Monique Billings and Rae Burrell were added Thursday to the U.S. women's basketball roster for the FIBA World Cup qualifier next week in Puerto Rico.
The pair will replace Aliyah Boston and Sonia Citron, who are no longer able to compete in the tournament that will take place in San Juan. Boston missed the Unrivaled playoffs with what was described as a right lower extremity injury. Citron missed the end of the regular season of Unrivaled with the same injury designation as Boston.
Billings was part of the 2017 USA under-23 national team that was undefeated at the Four Nations Tournament. Burrell will be making her U.S. competitive debut.
They'll join a talented group led by young stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers. The Americans also will have 2024 Olympic gold medalists Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard won the 3x3 bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Games. Washington Mystics rookie Kiki Iriafen rounds out the roster.
U.S. Olympic coach Kara Lawson will lead the team in San Juan for the first part of the tournament before returning to Duke to prepare the Blue Devils for the NCAA Tournament. She'll be assisted by Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbets and Stephanie White. The trio were court coaches at that U.S. training camp in December.
The U.S. will face Senegal, Puerto Rico, Italy, New Zealand and Spain in the tournament. The Americans have already qualified for the World Cup in Berlin from Sept. 4-13.
The Americans are looking for a fifth consecutive World Cup championship.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Vinyl BC wing Rae Burrell (12) defends Phantom BC guard Kelsey Plum (10) during the second half of a semifinal in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are invoking the war in Iran and the prospect of retaliatory terrorist attacks as they tee up votes Thursday on a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
The House already approved a DHS spending bill in January, but it faltered in the Senate as Democrats insisted on changes to immigration enforcement operations following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis. As a result, funding for the department lapsed on Feb. 14.
Republicans are calling on Democrats to reconsider their vote in the wake of the conflict in Iran. Both the House and the Senate are expected to hold votes on the matter.
“The military action in Iran makes it all more urgent and crucial to have a fully funded, fully staffed DHS across all its departments,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
It did not appear the GOP's strategy had changed the position of Democratic lawmakers, though. They said they are prepared to fund most of the agencies at the department, just not Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.
“It's the same lousy, rotten bill that does not put any guardrails or constraints on ICE or CBP after federal agents shot American citizens in the street,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Following the longest federal shutdown in the country’s history last year, Congress has completed work on 11 of this year’s 12 appropriations bills. Only the bill for Homeland Security remains outstanding.
Republicans said the timing couldn't be worse for a Homeland Security shutdown. While a large majority of the department's employees are considered essential and continue to work, many will not receive a full paycheck this week.
Republicans said the prospect of an increase in unscheduled absences by the Transportation Security Administration's agents and screeners could lead to longer wait times at the nation's airports. Meanwhile, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has canceled various assessments to determine vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure. And training for first responders conducted through the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been canceled.
“Can we not understand America is under siege, now likely to be attacked because radical Islam is under siege, and they’re going to hit back and we’re sitting here looking at each other and not funding DHS?" Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said during a hearing Tuesday featuring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Democrats are seeking several changes at the department include prohibiting ICE enforcement operations at sensitive locations like schools and churches, allowing independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, requiring warrants to be signed by judges before federal agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent, and requiring agents to wear identification and remove their masks.
Republicans note that the bill does include a bipartisan provision directing more resources for de-escalation training and $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras.
The White House and congressional Democrats don't appear to have made significant progress in recent weeks resolving their differences after trading several offers.
“Look, we're still far apart, but we're negotiating and exchanging paper back and forth,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the Republican chairwoman of a panel that oversees homeland security funding, said she’s been talking to Democrats about a possible pathway forward but prospects are unclear.
She and other Republicans are citing last weekend's mass shooting in Austin, Texas, as an example of the dangerous threat environment that's facing Americans following the attack on Iran.
“I think that it is incredibly irresponsible to not fund the agency that is supposed to keep us safe here at home,” Britt said.
Democrats said they are ready to fully fund all the agencies within the department except for ICE and CBP.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, authored a proposal to do that, but it was blocked from consideration. She said Republican leadership was using President Donald Trump's “aimless, costly and illegal war with Iran to force through more funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection without any of the substantial changes that the vast majority of Americans believe those agencies need."
“It is a cynical effort, and it is one that will fail," DeLauro said.
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses before taking questions at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. speaks as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
