There was no sign of budget capitulation at a White House lunch with senators today. And new lobbying reports show a Trump-tied firm at No. 1. Here’s the news we’re covering today:

President Donald Trump urged Senate Republicans to hold the line on the shutdown and warned Democrats they would bear the political fallout for the impasse.

“Our message has been very simple: We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs,” Trump saidat an event in the White House’s Rose Garden, where he hosted Senate Republicans for lunch.

Trump praised his budget director, Russ Vought, whom he has likened to Star Wars villain Darth Vader, for moving to freeze some funding during the standoff.

“He’s cutting Democrat priorities, and they’re never going to get them back. And they’ve caused us and they’ve really allowed us to do it,” Trump said. Read More

Despite the deadlock, lawmakers on Senate committees advanced bipartisan legislation to deal with air safety and wildfires in response to recent catastrophes.

The midair collision of a passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River near the Capitol that killed 69 people in January spurred action a bill (S. 2503) to require aircraft to use tracking technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast by Dec. 31, 2031, Zach Williams reports. The bill cleared the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, where Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said it “closes a dangerous loophole that allowed military aircraft to operate in domestic skies without communicating their position quickly and accurately.” Read More

In the Agriculture Committee, a bill that (S. 1462) that gained momentum in the wake of the Southern California wildfires advanced on an 18-5 vote that included six Democratic backers, Kellie Lunney reports.

Dubbed the “Fix Our Forests Act,” the measure would expedite environmental reviews to help prevent catastrophic fires and increase the scope of restoration projects. It also would deter lawsuits that delay what is deemed essential forest management. Read More

More than 300 corporations, universities and associations paid more than $59 million this year for lobbying by Ballard Partners, a firm with ties to the Trump administration that ranked No. 1 in revenues on K Street, Kate Ackley reports.

Ballard’s clients included Balkan Energy, the president and fellows of Harvard College, and the NFL, according to recent disclosures covering the third quarter of this year. Though the firm declined to comment, during an exclusive roundtable with Bloomberg Goverment last month, founder Brian Ballard said that Republicans’ return to power “was like a spigot turned on.”

Other top firms for the year included Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, BGR Group, and Akin, according to lobbying disclosure reports and tabulations by the firms. Ferox Strategies also has seen growth among its clients. Ferox partner Mark Williams, a former congressional Republican aide, said in an email that a main driver was: “Tariffs, Tariffs, and Tariffs!”

Health care, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, defense, and government funding took center stage across K Street this year. Meta and General Motors have spent the most among corporations in 2025. Read More

Ballard Partners Founder Brian Ballard speaks to reporters and editors at Bloomberg Government’s headquarters in September 2025.

Photographer: Molly Ward/Bloomberg Government

An alleged death threat against House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries punctuates a period of increasing partisan animosity on Capitol Hill — despite calls for calm after recent political violence, Maeve Sheehey reports.

New York State Police and the FBI arrested a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, 34-year-old Christopher Moynihan, this week after he allegedly threatened to kill Jeffries.

“Threats of violence will not stop us from showing up, standing up and speaking up for the American people,” Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Tuesday. The arrest did little to cool partisan tensions between party leaders in Congress. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) denounced political violence today, before turning the blame on his political opponents.

“I will tell you this, the violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right,” Johnson said. Read More

The Trump administration is promising a “big package” soon to bolster US beef production amid a surge in prices and some Republican pushback to a recent deal to increase imports from Argentina.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the plan includes opening up new public lands “to make it easier to become a rancher” and building more processing plants “so there aren’t just a handful in the middle of the country.” Rollins spoke in an interview with CNBC.

Years of depressed prices led to the smallest herds in decades, and costs have risen. Imports from Mexico are banned, and tariffs have raised the cost of meat from Brazil. No meaningful rebound in the domestic herd is expected before 2027 or 2028, making President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring down grocery costs more challenging.

Trump said earlier this week the US would bolster beef imports from Argentina. Rollins, however, told CNBC that imported volumes “will not be very much” relative to total consumption. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) criticized the Argentine proposal, urging Trump in a post on X “to focus on trade deals that benefit our ag producers—not imports that will do more harm than good.” Read More

Also Read: Carney Says Canada-US Tariff Deal ‘Possible’ by Next Week