Democrats again voted down a measure to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, leaving the agency with a lapse in appropriations that is 27 days and counting. Senate Republicans only needed seven Democrats to break ranks for the 60 votes necessary to reopen the department, but the measure failed by a vote of 51-46. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., voted for the measure, while Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., voted “no” in order to make a motion to reconsider. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., did not vote. After two Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters were shot and killed by immigration agents in Minnesota in January, Democrats have made clear they will not fund the agency without major reforms to immigration enforcement.   The shutdown impacts various agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, including not only immigration and border-related agencies, but also the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Secret Service. More than 300 TSA workers have quit, according to CBS News, and security lines have increased at airports across the country.   “Today, travelers are facing TSA lines of up to nearly three hours long at some major airports, causing missed flights and massive delays during peak travel,” the Transportation Security Administration told USA Today. “These front-line heroes received only partial paychecks earlier this month and now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages.” Democrats submitted their list of demands for the immigration agencies in February and have been negotiating with the White House, unable to find a solution.   NEW: Schumer and Jeffries lay out 10 demands for DHS reforms pic.twitter.com/bKfVg1Ctbb— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) February 5, 2026 “The White House submitted their last offer to the Democrats 12 days ago,” Thune told the press on Tuesday. “Twelve days ago, no response. And so, you know, here we are, with important agencies of government that have vital national security and homeland security roles, people not getting paid.”  “I mean, how much more cynical can you get than to play politics with issues that affect homeland security?” Thune continued.   Democrats now want to attempt to fund only the department’s agencies that do not involve immigration, like TSA and FEMA.  “Let’s just pass those funding bills. Let’s confine the ICE and CBP reform discussion just to those two agencies and fund the others,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said on CBS this week, arguing that the two agencies in question—Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection—received funding from the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed last summer.   “Senator [Katie] Britt last week offered a couple different times, a unanimous consent request to fund that department and those agencies, and to allow additional time for discussion with the Democrats, so we could at least get into the negotiation, and they resisted that as well,” Thune continued.  The post Democrats Block DHS Reopening as TSA Lines Grow Longer appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The days of the Iranian regime are “numbered,” but it won’t be Israel or the United States that delivers the final blow, according to a former Israel Defense Forces spokesman. The Iranian regime will fall “not so much because of U.S. and Israeli action, but because of … the crimes that they have perpetrated against the Iranian people,” retired Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who now serves as a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Daily Signal. The regime has shown “a complete disregard for their own people that, I think, is the Rubicon that they crossed, and that’s what eventually is going to bring them down,” he said, adding, Iran’s “fate will be decided by the Iranian people.” The U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury in partnership with Israel on Feb. 28, two months after anti-regime protests broke out on the streets of Iran. Soaring inflation and a failing economy sparked the protests in Iran, which were met with a brutal crackdown by the regime. An accurate death toll is not known due to regime-imposed internet blackouts, but the regime is believed to have killed about 30,000 of its own people in efforts to stamp out the protests. Anti-regime protest movements have flared up in Iran multiple times since the regime took power following the Iranian Revolution 47 years ago. There have been more than half a dozen large protest movements in Iran over the past 47 years, but the protests have ended in civilian injuries and deaths, giving the regime “a monopoly on violence,” said Eylon Levy, a former spokesman for the state of Israel. However, this is changing, Levy added. Israel is focused on “bombing the institutions responsible for the repression of protesters,” he said, “hoping that the Iranian people will then rise up and the state that oppressed them before will not be able to crack down as it did in the past.” With the U.S. and Israel weakening the regime through targeted strikes on military leadership and infrastructure, the Iranian people will have the chance to succeed at doing what other protest movements have failed to do, he said: establish “a free Iran that will be at peace with its neighbors.” Previous protests have included organized elements of Iranian civil society, such as Iranian labor unions, Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, explained. The Iranian regime has “taken a beating” in the past 12 days, according to Roman. The U.S. has struck more than 5,000 targets in Iran, taking out missile launchers, ships, and other key regime military infrastructure. “I think that if there were millions of Iranians who went to the streets now, and if the U.S. and Israel did the job of arming those protesters and turning them into an armed rebellion, it might be a little bit more malleable to get [regime change] done,” Roman said. Many in Iran have weapons experience, Roman said, referencing the nation’s multiple armed groups as well as those who used to serve in Iran’s security forces. “What’s the other option, to get 36,000 more people mowed down in the streets? At least give them a fighting chance,” Roman said. The post Former IDF Spokesman Predicts What Will Bring Down Iranian Regime appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie released an ad Tuesday questioning his primary opponents’ conservative credentials. Massie, who has an 83% lifetime score from Heritage Action, pointed out that Ed Gallrein, who is now endorsed by President Donald Trump, changed his voter registration from Republican to Independent in 2016, the year Trump won the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. “Ed [Gallrein] wants you to believe he is “Republican. Full Stop,” Massie’s campaign wrote on social media. “The truth: He abandoned President Trump and left the Republican Party in disgust just days after @realdonaldtrump won the nomination in 2016.” Massie also accused Gallrein of “pushing the woke agenda,” and of “betraying Trump and the GOP.” Ed wants you to be believe he is “Republican. Full Stop.”The truth: He abandoned President Trump and left the Republican Party in disgust just days after @realdonaldtrump won the nomination in 2016.Betraying Trump and the GOP.Pushing the woke agenda.https://t.co/AgJY01IWPL pic.twitter.com/ZuMHyC9PwQ— Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) March 10, 2026 “Woke Ed Gallrein abandoned President Trump’s Republican Party, a dereliction of his MAGA duty,” the ad states, branding Gallrein as “a Trump traitor.” The ad also points out that Gallrein changed his voter registration back to Republican in 2021, before he ran for Kentucky’s state Senate in 2024. Gallrein’s campaign responded by pointing fingers at Massie, responding to the ad in a statement first reported by the Courier Journal. The candidate, a former Navy SEAL, “briefly changed registration out of frustration with the broken system Congressman Massie created in his district, which hurt the Republican Party.” “He is proud to stand with President Trump and true conservative Republicans,” the campaign added. Trump first endorsed Gallrein in January, after Massie, whom Trump had endorsed in 2022, began alleging that the president was suppressing the release of files related to convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Massie also opposed the administration’s actions against drug cartels and the Iranian regime. “I am asking all MAGA Warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who is, far and away, best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A Brave Combat Veteran, Ed knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Defend our Country, Support our Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump added. Other former elected officials who recently severed ties with the president, such as Former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, applauded Massie’s ad. She stated that “Trump is going to KY to endorse a true Never Trumper.” During a rally in Massie’s congressional district on Wednesday, Trump urged “all MAGA warriors” to “get rid” of “loser” Massie. “This guy is bad. He’s disloyal to the Republican Party, he’s disloyal to the people of Kentucky, and, most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America,” Trump added. He called Massie “a total disaster as a congressman, and frankly, a human being.” Gallrein, who then took the stage at the rally, promised attendees that he “will serve.” “I commit to you as I stand here today, that I will stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, courageously with our Republican Party to enact the agenda we voted for and fight the Democrats and their sympathizers like Thomas Massie who seek to undermine him and destroy our nation,” the candidate added. The post Massie Questions ‘Woke’ Opponent’s Conservative Credentials appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Senate voted to pass a massive housing legislation package on Thursday, even as the White House has called for the SAVE America Act to be a top legislative priority. Passing with rare bipartisan support, the package of housing bills aims to lower housing costs and codify multiple of President Donald Trump’s executive orders.   “This bill offers real solutions that will unlock new home construction, drive down prices, and increase the supply of affordable homes,” Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on the Senate floor earlier this week. Thune announced on the Senate floor Thursday that there will be a vote on the SAVE America Act next week. The package, titled the Housing for the 21st Century Act, passed Thursday afternoon by a vote of 89-10 with one Democrat and nine Republicans opposing.  The legislation would work to remove regulations that advocacy groups say in sum account for roughly 25% of building costs. The legislation would also work to streamline the building process to make home purchases more realistic and affordable. Housing BillDownload The 10 who voted against the package included one Democrat, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, and nine Republicans: Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina; Thom Tillis of North Carolina; Ted Cruz of Texas; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Mike Lee of Utah; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Rick Scott of Florida; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; and Todd Young of Indiana. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., did not vote. In an election year, both parties have prioritized affordability, especially housing affordability, in their messaging. The Senate-passed package moves to the House and includes 18 bills already passed in the lower chamber’s original package. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Politico this week that the chamber will address housing affordability issues, but added it is “not going to be the way the Senate is going to send it over to the House.”   The package includes legislation codifying Trump’s executive order banning large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes, as well as protecting personal privacy by blocking the development of a central bank digital currency.  What works in Washington may not work in Greenwood, South Carolina.The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cuts red tape, increases housing supply, and lowers costs so more people can achieve their version of the American Dream. pic.twitter.com/O8iWg3rwpR— Senator Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) March 12, 2026 Even though Trump said he would not sign anything Congress sends him until they pass the SAVE America Act, the Executive Office of the President put out a statement of policy support on March 2.   “The Administration strongly supports passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” the letter said. “If the Senate Amendment to H.R. 6644 were presented to the President in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he sign it into law,” it concluded.   The post Senate Passes Bipartisan Housing Package as SAVE Act Pressure Builds appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The 70th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) opened in New York on March 9. However, a parallel event, the Conference on the State of Women and Family (CSWF) is being hosted this week by a coalition of pro-family organizations urging a return to the fundamentals the UN commission seems to have forgotten.    What is CSWF?  CSWF was founded by pro-family non-governmental organizations seeking to change the culture of the Commission on the Status of Women. They’re advocating a shift to a focus on marriage, family, children, the unborn, and faith.  Grace Melton, senior associate for international social issues at The Heritage Foundation’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing, told The Daily Signal of her aims for CSWF.  “I would like for attendees who come to the CSWF from CSW to realize that the dominant narratives from CSW—that women need unlimited abortion and sexual rights to achieve gender equality; that “transwomen” are women; that conservatives and people who hold traditional religious beliefs are against women’s rights—are false,” she said.  What is UN Commission on the Status of Women?  The UN Women website states that the priority theme for CSW70 is: “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.”  Their Political Declaration is an annual document in which CSW member states detail their shared commitments.  In 2025, the United States informed the UN that it was withdrawing from CSW membership. In its statement, the U.S. said that while the Trump administration appreciated the declaration’s focus on protecting human rights and preventing violence against women and girls, the lack of “precise terminology” prompted the decision.   The administration said it “will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”  Gender Ideology Panel  This year’s CSWF event is a two-day program featuring networking opportunities, expert presentations, and themes centered on pro-life and pro-family issues, in contrast to the UN gathering.  Melton said, “The UN Commission on the Status of Women is organizing itself this year around the theme of access to justice for women and girls. But gender ideology pervades the UN system, and it causes significant harm to women and girls.”  Indeed, the website for CSW70 puts “gender equity” front and center, ahead of women’s rights. Melton served as moderator for the CSFW panel “Gender Ideology: Injustice for Women,” which featured speakers Camille Kiefel, Amie Ichikawa, Paula Scanlan, and “Billboard Chris” Elston.  From left, “Billboard Chris” Elston, Paula Scanlan, Amie Ichikawa, Camille Kiefel, and Grace Melton participate in the CSFW panel titled “Gender Ideology: Injustice for Women.” (Photo: Emma Bacon) Elston is a Canadian activist known for his work against gender-transition medical interventions for minors. He said he works to raise attention to what he considers the “greatest child abuse scandal in the history of modern medicine,” and argued that society does not have “gender identity,” but two sexes.  Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, shared her experience competing on the same team as Lia Thomas, a male who identifies as female. She said her and her teammates were pressured by the administration to stay silent about their concerns. Officials compared their discomfort with sharing a locker room to segregation in the 1960s.  “We have gotten so far away from protecting the people we are actually supposed to protect in this world,” Scanlan said.  Ichikawa is a formerly incarcerated advocate who described the injustices she witnessed within the prison system. She noted that men were able to transfer into women’s prison if they identified as transgender.   She said, “I saw this as a female human rights crisis from day one.”  Kiefel, a detransitioner, shared her personal experience being drawn into gender-identity ideologies. She described the psychological and physical harms she endured and said, “other women and girls who have been harmed by transition deserve the same,” after reporting about the result of her case against the doctors who assisted in her gender transition.    The post Inside CSWF: Pro-Family Conference Offers Alternative to UN’s Women’s Agenda  appeared first on The Daily Signal.