Friday morning news: February 13, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

DHS funding » The federal government could shut down tonight for the third time in just four and half months.

Funding will expire at midnight for the Department of Homeland Security if Republicans and Democrats don’t strike a deal before then.

Senate Democrats shot down a funding bill Thursday aimed at funding DHS.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER:  This vote today asked a simple question, will you reign in ICE's abuses, or will you vote to extend the chaos? Republicans chose chaos and the Democrats, we refused.

Democrats are withholding funding as they demand changes to immigration enforcement. But GOP Majority John Thune says the bill included much of what Democrats had asked for.

THUNE:  It was a bipartisan bill, had reforms in it. It had body cameras in it. It had deescalation, uh, training in it. It had more oversight of ICE activities in it. These were reforms that the Democrats had requested, agreed to, and then walked away from.

Republicans say they're on board with some changes, but will not agree to a blank check, and argue that some of the demands would endanger federal agents. One such example, they say, is barring ICE agents from wearing masks. They argue that would open them to personal targeting and violent attacks.

ICE threatener arrested » Meantime, authorities have arrested an 18 year old man in Oregon prosecutors allege plotted to attack and kill ICE agents in Portland.

Homeland Security officials said Rayden Coleman had a written plan they described as a manifesto, which included the use of Molotov cocktails and a semi-automatic rifle.

Police took him into custody last week during a traffic stop, after officers said they found materials for making Molotov cocktails in his car.

SAVE Act passage » The House of Representatives passed a bill this week aimed at verifying that voters in federal elections are eligible to vote. But it faces long odds in the Senate. WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more from Washington:

HARRISON WATTERS: Democrats in the upper chamber say they will not help to meet the 60 vote threshold needed to bring the SAVE Act to the floor for a full vote.

And a handful of Republicans are joining them.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska says she plans to vote “no,” fearing the bill will scramble preparations for this year’s midterm elections.

The SAVE Act would require states to launch systems to verify citizenship of voters before November, though requiring photo ID at polling locations would not apply until next year.

Utah Senator Mike Lee is pushing for a rule change to end the 60 vote threshold to bring the bill up for a vote. But Senate leaders so far are wary of changing the filibuster rule.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters, in Washington.

EPA rules rollback » President Trump has announced what he called the—quote “single largest deregulatory action in American history.”

He said that under a process just completed by the EPA:

TRUMP:  We are officially terminating the so-called "endangerment finding," a disastrous Obama era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry.

The EPA rescinded the 2009 finding that classified greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and welfare. That finding had allowed the federal government to regulate carbon dioxide and other emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Trump asserts that that finding drove up prices for American consumers, esepcially with regard to car prices.

Environmental groups call the Trump administration's move reckless, saying it removes the legal basis for many crucial climate rules, and opponents have vowed to challenge the change in court.

Winding down immigration ops in Minnesota » Border czar Tom Homan says the massive immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota is winding down.

He announced that thousands of federal agents are being pulled back from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. But he also made clear:

HOMAN:    Enforcement of Title eight is not going to end. If you're in this country, illegally, you're not off the table. And I think we're proving that if you look at the data.

Homan added that Operation Metro Surge was successful in getting many criminals off the streets.

HOMAN:  As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals.

He said that was thanks, in part, to more cooperation from Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and local authorities.

But Gov. Walz, for his part, disputes that. He insists nothing has changed about the way his state addresses immigration.

WALZ:  My take was they knew they needed to get out of here, but in very Trumpian fashion, they needed to save face.

The surge of federal immigration agents drew fierce opposition from Democrats in Minnesota, along with fiery protests. Two people were killed in incidents with federal agents.

Ukraine latest » The head of NATO says he is confident that the vital flow of U.S. equipment to Ukraine will continue.

He also credited the United States for jump-starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte:

RUTTE: President Trump broke the deadlock in the peace negotiations with President Putin in February last year. That was crucial. And since then, he has been consistently driving the peace process through Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are eyeing the next round of those peace talks.

ZELENSKYY: [In Ukrainian]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is ready to resume negotiations, but he is still waiting for Russian negotiators to commit.

PESKOV: [In Russian]

And Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, said Russia hopes to participate, but is waiting to nail down the location of the next round of talks.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, books that shaped WordPlay creator George Grant.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.