DHS Barrels Towards Shutdown as Congress Leaves Washington and a CA Bill May Provide Mortgage Relief to LA Fire Victims

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🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

The Department of Homeland Security could shut down this weekend if lawmakers leave Washington for a holiday break without reaching a deal on a funding bill. Meanwhile, inflation cooled in January. New data shows U.S. inflation at 2.4%, just above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In other news, President Trump repealed the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, reversing years of federal climate policy. And in Southern California, a storm is expected to bring moderate rain and potentially dangerous waves to the coast next week. In business, a proposed California bill would extend mortgage relief for homeowners rebuilding after the Palisades and Eaton fires, and Wall Street is selling stocks seen as vulnerable to artificial intelligence disruption. Read more at LATimes.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an L.A. Times Studios podcast.
0:09.2	Hi, I'm Faith Pino from L.A. Times Studios in New York City.
0:13.6	Parts of the federal government are headed for shutdown this weekend.
0:16.9	And I know we say that word a lot, but here's why this shutdown is different.
0:21.5	First of all, it only affects the Department of Homeland Security, which houses several
0:26.0	agencies. Many revolve broadly around security, like immigration and customs enforcement,
0:32.3	TSA, and border protection. But agencies like FEMA, which helps communities prepare and respond to natural disasters,
0:39.3	will also be affected when their funding runs out at midnight Friday. Well, all of them except ICE,
0:46.3	who received roughly $75 billion from President Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act,
0:53.3	which is seven times more than their usual yearly
0:56.6	budget. Now, how did we get here again? Well, after the 43-day shut down last year, lawmakers
1:03.8	approved a series of bills to fund different parts of the government. DHS was the last one on the docket.
1:12.8	But after ICE agents killed two people in Minneapolis last month, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preti, Democrats came to the negotiating
1:18.8	table with a set of demands that would require DHS to enforce new rules on ICE agents. First,
1:25.7	they wanted all agents to wear body cameras, something that received bipartisan support.
1:30.3	But Democrats are also trying to ban ICE agents from wearing face coverings.
1:35.3	And this week, that's been the major sticking point.
1:38.3	The American people are tired. They're tired of seeing these horrific videos. They turn your stomach.
1:45.0	And 90% of Americans say they've seen them.
1:48.0	The videos of Americans beaten, snatched off the streets, treated like they have no rights.
1:55.0	These videos are reminiscent of what you see in dictatorships.
1:59.0	The Americans are tired of masked agents conducting warrantless
	...

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