Congress returns with fights

Congress came back to Washington on April 14 with a Department of Homeland Security shutdown still unresolved, a missed Pam Bondi deposition, and a new ethics investigation into Representative Eric Swalwell. (congress.gov) (politico.com) (ethics.house.gov) The Homeland Security fight has been running since February 14, when a temporary funding extension expired. The House passed H.R. 7744 on March 5 by a 221-209 vote to fund the department for the rest of fiscal year 2026 and authorize back pay for affected workers, but the bill has not become law. (congress.gov 1) (congress.gov 2) Politico reported Tuesday morning that the shutdown had reached 59 days and that Senate Majority Leader John Thune was pushing a narrow bill focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, while House conservatives including Representative Chip Roy wanted a broader package covering all of Homeland Security. (politico.com) The Bondi fight is about congressional oversight of the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi for an April 14 deposition, but Republicans on the panel said on April 8 that the Justice Department told them she would not appear because she was subpoenaed in her capacity as attorney general and is no longer in that job. (politico.com) Democrats answered on April 14 that the subpoena covered “the Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi,” not just the office, and Ranking Member Robert Garcia said Democrats would seek contempt proceedings if she continued to refuse testimony. Republicans on the committee said they would contact Bondi’s personal counsel about rescheduling. (oversightdemocrats.house.gov) (politico.com) Swalwell’s problem changed on April 13, when the House Ethics Committee said it had opened an investigation into allegations that he “may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision.” The committee added that opening the case does not itself mean a violation occurred. (ethics.house.gov) The border bill argument hanging over all of this goes back to the Senate package negotiated in early 2024 by Chris Murphy, James Lankford, and Kyrsten Sinema. That bill paired border restrictions with foreign aid, totaled about $118 billion, and failed twice in the Senate after Trump publicly attacked it and urged Republicans to reject it. (forbes.com) That 2024 bill would have created emergency authority to restrict crossings when daily encounters hit specified thresholds and would have added money for enforcement and processing. Its collapse left Congress arguing again in 2026 over the same mix of border money, enforcement powers, and who gets blamed when no deal sticks. (forbes.com) So the first day back was not one fight but three: how to reopen Homeland Security, whether Congress can force testimony from a former attorney general, and how much political damage a new ethics case can do to a sitting lawmaker. By Tuesday afternoon, none of the three had been settled. (politico.com) (oversightdemocrats.house.gov) (ethics.house.gov)