Morning Brief: Dems Divided, Trump Hits Terrorists, And A Space Rescue Unfolds

Democrats are openly criticizing party leadership after they got steamrolled in budget negotiations, President Donald Trump unleashed strikes on terrorist targets in Yemen, and two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station for months prepare for their journey home.

It’s Monday, March 17, and this is news you need to know to start your week. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:

Dems in Disarray

(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Topline: Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown this weekend after a stunning turn that saw Democratic leaders give in to Republican demands.

On Friday, Republicans passed a continuing resolution through the Senate, which will fund the government for the next seven months. The bill had already passed through the House but could have been stalled in the Senate by a filibuster. The deadline to avoid a government shutdown was midnight on Friday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who had been vocally opposed to the bill, reversed himself at the last minute along with seven other Democrats, including John Fetterman (PA), Kristen Gillibrand (NY), Dick Durbin (IL) and Gary Peters (MI).

Context: Much of the saber-rattling surrounding the bill was driven by criticism of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Trump’s memetic initiative for cutting government spending headed by Elon Musk. Critics of DOGE have claimed that the executive branch is overstepping its constitutional authority and wanted to leverage a potential shutdown to rein in their activities.

However, behind closed doors, many Congressional Democrats argued that they would receive the lion’s share of the blame for a government shutdown. Democrats are also in a tenuous position politically, as recent polls have found that public perception of the Democratic Party has reached record lows. A recent CNN poll found that just 29% of Americans have a favorable view of Democrats, the lowest number since the survey began in 1992. Recent NBC polling is even more grim for Democrats, finding only 27% of Americans approve of the party.

Some Democrats also concluded that an attempt to force a shutdown to protect their spending priorities could backfire since the president would have more authority to curb government spending and furlough or fire workers he deemed non-essential.

“A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said, explaining his reversal. “It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, state, and country.”

Backlash: Democrats in both chambers publicly slammed Schumer and the Senate Democrats who voted with him. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), for example, said Schumer’s effort “only makes matters worse.” In perhaps the most remarkable example, Schumer’s counterpart in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), all but threw Schumer under the bus, saying, “House Democrats will not be complicit. We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill.”

War and Peace

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Topline: The Trump administration took drastic action over the weekend to advance its foreign policy objectives, attacking Iranian proxies in the Middle East while making peace overtures to Russia to end the ongoing war with Ukraine.

The Middle East: On Saturday, President Trump announced that the United States had launched a strike on Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, killing at least 19. The U.S. military attacked by air and sea, destroying missiles, drones, and missile defense systems.

The objective included opening the shipping lanes in the Red Sea, which the Houthis have obstructed for months. Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea. But the attack also sends a clear signal to Iran (and, quite likely, adversaries around the world), that Trump is willing to take a more aggressive approach than his predecessor.

Trump designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization at the end of his first term, a decision former President Joe Biden reversed. Trump touched on this on Saturday, saying that Biden’s attempt to clear the Red Sea “was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.” The president also issued a warning to Iran, saying: “Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!”

Ukraine: Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week for the second time since Trump took office in January. Ukraine agreed to a temporary ceasefire last week, which will take effect if Putin agrees.

While the ceasefire has not yet been finalized, early talks have reportedly been promising: Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, met with Putin late last week and told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the meeting was “positive” and “solutions-based.”

Space X To The Rescue

(Photo by Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Topline: A SpaceX Crew-10 Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday morning to relieve two American astronauts who have been stuck in orbit for nine months. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched from Florida on Friday.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon capsule into orbit carrying a mixed crew from the United States, Japan, and Russia.

Who’s getting rescued? NASA astronauts Butch Willmore and Suni Williams docked at the ISS on June 6 and were scheduled to spend eight days aboard the space station. They were testing a new space capsule from Boeing, the Starliner. However, the Starliner experienced technical problems, and NASA delayed their return, citing unacceptable risks to the astronauts. Boeing maintained that the craft was safe and could have returned Willmore and Williams to Earth, but NASA had the final call.

During their extended stay on the ISS, Williams broke the record for the most time spent spacewalking by a woman: 62 hours and 6 minutes.

The Politics: According to President Trump, former President Biden effectively abandoned Willmore and Williams. Trump asked Musk, who is SpaceX’s CEO, to rescue them.

“[They] shouldn’t have been up there so long,” Trump said earlier this month. “The most incompetent president in our history has allowed that to happen to you, but this president won’t let it happen. We’re going to get them out.”

NASA has disputed Trump’s characterization, saying that the astronauts weren’t stranded and that nine months on the space station isn’t unprecedented by any stretch, considering astronauts have stayed on the ISS for more than a year. But judging by their reaction to the replacement crew’s arrival, they are definitely ready to leave. They could be back home as early as Tuesday evening.