Trump administration briefing: Democrats divided as funding bill passes; president rails against justice department
The US Senate averted a government shutdown just hours before a Friday night deadline after 10 Senate Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to clear a key hurdle that advanced the six-month stopgap bill.
The vote deeply dismayed Democratic activists and House Democrats who had urged their Senate counterparts to block the bill, which they fear would embolden Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s overhaul of the US government.
Meanwhile, the US president used a speech at the Department of Justice – billed as a policy address for the administration to tout its focus on combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking – to focus on his personal grievances with that department.
Here’s more on the key US politics news of the day:
Senate averts shutdown but Democrats dismayed
The US Senate on Friday approved a Republican bill to fund federal agencies through September, averting a government shutdown hours before the midnight deadline after Democrats relented.
The bill passed the Senate in a 54-46 vote, overcoming steep Democratic opposition. It next goes to Donald Trump to be signed into law.
Trump vents fury about criminal cases in DoJ ‘victory lap’
Taking over the justice department headquarters for what amounted to a political event, Donald Trump railed against the criminal cases he defeated by virtue of returning to the presidency in an extraordinary victory lap the department has perhaps never before seen.
Putin praises Trump, likely raising alarm bells in Ukraine and Europe
Vladimir Putin has praised Donald Trump for “doing everything” to improve relations between Moscow and Washington, after Trump said the US has had “very good and productive discussions” with Putin in recent days.
The exchange of warm words between Trump and Putin is likely to cause further alarm in Kyiv and European capitals, already spooked by signs of the new US administration cosying up to Moscow while exerting pressure on Ukraine.
Vance booed at classical concert
JD Vance, the US vice-president, was booed by the audience as he took his seat at a National Symphony Orchestra concert at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Thursday evening.
Exclusive Guardian footage shows the vice-presidential party filing into the box tier. Booing and jeering erupted in the hall as Vance and his wife, Usha, took their seats.
Newsom under fire for Bannon podcast
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, was criticised for welcoming far-right provocateur Steve Bannon on to his podcast.
Fellow potential future Democratic presidential candidate Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, said “Bannon espouses hatred” and added “I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere”.
Mark Carney says Canada will never be part of US
Mark Carney has said Canada will never be part of the US, after being sworn in as the country’s 24th prime minister in a sudden rise to power.
“We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US,” the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England told a crowd outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa, rejecting Donald Trump’s annexation threats. “We are very fundamentally a different country.”
Pro-Israel group touts US ‘deportation list’ of ‘thousands’ of names
A far-right group that claimed credit for the arrest of a Palestinian activist and permanent US resident who the Trump administration is seeking to deport claims it has submitted “thousands of names” for similar treatment.
Mahmoud Khalil, an activist who recently completed his graduate studies at New York’s Columbia University, was detained this week and Donald Trump has said his arrest was the “first of many”. Betar US quickly claimed credit on social media for providing Khalil’s name to the government, adding that it had “been working on deportations and will continue to do so”.
Democratic senator ditches his Tesla over Musk cuts
The Arizona Democratic senator Mark Kelly announced he was ditching his Tesla car, because of brand owner Elon Musk’s role in slashing federal budgets and staffing and attendant threats to social benefits programs.
“Every time I get in this car in the last 60 days or so, it reminds me of just how much damage Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our country,” the former navy pilot said, in video posted to X.
60% of US voters disapprove of Musk cost-cutting
Donald Trump and Elon Musk face increasing headwinds in their attempt to slash federal budgets and staffing, after two judges ruled against the firing of probationary employees and public polling revealed strong disapproval of the Tesla billionaire’s work. A new Quinnipiac University poll found 60% of voters disapprove of how Musk and his so-called department of government efficiency are dealing with federal workers, while 35% approve.
What else happened today:
-
Marco Rubio told reporters that more visas of anti-war protesters who are on temporary status in the US will be revoked, Reuters reported.
-
Former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement in response to the government funding bill, calling it a “devastating assault on the wellbeing of working-class families”.
-
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US. The company said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
Catching up? Here’s the roundup from 13 March.