Axios Hill Leaders

January 29, 2026
Happy Wednesday! Tonight's edition is 791 words, 3 minutes.
- šØ What Dems want
- š¬ Thune's hard choices
- ā« One sobering chart
Scoop: House Democrats have been privately advised by their leadership not to travel to Minnesota in support of anti-ICE protesters there, Andrew Solender reports.
- The advisory from the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged members to remain in their districts, saying, "Visiting the state right now, although well intentioned, puts a burden on local resources and does not support our colleagues, the city and state government ... and most importantly the people of Minneapolis."
1 big thing: šØ What Dems want
"We want masks off, body cameras on," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters today.
Why it matters: Democrats are dug in for a shutdown without changes to the Department of Homeland Security. Their demands list ā out today ā mirrors what we told you to expect earlier this week:
- Body cameras must be worn.
- ICE agents can't wear masks in the field.
- ICE's "roving patrols" will be off-limits, and warrants will have tighter rules.
The big picture: Democrats are still "working through the details" on restricting patrols and rules on warrants, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) told us.
- Depending on the details, these changes could be cosmetic at best ā or dramatically cut arrest numbers for ICE and their fellow immigration agents.
Behind the scenes: Democrats are gripped by their fears that President Trump may eventually invoke the Insurrection Act ā which would allow him to deploy the U.S. military against citizens on U.S. soil ā to crack down on protests across the country.
- Led by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a working group of over a dozen Senate Democrats has been meeting for months to prepare for that possibility, a source told Axios.
- The group, which has included participation from Schumer's office, is preparing a response that would include coordinated messaging, floor action in the Senate and support for legal efforts.
- Dems "must not be caught flat-footed if [Trump] takes such an extreme step to deploy troops to police our streets," Schiff said in a statement.
The bottom line: Democrats have also rejected overtures to cut a deal that secures their desired DHS changes via executive action.
- To Democrats, given their lack of trust in the White House, that approach is a nonstarter.
ā Stephen Neukam and Brittany Gibson
2. š¬ Thune's hard choices
"Optionality" is the watchword for Senate Majority Leader John Thune as he looks to avoid a government shutdown by the deadline at the end of the week.
Why it matters: The South Dakota Republican faces both procedural and policy roadblocks that he doesn't have the option of avoiding.
- On the procedural front, Thune needs a time agreement from Schumer to pass anything before Friday night's deadline. Schumer doesn't appear in a hurry to give him one.
- Any Senate compromise needs to be approved by the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson's margins are as thin as ever.
- A package that decouples DHS funding from the other five bills is likely to meet a quick death in the House Rules committee. Or in Thune's words: "Who knows what happens over there."
Between the lines: Thune's members are already signaling that one of the Democrats' key demands ā no masks for ICE agents ā is a bridge too far.
- "The thing about the mask, I really do disagree," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
- "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."
- "If the ICE agents and the Border Patrol agents weren't being doxxed and weren't being harassed and didn't have their families under attack, they'd be happy not to wear masks," Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said regarding Democrats' proposed mask ban.
The bottom line: Thune is outsourcing the negotiations to the White House. "If there are things that the Democrats want that the administration can agree with them about, then let's do that," he said.
- But a planned meeting between Trump officials and a handful of Democrats who voted for the March appropriations package was canceled.
ā Hans Nichols and Stef Kight
3. ā« One sobering chart


Capitol Police opened 14,938 cases into "concerning statements, behaviors and communications" directed at congressional offices and family members in 2025.
- That's up nearly 60% from 2024.
Driving the news: The new stat dropped just hours after an attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) at a town hall yesterday evening, in which a man sprayed her with an unknown liquid from a syringe.
- Omar wasn't even the only one attacked in the past week: Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) got punched in the face at the Sundance Film Festival just days earlier.
ā Andrew Solender
This newsletter was edited by Justin Green and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich.
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