The Daily Brief — Apr. 30, 2026
The latest on the end of the partial DHS shutdown, a unanimous SCOTUS ruling about crisis pregnancy centers, and more
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DHS Shutdown Ends
The House passed legislation today ending the partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, clearing the way to pay TSA officers, Coast Guard personnel, and other DHS workers through Sept. 30. It now goes to President Trump for his signature.
The shutdown, which began Feb. 14, didn’t include immigration enforcement, which was funded last year via a separate bill.
The standoff began after talks between parties collapsed over new restrictions Democrats wanted on federal immigration officers, who fatally shot two US citizens during crackdowns in Minneapolis earlier this year. Democrats also objected to arrests made without judicial warrants, enforcement operations near sensitive areas like schools, hospitals, and places of worship, and agents wearing masks during raids.
Senate Republicans broke the standoff April 1 by passing the non-ICE funding bill on their own — without the immigration-officer restrictions Democrats had been demanding. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act had already funded ICE and CBP, removing the leverage Democrats were trying to use. House conservatives then stalled for nearly a month before folding today, after the White House asked them to pass the bill ahead of a 12-day recess.
States Move to Redraw Maps After VRA Ruling
Hours after the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s voting map that created a second majority-Black congressional district in the state, Gov. Jeff Landry (R) told Republican House candidates he may suspend next month’s primaries to allow state lawmakers to redraw the congressional map, according to The Washington Post.
Section 2 of the VRA bars election rules that weaken minority voting strength. Yesterday’s ruling narrows those protections, making it harder for minority voters to challenge district maps that dilute their votes unless they can prove the maps were intentionally drawn to discriminate on the basis of race. Several states are planning to change maps now.
Louisiana’s lawmakers had already delayed primaries from April 18 to May 16 to await the ruling.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said last week he’d call a special session 21 days after the SCOTUS ruling in Louisiana v. Callais so that the GOP-led legislature gets to redraw the districts that elect Mississippi’s state Supreme Court justices under the new rules. A federal judge had ordered Mississippi to redraw those districts, finding the current map dilutes Black voting power in violation of Section 2 of the VRA. Mississippi appealed, the Fifth Circuit paused the order pending Louisiana v. Callais, and Reeves had said that the decision in Callais would provide guidance.
In Tennessee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R), who is running for governor, urged lawmakers to redraw the state’s only Democratic-leaning congressional district, which is centered in majority-Black Memphis. She called for a special session of the legislature to do so. Illinois Democrats are moving the other way, advancing a state constitutional amendment that would lock in the right to draw majority-Black and majority-Latino districts at the state level, regardless of the SCOTUS decision’s impact on federal voting rights protections.
SCOTUS Unanimously Backs Crisis Pregnancy Centers
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that a New Jersey anti-abortion pregnancy center can go to federal court to fight a state investigation that demanded its donor list.
The case involves First Choice Women’s Resource Centers. First Choice runs what are commonly called crisis pregnancy centers — facilities that offer free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and counseling, and that advertise to women considering abortion. Critics, including the New Jersey attorney general’s office, say the centers present themselves as medical clinics while steering clients away from abortion without disclosing their religious or anti-abortion mission.
The state AG subpoenaed the group as part of an investigation into whether it misled clients and donors about what services it actually provides.
First Choice sued the New Jersey attorney general in federal court, arguing the subpoena targeted the company for its anti-abortion stance and violated its First Amendment rights by forcing them to disclose their donors.
The narrow question before the Supreme Court was whether First Choice had to wait until a state court actually forced them to comply with the subpoena of their donor list before filing a lawsuit. The justices reasoned that being forced to choose between handing over donor names or facing penalties was itself a real-world harm, not a hypothetical one — so First Choice didn’t have to wait for a state judge to enforce the subpoena before going to federal court.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing First Choice, arguing that being forced to expose donors can chill protected speech long before a court ever enforces the subpoena. The ruling does not decide whether the subpoena itself is lawful, but it makes it easier for advocacy groups on any side to take state subpoenas straight to federal court.
House Passes FISA Extension
The House passed a three-year extension of the government’s warrantless surveillance authority, FISA, yesterday and sent it to the Senate, which has until midnight tonight to act before the law lapses.
The vote renews Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows US intelligence to collect electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside the country — without obtaining a warrant. American communications can get swept up when Americans are talking to the targeted foreigners. The House bill adds new penalties — up to five years in prison and $1 million in fines — for federal officials who improperly query the database, such as by searching it for an American’s communications without proper justification. But the bill does not have the warrant requirement many lawmakers wanted to include.
The bill is unlikely to clear the Senate as written because it includes an unrelated provision on digital currency that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) called a nonstarter.
Oil Prices Hit Four-Year High as Iran War Drags On
The national average for regular gasoline jumped from about $3.00 a gallon before the war in Iran to over $4.30 today, per AAA. In California, drivers are paying more than $6.
Global oil prices increased to a four-year high earlier today on fears the war could widen, before easing back. A barrel of crude is now trading at roughly $105–$120, up from about $70 before the war started
Hegseth Spars with Members of Congress
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went before two congressional committees this week to defend the Pentagon’s record $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027 — a 40% increase. The hearings — at the House Armed Services Committee yesterday and the Senate Armed Services Committee today — gave lawmakers their first formal chance to question Hegseth about the two-month-old Iran war.
Hegseth opened the House hearing by attacking the war’s critics in both parties as “reckless, feckless, and defeatist.” When Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) asked what the war is costing American households at the pump and grocery store, Hegseth called it a “gotcha” question and shot back asking what an Iranian nuclear bomb would cost. A Pentagon official at the hearing disclosed for the first time that the war has cost $25 billion so far, mostly in munitions.
Khanna cited outside estimates that the broader US economic hit could reach $631 billion, or about $5,000 per household. Hegseth declined to say how much more money the Pentagon will need, telling lawmakers only that the administration would send a supplemental funding request once it had a full cost assessment.
At the Senate hearing today, Hegseth again clashed with Democratic lawmakers, rejecting senators’ accusations that the Iran war was launched without evidence of an imminent threat and waged with no coherent strategy.
Fed Holds Rates Steady; Powell to Stay On as Governor
The Federal Reserve kept its interest rates unchanged, citing rising inflation due to the war in the Middle East. It kept the interest rate in the 3.50%–3.75% range. The annual inflation rate jumped to roughly 3.4% last month, from 2.6% in February.
Separately, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he will stay on as a governor on the Fed board after his eight-year run as chair ends May 15, to defend the central bank from what he described as Trump administration attacks. His term as a governor will run through the end of 2027.
Powell’s replacement as chair, Kevin Warsh, has cleared the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to be confirmed in roughly two weeks, just before Powell’s term as chair ends.
James Comey Appears in Court
Former FBI Director James Comey surrendered at a federal court in Virginia yesterday on a charge of threatening the life of President Trump. He did not enter a plea and was released without conditions after a hearing that ran under 10 minutes.
The charge stems from an Instagram post Comey put up last year after a walk on a North Carolina beach. He photographed seashells arranged on the sand to read “86 47” and shared the image. The DOJ read it as a coded threat: Trump is the 47th president, and “86” is slang for getting rid of someone. Comey said he didn’t arrange the shells, called the post political speech rather than a threat, and deleted it.
This is the second time Trump’s Justice Department has charged Comey. The first indictment, brought in September 2025, accused him of lying to Congress about an FBI leak investigation. A federal judge threw it out in November, ruling that the interim US attorney who filed the charges had been unlawfully appointed and her actions were therefore void.
DOJ Sues NJ for ICE Mask Ban
The Trump administration sued New Jersey yesterday over a state law that bars most law enforcement officers and federal immigration agents from wearing masks during enforcement operations.
The Justice Department argues the law violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which bars states from controlling how federal agencies do their jobs. The lawsuit asks a federal court to block the state from enforcing the mask ban against federal agents. Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) signed the mask ban March 25. The law carves out exceptions, including for undercover officers and those facing credible threats of retaliation.
Federal officers have largely ignored the ban. ICE agents have been seen masked in New Jersey since the law took effect, and Sherrill’s administration has not said how it would enforce the rule against federal personnel.
The DOJ filed a similar suit against California last year over that state’s mask ban. A federal court blocked California from enforcing it against federal agents.
Trump Pulls Surgeon General Pick, Makes Third Nomination
President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Nicole Saphier as US surgeon general, replacing his previous pick, Casey Means, whose nomination had stalled in the Senate. The surgeon general serves as the nation’s top public health spokesperson, shaping guidance on major health issues.
Saphier is a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering and a Fox News medical contributor, known for emphasizing cancer detection and public health communication. Writing on Truth Social, Trump praised her as an “incredible communicator” who can make complex health issues accessible to the public.
The switch marks Trump’s third attempt to fill the role. Means, a wellness influencer aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faced bipartisan skepticism over her medical credentials and views on vaccines, leaving her without enough support for confirmation.
The first nominee was Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a family physician and former Fox News medical contributor. Her nomination, made last year, was withdrawn just days before a scheduled Senate committee confirmation hearing after it was revealed she misrepresented facts about her medical education.
You forgot to point out the surgeon general pick's anti-trans rhetoric