The Senate advanced two contested nominations and one contentious bill this week, while two Marine task forces steamed toward the Persian Gulf and artificial intelligence quietly emptied the shelves at your local electronics store.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin cleared the Senate Homeland Security Committee 8-7 on Thursday, with Democrat John Fetterman providing the deciding vote. Committee chairman Rand Paul voted no. Mullin’s full Senate confirmation vote is expected early next week. DHS has operated without funding since February 13, with more than 100,000 employees furloughed or unpaid.
The SAVE America Act reached the Senate floor 51-48 after Majority Leader Thune used a procedural maneuver to open debate. Not one Democrat crossed over. The Republican conference immediately fractured — Mike Lee threatened primary challengers against members who won’t back a talking filibuster, while Thom Tillis warned that tactic hands Chuck Schumer control of the floor for the rest of the year. Mail-in voting restrictions are dividing Republicans whose own states depend on absentee ballots.
President Trump declared Operation Epic Fury nearly won Friday, citing five objectives he says the military has largely achieved. The Pentagon simultaneously confirmed the USS Boxer left San Diego on March 18 carrying 2,500 Marines, joining the USS Tripoli already transiting from Japan. Once combined, the two groups put roughly 5,000 ground-combat Marines in the CENTCOM theater. Congress has not authorized the war. The Pentagon is asking for $200 billion to pay for it. Oil settled at $112 a barrel Friday.
The Mobile Voting Project is lobbying five state legislatures — including Colorado — for smartphone voting legislation, without disclosing that its CEO ran Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign or that its technology has failed independent security review twice. Adams County is reportedly set to deploy the system.
Meanwhile, AI data centers locked up the entire 2026 high-end memory supply before January. Conventional DRAM prices are projected to climb 55 to 60 percent in Q1 alone. Relief isn’t coming until 2027 at the earliest.
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