Nearly 500 airport security staff quit as DHS shutdown drags on with no end in sight – US politics live

Negotiations to end funding standoff sparked by Trump administration’s immigration crackdown fail to find a breakthrough Sign up for the Breaking News US email Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. There was no breakthrough in talk to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday as the shutdown extends to almost six weeks with no…

Key takeaways

Quick scan — what you need to know:

• Negotiations to end funding standoff sparked by Trump administration’s immigration crackdown fail to find a breakthrough Sign up for the Breaking News US email Hello and welcome to the US politics…
• There was no breakthrough in talk to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday as the shutdown extends to almost six weeks with no end in sight.
• The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history” , as the partial…
• At a House homeland security committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill said her agency has been shut down for 50% of the fiscal year so far – a stretch that includes last year’s record-breaking 43‑day…

Background

What led here, in plain terms:

• She told lawmakers that by Friday, TSA employees will have missed $1bn in paychecks as a result of the closures.
• The US has launched another strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing four people, the US Southern Command said.
• The command, which oversees combatant operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced on X that it had conducted a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist…
• Progressive lawmakers have unveiled a new policy to place a moratorium on the construction of AI datacenters.

Why it matters

Why readers and decision-makers should care:

• The Trump administration’s federal housing director Bill Pulte is asking prosecutors to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James for insurance fraud, according to criminal referrals…
• The referrals to prosecutors in Florida and Illinois allege that James may have committed mortgage insurance fraud.
• The allegations center on applications made to Universal Property Insurance company, which is based in Florida, and Allstate in Illinois.