Senate approves funding bill hours before shutdown deadline, sending to Trump for signature

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a Republican-led spending bill Friday hours before a government shutdown, overcoming sharp Democratic opposition to the measure and sending it to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

The essentially party-line vote, 54-46, didn't give the full picture of gnawing Democratic angst over how to confront the Trump administration as its Department of Government Efficiency fires federal workers and dismantles operations. Democrats argued over whether to fight even risking a shutdown and fumed that Republicans drafted a measure that included little of their input, shortchanging health care, housing and other priorities.

But in the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse, and backed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer's strategy to allow the bill to come forward.

“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”

Democrats were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting funding lapse. All told, 10 Democrats voted to break the party’s filibuster to advance the bill to a final vote. On final passage, two Democrats supported the bill, and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed it. It funds the government for another six months.

Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration about the options before them, but abruptly switched course and made clear on the eve of voting that he would not allow a government shutdown. His move outraged many in the party who want to fight the Trump agenda, but gave senators room to side with Republicans and allow the continuing resolution, often described as a CR, to advance.

Democrats from all corners looked to pressure senators to kill the bill. House members wrote letters, posted on social media and held press conferences in the hours before the vote.

“The American people sent Democrats to Congress to fight against Republican dysfunction and chaos,” said a letter from 66 House Democrats to Schumer.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team dashed back to the Capitol urging senators to block the bill and negotiate a true compromise with Republicans. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi called the bill “unacceptable.”

Some Democrats also argued that Republicans would take the blame for a shutdown, given they controlled all the levers of power in Congress and the White House.

“If you refuse to put forward an offer that includes any Democratic input and you don’t get Democratic votes, that’s on Republicans,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

In contrast, Schumer picked up one unexpected nod of support — from Trump himself, who just a day earlier was gearing up to blame Democrats for any shutdown.

“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” the president posted on his social media account.

Congress has been unable to pass the annual appropriations bills designed to fund the government, so they've resorted to passing short-term extensions instead. The legislation before the Senate is the third such continuing resolution for the current fiscal year, now nearly half over.

The legislation would fund the federal government through the end of September. It would trim non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increase defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.

The Republican-led House passed the spending bill Tuesday and then adjourned. The move left senators with a decision to either take it or leave it. And while Democrats pushed for a vote on a fourth short-term extension, GOP leadership made clear that option was a non-starter.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and others made the case that any blame for a shutdown would fall squarely on Democrats. And House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Republicans stood together to get the job done.

Meanwhile, some House Democrats lashed out at their colleagues across the Capitol after the vote.

“The constituents I represent need Democrats to stand up to this rogue administration,” said Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev. “What they got from Senate Democrats today was capitulation instead.”

But Schumer said Trump would seize more power during a shutdown, because it would give the administration the ability to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.

Democrats were critical of the funding levels in the bill. But they are more worried about the discretion the bill gives the Trump administration on spending decisions. Many Democrats are referring to the measure as a “blank check” for Trump.

Spending bills typically come with specific funding directives for key programs, but hundreds of those directives fall away under the continuing resolution passed by the House. So the administration will have more leeway to decide where the money goes.

For example, a Democratic memo said the bill would allow the administration to steer money away from combating fentanyl and instead use it on mass deportation initiatives.

Several amendments to the bill failed, but one to eliminate funding for DOGE drew support from a Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The spending bill before the Senate is separate from the GOP effort to extend tax cuts for individuals passed in Trump's first term and to partially pay for them with spending cuts elsewhere in government.

That second package will be developed in the months ahead, but it was clearly part of the political calculus.

“You're looking at a one-two punch, a very bad CR, then a reconciliation bill coming down, which will be the final kick in the teeth for the American people,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the Democratic arguments for voting against the bill were hypocritical because they were essentially calling for shutting down the government to protect the government.

“Democrats are fighting to withhold the paychecks of air traffic controllers, our troops, federal custodial staff,” Cotton said. “They can't be serious.”

Senators also unanimously approved a separate bill to fix an unexpected provision in the package that would require the District of Columbia to revert to 2024 budget levels, a cut of some $1.1 billion, even though the district raises most of its own money. That bill, which now goes to House, would allow spending at 2025 levels.

Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam and Matt Brown contributed to this story from Leesburg, Va.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer returns after giving a television interview, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., looks at his watch before a television interview as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., walks from the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaks with reporters as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., responds to reporters as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., left, greets Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, as they arrive for votes as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., walks to the Senate chamber as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, walks with Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., as Senate Democrats gather behind closed doors to mount a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led spending bill that already passed the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., walks from the Senate chamber as the Senate works to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, in Washington, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters as Republicans work to pass an interim spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Over the weekend, the Trump administration transferred more than 200 immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order to bar the deportations temporarily.

On Saturday night, District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered the administration not to deport anyone in its custody over the newly invoked Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century declaration that has only been used three times in U.S. history, all during periods of war. Trump issued a proclamation that the 1798 law was newly in effect due to what he claimed was an “invasion” by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling.

On Monday, plaintiffs filed a lawsuit to halt the deportations and asked a federal judge to force officials to explain under oath whether they violated his court order.

Here's the latest:

Trump, after he was sworn into office, ordered the release of the remaining classified files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

While at the Kennedy Center, Trump told reporters his administration will release 80,000 files on Tuesday, though it’s not clear how many of those are among the millions of documents that have already been made public.

“We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading,” Trump said to reporters.

He also said he doesn’t believe anything will be redacted from the files.

“I said, ‘Just don’t redact. You can’t redact,’” he said.

Tulsi Gabbard said in a televised interview that ties between Russia and the U.S. go “very far back.”

Trump, she told India’s NDTV, is committed to expanding a relationship “centered around peace, prosperity, freedom and security.”

“We have two leaders of two great countries who are very good friends and very focused on how we can strengthen the shared objectives and shared interests,” Gabbard said.

Over the weekend, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 people he said were part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump has not identified who was deported, nor provided any evidence they are in fact members of the gang or that they committed any crimes.

The flights from the U.S. to El Salvador were already in the air when a federal judge issued an order to stop the action.

To invoke the law from 1798, a president has to declare the U.S. is at war. He can then detain or deport people who aren’t citizens who would otherwise be protected by immigration or criminal laws. The last time it was used was to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians during World War II.

▶ Read more about the move and the history of the Tren de Aragua

The White House used the song in a deportation video on social media showing a man with his wrists handcuffed and shackled to his waist as he’s patted down. The video was captioned with the song’s lyrics “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

“We did not authorize or condone the White House’s use of our song in any way. And no, they didn’t ask. The song is about joy and possibilities and hope, and they have missed the point entirely,” the power pop trio said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Asked about it Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “our entire government clearly is leaning into the message of this president.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection retweeted the White House’s post on X with the caption “It’s closing time. We are making America safe again.”

Semisonic joins a long list of performers who’ve objected to Trump using their songs.

Military leaders say the U.S. airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets have struck more than 30 targets since Saturday, including headquarters locations, drone launch sites and weapons storage facilities.

Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated those strikes have killed “dozens” of militants and would continue in the coming days.

The strikes targeted headquarters positions and drone sites where militants the Pentagon identified as “key leaders” for the Houthis’ drone program were located, Grynkewich told reporters Monday.

During the attacks, the Houthis claimed to fire one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles in response.

At a news briefing, both Grynkewich and Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the responses “didn’t come anywhere near” U.S. assets in the region, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.

“He’ll be coming in the not too distant future,” Trump said during a meeting of the new Kennedy Center board.

Trump mentioned the Xi visit as he said he’s had foreign leaders visiting him at the White House in recent weeks and has been asking them how Washington looks.

Trump says he’s “cleaning up Washington,” including trying to clear tents used by the homeless and graffiti.

The president said he took time out of his day Monday afternoon to go to the performing arts center because it “represents a very important part of D.C. and actually our country.”

“I think it’s important to save this structure and this building,” he said.

He said his message to Americans was “Come here and see a show.” But then he immediately followed up by saying, “I was never a big fan, I never liked ‘Hamilton’ very much.” The popular Broadway musical canceled planned shows at the center after Trump took over the institution’s leadership.

The Environmental Protection Agency says it reinstated about 419 employees in response to the ruling Thursday night that ordered agencies across the government to bring back workers fired by the Trump administration.

Most of the affected EPA employees have been placed on administrative leave, an agency spokesperson said in an email Monday.

Tens of thousands of probationary workers were let go in mass firings across multiple agencies as part of Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government. Two judges separately found legal problems with the way the terminations were carried out and ordered the employees at least temporarily brought back on the job.

The deportation of 34-year-old Dr. Rasha Alawieha over the weekend has sparked widespread alarm.

Homeland Security officials on Monday said Alawieha “openly admitted” to attending the funeral of a Hezbollah leader, as well as supporting him. News outlets that were able to obtain access to sealed court records report that Alawieh had photos of Hassan Nasrallah — the leader of the Lebanese militant group for the past three decades — on her phone.

Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who had worked and lived in Rhode Island previously, was detained at least 36 hours. She was to start work at Brown as an assistant professor of medicine.

▶ Read more about the deportation of the doctor

The flood of workers at the main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused extreme traffic back-ups and other delays Monday morning.

Employees said driving the last two miles took as long as 40 minutes. One said a CDC administrator greeted employees coming back with a card that said; “YOU ARE APPRECIATED!”

Many CDC employees began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Trump administration ordered that employees who live within 50 miles of the office had to show up in-person starting Monday.

Many CDC workers have been dreading the return, in part because the CDC in the last few years has been reducing the amount of office space it leases in the Atlanta area, meaning fewer desks and parking spaces.

The steady trading may be short-lived, though, with a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates coming later in the week and worries continuing about President Trump’s trade war.

The S&P 500 was 1% higher in afternoon trading, coming off its fourth straight losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 483 points, or 1.1%, as of 2:34 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.

Stocks have been tumbling recently on worries that Trump’s rat -a- tat announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much uncertainty that they’ll push U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would hurt the economy.

She was asked by a reporter about a video of the deportations the White House shared on its X account Monday showing a man with his wrists handcuffed and shackled to his waist as he was patted down. The video was set to the Semisonic song, “Closing Time.”

“I think the White House and our entire government clearly is leaning into the message of this president. And we are unafraid to double down and to take responsibility and ownership of the serious decisions that are being made,” Leavitt said said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t get into details about Tuesday’s scheduled call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But she sounded optimistic that the talks can help push Russia closer to a deal to end it’s three-year war in Ukraine.

“I won’t get ahead of those negotiations, but I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace,” Leavitt told reporters Monday. “And we’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment. And the president, as you know, is determined to get one done.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday again said the Trump administration did not violate a court order when it deported more than 200 immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge ordered the deportations to be temporarily stopped.

“All of the planes that were subject to the written order of this judge departed U.S. soil, U.S. territory, before the judge’s written order,” Leavitt said at a news briefing.

Leavitt said there are questions about whether the judge’s verbal order “carries the same weight as a legal order, as a written order.”

The announcement Monday from the Department of Veterans Affairs said the change was in response to President Trump’s executive order declaring there are two sexes, male and female. The VA has never offered gender-affirming surgery, but has provided hormones, voice training and prosthetics to a small number of patients.

The VA will continue to offer hormone therapy to veterans already receiving such care and those who become eligible for VA care who were receiving hormones in the military. Veterans with gender dysphoria will continue to receive other types of care.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said transgender veterans “will always be welcome at VA,” but if veterans want “to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime.”

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom said the U.S. has been “extremely generous” over the years and “of course, it’s within its rights to decide what it supports and to what extent.”

“But the U.S. also has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it’s done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding,” the U.N. health agency chief told reporters in Geneva.

In his first day back in the Oval Office in January, President Trump issued an executive order announcing a U.S. pullout from WHO — which takes a year to take effect — and called for a pause of U.S. funding for the agency. Sweeping cuts to funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development has hit many aid providers hard.

Hey, America: Give the Statue of Liberty back to France. So says a French politician who’s making headlines in his country for suggesting the U.S. is no longer worthy of the monument that was a gift from France nearly 140 years ago.

As a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, Raphaël Glucksmann cannot claim to speak for all of his compatriots.

But his assertion in a speech this weekend that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants” reflects the broad shockwaves President Trump’s seismic shifts in foreign and domestic policy are triggering in France and elsewhere in Europe.

▶ Read more about the call to return the Statue of Liberty

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday during his first official overseas trip, seeking support from one of Ottawa’s oldest allies as Trump attacks Canada’s sovereignty and economy.

Macron did not address Trump’s attacks on Canada ahead of the talks but noted tariffs only bring inflation.

“In the current international context, we want to be able to develop our most strategic projects with our closest, more loyal partners,” Macron said, adding that “we are stronger together, better able to ensure the respect of our interests, the full exercise of our sovereignty.”

Carney was sworn in Friday. After Paris, his next stop was London, where he was due to hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III, the head of state in Canada.

▶ Read more about Canada and its European allies

The federal lawsuit seeks to to block enforcement of executive orders Momodou Taal fears could lead to his deportation.

Taal, 31, is a Ph.D. student in Africana studies at Cornell University and is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia.

He was temporarily suspended last fall after participating in a demonstration on the Cornell campus in upstate New York. He has limited access to campus for research, medical and religious reasons as he continues his studies remotely, according to the lawsuit.

The suit filed Saturday by Taal and two of his allies at the Ivy League school cite the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student, as well as a statement by President Trump promising more arrests at universities across the country.

The measure, approved by Republican majorities in the House and Senate, eliminates a federal fee on companies that release high levels of methane, a planet-warming “super pollutant.”

The fee, which hadn’t gone into effect, was expected to bring in more than $7 billion over the next decade and lower U.S. methane emissions, averting thousands of early deaths and tens of thousands of asthma attacks and lost school days every year.

Methane is a much stronger global warming gas than carbon dioxide, especially in the short term. Oil and gas producers are among the biggest U.S. methane emitters.

Republicans said the fee would inflate energy prices, reduce domestic energy production and empower U.S. adversaries.

After Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was no longer welcome in the U.S. and posted his decision Friday on social media, South African embassy staff were summoned to the State Department and given a formal diplomatic note explaining the move, the department said.

“We made the embassy aware that Ambassador Rasool has been found unacceptable by the United States to be a representative of his country,” the department said.

It said Rasool’s diplomatic privileges and immunities expired Monday and he would be required to leave the United States by March 21. It isn’t clear if he’s in the U.S. now.

Rubio announced his decision in a post on X, accusing Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates President Trump.

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to halt deportations under a rarely-used 18th century wartime law invoked by President Trump asked a federal judge Monday to force officials to explain under oath whether they violated his court order by removing more than 200 people from the country after it was issued and celebrating it on social media.

The motion marks another escalation in the battle over Trump’s aggressive opening moves in his second term, several of which have been temporarily halted by judges. Trump’s allies have raged over the holds and suggested he doesn’t have to obey them, and some plaintiffs have said it appears the administration is flouting court orders.

▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s deportations

McGregor appeared in the briefing room alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt, where he criticized his country’s government as having “abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland.” He said there was “zero action with zero accountability,” and complained about the “illegal immigration racket.”

His comments come days after Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin visited the White House to meet with President Trump.

McGregor has faced legal problems of his own. He was ordered to pay 250,000 Euros ($257,000) to a woman who sued him for sexual assault. McGregor denied the accusations.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was planning to promote his new book, “Antisemitism in America: A Warning,” but is rescheduling after some liberal groups shared plans to stage protests.

A representative for Schumer’s book, Risa Heller, said that the tour would be rescheduled “due to security concerns.”

The cancellations of events in Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and other cities came amid widespread criticism from the party’s liberal base over Schumer’s vote to move forward with Republican spending legislation last week.

Schumer said the bill was “terrible” but that a shutdown would have been far worse, and difficult to get out of, as Trump has already slashed jobs and funding for agencies across the government.

U.S. shoppers stepped up their spending a just bit in February after a sharp pullback the previous month, signaling Americans are shopping more cautiously as concerns about the direction of the economy mount.

Retail sales rose just 0.2% in February, a small rebound after a sharp drop of 1.2% in January, the Commerce Department said Monday. Sales rose at grocery stores, home and garden stores, and online retailers. Sales fell at auto dealers, restaurants, and electronics stores.

The small increase suggests Americans may be growing more wary about spending as the stock market has plunged and Trump’s tariff threats and government spending cuts have led to widespread uncertainty among consumers and businesses.

▶ Read more about U.S. retail sales

The Sunday meeting came two days after Jeffries publicly criticized Schumer over a vote to move forward on Republican spending legislation.

The two New Yorkers met in Brooklyn, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Schumer announced Thursday that he would join with Republicans on a key procedural vote to move the spending legislation to final passage. He said that the bill was “terrible” but that a shutdown would be far worse, and Democrats would not have an “off ramp” to get out of it.

Jeffries strongly disagreed and repeatedly declined to answer questions Friday about whether he has confidence in Schumer.

“We do not want to shut down the government. But we are not afraid of a government funding showdown,” Jeffries said.

The meeting was first reported by Punchbowl News.

— Mary Clare Jalonick

The Trump administration’s tariffs on imported goods from Canada, Mexico and China — some already in place, others set to take effect in a few weeks — are already driving up the cost of building materials used in new residential construction and home remodeling projects.

The tariffs are projected to raise the costs that go into building a single-family home in the U.S. by $7,500 to $10,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Such costs are typically passed along to the homebuyer in the form of higher prices, which could hurt demand at a time when the U.S. housing market remains in a slump and many builders are having to offer buyers costly incentives to drum up sales.

▶ Read more about how tariffs are raising building costs

But the calm may not last with a decision coming this week on interest rates from the Federal Reserve and worries continuing about President Trump’s trade war.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2% early Monday. The index is coming off its fourth straight losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 97 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%.

Stocks have been tumbling on worries that Trump’s rat-a-tat announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much uncertainty that they’ll push U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending.

▶ Read more about the financial markets

The Houthi rebels started attacking military and commercial ships in one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors shortly after the war in Gaza began between Hamas and Israel in October 2023.

The Houthis said they were targeting vessels on the Red Sea with links to Israel or its allies — the United States and the U.K. — in solidarity with Palestinians, but some vessels had little or no link to the war.

The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, until the current ceasefire in Gaza took effect in mid-January. Other missiles and drones were intercepted or failed to reach their targets, which included Western military ones.

▶ Read more about the Houthi rebels in Yemen

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks along the southern border with Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Donald Trump waves from the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, March 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)