Congress Faces Shutdown Deadline; U.S. Treasury Confirms Strong Dollar Policy

Lead: Congressional leaders are negotiating last-minute legislative measures to prevent a partial government shutdown scheduled for Saturday while the U.S. Treasury Department clarified its position on currency intervention. Concurrently, new video evidence has been released regarding a fatal CBP shooting, and a suspect is in custody following an attack on a federal lawmaker.

What we know

• Federal agencies will begin a partial shutdown early Saturday morning unless Congress approves new spending legislation by the Friday midnight deadline SOURCE.
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed Wednesday that the United States maintains a "strong dollar policy" and stated the administration is not intervening in markets to support the Japanese yen SOURCE.
• Minneapolis police arrested a man after he lunged at Representative Ilhan Omar and attempted to spray an unidentified substance at her during a town hall meeting SOURCE.
• New footage from Jan. 13 shows Alex Pretti spitting at federal agents and damaging a federal vehicle days before he was killed in a shooting involving Customs and Border Protection SOURCE.
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently using drones, biometric trackers, and cellphone location databases to facilitate enforcement operations SOURCE.
• The Minneapolis Foundation activated a $3.5 million fund, backed by 28 corporations, to provide financial assistance to small businesses affected by ICE operations SOURCE.
• Amazon is closing its "Go" and "Fresh" physical locations as the company begins to retire its automated "Just Walk Out" retail technology SOURCE.
• Southwest Airlines has officially ended its open seating policy and its "customer of size" policy that provided free extra seats, moving to an assigned seating model SOURCE.
• Heathrow Airport in London has removed the 100ml liquid limit for passengers following a security upgrade to CT scanners, now allowing containers up to two liters SOURCE.
• Shares of Chinese snack retailer Busy Ming rose by 70% during its initial public offering, increasing the net worth of its founders into billionaire status SOURCE.

What we don’t know yet

• The precise duration of the "escape hatch" spending bill being drafted by House Republicans has not been confirmed.
• Law enforcement has not identified the specific chemical composition of the substance the suspect attempted to spray at Representative Omar.
• The exact count of surveillance drones currently active over U.S. metropolitan areas remains undisclosed by ICE officials.

Why it matters

• A shutdown would immediately cease pay for federal workers and suspend non-essential government services.
• The Treasury's stance on the dollar signals prioritize for domestic inflation control over assisting foreign currency stability.
• Amazon's store closures indicate a pullback from high-cost automated physical retail in favor of different growth sectors.
• The update at Heathrow suggests a potential global standard shift in aviation security that could reduce passenger processing times.

What’s next

• Congressional voting on a potential bridge funding bill is expected before the Friday midnight deadline.
• The Minneapolis Foundation will begin vetting local businesses for the distribution of its $3.5 million emergency fund.
• A court appearance for the suspect in the Minneapolis town hall incident is expected in the coming days.
• Other major international airports are monitoring the results of the Heathrow CT scanner rollout to evaluate similar liquid-limit removals.