The Pentagon today asked the White House for $200 billion to continue a war that neither of them has the constitutional authority to declare.
The Constitution assigns only Congress the power to declare war. Three weeks into bombing Iran, they’ve abandoned it for the third time. Wednesday’s war powers resolution failed 53-47 after Republicans voted en masse to kill it. The official who oversees all 18 American intelligence agencies then told senators that only the president could determine whether Iran was an imminent threat before the attack. Her own counterterrorism chief resigned the day before, saying it was not.
The Treasury Department confirmed Wednesday that the national debt crossed $39 trillion, the same day the Pentagon asked for the money to keep bombing the third country we’ve attacked since December. Call your senators and remind them they swore an oath to the document that puts war authority in their hands. Demand they honor it.
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Federal judge ejects prosecutor from courtroom and orders three leaders of New Jersey's U.S. Attorney's Office to testify over what he calls a destroyed reputation.
Today’s GovBrief News
Nebraska's largest wildfires in state history burn more than 800,000 acres across four fires as Gov. Pillen seeks a federal disaster declaration and ranchers scramble to relocate livestock.
Source: Nebraska Public Media
March 18, 2026
Iran attacks gas facilities across Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia after Israel hits the world's largest gas field, pushing oil above $110 as both sides turn energy infrastructure into a weapon on day 20.
Source: The Associated Press
March 18, 2026
Democrats walk out of Epstein briefing after Oversight Chairman Comer tells a congresswoman she was "bitching," and AG Bondi declines to confirm she will testify under oath next month.
Source: CNN
March 18, 2026
Fed holds rates steady for the second straight meeting as Powell says the war's economic impact is "too soon to know," while signaling he will stay on the board until the DOJ investigation against him is resolved.
Source: CNBC
March 18, 2026
Trump waives the 106-year-old Jones Act and eases Venezuela oil sanctions on the same day as the administration scrambles to contain a 27% gas price surge three weeks into the Iran war.
Source: UPI
March 18, 2026
Pentagon asks the White House to approve a $200 billion war funding request for Congress after spending $11.3 billion in the first six days of the Iran conflict.
Source: The Independent
March 18, 2026
Trump attends his second dignified transfer since the war began as the remains of six airmen killed in an Iraq plane crash return to Dover, bringing the U.S. death toll to at least 13 with 200 wounded.
Source: The Hill
March 18, 2026
DNI Gabbard tells senators only Trump can determine whether Iran was an "imminent" threat, one day after her own NCTC director resigned saying it was not.
Source: Politico
March 18, 2026
Bondi appoints Brad Schimel as First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee after federal judges decline to make him permanent, bypassing Senate confirmation in the latest clash over who controls prosecutor appointments.
Source: WISN Milwaukee
March 18, 2026
FBI Director Patel confirms the agency is buying commercially available data that can track people's movements, the first acknowledgment since the bureau said it stopped the practice in 2023.
Source: Politico
March 18, 2026
Bronx high school student jailed by ICE at a court hearing last May is released after nearly 10 months in a Pennsylvania prison, with his attorneys saying he was in the country legally.
Source: WABC New York
March 18, 2026
Senate Homeland Security chairman Rand Paul says he will vote against Trump's DHS nominee Markwayne Mullin after a combative hearing in which the FBI found no record of foreign travel Mullin has long claimed was classified.
Source: NBC News
March 18, 2026
GOP senators defeat a third war powers resolution on Iran 53-47 as Democrats demand public testimony from Rubio and Hegseth before they stop forcing votes on the unauthorized war.
Source: CBS News
March 18, 2026
FAA requires radar separation between planes and helicopters near airports, ending reliance on visual "see and avoid" after the 2025 Reagan National crash that killed 67 people.
Source: USA Today
March 18, 2026
Trump administration installs a statue of Declaration signer Caesar Rodney, who enslaved 200 people, in downtown D.C. after it was removed from Delaware during the 2020 racial justice protests.
Source: Reuters
March 18, 2026
Transportation lobbyists who never gave to prior candidates are donating thousands to Transportation Secretary Duffy's 26-year-old son-in-law's congressional campaign in Wisconsin, ProPublica finds.
Source: ProPublica
March 18, 2026
Fired member of the board that hears federal workers' appeals asks the Supreme Court to rule the president cannot remove officials whose only job is deciding cases.
Source: Government Executive
March 18, 2026