Monday morning news: March 30, 2026

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Iran: More U.S. troops head to the Middle East » More than 2,500 Marines have arrived in the Middle East as part of the month-long U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran known as Operation Epic Fury. And as U.S. attacks on Iranian infrastructure continue, the Pentagon is reportedly weighing sending 10,000 more troops to the Middle East.

Arkansas Republican Congressman Rick Crawford tells Fox News sending the additional Marines is a good move.

CRAWFORD: What this does is provide the president with more options. And it should send a pretty clear message to the Iranians that this is not the time to be mocking and, and tempting fate.

Meantime, Iran’s parliament speaker says his country is waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground “to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.”

President Trump has previously said he does not intend to send in ground forces, though he hasn’t ruled it out.

Washington Democratic Congressman Adam Smith is concerned Epic Fury isn’t achieving its objectives.

SMITH: We’ve paid an enormous cost to basically somewhat reduce the threat from Iran, not to eliminate it.

A Washington Post report Sunday tells another story, quoting experts who say Epic Fury has significantly damaged Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities.

More than 3,000 people have died in the conflict. This weekend, roughly a dozen American troops were hurt when Iran struck a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan says it will be hosting U.S.-Iran peace talks this week.

U.S. gas prices up more than a dollar over one month » One major impact here in the U.S. of the conflict in the Middle East: skyrocketing prices at the pump.

The average price of a gallon of gas is up more than a dollar from where it was before Epic Fury, and it’s still rising. 

Analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey:

LUNDBERG: Gasoline prices are up another 46 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. The new average is $4.06 per gallon.

If oil prices don’t stabilize, Lundberg says the cost of gas could shoot up to over $5 dollars a gallon, though she adds moves like easing oil sanctions on Russia and Venezuela could help the U.S. avoid that.

Gas prices are 90 cents a gallon higher right now than they were a year ago.

TSA workers finally getting paid this week » Transportation Security Administration -TSA- workers will finally be getting paid this week, despite the ongoing logjam in Congress that’s been holding up their paychecks for a month and a half.

President Trump issued an executive action Friday giving TSA workers emergency pay. That could mean TSA workers will start receiving back pay as soon as today.

TSA Officer Carlos Rodriguez:

RODRIGUEZ: People still need gas, people still need to buy lunch, people's families still have needs. And the financial situation for the workers in some of these airports is, is really bad.

Hundreds of TSA workers have quit and thousands have not shown up for work in recent weeks, leading to hours-long security lines at airports across the country. There are hopes that restarting pay could alleviate that, but large airports are still asking flyers to arrive several hours early.

TSA employees have been working without pay since Valentine’s Day, as Democrats in Congress refuse to fund TSA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats want reforms to another DHS agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, before they’ll agree to fund DHS. In January, two U.S. citizens died in confrontations with ICE, sparking the political standoff.

DHS funding battle still at an impasse » Meantime, it doesn’t look like any break in the DHS funding impasse is coming soon.

House Republicans passed a bill Friday that would fund DHS for 60 days, but Senate Democrats say it’s dead on arrival.

Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut tells CBS’s Face the Nation his party’s not backing down from its position.

HIMES: The vast majority of Americans look at the way ICE behaved and they say "that is not okay," and that's our position...we want ICE to act like the police force that they are, and that fight is not won yet.

President Trump says the Republican-controlled Senate should end the procedural move known as the filibuster in order to get DHS funding and other bills through.

The filibuster requires 60 votes for any legislation to proceed, giving the minority party the ability to frequently block bills backed by the majority. 

Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson tells Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures he agrees, it’s time for the filibuster to go.

JOHNSON: How much [more] broken can the United States Senate get? It’s always been described as the saucer beneath the cup of tea to cool the passions. I’m describing it as, no, it’s more like the plaque in the arteries that are causing a heart attack.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has suggested there aren’t enough votes to end the filibuster.

‘No Kings’ protests » Another round of so-called ‘No Kings’ protests against the Trump Administration drew large crowds across the U.S. this weekend, and there was some violence.

In L.A., rioters threw bottles, rocks, and pieces of cement blocks, hitting and hurting two DHS officers. The LAPD used tear gas and pepper spray on people in the crowd who wouldn’t disperse, and made 75 arrests.

Protests in other cities were peaceful, including the flagship demonstration in Minneapolis, home of all the recent unrest. 

Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was among the speakers.

OMAR: In the United States of America, we pledge allegiance to the Constitution and the flag, not to a person or a king.

Other speakers included left-wingers like Bruce Springsteen, Bernie Sanders, and Joan Baez. 

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller dismissed the protesters, calling them “elderly hippies.”

Plane intercepted near Trump in Florida » A private aircraft got too close for comfort to President Trump and his plane Sunday afternoon, leading to a short-lived security scare in Palm Beach, Florida.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, dispatched F-16 fighter jets to get the pilot out of the no-fly zone. The F-16s had to fire off some flares to get that pilot’s attention.

There was a brief ground stop for all flights at Palm Beach International Airport, where Air Force One was parked, but the situation was resolved without incident and all operations were quickly back to normal. 

The Secret Service says the president was never in any danger.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Does the phrase ‘Election Day’ have any practical meaning anymore? We’ll explore, in today’s Legal Docket. And later: the legacy of Hank Aaron and his record-breaking home run, through the eyes of his last surviving sibling.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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