| | | |  | | By Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | BULLETIN: “Justice Department charges man who squirted vinegar on Rep. Ilhan Omar,” by AP: “The man arrested for Tuesday’s attack, Anthony Kazmierczak, faces charge of forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding and intimidating Omar … Authorities determined that the substance was water and apple cider vinegar, according to an affidavit.”
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At least a brief partial shutdown seems likely as we hit the weekend. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | NEVER A DULL DAY: The procedural vote that would have advanced the remaining spending bills and fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year got swatted down in the Senate this morning, with eight GOP senators voting with all Democrats to tank the measure. Now the chamber turns toward the contours of a potential eleventh-hour deal that could separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the other five bills. But at least a brief partial shutdown still seems likely as we hit the weekend. Democrats are pushing ahead with their demands — bolstered by an outpouring of polls souring on the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and setting expectations for how long they anticipate being at the negotiating table. Talks over a potential deal to split off the DHS bill are in a “really good place,” with an agreement in sight but not finalized, a source familiar told Playbook today. A White House official told Playbook that President Donald Trump “wants the government to remain open, and the Administration has been working with both parties to ensure the American people don’t have to endure another shutdown.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes today that negotiations are “trending in the right direction.” It was just a few months ago when, on the verge of a government shutdown, both sides dug their heels in and the government closed for a record amount of time. Compare Thune’s approach — or the White House, for that matter — from mid-September to now and it’s a completely different ballgame, a Democratic Senate aide told Playbook last night. The openness to engage with Democrats even at the last minute is a 180-degree turn. But this issue also has high visibility, and is proving to be a bigger vulnerability for the GOP as reforms for ICE have become increasingly popular with moderate voters. This has only bolstered Democrats’ positioning on “common sense” reforms, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called them yesterday, the aide told Playbook. “They know that the country is turning against them, and they know that they can't be in a position of defending ICE for a day longer,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told Playbook. “We don't need weeks to work this out. And there’s an urgency.” While the vote was widely expected to fail, and Thune is ready to redo the vote if a deal comes together, it’s a significant step for Democrats who have been rallying their caucus around a concrete set of demands. “We’re moving to what Democrats asked for,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told Playbook. But House infighting could complicate how quickly any compromise funding measure could pass, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and colleagues report. While some Republicans are open to splitting off DHS into a separate conversation, getting concrete changes — especially under the week or two-week timeline that many Democrats are pushing — will be a tougher battle. “As long as the president is on board, I think we can get this,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters. If hard-liners put up resistance? “Too bad,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told your author. “It's not hard to negotiate that, and it shouldn't be hard to write … if the Republicans want to fight it, then we make them fight it today.” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told us today that any continuing resolution needs to “be serious” about restrictions on ICE’s operations. Asked how long he’d like to see a CR on the DHS funding bill, he said one week. “That gives us time to negotiate.” At the very least, gear up for a partial shutdown through the weekend. The House is scheduled to be out until Monday, though Meredith and co. report that leaders will discuss this afternoon whether that timeline can be accelerated. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Send me your thoughts at abianco@gmail.com.
| | | | A message from AHIP: 35 Million Seniors Could See Reduced Benefits and Higher Costs. Health plans welcome reforms to strengthen Medicare Advantage. However, a proposal for flat program funding at a time of sharply rising medical costs and high utilization of care will directly impact seniors' coverage. If finalized, this proposal could result in benefit reductions and higher costs for 35 million seniors and people with disabilities when they renew their Medicare Advantage coverage in October 2026. Learn more. | | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. CAN YOU BLAME HIM?: Trump today hosted his first Cabinet meeting of 2026, touting “the most successful year of any administration in American history” as Washington hurtles toward a government shutdown and chaos continues in Minnesota. Trump attempted to keep today’s meeting short after drawing scrutiny for appearing to nod off during the last one, which stretched on for nearly two-and-a-half hours. Trump blamed his heavy eyes on the meeting being “pretty boring,” explaining: “I didn’t sleep, I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of here.” Trump concluded the gathering after an hour and 20 minutes without taking questions from reporters — and didn’t once mention or call on Kristi Noem, his embattled Homeland Security secretary. It’s a notable shift from the last Cabinet meeting when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was seated directly beside Trump as he faced swirling scrutiny over the administration’s controversial boat strikes in the Caribbean. 2. MINNESOTA LATEST: Speaking in Minneapolis this morning, border czar Tom Homan announced that his team is working on a plan to reduce the number of federal officials in the city, tying the plan to cooperation with local and state officials. He added that he and Trump “have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That’s exactly what I’m doing here.” Trump sent Homan to Minnesota in an attempt to cool tensions between immigration agents and protesters in the deep-blue Twin Cities — and though he opened the door to reducing ICE’s presence there, Homan also emphasized the administration would have “zero tolerance” for activists who impede the immigration crackdown, AP’s Giovanna Dell’orto and Rebecca Santana report. “When the violence decreases, we can draw down the resources,” Homan said. “The drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements. But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.” The administration’s turn toward moderation follows weeks of chaos in the state following the shootings by federal agents of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Firearm instructors in Minneapolis told NBC’s Rich Schapiro that sign-ups for safety training — which is required to obtain a permit to carry in Minnesota — have increased sharply over the past two weeks. That trend comes as ICE, now the country’s most highly funded law enforcement agency, has obtained new tools to track undocumented immigrants and protesters “ranging from biometric trackers to mobile phone location databases, spyware and drones, while loosening restrictions on how it uses some of these technologies,” WaPo’s Eva Dou and colleagues report. Stay tuned: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is in D.C. today and is set to address the U.S. Conference of Mayors at 1:45 p.m. Eastern. He will urge an end to “unlawful ICE operations” in Minneapolis and speak about “how cities can work together to keep communities safe while upholding the rule of law,” according to an event press release. Over in Maine: GOP Sen. Susan Collins announced this morning that DHS is ending its enhanced enforcement operations in the state after Collins asked Noem to pause the surge earlier this week. 3. VENEZUELA LATEST: Trump at the top of the Cabinet meeting announced that he had just spoken with Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president, and “informed her that we’re going to be opening up all commercial air space over Venezuela.” He added that U.S. citizens “will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there.” Not even a Nobel could patch things up: A rift between Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and the Trump administration appears to be widening, as Machado presses for a return to Venezuela, which could open a “near-term threat to Trump’s plan for stabilizing the country and opening it up to massive investments from multinational oil companies,” WaPo’s John Hudson and Noah Robertson report.
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➡️ Subscribe Now | | | | | 4. INSIDE TRUMP’S GREENLAND PUSH: “A behind-the-scenes look at how countries handled Trump’s Greenland grab,” by POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi, Paul McLeary and Victor Jack: “A batch of State Department cables obtained by POLITICO expose the deep reverberations of the president’s demands for Greenland as foreign officials vented their frustrations this month with American counterparts. The messages, which have not been previously reported, offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the thinking of allies and adversaries about the impact of Trump’s would-be land grab.” 5. 2026 GOV RACES HEAT UP: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) formally launched her bid for Minnesota governor today after delaying the announcement in the aftermath of Pretti’s fatal shooting, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider reports. The veteran Senate Democrat’s entrance into the race is expected to help lift Democrats’ chances of retaining the state after Gov. Tim Walz dropped his reelection campaign last month amid a swirling fraud scandal. Klobuchar in her announcement video cited a series of political crises Minnesota has faced in the past year, including the assassinations of the state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, a school shooting and the ongoing immigration crackdown. Going to California: San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan threw his hat in the ring for California’s gubernatorial race, POLITICO’s Dustin Gardiner reports. The moderate Democrat, a frequent critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the eighth major Democratic candidate to join the race. Mahan told Dustin that he’s “different from every other candidate,” arguing that his competitors in the crowded field haven’t embraced big solutions to pressing issues, such as a more aggressive plan to address homelessness and mandate drug-addiction treatment. Forget about it: A slate of governor candidates from both parties, meanwhile, are hoping voters have amnesia about one tiny detail from their past: that they stood up to Trump’s false claims that he had won the 2020 election, POLITICO’s Erin Doherty reports. A pair of Republican secretaries of state who rejected Trump’s false 2020 election claims and then survived MAGA-fueled 2022 primaries are running for governor in Kansas and Georgia — and unsurprisingly, neither is keen to relitigate the issue. Two Democratic secretaries of state who defied Trump in 2020 are also running for the governor’s mansions in Michigan and Maine — and both are focusing their messaging on pocketbook issues rather than defending democracy. 6. TRADE DEFICIT TICKS UP: “US Trade Gap Widens From Smallest Since 2009 as Imports Rise,” by Bloomberg’s Mark Niquette: “The US trade deficit widened in November from the lowest level since 2009 as imports rebounded and exports fell, highlighting wide monthly swings in response to the Trump administration’s vacillations on tariffs. The goods and services trade gap nearly doubled from the prior month to $56.8 billion, Commerce Department data showed Thursday.” 7. SPORTY ICE: Italy today responded to reports that ICE would be assisting the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo next month, emphasizing that American immigration agents would only work in U.S. diplomatic offices and “not on the ground,” Reuters’ Giselda Vagnoni reports. Tilman J. Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, confirmed on X that ICE’s presence at the games “will be strictly advisory and intelligence-based, with no patrolling or enforcement involvement.”
| | | | A message from AHIP:  
| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | ONE YEAR SINCE TRAGEDY — Today marks the one-year anniversary since American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. A pair of stories up this morning examines the breadth of the human toll, and how the crash unfolded from the cockpit of the Army helicopter. — “A teddy bear, an ice skate, a wife’s note: DCA crash relics return home,” by WaPo’s Emma Uber: “In the weeks and months after the crash that killed 67 people, small personal treasures retrieved from the water would find their way to the places where they held meaning. A man’s wedding ring discovered as a diver sifted through sand at the bottom of the river. A phone that still worked, showing Asra Hussain’s last moments were spent planning a dinner party for her friends. A note Jesse Pitcher’s wife slipped into his suitcase like she did every time he went away, this one encouraging him to stay safe on his hunting trip.” — “The Last Flight of PAT 25,” by N.Y. Mag’s Jeff Wise: “What has gone unexamined in the public discussion of the crash, however, is why these particular pilots were on this mission in the first place, whether they were competent to do what they were trying to do, what adverse conditions they were facing, and who was in charge at the moment of impact. … This account … shows that, when we focus on the specific details and facts of a case, the cause can seem quite different from what a big-picture overview might indicate. And this, in turn, suggests different logical steps that should be taken to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.” EXCLUSIVE — Book club: Julia Ainsley is releasing a new book, titled “Undue Process,” ($32.50) offering a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump administration’s unprecedented mass deportation program. The book zooms in on the power struggle between DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, top adviser Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan and others. In an interview for the book, Homan acknowledged enforcement that wasn’t focused on violent criminals could hurt the administration’s trust with the American public. And one high-level ICE official who resigned over the administration’s policies told Ainsley before they left their post: “Somebody is going to get killed.” The book is due to release May 5. See the cover HE’S RUNNING … TO THE SHELVES — Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is the latest Democrat to write a book as the 2028 presidential election lurks over the horizon, People’s Carly Tagen-Dye reports. “Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America” is set to be released in May and will tackle “the underlying spiritual sickness in our nation that gave rise to Trump,” Murphy told the magazine. OUT AND ABOUT — NewDEAL hosted its annual mayor’s reception at the Patterson House in Dupont last night. SPOTTED: Pete Buttigieg, Mayors Jon Mitchell, Tim Keller, Aftab Pureval, Leirion Gaylor Baird, Kim Norton, Leonardo Williams, Dorcey Applyrs, Lacey Beaty, Caroline Simmons, Lee Harris, Angela Birney, Brett Smiley, Leonardo Williams and Andy Schor, Debbie Cox Bultan, Helen Milby, John McCarthy, Chris Russo, Daniele Monroe Moreno, Brooke Pinto, Kathleen Melody, Natasha Dabrowski, Matt Rogers, Valerie Biden Owens, Evan Wessel, Anne Sokolov, Andy Berke, Andy Flick, Cristobal Alex and Larry Hailsham. — Politicians and business leaders joined Samsung at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC for a gala event last night commemorating the success of the “Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared” art exhibition. SPOTTED: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, South Korean Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha, Jay Lee, Hong Ra-hee, Lee Boo-jin, Lee Seo-hyun, Kim Jae Youl, Yoonie Joung, Chase Robinson, Wendell Weeks, Benedetto Vigna, Euisun Chung and Jerry Yang. MEDIA MOVES — David Brooks is joining The Atlantic as a staff writer and to launch a new weekly video podcast. He previously worked for NYT Opinion. The announcement TRANSITIONS — Alex DeGrasse is launching North Country Strategies, a new public affairs firm. He currently advises leadership in the House and Senate, along with Fortune 100 companies and trade associations. ENGAGED — Muriel Chase, independent reputation and public affairs consultant and former special assistant in the Biden White House, and David Litwak, founder and CEO of Maxwell Social, got engaged on Jan. 20 at the Saint James Paris. They met on Hinge seven years ago. Pic … Another pic. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Garrett Ross.
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