March 18, 2026
Day 31 Of The Democrat's Partial Shutdown Of The Federal Government And Airlines Are On The Brink, Saint Patrick's Day, And More
By S.E. Gunn, PhD - All News Pipeline
On March 17, 2026 we have reached Day 31 of the Democrat's partial shutdown of the government. Over 100,000 employees of DHS will not receive a paycheck on Friday, March 20. And this is the 3rd time in 6 months that these employees will be missing yet another paycheck because Congressional Democrats decided to not vote for the spending bill they worked to craft: HR 7147 - A bill making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026 which requires a 3/5 majority to pass. The latest (3rd) vote on the Cloture on the Motion to Proceed (which also requires a 3/5 majority) was taken March 12, 2026 was 51 Yea (50 Republicans & 1 Democrat), 46 Nay (1 Republican, 43 Democrats, & 2 Independents), and 3 Not Voting (2 Republican & 1 Democrat). So the bill to approve voting on the actual bill did not pass and DHS remains unfunded.
While Thune says he will bring the SAVE America Act (which is different from the previously reported versions of the SAVE Act, aka HR22 or S128 or HR7296 in my ANP Articles of February 3, 2026, February 4, 2026, and February 11, 2026) to a Cloture vote some time this week (the House passed the SAVE America Act quite some time ago and passed it on to the Senate), he does not expect it to pass. The senate began their "marathon" debate session over the SAVE America Act March 17, 2026 (see video below).
On the other hand, the Senate did vote to pass HR6644 - A bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes. Now we wait to see if President Trump will "stick to his guns" (discussed in my March 10, 2026 ANP Article) and not sign any new bills into law or if he will sign this one because he wants to make housing affordable.
On March 17, 2026, the White House published the article Airline CEOs Demand “Immediate” Action as Democrats’ DHS Shutdown Pushes Air Travel to the Brink writing that Chief Executives of American airlines, United airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Air and others are warning about the strain being put upon the Airlines during this Democrat-forced partial shutdown of the Federal government over the funding of DHS (which affects TSA & Immigration and Customs enforcement which affects airports and airlines and all those who work in the airline industry). To this end, the CEOs wrote a letter to Congress:
The propaganda news is reporting on long lines as TSA officers quit or call in sick because they are not being paid (again). But, they are not mentioning how the refusal of Democrats to fund DHS is affecting Immigration and Customs at these airline ports of entry as well. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in the airline industry through this week of extra-heavy airline travel by spring breakers. If DHS is not funded come summer, I suspect things will be 5 to 10 times worse (unless the American public gets wise and cancels their summer airline plans in which case, many airlines will probably go out of business). Leave it to the Democrats to destroy our Nation from within. We MUST get the SAVE America Act passed in order for the true will of the American people to be felt/heard.
On March 17, 2026, the White House published the statement Presidential Message on Saint Patrick’s Day and Irish American Heritage Month celebrating both Americans of Irish descent as well as Saint Patrick, an immortal icon of faith, freedom, and fortitude as well as the patron Saint of Ireland. The White House writes:
Born in the fourth century, Saint Patrick spent his life traversing the rugged frontiers of medieval Ireland to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Celtic people. In the face of relentless persecution, imprisonment, and even assassination attempts, he ventured into unknown lands and hostile territory to proclaim the truth, fearlessly obeying Christ’s command to “make disciples of all nations.” Tradition holds that, during 40 days of prayer and fasting on a mountaintop, he banished all serpents and demons off of the Emerald Isle and taught the mystery of the Holy Trinity to pagans using the three-leaved shamrock, setting untold hearts on fire for Christ.
To this day, Saint Patrick lives on in our country and around the world as a heroic Christian witness, a testament to the power of prayer, and a timeless exemplar of the strength of the Irish people. In the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Irish natives brought his faith and missionary spirit across the Atlantic and onto American shores. Inspired by his example, countless churches, hospitals, schools, and charities in the United States bear his name, including the majestic Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. And every March, in his honor, hundreds of thousands of Americans flood our biggest cities and towns in endless seas of green in an epic celebration of Irish heritage.
As we celebrate 250 glorious years of American independence, we also pay tribute to the distinct role of Irish Americans in our national journey. Beginning with the first shots of the Revolutionary War at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, droves of Ireland-born soldiers joined the Patriots to secure our independence and defend our liberty on the field of battle, with popular legend stating that Sons of Ireland comprised as much as half of the Continental Army. From the gallant leadership of John Barry and the courage of Hercules Mulligan to the valor of President Andrew Jackson and the tenacity of Audie Murphy, Americans with Irish roots have fortified our freedom, invigorated our culture, and immeasurably elevated our traditions and way of life toward the true, the good, and the beautiful.
This Saint Patrick’s Day and throughout Irish American Heritage Month, we send our best wishes to every American celebrating Ireland’s patron Saint. We salute the generations of Irish American heroes who have kept his legacy alive and brought our Nation to incredible new heights. Above all, we vow to keep our deep friendship with the Republic of Ireland and the whole island strong, vibrant, and flourishing for many years to come. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
President Trump's Presidential Actions published in the Federal Register (FR) to date:
- 244 Executive Orders
- 133 Proclamations
- 111 Presidential Orders, Memoranda, Determinations, Permits, and Notices
On March 17, 2026, the FR published Proclamation 11017 Women's History Month, 2026 signed March 12, 2026 (discussed in my March 13, 2026 ANP Article).
LAWFARE lawsuit tracker to date:
- 233 active cases
- 22 suits filed by the Trump Administration
- 17 SCOTUS stays or motions to vacate of lower court orders
- 1 SCOTUS affirmation of lower court order
- 8 suits where judges ruled for the federal government
- 9 suits where judges ruled against the federal government
- 6 criminal prosecutions by the DOJ:
- Representative McIver,
- former FBI Director James Comey, dismissed without prejudice 11/24/2025,
- former National Security Advisor John Bolton,
- (illegal alien) Kilmar Abrego Garcia, ordered released 12/11/2025;
- New York AG Letitia A James, dismissed without prejudice 11/24/2025,
- Congressional candidate Katherine Abughazaleh
In the lawsuit Kelly v. Hegseth docket # 26-5070 Appeal of 1:26-cv-00081 (discussed in my January 14, 2026 and February 13, 2026 ANP Articles) filed in Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on February 27, 2026 about Investigation of Mark Kelly. The government appealed Judge Leon's order granting a preliminary injunction in the civil suit filed by Senator Kelly on First Amendment grounds.
In the lawsuit Neguse v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement docket # 1:25-cv-02463 (discussed in my January 8, 2026 and February 8, 2026 ANP Articles) filed in District Court, District of Columbia on July 30, 2025 about Congress Suit Against ICE where a coalition of democratic congress members sued ICE and DHS over the department's policy which requires 7 days notice to schedule visits to DHS detention facilities. On March 2, 2026, Judge Jia M Cobb ordered:
- For the reasons stated in the accompanying memorandum opinion, it is hereby ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ motion for a stay of agency action under 5 U.S.C. § 705, ECF 49, is GRANTED.
- It is further ORDERED that, to “preserve status or rights pending conclusion of the review proceedings,” 5 U.S.C. § 705, the effective dates of implementation and enforcement of the sevenday notice policy laid out in Secretary Noem’s January 8 memorandum, ECF 39-1, including as ratified by Secretary Noem’s February 2 memorandum, ECF 55-1, are immediately postponed and stayed.
- It is further ORDERED that the temporary restraining order entered by the Court on February 2, 2026, ECF 52, is hereby dissolved.
- SO ORDERED.
Of course, on March 2, 2026, the defendants appealed:
Notice is hereby given that all Defendants in the above-named case hereby appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from this Court’s Order, ECF No. 62, entered in this action on March 2, 2026, as well as this Court’s accompanying Memorandum Opinion, ECF No. 61.
Activist judges are really starting to annoy me. There is nothing wrong with requiring notice of a visit to a detention facility, especially when the visitor plans to make their visit a political statement. Detention facilities are not political statements. They are law enforcement statements where violators of our laws are held to be adjudicated (by hopefully non-partisan, non-activist judges).
In the lawsuit Alliance for Retired Americans v. Treasury Department docket # 1:25-cv-00313 filed in District Court, District of Columbia on February 3, 2025 about DOGE at Treasury Department where the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, sued the Treasury Department over the Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to confidential data within the department. The lawsuit sought the following relief:
- Declare that Defendants’ decision to implement a system by which Elon Musk or other DOGE-affiliated individuals may access the Bureau’s records and obtain personal information about individuals and taxpayers contained there is unlawful.
- Enjoin Defendants from continuing to permit such access or obtain such personal information.
- Enjoin Defendants to ensure that future disclosure of individual records will occur only in accordance with the Privacy Act, the Internal Revenue Code, and the SORNs applicable to the system of records at issue.
- Grant any temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief necessary to protect the privacy of individuals whose information is contained within the system of records.
- Award Plaintiffs their costs and attorneys’ fees for this action; and
- Grant any other relief as this Court deems appropriate.
On March 5, 2026, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered:
Because the Plaintiffs have not established that the decisions they challenge are final agency action and they have not satisfied the demanding standards for non-statutory ultra vires review of an agency’s compliance with a statute, the Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. . . . For the foregoing reasons, the Court shall DENY IN PART the Defendants' [61] Motion to Dismiss, GRANT the Defendants' [61] Motion in the Alternative for Summary Judgment, and DENY the Plaintiffs' [62] Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. The Court shall DENY AS MOOT the remainder of the Defendants' [61] Motion to Dismiss.
Plaintiffs argued that DOGE were not Treasury employees and therefore should not have access to IRS files. However, Court found DOGE were Treasury employees, so that argument was denied. Nor was there evidence of unauthorized disclosures of data beyond one email to another federal agency which is not an indication of a pattern of disclosure. In addition, the data sharing was internal to the Treasury Department and the privacy act allows intra-agency sharing of data.
In the lawsuit In the Matter of the Search of the Real Property and Premises of Hannah Natanson docket # 1:26-sw-00054 filed in District Court, E.D. Virginia on January 13, 2026 about Search of Washington Post Reporter House where following the arrest of Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones, for allegedly unlawfully retaining national defense information, the U.S. government searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized a significant amount of her electronic data. The Washington Post and Natanson seek the return of her property under the First Amendment. On March 16, 2026, Judge William B Porter ordered:
- The Government filed a Consent Motion for Extension of Time to File Supplemental Briefs (“Motion”; ECF No. 78) asking for a one-week extension to allow counsel for all parties additional time to answer the Court’s March 4, 2026, questions. In support of the Motion, the Government states that Movants consent to the requested relief. (Id. at 1.) Accordingly, the Court ORDERS as follows:
- 1. The Court GRANTS the Motion. (ECF No. 78.)
- 2. The Government and Movants must file a supplemental brief on or before March 25, 2026.
- Entered this 16th day of March 2026
Also on March 16, 2026, Judge Anthony J Trenga ordered:
- Before the Court is Movant The Washington Post’s Consent Motion for a Modified Scheduling Order, [Doc. No. 77] (the “Motion”), upon consideration of which it is hereby
- ORDERED that the Motion is GRANTED and Movants shall respond to the Government’s Objections by March 25, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
In the lawsuit Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot v. Donald Trump docket # 25A999 Appeal of 26-5050 Appeal of 1:25-cv-02471 filed in SCOTUS on March 11, 2026 about TPS Cancellation where the government requested the Supreme Court stay Judge Reyes' order staying Secretary Noem's termination of TPS for Haiti. On March 11, 2026, application filed in SCOTUS by defendant.
TPS is TEMPORARY Protected Status for those fleeing countries that meet the criterion as specified by the State Department. It is NOT a path to US Citizenship, nor should it be. And, because it is temporary, it can be cancelled at any time and the people who had the TPS status should make arrangements to return from whence they came (or go somewhere else).
ANP Fundraiser:
‘Dangerous, Derogatory, Harmful, Unreliable!’
Those are some of the exact words used by Google’s censors, aka 'Orwellian content police,' in describing many of our controversial stories. Stories later proven to be truthful and light years ahead of the mainstream media. But because we reported those 'inconvenient truths' they're trying to bankrupt ANP.
