

WaPo: Pretti’s death “could be a major inflection point in what has become the most aggressive immigration enforcement effort in American history.”

White House

• President Trump threatened Canada with 100% tariffs if it moves forward with a trade deal with China. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he has no plans for that.
• Trump said it’s “too late” to stop construction on his new White House ballroom.

Congress

• Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticized President Trump’s tariff policy and minimized Vice President JD Vance as Tucker Carlson’s “protégé” in private conversations with donors. — Axios
• DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton ended her reelection bid, bringing her three-decade career to an end.

Outside the Beltway

• Police arrested a man at a Sundance Film Festival party for allegedly punching Rep. Maxwell Frost, R-Fla., in the face and saying President Trump would “deport” him.
• Gun rights groups criticized Los Angeles’ Republican federal prosecutor for his suggestion that Alex Pretti put himself in danger by carrying a handgun.

Inside the Beltway

• Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to state officials in Minnesota demanding that they turn over state welfare data, repeal sanctuary policies, and grant the Trump administration access to state voter rolls as “common sense solutions” to “bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota.” The state refused.
• DHS warned FEMA not to use the word “ice” when referring to winter