How should Dems talk about the Iran war? Sen. Heinrich: "The more clearly you can say this seems like a really stupid f*cking idea. I think the more people will appreciate what you’re getting at.” www.semafor.com/article/03/0... @nicholaswu12.bsky.social

Senate blocks Kaine War Powers resolution on Iran, 47-53 Fetterman no, Rand Paul yes

The Senate War Powers Vote on Iran is falling almost completely down party lines except for Paul a yes and Fetterman a no. Past GOP supporters on these votes like Collins and Murkowski were nos it's locked at 47-52 as the Senate waits on Cornyn to return from Texas

Bernie Sanders on Iran: “The war is unconstitutional. The war is illegal. My impression is that according to Mr. Rubio, this war was the fulfillment of a 40-year dream by Mr. Netanyahu to get the United States to support an attack on Iran. We have massive needs in this country"

Hard to overstate how much Republican leaders want Trump to endorse Cornyn. Haven't seen anything like it before. They are legit worried Paxton could cost them Daines: “I’ve chatted with some significant donors that have great pause getting behind Ken Paxton. These are strong Republicans.”

Sen. Schumer says results in Texas are a “step forward in our quest to win the Senate” “Talarico is a great candidate, and we can win Texas. It's tough, but if anyone can do it, it's him” Schumer had Texas as a TBD on his potential list of battleground states

Senate Majority Leader Thune says he talked to Sen. Cornyn this morning about his race and that it was a "good night" for him leading Paxton -He plans to "emphatically" make the case to President Trump for an endorsement - says "not helpful" to have GOP primary while Dems picked nominated Talarico

Senate map news: Seth Bodnar is launching a campaign against Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., as an independent. youtube.com/watch?v=OGid... Daines leads early polls over Bodnar in a state where Democrats once held both Senate seats www.montanarightnow.com/elections/fi...

New: Republicans REALLY want the Iran war to be short. Many not want to have to vote on authorizing it in 60-90 days and are worried people will sour on it. Trump says it'll be over in 4-5 weeks but there's some skepticism. WH official says "we're not the Bushes" www.semafor.com/article/03/0...

Senate will take its Iran War Powers vote tomorrow

War Powers resolution gives Trump admin 60 days to conduct operations in Iran (+ 30 days of withdrawal time) before triggering congressional authorization vote Leader Thune: "I would certainly hope that that would be a sufficient amount of time to complete the mission"

At the moment we expect the briefers on Iran on Capitol tomorrow to include: Sec. Rubio, Sec. Hegseth, CIA head Ratcliffe and Gen. Caine w @nicholaswu12

Gallego endorses Platner in Maine per Liz Goodwin The split as of now -> Platner: Gallego, Heinrich, Sanders Mills: DSCC (Gillibrand/Schumer), Cortez Masto www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Talked to Sen. Kim this afternoon about the Trump/Bush echoes on Iran as Dems try to build a 2006-style blue wave He told me that voters will reject the Iran strikes and "want a focus on affordability. And they really have no tolerance for this type of action after what we saw in Iraq"

GOP leaders essentially signed off on action in Iran this week, it's clear to Trump Congress won't block him. Congressional atrophy on war power continues unabated ... www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

Dems now drawing clear parallels between Trump and Bush Sen. Andy Kim: “Americans don’t want to go to war with Iran. By launching strikes, President Trump has made the same dangerous and foolish decision President Bush did a generation ago"

Congress is really becoming an afterthought on decisions of war at this point, strikes on Syria in 2013 were the last serious attempt by Capitol Hill to weigh in on the issue www.npr.org/sections/the...

Sen. Kaine on Iran strikes: "The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran. Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action.”

FEMA's disaster relief fund is running low on money amidst the DHS shutdown, per two Trump administration officials. Democrats say Trump admin withheld FEMA funds when government was open, spent them when it was closed Sen. Murray: “transparent political ploy.” www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno moves to lock down the Senate GOP campaign chief race for 2028 www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

The main reason Thune isn't pursuing the talking filibuster approach for SAVE America Act is it requires lockstep GOP unity on endless amendment votes. He said there's "clearly not a unified position among Republicans in the Senate” "There isn't support for doing that at this point"

Schumer dismisses UNH poll showing Platner way ahead of Mills in Maine primary (and Platner beating Collins) "Polls come and go ... we're going to win in Maine and frankly Mill is the only Democrat that's won statewide that's in the race"

Talked to some Dems about Trump's Capitol Hill asks Banning institutional investors from buying SFH? Warren: “All talk and no action" Going after Democrats after saying end the shutdown Shaheen: "The way you get an agreement is to negotiate a compromise. And clearly he’s not interested in that"

SOTU fundraising news - DNC official tells Semafor it had its best day of the cycle and third best day all time for digital ads fundraising around Trump's state of the Union "The more Americans watch Trump's State of the Union the more they're giving to the DNC to elect Democrats"

Sen. Britt says Democrats and Republicans are still talking about how to reopen DHS, which has been shutdown for 11 days

Sen. Cornyn on Rep. Tony Gonzales: “I’ve got my own race to run. I’ll let the speaker deal with that”

Sen. Cory Booker, member of Dem leadership, is not attending the State of the Union, a source says He’ll be doing interviews with creators and influencers — including Don Lemon —ahead of the speech as part of his Democratic Strategic Communications Committee’s “creator row”

Very interesting vote brewing in the House on ROTOR Act, a response to the DCA crash. Needs 2/3 today Pentagon prefers a separate House bill over the Cruz/Cantwell Senate bill. No guarantee Senate will swallow the House bill Would be a big snarl if ROTOR doesn't pass today

Tariffs are a mess on the Hill - Dems certain it'll take 60 votes to extend new 15 percent tariffs, so they are vowing to block - It's unprecedented though, so everyone studying up. Law only says "Act of Congress” -- no specificity - Dems can't launch emergency votes like before

Sen. Mark Kelly says he’s going to the State of the Union tomorrow President Trump “wants me to be sitting in prison right now. So I'm going to be sitting there as one of the senators from Arizona, as a representative of Arizona, to show him I'm not in prison”

Back from Europe, Sen. Kelly says fading relationships with European allies during the Trump presidency is “depressing” and says people in Greenland are “afraid of us” “Their kids are afraid of Americans” “The relationship with Denmark is going to take a long time to repair”

Sens. Durbin, Lee, Hirono and Cramer just released a bill to extend/change Sec. 702 surveillance powers for years. Those expire on April 20. Their bill would require a warrant for accessing content of communications, not the meta data www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

Sen. Moreno says he wants to codify Trump’s existing tariffs (not emergency or Sec. 122) through a reconciliation bill, which would need 50 votes. He says that revenue could be used in a sweeping bill to make tax cuts on tips, seniors, OT permanent

Schumer announces SOTU guests — seems like he’s planning to attend

Schumer says Senate Democrats "will block any attempt to extend" Trump's new tariffs when they expire in 150 days "Democrats will not go along with furthering Trump’s economic carnage"

DHS shutdown almost certainly won't end this week and is now highly likely to run into the State of the Union. The sides aren't close at all Monday brings this shutdown to least 10 days and the total days of shutdown this Congress to 57 (!) www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks endorses Crockett in Texas Senate primary ... first Crockett endorsement from sitting senator Sen. Martin Heinrich endorsed Talarico last week

Jeffries says he met with Md. state Senate President Ferguson, who "authentically believes that the votes don’t exist in the State Senate" for drawing out Andy Harris Jeffries: "The only way to find out is to allow an immediate up-or-down vote on the Senate floor"

New Stop the Billionaire Bailout PAC aims to hit Republicans for tax cuts law www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Dem Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow on ICE: "the U.S. Senate must stand with Americans everywhere–against any additional funding for this agency, and with a clear message to Donald Trump"

Shutdown talks not making any headway -- White House official says Republicans and Democrats are “still pretty far apart” after Dems’ offer last night. Schumer/Jeffries spokespeople say “Republicans have largely ignored the core guardrails Americans are demanding.”

No apparent momentum to end the DHS shutdown at this point ... Day 4 www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Democrats have sent an immigration enforcement counteroffer to White House and Republicans, according to a Schumer spokesperson

New poll from Dem Senate Majority PAC: 54% of likely midterm voters support Democrats demanding reforms to ICE and blocking DHS funding unless those reforms are adopted. www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Anatomy of DHS shutdown - Dems believe they have high ground - Attempted indictments of Kelly + Slotkin "dominated" Dem discussion today, per Kaine - Dems "good at using stuff like this to be able to maneuver things to their political advantage," says Sen. Justice www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Senate is done for the week at 415 pm on a Thursday before a scheduled Saturday DHS shutdown. Next vote is Feb. 23, though Thune says he'll call back members beforehand if there's a deal

Thune explains why he's not keeping the Senate as DHS shuts down "At the moment, we're not close" Says if a deal comes together, senators will get called back. he does think an eventual deal is possible: "That deal space is there. This can be done"

Sen. Britt asks to pass a two-week funding bill for DHS, says Dems took too long to make offer Sen. Murphy says Republicans didn't respond to them fast enough. He objects

Senate Democrats block DHS funding bill. It needed 60 and fails, 52-47 Fetterman is the only Democrat voting to advance it No defections on GOP side, even Rand Paul was a "yes" (Thune changed his vote to no to allow him to bring it up more quickly later)

Sen. Murray says she expects Democrats to counteroffer the White House on immigration enforcement