Senate leaders scramble to save bipartisan deal and avoid a partial shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders were scrambling on Friday to save a bipartisan spending deal and prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend as Democrats demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country.

Democrats struck a rare deal with President Donald Trump to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broad government spending bill and provide money for that agency for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That agreement came after irate Democratsthreatened to block the entire spending bill and trigger a shutdown in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.

But passage of the package was delayed late Thursday as Senate leaders worked to win support.

“Republicans and Democrats have come together to get the vast majority of the government funded until September,” Trump said in a social media post Thursday evening. He encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.”

Leaving the Capitol just before midnight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there were “snags on both sides” as he and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York tried to work through any objections.

“Hopefully people will be of the spirit to try and get this done" on Friday, when the Senate was scheduled to reconvene in the late morning.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he was one of the objecting senators. He said ICE agents were being treated unfairly and he opposed House language repealing a new law that gives senators the ability to sue the government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is accessed without their knowledge.

Even if the Senate passes the funding measure, it would need House approval before becoming law. The House is not expected to return until Monday, raising the possibility of at least a temporary partial shutdown over the weekend.

The Trump administration is expected to issue guidance to federal agencies on how to proceed.

The unusual bipartisan talks between Trump and Schumer, his frequent adversary, came after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minnesota last weekend and calls by senators in both parties for a full investigation. Schumer called it “a moment of truth.”

“What ICE is doing, outside the law, is state-sanctioned thuggery and it must stop,” Schumer said. “Congress has the authority — and the moral obligation — to act.”

The standoff has threatened to plunge the country into another shutdown, just two months after Democrats blocked a spending bill over expiring federal health care subsidies. That dispute closed the government for 43 days as Republicans refused to negotiate.

That shutdown ended when a small group of moderate Democrats broke away to strike a deal with Republicans. But Democrats are more unified this time after the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents.

Republicans were more willing to make a deal, as well. Several said that after those shootings, they were open to new restrictions.

Democrats have laid out several demands, asking the White House to “end roving patrols” in cities and coordinate with local law enforcement on immigration arrests, including requiring tighter rules for warrants.

They also want an enforceable code of conduct so agents are held accountable when they violate rules. Schumer said agents should be required to have “masks off, body cameras on” and carry proper identification, as is common practice in most law enforcement agencies.

Tom Homan, the president’s border czar, said Thursday in Minneapolis that federal immigration officials are developing a plan to reduce the number of agents in the state, but that would depend on cooperation from state authorities.

If the deal moves forward, negotiations down the road on a final agreement on the DHS bill are likely to be difficult.

Democrats want Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown to end. “If the Trump administration resists reforms, we shut down the agency,” said Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Republicans are unlikely to agree to all of the Democrats' demands.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, said he is opposed to requiring immigration enforcement officers to show their faces, even as he blamed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for decisions that he said are “tarnishing” the agency’s reputation.

“You know, there’s a lot of vicious people out there, and they’ll take a picture of your face, and the next thing you know, your children or your wife or your husband are being threatened at home,” Tillis said.

Graham said some of the Democratic proposals “make sense,” such as better training and body cameras. Still, he said he was putting his Senate colleagues “on notice” that if Democrats try to make changes to the funding bill, he would insist on new language preventing local governments from resisting the administration’s immigration policies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Associated Press on Thursday that he had been “vehemently opposed” to breaking up the funding package, but “if it is broken up, we will have to move it as quickly as possible. We can’t have the government shut down.”

At a Kennedy Center evening premiere of a movie about first lady Melania Trump, Johnson said he might have some “tough decisions” to make about when to bring the House back to Washington to approve the bills separated by the Senate, if they pass.

House Republicans have said they do not want any changes to their bill.

“The package will not come back through the House without funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus wrote Trump.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Joey Cappelletti, Seung Min Kim, Michelle L. Price and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

The Capitol is seen from the Russell Senate Office Building as lawmakers argue on whether to move forward with the spending legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Donald Trump gestures before the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

The Capitol is seen from the Russell Senate Office Building as lawmakers argue on whether to move forward with the spending legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European economy recorded modest growth at the end of last year, pushing past turmoil over higher U.S. tariffs. Now the economy faces another hurdle: a stronger euro against the dollar that could weigh on exports.

Growth in the 21 countries that use the shared euro currency came in at 0.3% for the last three months of 2025, matching the figure from the third quarter, the EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Friday. Growth compared with the fourth quarter of 2024 was 1.3%.

Moderate growth has defied recession fears from earlier in the year, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs to levels that could have devastated trade. Talks settled on a 15% cap on U.S. tariffs, or import taxes, on goods from the European Union. The higher tax isn’t great for business — but the certainty resulting from the deal let companies at least go ahead and plan.

That assurance was dented after the quarter ended when Trump on Jan. 17 threatened EU member countries with higher tariffs for supporting Greenland against his calls for a U.S. takeover. Trump later withdrew the threat.

European services businesses — a broad category ranging from hairdressers to medical treatment — have shown moderate growth according to the S&P Global survey of purchasing managers. Exports have tanked and the industry continues to lag but showed improvement toward the end of 2025. Lower inflation of 1.9% in December — after a painful spike in 2022-2023 — and rising wages have left consumers with more purchasing power and willingness to spend.

The latest threat is the dollar’s steep fall against the euro. It is at its weakest for 4 1/2 years, which makes European exports less competitive on price in a key foreign market.

The dollar has weakened due to fears that Trump’s tariffs will slow growth and that his attacks on U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will undermine the U.S. central bank’s role as an inflation fighter and protector of the dollar’s worth. The euro has risen 14.4% against the dollar in the past 12 months and traded at $1.19 on Friday.

Analysts are saying that if the dollar’s weakness against the euro continues, the European Central Bank may cut interest rates later this year to stimulate growth. The ECB holds a rate-setting meeting on Thursday but is not expected to change rates then.

Germany showed improved growth at 0.3% in the quarter, its best quarterly performance in three years, but still faces serious short- and long-term headwinds. The eurozone’s largest economy is still waiting for infrastructure and defense spending set in motion by Chancellor Friedrich Merz to show its effects through increased growth. Germany grew 0.2% last year, its first year of growth after two years of declining output. The government on Wednesday cut its growth outlook for this year to 1% from 1.3% previously.

Germany has struggled with a raft of troubles: higher energy prices after the loss of Russian natural gas due to the war against Ukraine, a shortage of skilled labor, increasing Chinese competition in key export sectors such as autos and industrial machinery, years of underinvestment in growth-promoting infrastructure, and too much red tape.

Growth for the broader 27-country European Union also came in at 0.3% for the fourth quarter of 2025 and 1.4% compared with the year-earlier quarter. Not all EU members have moved to join the euro, which gained its 21st member in January when Bulgaria joined.

FILE -Container ships lie in the harbor of Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Containers are piled up in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)