Senate Democrats are weighing a government shutdown versus taking a stand against Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

And another Senate Democrat is stepping down ahead of what’s becoming a tough election in 2026.

Here’s the news we’re reporting today.

Senate Democrats have the power to block Republicans’ bill to fund the government through Sept. 30. But if they filibuster it, they also could shoulder the blame for a shutdown starting Saturday.

“I am weighing the bad on either side of the decision,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said today.

Democrats demanded — and didn’t get — language to halt Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s deep cuts to federal agencies. Now they face a vote on the only bill in town while financial markets are hyper-sensitive to new government disruptions in the wake of Trump’s on-and-off tariff announcements.

Democrats historically have been more reluctant than Republicans to make shutdown threats, in part because their base places a high value on government services and public benefits.

“A shutdown is a thing to be avoided at all costs, but sometimes that’s a thing you have to do,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said earlier this week.

Democrats might be buckling. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a state Trump won in 2016 and last year, was the first Senate Democrat to announce he’d never vote to shut down the government.

But the GOP will need eight Democrats to meet the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster, given Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he won’t support it. Read More

Jeanne Shaheen won’t seek another term representing New Hampshire in the US Senate, adding another competitive state to the list Democrats will fight to defend in 2026 midterm elections.

“It’s just time,” the 78-year-old former three-term governor said in a statement.

Already this year, Democratic Sens. Gary Peters (Mich.) and Tina Smith (Minn.) said they wouldn’t run again. While the party of the president typically loses seats in midterms, Democrats were already facing an uphill battle to regain the majority they lost in November, when Republicans flipped seats in Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Last year, Trump (R) lost New Hampshire by 2.8 points and Minnesota by 4 points, but he carried Michigan — a state he lost to Joe Biden (D) in 2020 — by 1.4 points. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D) seat in Georgia, which Trump carried by 2.2 points after narrowly losing it in 2020, is also up in 2026.

Senate Republicans are already crowing about padding their ranks.

“Shaheen’s retirement is welcome news for Granite Staters eager for new leadership,” Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted on X. “New Hampshire has a proud tradition of electing common-sense Republicans—and will do so again in 2026!” Read More

Potential replacement candidates include the state’s two Democratic House members, Reps. Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander, while Republican possibilities include former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts. Read More

Republicans on the Senate committee that’ll write a multi-trillion-dollar tax package will meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday.

The first sitdown between Trump and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee will be focused on “the next steps to get America back on track,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said.

Both chambers passed budget resolutions, but only the House version included instructions for tax committees to extend parts of the 2017 tax overhaul expiring at the end of the year. Trump signaled he prefers the House approach — which included money to boost defense and border spending and mandated cuts to other spending — over the Senate’s plan, which put taxes off until later this year and focused on immigration first.

Trump said he wants a bill that makes 2017 tax cuts permanent and includes campaign pledges to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. He also called for a 15% corporate rate for companies that manufacture in the US. Read More

The traditionally light-hearted tradition of Ireland’s premier visiting the White House around St. Patrick’s Day became the latest flashpoint in Trump’s trade war today.

Trump couched his comments with an insult to his predecessors and a compliment to Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, whose country relies heavily on corporate taxes and has an export-driven growth model.

“We do have a massive deficit with Ireland because Ireland was very smart. They took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents that didn’t know what they were doing,” Trump said.

Irish exports hit a record in 2024, largely driven by a boost in medical and pharmaceutical products. The US is Ireland’s second biggest export market and Trump told Martin that Ireland had done the right thing by using tax policy to lure investment. The president floated a similar policy in the US. Read More

Trump said the US would respond after the European Union announced countermeasures to the new US tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum. “Of course I’m going to respond,” Trump told reporters today. “The problem is our country didn’t respond. Look, the EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States.” He didn’t specify which measures he would take. Read More

Canada followed the EU’s lead and announced new 25% tariffs on about $20.8 billion worth of US-made products, including steel and aluminum. The Canadian retaliatory measures will also apply to consumer items like computers and sporting goods. Read More

The headwinds over tariffs are making it difficult for corporate executives to cut deals, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said a day after Trump addressed business leaders in Washington. Solomon said he expects mergers and capital-markets activity to pick up through the year, but uncertainty “has kept some things on the sidelines.” Read More

US consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in four months in February, welcome news for American households who remain apprehensive about the potential for tariffs to drive costs higher. The consumer price index increased 0.2% after a sharp 0.5% advance in January, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out today. Read More