The Latest: Senate has just hours left to avoid a partial government shutdown

Portugal's foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, front and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, behind, lay flowers at the memorial wall of the fallen soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Republished March 14, 2025 - 7:41 AM

Original Publication Date March 14, 2025 - 5:51 AM

The Senate is finding itself in a familiar position, working to avoid a partial government shutdown with just hours to spare Friday. Democrats have only painful options: allow passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions, or vote no and give Trump free rein. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration before making clear he will not allow a government shutdown.

Also Friday, it's Trump's move now that two federal judges handed down orders Thursday requiring his administration to rehire thousands of probationary federal workers let go in mass firings. Trump also plans a Justice Department rally for what he's calling a tough-on-crime agenda. And he's asked the Supreme Court to limit a nationwide order that for now prevents him from denying birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

Here's the Latest:

Trump administration investigating more than 50 universities in anti-DEI campaign

The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”

Most of the new inquiries — 45 — are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.

Department officials said that the group limits eligibility based on race and that colleges that partner with it are “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.” They include public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and Rutgers, and prestigious private schools including Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

? Read more about the new investigations into colleges’ DEI practices

AP EXCLUSIVE: US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians from Gaza

The U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials from three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations to resettle more than 2 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

That’s according to American and Israeli officials who spoke to The Associated Press. The contacts were with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland.

The idea of a mass transfer of Palestinians was once considered a fantasy of Israel’s ultranationalist fringe, but since Trump presented the idea at a White House meeting last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed it as a “ bold vision.”

There’s strong opposition to displacing Gaza's population. Palestinians have rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations are vehemently against it, offering an alternative reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place. Rights groups said forcing or pressuring Palestinians to leave could be a war crime.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed the contacts with Somalia and Somaliland, while the Americans confirmed Sudan as well. They said it was unclear how much progress has been made. The White House declined to comment on the outreach efforts.

By Josef Federman, Matthew Lee and Samy Magdy

Allies wrap up a G7 meeting overshadowed by Trump’s tariffs and Canada taunts

The Group of 7 talks in Canada have been overshadowed by Trump’s trade and foreign policies and his repeated taunts aimed at the host. Top diplomats hope to reach consensus nevertheless on a final communique after hours of late-night negotiations.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said “there is a great deal of unity within the G7,” pointing to support for the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.

And she said Canada will be working on off-ramps from Trump’s trade war, even as it puts “maximum pressure” on their neighbor. “The Trump tariffs are going to hurt Americans. That’s our message, that’s our approach,” she said.

? Read more on the G7 talks

House Democrats express fury at Senate counterparts over GOP spending bill

After Schumer announced he’d vote for the package, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reiterated that House Democrats “remain strongly opposed” and would not be “complicit” in the GOP spending plan.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York expressed frustration that some members “who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territories in the United States, who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people” now have to watch Senate Democrats consider acquiescing.

“There’s still time,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico at the Democratic Women’s Caucus in Virginia. “The American people are shouting: please do not hand the keys over to Elon Musk.”

Meanwhile, Schumer is winning praise from the president: “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took “guts” and courage!” Trump posted on his social media account.

AP EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of federal offices could begin closing this summer at DOGE’s behest

Federal agencies will begin to vacate hundreds of offices across the country this summer under a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk’s budget-cutting advisers to terminate leases that they say waste money.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, but internal documents obtained by The Associated Press contain a crucial detail: when those cancellations are expected to take effect. The documents from inside the General Services Administration, the U.S. government’s real estate manager, list dozens of federal office and building leases expected to end by June 30, with hundreds more slated over the coming months.

The rapid pace of cancellations has raised alarms, with some agencies and lawmakers appealing to DOGE to exempt specific buildings. Several agencies are facing 20 or more lease cancellations in all, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey.

? Read more about the canceled leases and see a list of the offices that are impacted

Why Democrats are concerned about the spending bill

Both defense and non-defense spending is lower than what was agreed to when Congress lifted the debt ceiling two years ago in return for spending restraints. And they're even more worried about the discretion it gives the Trump administration on spending decisions. Many Democrats are referring to it as a “blank check.”

Hundreds of the specific funding directives for key programs that come with most bills fall away under this continuing resolution, so the administration will have more leeway to decide where the money goes.

Democrats also object to the treatment of the District of Columbia, which would have to cut current spending by $1.1 billion, and the clawing back of $20 billion in special IRS funding, on top of the $20 billion rescission approved the year before, which essentially cuts in half the funding boost that Congress intended to give the agency.

What to know about the bill being debated by the Senate

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 marks 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 on Tuesday and then adjourned. The move left senators with a decision to either take it or leave it. And while Democrats have been pushing for a vote on a fourth short-term extension, GOP leadership made clear that option was a non-starter.

A procedural vote Friday will provide a first test of whether the package has the 60 votes needed to advance, ahead of final voting likely later in the day. At least eight Democrats will need to join with Republicans to move the funding package forward.

Trump will visit a Justice Department he's sought to reshape with loyalists

Trump is expected to use his visit to deliver a speech outlining his administration’s tough-on-crime agenda. But the appearance doubles as a victory lap after he emerged legally and politically unscathed from two federal prosecutions that were dismissed after his election win last fall.

The visit is the first by Trump and the first by any president in a decade. It brings Trump into the belly of an institution he has disparaged in searing terms for years but one that he has sought to reshape by installing loyalists and members of his personal defense team in top leadership positions.

? Read more about Trump’s visit to the Justice Department

Judges order Trump to rehire probationary workers let go in mass firings

Two federal judges handed down orders on Thursday requiring Trump’s administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in across multiple agencies, slowing down for now the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government.

Both judges separately found legal problems with the way the mass terminations were carried out and ordered the employees at least temporarily brought back on the job.

The Trump administration has already appealed the first ruling. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cast it as an attempt to encroach on the president’s power to hire and fire employees. “The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said in a statement.

? Read more about the orders on mass firings

Schumer gives Democrats room to side with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration about the options before them, but late Thursday made clear he will not allow a government shutdown. His move gives Democrats room to side with Republicans and allow the continuing resolution, often described as a CR, to come up for a vote as soon as Friday.

Schumer said on the Senate floor that the choice between the GOP spending bill and a government shutdown is “no choice at all” but that a shutdown would be “a far worse option.”

? Read more about the vote to avoid a government shutdown

Pentagon continues purge of images it sees as pro-DEI, including 3 related to the Enola Gay

The Pentagon is continuing its purge of photographs it considers promote DEI, and although it said historical photographs would be protected, at least three images related to the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, have been removed – likely because the aircraft was called the Enola Gay.

The images that have disappeared include a historical black-and-white photo of the Enola Gay “undergoing modification at Oklahoma City Air Depot to be able to drop atomic weapons,” according to a thumbnail of the photograph, which remains. Two others that mention a grandson of a member of the original Enola Gay crew flying a refurbished B-29 to honor his family have also been deleted, although their thumbnails are also still visible.

A request for comment to the Pentagon on why the Enola Gay images were removed was not immediately returned.