ONE WEEK OUT: The chances of avoiding a government shutdown at the end of the month jumped with just one week left before certain federal departments run out of money.
The House passed the final four funding bills for the remainder of fiscal 2026 on Thursday, sending them to the Senate for potential approval next week. If the Senate signs off on them along with the funding bills for the State and Treasury departments that the House had already approved, a shutdown set to arrive after Jan. 30 would be avoided.
A three-bill minibus to fund the departments of Defense, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education and other related agencies easily passed in a bipartisan 341-88 vote.
But the contentious bill to fund DHS passed narrowly by a 220-207 vote, with the overwhelming majority of Democrats opposed. Members of the party have opposed a funding package that doesn’t do more to rein in ICE amid its operations in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Seven Democrats broke ranks to support the bill.
Another split within the Democratic Party could be critical next week in the Senate, where 60 votes will be needed for the legislation to pass, requiring some Democratic support.
Meanwhile in the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is facing increasing pressure from his GOP colleagues to bring health care legislation to the floor for a vote as fears rise of Democratic wins coming in November.
Thune has resisted those calls so far, but he’s dealing with a push from conservatives to advance a package similar to Trump’s health care proposal and one from moderates to vote to extend the expired enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.
▪ The Hill: These Democrats voted for the DHS bill.
GREENLAND UNCERTAINTY REMAINS: Questions remain about the future of the U.S.’s relationship with Greenland even after Trump and NATO reached a framework deal to settle the dispute.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said during a press conference Thursday that the terms of the agreement are unclear and asserted Greenland and Denmark’s primacy in any decisionmaking.
“Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us. That’s not going to happen,” Nielsen said.
The White House hasn’t given many details about what exactly is included in the deal, only saying that details will be released once they are finalized. But reports have indicated it would include an arrangement to allow the U.S. to declare parts of Greenland as sovereign base areas, in which it can perform military, intelligence and training operations without seeking Denmark’s permission.
The deal is seen as a way to grant the U.S. some concession to satisfy Trump while maintaining Greenland’s independence and semi-autonomy.
Trump while returning to Washington last night declined to tell reporters more details about the deal, but he said more would be revealed in about two weeks. He asserted everyone is pleased with the plan.
"I think everyone likes it," he said.
The president told CNBC in an interview that “mineral rights” would also be involved in the deal but didn’t elaborate.
▪ The Hill: What was the 1951 Greenland agreement with Denmark?
▪ BBC: What we know about the deal.
CHAIR FOR LIFE? Trump suggested to reporters on Air Force One that his role as chair of the Board of Peace is a lifetime position if he wants it, even going past the end of his second term in office.
"It's in theory for life. But I'm not sure I want that," Trump said. "But it's going to do great work with Gaza and maybe other things. Could be beyond Gaza, and we'll work with the United Nations."
Trump's comments come after he and various other world leaders participated in a signing ceremony to officially set up the board while in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum on Thursday. But most of Europe haven't joined the board so far over different concerns.
Some countries such as France have expressed opposition to the structure of the board, arguing it could rival the United Nations Security Council on the world stage even beyond Gaza, while others have raised concerns over the push to include Russia.
TRUMP-ZELENSKY TALKS: Trump also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while in Davos.
Zelensky told reporters that a document detailing an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has been drafted but needs to be signed. He said the guarantees would only go into effect after the war ends.
Enacting security guarantees has been a key part of negotiations between Trump and Zelensky to try to ensure some amount of protection of Ukraine without adding the country to NATO, which Russia firmly opposes. But whether Russia would agree to these security guarantees is unclear.
Trump told reporters that a peace agreement has been delayed by the times Zelensky or Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't want to make a deal, but he said he believes both want to make one now.
"We're discussing things that have been discussed for six or seven months. And [Zelensky] came and he said he wants to make a deal," he said.
SMITH DEFENDS WORK: Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his efforts to prosecute Trump during a public hearing Thursday, maintaining he doesn’t regret pursuing the investigations.
Smith sat for five hours in his first public testimony, arguing the evidence that his team gathered showed Trump engaged in criminal activity in his efforts to stay in office after the 2020 presidential election and through his retention of classified and sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Both cases against Trump were dismissed after he was reelected in 2024.
The hearing with Smith grew contentious on various occasions as Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sought to portray the investigations as politically motivated, claims that Trump has regularly made. Democrats came to Smith’s defense, arguing he’s an apolitical public servant who was just following the facts.
Trump himself seemed to be watching the hearing, posting on Truth Social that Smith was being “DECIMATED” and that he hoped Bondi was “looking at” what he has done.
Smith said he believes the DOJ will do “everything in their power” to prosecute him.
“We did our work pursuant to department policy — we followed the facts; we followed the law — and that process resulted in proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed serious crimes,” Smith said of Trump.
Read five takeaways from the hearing from The Hill’s Ella Lee, Max Rego and Mike Lillis here.
▪ The Hill: Former officer, election denier get into altercation at hearing.
BANK SUIT: The president has sued JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) and CEO Jamie Dimon over allegations that the bank dropped him and put him on a blacklist in 2021.
The complaint, filed in Miami on Thursday, accuses the bank of “debanking” Trump when it closed his accounts. The lawsuit is seeking at least $5 billion against the largest bank in the country by assets.
“Plaintiffs are confident that JPMC’s unilateral decision came about as a result of political and social motivations, and JPMC’s unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit builds on claims that Trump and his allies have long made of big banks discriminating against conservatives. He signed an executive order last year directing regulators to probe financial institutions for “politicized or unlawful debanking.”
The accounts Trump references were closed in February 2021, weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, at a time when he was facing a challenging financial future with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
JPMC said in a statement that it doesn’t close accounts for political or religious reasons but does so if they create legal or regulatory risks.
▪ BBC: Dimon slams Trump credit card interest plan.
