Politics and views in the United States

House Republicans push back against breaking up DHS funding, as Senate Republicans continue push for the SAVE Act. A large minority of Americans support Christian nationalism, a survey has found.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Where we disagree, let's at least just do status quo funding on things like ICE to ensure that our folks are getting paid, not only in ICE, but cybersecurity, the Coast Guard, the entire Department of Homeland Security.

Funding the whole darn thing is the right way to move forward.

New York Republican Congressman Nick Lallota tells CBS he's against separating the budget for immigration enforcement from that of FEMA and TSA.

The budget for the Department of Homeland Security has been stalled for more than a month, with Democrats demanding reforms to ICE and Border Patrol policing in the wake of the killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good.

After meeting with Senate Republicans, President Donald Trump expressed openness to passing the DHS budget piecemeal in spite of resistance from House Republicans.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is slamming Trump for voting by mail in a Florida special election, even as the president tries to force Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which would ban mail-in ballots.

For years, Donald Trump has been railing against voting by mail, only to turn around and vote by mail.

That's king-like behavior.

Rules for me, but not for thee.

That's his position.

The Democrat flipped that House seat.

As votes are starting to come in, Virginia Democrats are worrying about a redistricting referendum.

Early totals in some rural conservative areas are running as much as three times higher than Democratic strongholds in northern Virginia.

A new Reuters poll finds Trump's approval ratings fall into 36 percent as gas costs rise due to the Iran war.

A separate survey has found nearly a third of Americans align or sympathize with Christian nationalism.

For the last three years, the poll has found a steady proportion supporting the idea that America was founded by and for Christians.

Melissa Deckman with the Public Religion Research Institute says it often correlates to anti-democratic beliefs.

At about 8 in 10, Christian Nationalists adherents also score high or very high on a right-wing authoritarianism scale.

So I think it's important at a time when we have to fight for democratic values in our country.

Meanwhile, more than 3,000 No Kings rallies are scheduled across the country for this weekend.

Beth Osborne with Indivisible Las Vegas says there will be 10 in Nevada alone.

If we don't do something and come together, say, absolutely, no more, we're not going to do this, then we will continue to fall into autocracy, not democracy.

In Missouri, the state Supreme Court has approved new congressional maps drawn by Republican state lawmakers.

The justices ruled the legislature did not violate the state constitution when redrawing districts mid-decade, including breaking a Democratic-leaning Kansas City seat in two.

The Justice Department is withdrawing a lawsuit against the Oklahoma election officials seeking access to unredacted voter files.

The move could signal a deal was reached.

After a recount, the Republican leader of North Carolina's state senate is conceding he lost his primary to a right-wing county sheriff.

In spite of an endorsement from Trump, state senator Phil Berger lost by 23 votes.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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