Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 24 | Blog#42
In a zero sum game, there is no redemption in remorse.
Please keep a tab open to this post as it gets continuous updates and only one email goes out when I first publish the post, but not when I update it.
I usually make updates several times an hour. The newest items appear at the bottom.
Yesterday’s post
McConnell warns of ‘big, lingering concerns’ with Trump tariff plan
Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday warned of “big, lingering concerns” with President Trump’s tariff plan.
“In recent weeks, the president sought to impose sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, as well as key imports, such as steel and aluminum,” McConnell said in an opinion piece for The Courier Journal.
“While the administration walked back plans to levy 25% duties on imports from Mexico and Canada — paused now for 30 days as both nations brokered deals to tighten border security and crack down on illegal drugs — the president’s aggressive proposals leave big, lingering concerns for American industry and workers,” the Kentucky Republican added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as Trump's intel chief
The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as President Trump's Director of National Intelligence, largely along party lines.
Why it matters: It's a big win for the president's team, which worked hard to resuscitate Gabbard's nomination when it faltered earlier this year.
The final vote was 52-48, with former Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) the only GOP opponent.
The big picture: Gabbard proved to be one of Trump's most controversial nominees, and the success of her confirmation was particularly questionable ahead of a committee vote earlier this month.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump’s plan for Ukraine a great deal — ‘for the Kremlin,’ Kyiv’s backers say
“Let’s not mince words about what this represents: a surrender of Ukraine’s interests and our own, even before negotiations begin,” says U.S. Senator Adam Schiff.
Kyiv’s backers reacted with shock and outrage to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had spoken with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and would “start negotiations immediately” with him about the Ukraine war.
U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, a long-time Trump critic who was the lead prosecutor in the Republican’s first impeachment trial, called the president “a great dealmaker all right — for the Kremlin.”
“Today, President Trump called our enemy, Russia, before calling our ally, Ukraine,” Schiff said on social media. “Meanwhile, his Secretary of Defense, ruled out a future for Ukraine in NATO and a restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over its own lands. Let’s not mince words about what this represents: a surrender of Ukraine’s interests and our own, even before negotiations begin.”
Continue reading at Politico
Chevron to lay off up to 20 percent of its workforce
Chevron plans to lay off up to 20 percent of its workforce, according to a company spokesperson.
Vice Chairman of the Chevron Corp., Mark Nelson, said that the company “is taking action to simplify our organizational structure, execute faster and more effectively, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness” in a statement emailed to The Hill.
“This work includes optimizing the portfolio, leveraging technology to enhance productivity, and changing how and where work is performed, including the expanded use of global centers,” Nelson added. “We believe changes to the organizational structure will improve standardization, centralization, efficiency and results, unlocking new growth potential and helping Chevron drive industry-leading performance now and into the future.”
Continue reading at The Hill
OPM: 75,000 workers took Trump, Musk government buyout
Roughly 75,000 federal workers across government have accepted a buyout offer, taking an unusual deal spearheaded by the Trump administration as it looks to reduce the federal workforce.
A senior administration official confirmed the figure in the hours after a court rejected a bid by unions to quash the program.
The court ruling allowed the government to officially close what was known as the Fork in the Road program.
The buyout offered federal workers eight months of pay and benefits for those who wished to leave government as President Trump forges ahead with a return to office mandate.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump’s uphill battle to make NATO allies hit his mega defense spending target
There is broad agreement to boost defense spending — but the U.S. president’s call for 5 percent of GDP is too much for most European countries.
Donald Trump lobbed a financial hand grenade into NATO, and now the alliance's members are scrambling to figure out how to respond.
NATO spent a decade trying to reach its target of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense — a goal that 24 out of 32 members currently meet — but the U.S. president now wants that increased to 5 percent.
Thursday's meeting of NATO defense ministers and this weekend's Munich Security Conference — which gathers top defense officials from both sides of the Atlantic — will be focused on that demand. Allies are weighing the need to deter Russia and keep Trump interested in Europe against their strained budgets.
However, most European countries along with Canada cannot dramatically boost defense budgets in the short term — even if that's what Trump wants.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Elon Musk-owned X settles lawsuit with Donald Trump over January 6 suspension
New YorkCNN —
Elon Musk-owned X has agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit from his close ally President Donald Trump over Trump’s deplatforming following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, according to multiple reports that cite people familiar with the matter.
After the January 6 riot, social media companies such as X, then known as Twitter, and Meta suspended Trump from their platforms at the end of his first term.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said on January 8, 2021.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported details of the settlement. Court filings from this week show that both parties filed a motion to dismiss the appeal and pay their own costs. The dismissal was granted Monday. CNN has reached out to lawyers for both parties and X for comment.
Continue reading at CNN
Note from Rima: Friend paying a friend…
Mass firings have begun at federal agencies
CNN —
Mass firings have begun at federal agencies, with terminations of probationary employees underway at the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, federal employees and union sources told CNN Wednesday.
The mass firings mark the first from the Trump administration as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency aim to dramatically shrink the federal workforce. Until now, federal employees across all government agencies had only been placed on paid administrative leave.
The move comes the same day as a federal judge allowed the administration’s deferred resignation program to proceed. About 75,000 employees have accepted the offer, which generally allows them to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September.
Continue reading at CNN
Who benefits from the White House pause on fighting corruption
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act stands at the center of the global fight against bribery and corruption, and for the time being, it has been largely neutralized by Donald Trump.
Why it matters: The president's executive order pausing FCPA enforcement may act as a green light for corporate executives, both foreign and domestic, who have a high risk appetite and few ethical scruples about bribes and other forms of corruption.
In turn, that risks putting law-abiding corporations at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to procuring government contracts.
Context: Congress passed the act in 1977 to root out the "foreign corporate payments problem," as law professor and FCPA expert Mike Koehler wrote in 2012.
At its heart, the law prohibits giving "anything of value" to foreign officials to influence their behavior or secure business advantages.
The intrigue: While Trump's executive order claims that "American citizens and businesses" have suffered from FCPA enforcement, nine of the 10 biggest FCPA prosecutions have been against foreign companies, including Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson.
Continue reading at Axios
House GOP budget resolution hangs in the balance as hardliners hold out support
At least six Republicans on the House Budget Committee remained undecided Wednesday afternoon on whether they will support the budget resolution when the panel considers it on Thursday, a number far larger than the two GOP lawmakers the conference can afford to lose and still clear the measure, assuming all Democrats vote “no.”
Hardline conservatives and some other Republicans are pushing for changes to the measure and commitments on spending cuts, a dynamic that is threatening the path forward for the resolution.
“Tomorrow will be a big day,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of the Budget Committee holdouts, told reporters. “If it doesn’t go, that puts us back at ground zero.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Education Department moves to fire civil servants
Termination notices were distributed to workers in the department’s offices for civil rights, federal student aid, communications and legal.
The Education Department terminated a swath of its civil service workforce on Wednesday, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
The precise number of affected employees was not immediately clear. Firing notices were distributed to workers in the department’s offices for civil rights, federal student aid and communications, as well as its legal department, according to people who relayed details and documents that substantiated the terminations to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
Many of the terminations appeared to be targeted at department civil servants who were still probationary employees, people familiar with the matter said, though some non-probationary employees were also affected.
“The department does not comment on personnel matters,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
Notices sent to probationary employees noted their right to an appeal if they believed the action was taken due to partisan political reasons or marital status, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO.
Continue reading at Politico
Major SoCal storm triggers evacuation orders in LA County amid flood threats
A powerful atmospheric river-linked storm that began slamming Southern California on Wednesday prompted evacuation orders in Los Angeles County amid flood threats to burn scars from wildfires that erupted in January.
The big picture: With the worst of the "significant storm system" set to hit Thursday with heavy rains and gusty winds, Santa Barbara County said on X an evacuation order was also issued for properties associated with a burn scar from the 2024 Lake Fire due to the potential for "flash flooding, debris flow."
In LA County, evacuation warnings were also set to take effect from 7am Thursday through 2pm Friday"due to high mudslide and debris flow risk," according to a statement posted on the LA Fire Department's website.
Continue reading at Axios, Watch live on KTLA.com
Note from Rima: I am in the LA area and should be OK where I am.
1 big thing: Black maternal health efforts' unclear future under Trump
Trump administration efforts to dismantle DEI initiatives are alarming public health researchers trying to reduce the outsized mortality rate for Black mothers in the U.S.
Why it matters: The pandemic put a spotlight on long-standing inequities in health care, including a pregnancy-related death rate for Black women that is more than three times the rate for white mothers. About 80% of these deaths are preventable.
State of play: The concern is that President Trump's sweeping executive order could derail efforts to improve early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pregnancy and birth complications, and data collection on maternal deaths.
The recent removal of federal health dashboards and datasets left providers and researchers shaken, and concerned that their federal support could disappear.
Case in point: Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, an assistant dean and professor at Tufts University, receives NIH funding to research maternal health inequities among Black women. She hasn't heard anything from her contacts at NIH about the status of the grant since Trump's executive order, she said.
Continue reading at Axios Vitals newsletter
3. New GOP senators hazy on ACA subsidy cliff
Freshmen Republican senators who could play a big role in deciding whether to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies appear to be only vaguely familiar with the issue and what it could mean for health coverage in their states, Victoria Knight wrote first on Pro.
Why it matters: Although conventional wisdom is that Republicans will let the enhancements expire at the end of this year, voters in states President Trump carried could have the most to lose.
Some of the biggest enrollment increases in ACA marketplaces have been in red states that didn't expand Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if the enhanced subsidies expire, 3.8 million people on average could become uninsured, and premiums could rise 7.9% on average, from 2026 to 2034.
What they're saying: New GOP senators displayed only passing familiarity with the ACA subsidies when queried by Axios.
"I'm going to have to do some work on understanding what the implications of all that is before I take a position on it," said Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio. "In time, I'm sure I'll have an opinion."
Continue reading at Axios Vitals newsletter
Texas measles cases fan fears of wider rebound
At least two dozen cases of measles have been reported in a single county in Texas over the past two weeks, in the latest sign the disease is rebounding amid falling vaccination rates.
Why it matters: Public health experts say the spread of the highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease is preventable, noting cases have surged in areas with high vaccination exemption rates.
Those concerns have taken on a new urgency with RFK Jr. — who has embraced the debunked theory linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism — poised to become the nation's top health official.
Driving the news: The part of Texas affected by measles outbreak has among the highest school vaccine exemption rates in the state, per CBS News.
Continue reading at Axios Vitals newsletter
Playbook: A make-or-break moment
BUDGET OR BUST: It’s do-or-die time for Speaker Mike Johnson. At 10 a.m., the House Budget Committee marks up leadership’s budget resolution as Johnson practically dares a small cadre of intransigent conservatives to sink his blueprint.
Where things stand: The speaker emerged from hours of closed-door meetings yesterday refusing to make changes to his plan, “despite hard-liner demands for deeper spending cuts and other adjustments,” POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports.
That presents a vote-count problem: As stands, the package has two major conservative holdouts: Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). Both serve on the Budget Committee, which means that if just one more Republican on the panel votes to block the proposal today, it’ll go down in flames, assuming all Dems vote against it.
Complicating Johnson’s path: The White House is divided over whether to back the two-bill approach favored by Senate Republicans or the one-bill approach preferred by the House GOP. “Vice President JD Vance, White House policy chief Stephen Miller and budget chief Russ Vought are among those in the Trump administration pushing for a two-bill approach on reconciliation, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pushing for one,” POLITICO’s Megan Messerly, Victoria Guida and Dasha Burns report.
Continue reading at Politico Playbook
Johnson’s budget dare
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Johnson dares conservatives to oppose budget plan
Senate votes on RFK Jr.
House GOP leaders talking CR
BUT FIRST: CONGRESS X POLITICO IN MUNICH — Tune in Friday and Saturday for POLITICO programming live from the Munich Security Conference. We’ll have interviews with key lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham and Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner. More details on our coverage and livestream are here.
BUDGET BATTLE — Speaker Mike Johnson is daring conservatives to sink his budget resolution, setting up a make-or-break moment in the House Budget Committee later today.
The speaker emerged from hours of talks Wednesday with two hard-liner holdouts — Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, both House Freedom Caucus members who also serve on the Budget Committee — saying he would not change his budget blueprint to meet their demands for deeper spending cuts and other adjustments.
Neither conservative would commit to voting for the framework in its current form, saying that they still want guarantees that spending cuts will total closer to $2 trillion than the $1.5 trillion floor Johnson proposed.
The good news for Johnson: Roy and Norman haven’t ruled out supporting the plan. And if all Budget Committee members are present and voting, GOP leaders can afford to lose two Republicans in a party-line vote — but not three.
White House officials have encouraged members to let the process move forward but aren’t cracking the whip — as key members of the administration remain divided over whether the one- or two-bill approach is best. Norman told Mia and other reporters Wednesday that Trump administration officials had called him to check in, and the White House was also in constant contact with House GOP leaders over both the sweeping policy package and souring bipartisan government funding talks.
Hard-liners are entangling those two major legislative priorities. Roy hinted that conservatives may want assurances on the funding talks in order to support the budget resolution today. Appropriations Chair Tom Cole told Meredith he has not personally heard any requests along those lines, but he made clear he was not thrilled with the suggestion.
“If I were them, I would stop worrying about a few billion dollars and start worrying about the trillions of dollars of tax increases they’re talking about,” Cole said of the hard-liners. “They’ve got to grow up and decide they’re going to be members of Congress instead of TV stars on cable.”
Continue reading at Politico Inside Congress
A Carve-Up That Leaves Ukraine Sidelined
Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up here.
Even before President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at the Munich Security Conference tomorrow to renew his case with the US for defending Ukraine’s independence, his country’s fate looks to have been sealed.
A sense of foreboding had been building. The day before Donald Trump got on the phone with Vladimir Putin, the US leader observed matter of factly that “Ukraine may be Russian some day.”
The full extent of what he meant became clear as the two presidents extended summit invitations to each other during yesterday’s 90-minute conversation. Forget about joining NATO or US boots on the ground. Ukraine would have to concede territory that Russia began seizing back in 2014.
Zelenskiy was notified almost as an FYI. His worst fear — that terms and conditions of a peace settlement were being agreed behind his back — was coming to pass.
His offerings of Ukraine’s critical minerals in return for protection carried little weight. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought an economic-cooperation agreement to Kyiv for Ukraine to sign “in exchange” for continued support.
Continue reading at Bloomberg Politics Newsletter
Republicans skeptical of major gains on Trump orders in shutdown fight
Some Republicans are looking to the next fiscal year to try to codify President Trump’s orders to cut federal spending as a divided Congress barrels toward a shutdown deadline.
Trump voiced optimism this week that cuts pursued by his “Department of Government Efficiency,” headed up by tech billionaire Elon Musk, would “get a very easy vote” in the GOP-led Congress, if it comes to it, as his sweeping orders get tangled up in the courts.
But while conservatives are pushing for the cuts to be included, there is skepticism among Republicans that they’ll be able to get it done as part of a broader funding deal they plan to strike by March 14 – when they’ll need Democratic support to prevent the government from shutting down.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrats push for tougher resistance to Trump as anger mounts
Democrats are starting to push for a stronger response to President Trump as his policies fuel anger with the party’s base.
Members of the party believe Trump has enjoyed a honeymoon period during his first month in office as Democrats have so far failed to coalesce around a unified counter-message — but at least some of them want that to change.
As frustration grows over Trump’s actions, including his efforts to dismantle parts of the federal government, some in the party are voicing the need to get tougher.
“He’s pushing the boundaries of a system as far as they can go,” said one Democrat who works for an outside organization planning to take action as part of the burgeoning new resistance.
“This guy is doing some crazy s–t,” a second Democrat, who is also involved in planning efforts, added. “This isn’t jamming through a nominee. This is when it starts to be alarming.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump’s move to slash research funding shakes medical community
Efforts by the Trump administration to drastically cut federal investments in medical research are threatening to kneecap major research institutions and stifle scientific progress to combat chronic illnesses.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last week it was limiting the amount of funding for indirect funds, those meant for administrative and facility costs, to 15 percent. While this move has been halted by a federal judge, university medical researchers fear their work could soon come to a screeching halt.
Richard Huganir, Bloomberg distinguished professor of neuroscience and psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University, has worked on projects funded by the NIH for more than two decades.
“What would have happened if the cut to 15 percent [to indirect costs] was a reality — which basically would mean that science and universities would be nonviable,” Huganir said. “The students, the postdoctoral fellows who are starting their careers, are incredibly worried and upset that they may not have a career, and so there’s a lot of impact, you know, at that level.”
Continue reading at The Hill
‘DEI Watch list’ sparks racism charges; Advocates see that as validation
President Trump and Elon Musk have brought a “move fast and break things” style to Washington that is inspiring aggressive outside advocacy campaigns and giving new significance behind past right-wing efforts.
A “DEI WATCH LIST” is one example of how conservatives are still finding ways to pile on with the shocking and attention-grabbing tactics that fuel the Trump moves.
The recently-released list, announced with Trump’s signature all-caps text, set off a flurry of concern, fear and criticism — which Tom Jones, who leads the American Accountability Foundation that compiled the list, saw as a validation of the work.
“If you’re not taking flak, you’re not over the target,” Jones told me in an interview. “If the New York Times hasn’t called me a racist, I’m probably not doing my job.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump’s ‘art of the deadline’ flaunts his dealmaking prowess
Call it the “Art of the Deadline.”
President Trump has in his first few weeks of his second term shown a tendency to set a deadline for a foreign leader, give himself an opening to shift the deadline, then declare victory when he’s able to extract something of value.
Trump did it when he first told Canada and Mexico they’d be hit with tariffs on Inauguration Day, only to move the deadline back to Feb. 1. When he readied tariffs that day, he was able to tout concessions on border enforcement and pushed the deadline back a month.
The president this week threatened Hamas with a Saturday deadline to release all remaining hostages in Gaza. He gave himself a bit of wiggle room, saying Israel could choose to overrule him. But the mere threat allows Trump to put himself in a stronger position and potentially gain something.
Continue reading at The Hill
Kamala Harris is Democratic frontrunner for California governor in 2026: Poll
Former Vice President Harris would be the Democratic frontrunner for governor of California if she jumped into the Golden State’s 2026 race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), new polling shows.
Harris snagged support for a hypothetical gubernatorial bid from nearly 6 in 10 Democratic primary voters in California, 57 percent, according to a survey from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill.
Former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who left the House to mount an unsuccessful Senate bid last year, followed at 9 percent support.
Ex-Speaker of the California State Assembly Antonio Villaraigosa and sitting Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalaki (D) brought in 4 percent each, and another 17 percent were undecided.
Continue reading at The Hill
2 Trump nominees raise red flags for GOP
Republican senators are warning that two of President Trump’s nominees for national security positions who have championed radical views will face tough scrutiny.
Elbridge Colby, Trump’s pick to serve as Defense undersecretary for policy, and Darren Beattie, his choice to serve as undersecretary of State for public diplomacy, in particular have raised eyebrows for statements or policy views at odds with those of many GOP senators.
Even though other controversial nominees, most recently Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, have won confirmation with near GOP unity, Republicans say Colby and Beattie could face some challenges.
And they say the fact that Colby and Beattie are lesser-known names who would be placed in under-the-Cabinet roles means they could come under more, not less scrutiny.
Continue reading at The Hill
Russia hammers Ukraine with huge drone attack hours after Putin-Trump call
Kremlin forces also shelled residential buildings in Kherson.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 140 drones overnight, shortly after Wednesday evening's call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
“On the night of February 13, 2025 the enemy attacked with 140 Shahed-type kamikaze drones,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement Thursday, adding that they managed to shoot down 85.
“As a result of the enemy attack, Odesa region and Kharkiv region were affected,” the air force added.
In addition to the drone attack, Russian forces shelled residential buildings in the city of Kherson, injuring two people, and carried out 10 aerial strikes on communities in the front-line region of Zaporizhzhia, the regional administrations announced Thursday.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
US pledges to speed up arms sales to Europe
NATO chief Mark Rutte has long asked Washington to cut red tape on arms deals.
The U.S. on Thursday promised to speed up weapons shipments to Europe, a move that some countries in Europe and elsewhere have pressed for years as critical for their own defense rebuilds.
Arriving for a day of meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “the United States is committed to expediting the process of ensuring that our allies get what they need when they need it,” through future Foreign Military Sales — a U.S. program to facilitate arms purchases by foreign governments.
While short on details, the suggestion of a faster purchase and shipment process could have huge implications for NATO, and for defense production generally. Any increase would take some time to get rolling however, as many factories in the U.S. are at maximum capacity and would likely have to hire new workers and expand existing production.
Continue reading at The Hill
NATO ministers plead for Ukraine to be involved in Trump-Putin peace talks
But alliance chief Mark Rutte was keen to downplay fears that Europe and Kyiv are being sidelined.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Thursday said Ukraine should be involved in discussions about its own future — but downplayed concerns that Europeans and Kyiv were being sidelined by Donald Trump.
The U.S. president stunned European allies on Wednesday evening by effectively starting peace talks about the long-running Ukraine conflict with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"Of course, it's crucial that Ukraine is closely involved in everything happening about Ukraine," Rutte told reporters, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
‘The rules of the game have changed’: Europe fears an unreliable US ally
European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team.
MUNICH — European allies are bracing this week for the answer to a question they’ve been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States?
The continent’s officials will have their first face-to-face encounter with the new Trump administration Friday at a gathering of defense leaders known as the Munich Security Conference. The annual event is usually reserved for fortifying alliances and echoing democratic ideals with like-minded leaders.
President Donald Trump has offered few specifics about how he would approach the U.S. relationship with European nations since he took office last month. But he has insisted NATO members massively boost their defense spending, dismissed the U.S. military’s role in Europe, frozen foreign aid, advocated taking over Greenland, treated Russia as a negotiating partner and threatened to pull support from Ukraine.
And while allies have experience navigating the disruptions and uncertainties of the U.S. president, this administration is a more expansionist and aggressive one than they’ve faced before.
Continue reading at Politico Defense
Keir Starmer plots visit to China. He just needs a policy first
Trip would be first by a UK prime minister in more than seven years — but there is still a live debate about the Labour government’s “audit” into its China policy.
LONDON — He’s already sent his chancellor and foreign secretary to Beijing, and Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi arrives in London Thursday. But one very big step remains in Keir Starmer’s China charm offensive — visiting the country himself.
Downing Street is drawing up plans for Starmer to go to China, in what would mark the first visit by a U.K. prime minister in more than seven years, four people familiar with the U.K.’s position told POLITICO.
Senior officials are in discussions about a trip some time after this summer, likely late 2025, as part of Starmer’s controversial push to thaw relations and win investment since his election in July.
That is despite the return of China-skeptic Donald Trump to the White House, disquiet about President Xi Jinping’s hard-nosed economic style and human rights record, and slow progress on a Whitehall-wide “audit” of U.K.-Beijing relations.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Starlink looks pale in comparison with what Europeans can get
— Has Elon Musk's Starlink got a shot in Europe? Not really.
— The withdrawal of the EU's AI liability rules has fans and critics.
— There's a new report about the price tag of the Eurostack.
Good morning and welcome to Morning Tech. Hi, this is Pieter, back in Brussels after frantic days in Paris — invite me for coffee so I don't fall asleep. As always, send the hottest tech policy news and gossip to Pieter, Mathieu and Eliza.
STARLINK IS NO MATCH: Elon Musk’s thousands of Starlink low-Earth orbit satellites may provide internet from space, but are failing to wow everyday consumers in Europe. Cracking a market with solid high-speed coverage and low prices won’t be easy for satellite broadband providers.
Despite breakthroughs in niche markets and a fair shot in underserved areas — think countryside and remote islands where there is no business case for operators to fix the blank spots — Musk's mega constellation is no threat to Europe's traditional telecom operators today.
By the numbers: The latest report from the European Commission tracking the bloc's digital transformation revealed that about 79 percent of European households are already covered by "very high capacity" networks — i.e. reaching a download speed of at least 1,000 megabits per second or one gigabit — like ultra-fast fiber connections.
Starlink, with promises to offer speeds between 25 to 220 Mbps, looks pale in comparison and comes at a bigger price. Across the EU, a Starlink subscription would on average cost around €49 per month, plus an upfront €249 for the terminal kit, compared to just €21.32 for a similar offer from your regular telco.
Continue reading at Politico Morning Technology newsletter
Trump’s uphill battle to make NATO allies hit his mega defense spending target
Russian hostility and waning American support trigger broad agreement to boost defense spending — but 5 percent of GDP is too much for most European countries.
Donald Trump lobbed a financial hand grenade into NATO, and now the alliance's members are scrambling to figure out how to respond.
NATO spent a decade trying to reach its target of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense — a goal that 24 out of 32 members currently meet — but the U.S. president now wants that increased to 5 percent.
Thursday's meeting of NATO defense ministers and this weekend's Munich Security Conference — which gathers top defense officials from both sides of the Atlantic — will be focused on that demand. Allies are weighing the need to deter Russia and keep Trump interested in Europe against their strained budgets.
However, most European countries along with Canada cannot dramatically boost defense budgets in the short term — even if that's what Trump wants.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump's mass deportation plan hits its own wall
President Trump's vow to deport "millions and millions" of unauthorized immigrants is meeting harsh reality — already stretching the limits of the government's resources, less than four weeks into the new administration.
Why it matters: A lack of funds, detention space, officers and infrastructure to handle arrested immigrants is frustrating many involved in the effort — and made goals such as 1 million deportations this year seem unrealistic.
Zoom in: That urgency led the White House to ask Congress for an immediate infusion of $175 billion to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acquire more detention space, boost staff and address other needs.
"At the end of the day, we've gotta just spend money," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said in a brief interview at the White House. "Unfortunately the American taxpayers are going to have to pay the bill on this."
Driving the news: ICE agents and cooperating agencies say they're arresting 600 to 1,100 people a day, according to disclosures from the White House and ICE on X.
Continue reading at Axios
Tensions erupt in Ukraine as Zelenskyy sanctions former leader Poroshenko
Move sparks backlash in Kyiv, as ex-president accuses incumbent of “politically motivated” attack.
KYIV — Divisions flared in Kyiv on Thursday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree sanctioning a former president and several wealthy businessmen.
Chocolate baron and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, a political opponent and longtime nemesis of Zelenskyy, was sanctioned on suspicion of “high treason” and assisting a terrorist organization — prompting criticism and allegations of a “politically motivated” witch hunt.
Zelenskyy first announced the intention to impose sanctions on the ex-president and politically connected businesspeople in a video published Wednesday evening.
“I just held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, the decision has been made, it will be published tomorrow. We are protecting our state and restoring justice. Everyone who destroyed the national security of Ukraine and helped Russia must be held accountable,” Zelenskyy said.
Continue reading at Politico
Orbán mocks EU top diplomat’s stance on Ukraine as ‘sad’ and ‘worthless’
“The position of Brussels — to support killing as long as it takes — is morally and politically unacceptable,” Hungary’s leader says.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán scoffed at EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Thursday, describing her recent statement in support of Ukraine as “sad” and “worthless.”
“This declaration is a sad testament of bad Brusselian leadership,” Orbán said in a post on X referring to a statement published Wednesday by the so-called Weimar+ grouping — the EU, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the U.K. — in support of Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin gear up for negotiations on the country’s future.
“We are ready to enhance our support for Ukraine … We share the goal to keep supporting Ukraine until a just, comprehensive and lasting peace is reached,” the statement reads.
Continue reading at Politico
The National Endowment for Democracy was a GOP darling. Musk is changing that.
A funding freeze is pushing the National Endowment for Democracy and groups it supports toward shutdown.
One of Elon Musk’s latest targets is a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering democracy overseas that has long been a darling of the GOP. Yet prominent Republicans with ties to the group — including a lawmaker who serves on its board — are staying conspicuously silent.
Musk, in recent posts on X, has demonized the National Endowment for Democracy — a 41-year-old organization rooted in efforts to counter communism that provides grants to democracy and civil society groups abroad — is “rife with corruption” and guilty of unspecified “crimes.” He posted in early February that the “evil organization needs to be dissolved.”
The group has since been unable to access its funding from the Treasury Department, and organizations it supports have begun laying off staff.
Continue reading at Politico
From economist, Jared Bernstein’s blog:
Federal workers say firing process is a sloppy mess
The White House's latest moves to purge the civil service came late Tuesday via an executive order and an email blast to workers letting them know they were fired.
Why it matters: Legal experts say the moves are likely unlawful, workers complain they were sloppily handled, and the whole process runs the risk of doing long-term damage to critical workings of the federal government.
The big picture: There's a standard playbook for how to do hiring, firing and cuts in the federal government, which is more restrictive than in the private sector, in order to protect the civil service from corruption and politicization. Presidents can also go to Congress to authorize cuts and other actions.
The Trump administration isn't going that route. Instead, the White House appears to be moving toward the vision laid out in Project 2025, where the president is in total control of the bureaucracy, and can no longer be "thwarted" by "byzantine personnel rules."
"This is part of a maximalist view of presidential power," said David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, whose research focuses on administrative law.
For the record: "As President Trump has said many times, he had nothing to do with Project 2025," Harrison Fields, White House deputy press secretary, said in an email to Axios.
Continue reading at Axios Markets
2. How the process is supposed to go
Federal agency heads were also told in the Tuesday order that for each person hired into their department, they must cut four workers.
The process here is very "crudely" done and likely violates federal statutes, Super, the law professor, said: "This is an example of them demonstrably thumbing their nose at the laws of the United States."
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is given enormous power in the order, which states hiring decisions should be made in consultation with his task force.
What they're saying: "Every action taken by the Trump-Vance administration is fully legal and compliant with federal law," the White House's Fields said in his statement.
"Any legal challenge against it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the will of the American people, who overwhelming elected President Trump to secure the border, revitalize the economy, and restore common-sense policies."
How it works: There is a standard procedure for conducting layoffs of the civil service, called reductions in force, or RIFs.
The memo does use that language, saying agency heads will be required to "promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force," consistent with applicable laws.
Typically, however, agencies develop a plan and conduct layoffs based on seniority, qualifications and performance ratings. And they're not handled on such a broad, sweeping basis. The CFPB worker who was fired told Axios they'd recently gotten an excellent performance review.
Continue reading at Axios Markets
Democrats push for tougher resistance to Trump as anger mounts
As frustration grows over Trump’s actions, including his efforts to dismantle parts of the federal government, some in the party are voicing the need to get tougher.
“He’s pushing the boundaries of a system as far as they can go,” said one Democrat who works for an outside organization planning to take action as part of the burgeoning new resistance.
“This guy is doing some crazy s–t,” a second Democrat, who is also involved in planning efforts, added. “This isn’t jamming through a nominee. This is when it starts to be alarming.”
Continue reading on The Hill
DOGE Has Started Gutting a Key US Technology Agency
At least dozens of workers at the Technology Transformation Service were fired on Wednesday, a day after similar sudden cuts at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
At least dozens of workers for the Technology Transformation Services, housed within the US General Services Administration, were fired Wednesday afternoon, sources tell WIRED.
The sudden cuts seemingly targeted probationary and short-term staffers, including workers supplied by the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program, which brings skilled technologists from the private sector to work in government for a few years at a time. Around 50 of the 70 members of the US Digital Corps, an early-career, two-year government fellowship, were terminated as well, sources say. Sources also tell WIRED that TTS management met with workers individually prior to the terminations, giving them one last chance to take the deferred resignation offered in the “Fork in the Road” email from late last month.
One TTS staffer called the meetings “coercive for sure.”
It’s unclear how many people are being let go, but multiple sources tell WIRED that list could be upwards of 70 if not more. Prior, there were around 650 TTS employees. Fired staffers are expected to receive a formal termination email later Wednesday evening.
Continue reading at Wired
Former Palantir and Elon Musk Associates Are Taking Over Key Government IT Roles
The chief information officers of at least three major government agencies have been replaced by Silicon Valley executives, including from Palantir and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The Trump administration is replacing some of the nation’s top tech officials with Silicon Valley talent tied to Elon Musk and companies associated with Peter Thiel. This could make it easier for Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) engineers to gain access to sensitive government systems, sources and experts say.
Over the past few weeks, several Musk-aligned tech leaders have been installed as chief information officers, or CIOs, at the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Energy. CIOs manage an agency’s information technology and oversee access to sensitive databases and systems, including classified ones.
"Federal agency CIOs have authority over all agency asset management, which includes software used to monitor civil servant laptops and phones,” a former Biden official with firsthand knowledge of a CIO’s capabilities tells WIRED. “CIO shops manage and control IT access to all agency databases and systems, and have oversight over all the IT contracts per FITARA [the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act]. They have lots of IT budget and head count that Musk might want to take over. In agencies, CIOs are functionally as powerful as OIGs [the Office of Inspectors General].”
Continue reading at Wired
Filed under tyrant in training department…
Von der Leyen aide held secret talks with Trump team amid trade war
Bjoern Seibert visited Washington ahead of high-level contacts between the Commission president and JD Vance.
One of the European Union's most senior officials embarked on a previously undisclosed trip to meet U.S. President Donald Trump's inner circle last week, in a last-ditch effort to de-escalate tension and avoid a full-blown trade war, three senior EU diplomats told POLITICO.
Bjoern Seibert, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's head of cabinet, held talks in Washington before the U.S. imposed across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminum, said the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to reveal details of the sensitive visit.
Brussels has started working on presenting a package of trade options to the Trump administration, which is likely to include an offer to purchase more American natural gas.
The European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, confirmed the meetings took place “as part of the ongoing contacts with the new U.S. administration” and met with members of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.
Continue reading at Politico
Capitol agenda: Johnson's budget dare, RFK Jr. confirmation vote
The House Budget Committee will consider the speaker's budget blueprint Thursday, as two conservatives on the panel have pushed for changes.
Speaker Mike Johnson is daring conservatives to sink his budget resolution, setting up a make-or-break moment in the House Budget Committee later today.
The speaker emerged from hours of talks Wednesday with two hard-liner holdouts — Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, both House Freedom Caucus members who also serve on the Budget Committee — saying he would not change his budget blueprint to meet their demands for deeper spending cuts and other adjustments.
Neither conservative would commit to voting for the framework in its current form, saying that they still want guarantees that spending cuts will total closer to $2 trillion than the $1.5 trillion floor Johnson proposed.
The good news for Johnson: Roy and Norman haven’t ruled out supporting the plan. And if all Budget Committee members are present and voting, GOP leaders can afford to lose two Republicans in a party-line vote — but not three.
Continue reading at Politico Capitol Agenda newsletter
‘More female and less white’: Missouri AG accuses Starbucks of violating anti-discrimination laws
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KTVI) – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, claiming the international coffee chain has violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws.
In a lawsuit formally filed Tuesday, Bailey claims the company engaged in race-and-sex-based hiring practices, unlawfully segregated employees and offered certain training and employment benefits exclusively to select groups.
He further alleges that initiatives designed to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ultimately amount to unlawful discrimination.
Continue reading at The Hill
Bolton: Trump has ‘effectively surrendered’ to Putin before Ukraine War negotiations begin
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that President Trump had “effectively surrendered” to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of expected peace negotiations, criticizing the administration for suggesting Ukraine be kept out of NATO.
“Well, I don‘t have any expectations anymore. I think we know exactly what‘s going to happen,” Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview. “President Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before the negotiations have even begun.”
“The positions that Defense Secretary [Pete] Hegseth announced in Brussels, which I‘m sure I‘d be stunned if Trump didn‘t convey them directly to Putin in their phone call, constitute terms of a settlement that could have been written in the Kremlin,” he added. “Maybe they were written in the Kremlin and got out in propaganda channels.“
Continue reading at The Hill
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling
BRUSSELS -- NATO allies are in a state of anger, denial and despair after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth effectively declared an end to America's role as the primary guarantor of European security, particularly over Ukraine.
President Trump's surprise phone call with Vladimir Putin, just hours later, only added salt to the wound.
Why it matters: Europe has been bracing for this moment since the early days of Trump's 2024 campaign. That hasn't made it any less painful — or the future any less uncertain.
State of play: Hegseth, who is attending his first meeting of NATO's defense ministers, made clear Wednesday that the following chips will now be "off the table" in peace talks, as a senior U.S. defense official stressed to Axios.
NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a "realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," Hegseth said.
U.S. troops will not be deployed to Ukraine to enforce postwar security guarantees.
Continue reading at Axios
US wholesale prices remained high last month, a sign progress on inflation may have stalled
US wholesale inflation remained stubbornly elevated last month, a sign that higher prices could be ahead for American shoppers.
The Producer Price Index, a measurement of average price changes seen by producers and manufacturers, rose 0.4% on a monthly basis and 3.5% for the 12 months ended in January. That held steady with December, which was upwardly revised to 3.5% according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Thursday.
PPI is holding at its highest annual rate since February 2023.
Economists were expecting producer-level prices to slow to 3.2% annually, according to FactSet consensus estimates.
Continue reading at CNN
Politico
California Playbook
DOGE bites Ro
THE BUZZ: DOGE EAT DOGE — So much for their text exchanges. Even Ro Khanna can’t get through to Elon Musk anymore.
Khanna, the Democratic representative from Silicon Valley who’s known Musk for more than a decade, has pivoted in the last week to criticizing Musk’s so-called DOGE effort to slash government spending — labeling it an illegal effort to usurp congressional power.
But he’s still holding out hope that the billionaire will “work with Congress” to suggest cuts rather than keeping members like him at bay. Now that it’s clear that won’t happen voluntarily, he’s been pleading for Musk to come to the table.
“I assumed that there would be someone, an adult in the room, to enforce the Constitution,” Khanna told Playbook. “But there’s not.”
It’s a far cry from the collaborative relationship that Khanna tried to create after President Donald Trump tasked Musk with leading the upstart Department of Government Efficiency. Khanna initially was among the most welcoming Democrats to the DOGE effort, and asked Musk to partner with Democrats to find wasteful spending on defense and pharmaceutical programs.
Khanna’s district includes Tesla’s Fremont factory and the two have known each other since Khanna was a Treasury Department official in the Obama administration (which provided a loan to Tesla during its early days).
But despite all that, Khanna still has little to show for extending an olive branch — aside from a sassy spat on Musk’s X platform with the richest man on the planet.
Continue reading at Politico California Playbook
Musk: ‘I think we do need to delete entire agencies’
In virtual remarks Thursday to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, the Tesla CEO compared his efforts to root out waste from the federal government to rooting out weeds from a garden.
“I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind,” Musk said, “because if you leave part of them behind… it’s kind of like leaving a weed. If you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back. But if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn’t stop weeds from ever growing back, but it makes it harder.”
“So we have to really delete entire agencies, many of them,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Speaker Johnson bullish on budget blueprint's prospects
Johnson says he expects the budget resolution will sail through committee, even as conservatives grumble.
Speaker Mike Johnson says the House GOP budget resolution will advance out of the Budget Committee today with no Republican defections, despite protests from key hard-liners.
“I expect it to pass — unanimously,” Johnson told reporters as he entered the Capitol Thursday.
After weeks of delays, the Budget panel is meeting later this morning to debate and vote on a budget blueprint necessary for unlocking the massive Trump agenda bill they’re trying to pass this year along party lines.
Fiscal hawks like Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and others on the panel are still demanding higher spending cuts, guarantees on work requirements for safety net programs and other additions they plan to raise during the Budget meeting today, which could stretch into the evening.
Continue reading at Politico
Linda McMahon auditions to lead Education Department Trump wants to eliminate
Linda McMahon, who once helmed World Wrestling Entertainment, will take her turn with the Senate Thursday as President Trump's pick to lead the Education Department.
Why it matters: Lawmakers will likely press McMahon on the president tapping her to lead an agency has repeatedly said he wants shut down.
Trump's proposals to dismantle the Department of Education could have dramatic implications for public schools that rely on federal funds to fill gaps in state and local support. On top of that, experts say it could be a recipe for chaos as critical government programs are reorganized.
Trump told reporters earlier this month he hopes McMahon will "put herself out of a job."
Reality check: Eliminating the Department of Education, which has been a punching bag for the GOP for decades, would require congressional action.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump kept Germany’s Scholz in the dark about his Ukraine peace plan
Based on talks with Trump, Scholz had expected Washington to continue its support for Kyiv, he told POLITICO
BERLIN — U.S. President Donald Trump appears not to have told Chancellor Olaf Scholz about his impending bombshell peace plan for Ukraine, despite Germany’s crucial role in supplying arms and aid to Kyiv.
Scholz spoke to POLITICO on Wednesday, only hours before the Trump administration’s shock announcement that it would conduct peace negotiations over the head of European leaders, effectively ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia and insisting that Europe should provide the lion’s share of military and financial aid.
In his conversation with Berlin Playbook, Scholz said he had been receiving indications from Trump and his advisers that Washington would not perform such a dramatic U-turn on support for Kyiv.
Continue reading at Politico
House Democrat: Trump, Hegseth ‘literally appear to be negotiating on behalf of Putin’
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) on Wednesday said that President Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “literally appear to be negotiating on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin and argued the commander-in-chief has already handed Kremlin “victories” before the official talks have even started.
“I mean, Trump and Hegseth literally appeared to be negotiating on behalf of Putin. They‘re trying to sell us on the things the Kremlin wants, and it is everything wrong with running a good negotiation. I mean, it violates every principle of negotiation you can imagine,” Moulton said during his Wednesday night appearance on CNN’s “AC360.”
Continue reading at The Hill
House Democrats urge Trump to combat egg price hike
Nearly 30 House Democrats are urging President Trump to combat the rising prices of eggs and argued that the executive actions he has taken since taking office have hindered the “government’s response to effectively address the underlying causes of this crisis.”
“Eggs are a basic necessity for families in our districts, and the financial burden caused by these surging prices must be resolved,” 28 House Democrats, all of whom are members of the Congressional Dads Caucus, wrote in a Thursday letter to Trump that was shared with The Hill.
The letter was led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), the chair of the caucus.
Continue reading at The Hill
Watch live: Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick to lead Education, faces Senate confirmation hearing
Linda McMahon, tapped by President Trump to serve as the leader of the embattled Education Department, is set to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday morning.
Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, have eyed executive actions that would dismantle the Education Department. Dozens of staffers have already been put on leave in what their union has argued is a move to encourage them to resign.
Abolishing the department would take a move of Congress, but the administration can take some actions to hamper the agency’s power. Democrats are pressing Trump on his moves.
Continue reading/view at The Hill
Watch live: Jeffries gives remarks as Dems look to subvert Trump goals
With the mid-March government shutdown deadline looming, House Republicans unveiled a blueprint for the budget resolution that they intend to use to advance Trump’s legislative agenda. Jeffries has threatened to use the spending fight as a weapon to block the Trump administration’s moves to gut federal programs.
Democrats in the lower chamber of Congress also announced earlier this week the creation of a task force to respond to the “harm” inflicted by the president since he returned to the Oval Office last month.
The presser is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EST.
View on The Hill
Musk will drop OpenAI offer if it remains a nonprofit: Lawyers
Tech billionaire Elon Musk will withdraw its bid for OpenAI’s non-profit arm if the artificial intelligence firm halts its plans to become a for-profit entity, according to a new court filing.
“If OpenAI, Inc.’s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” Musk’s lawyers wrote in a filing on Wednesday.
“Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets,” the filing continued.
Continue reading at The Hill
Russia rejoices at Trump-Putin call as Zelenskyy rejects talks without Ukraine present
A senior Russian lawmaker said that the call “will go down in the history of world politics and diplomacy.”
Russian officials and state media took a triumphant tone on Thursday after President Donald Trump jettisoned three years of U.S. policy and announced he would likely meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace deal in the almost three-year-long war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he will not accept any negotiations about Ukraine that do not include his country in the talks. European governments also demanded a seat at the table.
Trump’s change of tack seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters in ending the fighting and looked set to sideline Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace negotiations. The Ukrainian leader recently described that prospect as “very dangerous.”
Continue reading at Politico
Newsom stands by ‘sanctuary’ law but refuses to extend protections to inmates
The move by the Democratic governor comes as Trump focuses on removing undocumented immigrants with criminal histories from the country.
SACRAMENTO, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is vowing to veto a Democrat-led bill that would limit state prison officials’ cooperation with federal immigration agents just as President Donald Trump promises mass deportations.
Newsom believes the state’s so-called “sanctuary” law strikes the right balance between building trust with immigrant communities and working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport serious criminals.
He has said a prior version of the new bill, which he rejected last year, would go too far by impeding how the state’s sprawling prison system interacts “with a federal law enforcement agency charged with assessing public safety risks.”
The rare veto threat by the Democratic governor, which aides confirmed to POLITICO late Wednesday, comes as Trump focuses on removing undocumented immigrants with criminal histories from the country and his administration aggressively targets state and local officials over their migrant policies.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump puts energy on front lines of ‘resource war’
The president has announced deals, threats and promises in recent weeks focused on trillions of dollars’ worth of mineral and energy resources.
In recent weeks, the president has suggested a minerals-for-aid “deal” with Ukraine, drawing pushback from Russia. He’s repeatedly suggested the U.S. will acquire Greenland, a mineral-rich Danish territory, possibly by force. And he has said Canada could become the 51st state — which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said should be taken seriously, noting Trump was interested in Canadian minerals.
“It’s almost like a resource-based foreign policy that we’re already starting to see … China has been doing it for decades,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Critical Minerals Security Program. “We see minerals featuring as a much clearer part of our strategy abroad.”
Trump is the latest president to take on an old challenge: China controls processing of critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel, as well as rare earth elements needed to make military and energy equipment. The U.S. has moved to chip away at China’s dominance over supply chains but has trailed efforts like China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has built out infrastructure in developing countries to access minerals.
Continue reading at Politico
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith announces she won’t seek reelection in 2026
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith (D) will not run for reelection in 2026, opening up a seat in the solidly Democratic state, she announced Thursday.
Smith said in a video posted to the social platform X that she has “loved” her job as a U.S. senator but wants to spend more time with her family, as she has four grandchildren.
“This job has been the honor of a lifetime. For the rest of my term, I’ll work as hard as I can for Minnesotans and our country,” she said in the post. “Thank you so much, Minnesota.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Fox host: Musk needs to be transparent about ‘billions’ in government contract
Fox News host Jessica Tarlov knocked billionaire Elon Musk over what she said is a lack of transparency he is displaying amid efforts to make widespread changes to the size of the federal government on President Trump’s behalf.
“But the real issue here is that he’s talking a big game about transparency, but he’s not being transparent himself,” Tarlov said during Martha MacCallum’s newscast Wednesday. “This idea that Elon Musk shouldn’t have to do financial disclosures like everybody else who’s working in the government is ludicrous. … And President Trump said yesterday, ‘Oh, well, he doesn’t need to do it.'”
Tarlov’s comments were first highlighted by Mediaite.
Continue reading at The Hill
Zeldin seeks to recoup billions issued by Biden under ‘green bank’ program
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin says he will try to recoup billions of dollars issued by the Biden administration under its “green bank” program.
Under the program, the Biden administration gave a total of $20 billion to eight institutions that are in charge of doling out the cash to projects aimed at mitigating climate change.
The program was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which made $20 billion available for institutions that can provide financial assistance to help deploy climate-friendly products.
Continue reading at The Hill
Watch live: Senate votes on RFK Jr. to lead HHS
Denny’s to close dozens more restaurants in 2025
(NEXSTAR) — Denny’s was already planning on closing 150 low-performing restaurants by the end of 2025, but now the company says even more locations will shutter this year.
In October, the company indicated that the 150 closures — about half of which occurred in 2024 — were part of an attempt to turn around its flagging sales. At the time, Stephen Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer, said that some of those restaurants were no longer in good locations.
Continue reading on The Hill
More Democrats say they would like party to be more moderate: Gallup
Democrats today are more likely to say they want their party to become moderate than they were four years ago, according to a Gallup poll published Thursday.
The survey, conducted in the first week of President Trump’s second term, gauged partisan preferences on the ideological direction of respondents’ respective parties.
Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 45 percent say they want their party to become more moderate, while 29 percent say they want the party to become more liberal, and 22 percent say they want the party to stay the same.
That represents a significant shift from four years ago, during the first week of President Biden’s term in office, when Gallup last asked the question.
Continue reading on The Hill
Here is the Gallup poll in question
More Democrats Favor Party Moderation Than in Past
Plurality of Republicans favor status quo for their party; fewer say it should be more conservative
Liberal Democrats Favor More Liberal Party, Moderates Prefer Moderation
In the January poll, 49% of Democrats and Democratic leaners self-identify as politically liberal, 43% as moderate and just 6% as conservative. Liberal Democrats would prefer that their party become more liberal (45%) or stay the same as it is now (22%) rather than be more moderate (30%). Conversely, moderate Democrats broadly back a more moderate shift for the party (62%), while 22% think it should remain the same, and 14% favor a more liberal party.
Continue reading at Gallup
Hegseth: ‘No betrayal’ in US position on Russia, Ukraine
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there’s “no betrayal” in the U.S. position on ending the war in Ukraine, as the Trump administration pushes for negotiations between Russia and the neighboring country it invaded nearly three years ago.
In remarks to reporters Thursday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth defended his comments from a day earlier, when he said it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to return to its pre-2014 borders as part of a ceasefire agreement with Russia or to gain NATO membership.
“There is no betrayal there,” Hegseth said Thursday. “There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace, a negotiated peace, as President Trump has said, stopping the killing, and so that will require both sides recognizing things they don’t want to.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Senate panel votes ‘yes’ on Trump’s pick to lead the FBI
If confirmed, Kash Patel would become a key leader in Trump’s efforts to root out those deemed disloyal to his cause.
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to lead the FBI, was voted out of committee along party lines on Thursday morning.
The 12-10 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee paves the way for Patel to be confirmed by the full Senate in the coming weeks, when he’ll take the helm of the federal law enforcement agency amid a massive leadership shakeup. The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, has accused Patel of helping from the outside to oust some of the Justice Department’s top officials in the early days of the Trump administration.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump puts energy on front lines of ‘resource war’
The president has announced deals, threats and promises in recent weeks focused on trillions of dollars’ worth of mineral and energy resources.
President Donald Trump’s wish list for acquiring new U.S. territories and making deals includes areas with a major feature in common: access to critical minerals.
In recent weeks, the president has suggested a minerals-for-aid “deal” with Ukraine, drawing pushback from Russia. He’s repeatedly suggested the U.S. will acquire Greenland, a mineral-rich Danish territory, possibly by force. And he has said Canada could become the 51st state — which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said should be taken seriously, noting Trump was interested in Canadian minerals.
“It’s almost like a resource-based foreign policy that we’re already starting to see … China has been doing it for decades,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Critical Minerals Security Program. “We see minerals featuring as a much clearer part of our strategy abroad.”
Continue reading at Politico
RFK Jr. now runs America’s health agencies
Democrats said Kennedy’s history of criticizing widely accepted vaccines made him a dangerous choice to lead HHS.
The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a 52-48 vote Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He will be sworn in later today.
Every Republican voted in favor except former Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who joined Democrats for the third time in opposing one of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Continue reading at Politico
EU’s top diplomat accuses Trump of ‘appeasement’ with Putin
“Any deal behind our backs will not work,” writes Kaja Kallas as U.S. president imparts “lengthy and highly productive” call with Russian leader.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, denounced U.S. President Donald Trump’s call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday, saying any deal on Ukraine's future that is arranged without European involvement will be a non-starter.
“It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. You need the Europeans, you need the Ukrainians,” Kallas told journalists on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting on Thursday.
“Why are we giving them [Russia] everything they want even before the negotiations have started? It's appeasement. It has never worked,” she added.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Walz considering Minnesota Senate run
Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
His consideration of the seat comes after Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced her retirement from the blue-leaning battleground on Thursday. Walz, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, could also run for re-election as governor in 2026.
Continue reading at Politico
Hardliners, leadership strike deal on budget resolution ahead of key vote
Hardline conservatives and House GOP leadership struck an agreement on the conference’s budget resolution shortly before a key vote on Thursday, putting the measure on a path to advance out of committee if it holds.
According to House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), the agreement — which still has to be approved by the House Budget Committee — would allow Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the Budget committee, to “adjust the dials” and increase the cap on the deficit impact of the tax portion of the package of Trump’s priorities if additional spending cuts are made in other areas. It would also give teeth to a $2 trillion deficit reduction target outlined in the bill that was key for fiscal hawks.
Harris said that if the agreement, which would be brought up as a manager’s amendment, passes, the House Freedom Caucus will support the budget resolution — a serious boost to the House’s chances of approving the framework for “one big beautiful bill” of Trump’s priorities on the floor after weeks of hardline conservatives jockeying over spending cut demands.
Continue reading at The Hill
State says $400 million armored EV contract on hold
The State Department is placing a $400 million contract to build armored electric vehicles on hold, a spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla appears to have been a likely recipient of the contract, which originated from the Biden administration. The agency’s procurement forecast for the year shows the planned contract for “armored Teslas” with an anticipated award date of Sept. 30.
However, the State Department spokesperson said the solicitation for the contract “is on hold and there are no current plans to issue it.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Shapiro, Beshear join fight over Trump’s federal funding freeze
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) sued the Trump administration Thursday, saying the federal government is still suspending grants to his state despite court orders in two existing cases.
The lawsuit indicates that, as of Thursday, Pennsylvania agencies still have over $1.2 billion in grant funding suspended and another $900 million in grants that are marked as requiring further review.
Continue reading at The Hill
McMahon’s Education hearing interrupted by several protesters
A person familiar with the situation said the interruptions were from those affiliated with the National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the country.
“The rudeness of people who are trying to squelch others as they’re trying to communicate in an incredibly public forum is just amazing, amazingly bad,” chairman of the hearing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said after one of the interruptions.
The first outburst came as McMahon started her opening statement and was regarding the Individual with Disabilities Education Act.
'Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: One no vote means nothing to the “cult”.
Senate Democrat: McConnell’s vote against Gabbard indicates ‘Trump cult’ can be ‘broken’
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said during an interview that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) final vote against Tulsi Gabbard, the newly sworn-in director of national intelligence, indicates that President Trump’s “cult” can be “broken.”
“Mitch McConnell breaking yesterday with his Republican colleagues telling the truth to power, indicates that maybe the Trump cult, the intimidation and threats can be broken,” Blumenthal said during his Thursday morning appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Our tools are limited. We’re in the minority. They control obviously both houses of Congress and the White House and indirectly the United States Supreme Court,” he added. “But we’re taking the fight to Republicans in the halls of Congress, in rallies.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump orders up a plan for more tariffs, even as inflation heats up
President Donald Trump doubled down on his extraordinary push for more balanced trade, ordering on Thursday that agencies should investigate plans for new reciprocal tariffs that could boost America’s revenue — but could also ignite a global trade war and add to America’s rebounding inflation problem.
US stocks rose Thursday after the announcement, as traders brushed off two hotter-than-expected inflation reports and focused on the delayed and vague timeline for the administration’s tit-for-tat tariff agenda.
Reciprocal tariffs were one of Trump’s core campaign pledges — his method for evening the score with foreign nations that place taxes on American goods and to solve what he has said are unfair trade practices.
“They charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office before signing the executive action dubbed the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan.”
Continue reading at CNN
Acting US attorney in New York quits after being told to drop Eric Adams case
The acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, resigned from her position in a letter to the attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In the letter, Sassoon did not say why she was resigning but she was under pressure to dismiss criminal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, after being directed to do so earlier this week.
The Justice Department’s direction to drop the federal corruption case against Adams has raised questions about the independence of the country’s most prestigious US attorney’s office and the direction of its biggest city.
The two-page memo this week from Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed the acting Southern District of New York attorney to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable.”
The Justice Department last year brought public corruption charges against Adams in the first prosecution of a sitting mayor in the city’s modern history. Adams pleaded not guilty, and the case was set to go to trial this spring.
Continue reading at CNN
Abortion bans in US led to more births and infant deaths, especially among vulnerable groups
Abortion bans in the United States are exacerbating existing health disparities as births increase in high-risk populations and infant mortality rises disproportionately, new research suggests.
In 14 states that implemented complete or 6-week abortion bans after the Supreme Court Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to abortion, the fertility rate increased 1.7%, leading to about 1 additional birth for every 1,000 women of reproductive age, according to a study published Thursday in the medical journal JAMA. A corresponding study from the same research team found that the rise in infant mortality was even more significant, spiking nearly 6% in the states that implemented bans.
With about 500 more deaths than expected among the 22,000 additional births, the infant mortality rate for births linked to abortion bans – 24 deaths for every 1,000 births – was about four times higher than expected. Rates of births and deaths were analyzed from 2012 through 2023, using trends from before the restrictions were implemented and from states without restrictions as baseline measures.
“It signals that these additional births are occurring disproportionately among populations at greater risk of infant mortality and other poor pregnancy outcomes,” said Dr. Suzanne Bell, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-author of the new studies.
Continue reading at CNN
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday responded to global blowback to his comments this week that Ukraine should not expect to join NATO or return to it’s pre-2014 borders as President Trump seeks to kickstart negotiations with Russia over the war.
Hegseth, who spoke to reporters following a NATO defense ministerial in Brussels, appeared to walk back his comments from Wednesday, when he said it’s not “realistic” for Ukraine to join NATO, saying Thursday “everything is on the table” in negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow.
“I want to be clear about something as it pertains to NATO membership not being realistic outcome for negotiations. That’s something that was stated as part of my remarks here, as part of the coordination with how we’re executing these ongoing negotiations,” Hegseth said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Federal judge extends block on Trump putting USAID workers on leave
A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave while he weighs whether a further pause is warranted.
Unions representing government employees sued to stop the shutdown of USAID’s operations and restart the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump, who has accused the agency of fraud and corruption to justify its imminent shuttering. Trump issued the executive order freezing aid for 90 days pending review on his first day in office.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols previously halted the Trump administration’s plans until Friday but said he would extend the block through Feb. 21. He intends to rule on whether to issue a preliminary injunction before that date.
Continue reading at The Hill
NIH reportedly loses 2 top leaders in 2 days
Two key staff members at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are reportedly leaving the agency amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk to drastically cut down the size of the federal workforce.
NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak told staffers in an email Tuesday he was retiring effective immediately, according to CBS News. Along with being principal deputy director, Tabak also served as the agency’s deputy ethics counselor, having been appointed to both roles in 2010.
Tabak served as acting head of the NIH from December 2021 to November 2023, after the institute’s former director Francis Collins stepped down.
As CBS reported, Tabak had not been expected to retire until the fall but told a colleague he felt it was necessary to retire at this time.
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Congressional Hispanic Conference picks new leader
The Congressional Hispanic Conference (CHC) selected Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) as its leader for the 119th Congress.
The organization, which was founded in 2003, on Wednesday elected Gonzales, who represents Texas’s 23rd Congressional District.
“Hispanic Americans voted decisively for strong leadership—leadership that acts, doesn’t just talk. Our voices helped build the Republican trifecta—our members are battle-tested common-sense legislators—they are the majority makers who sit on the most powerful committees in Congress. We have a country to save, and we will not back down in the fight to preserve the American dream, and keep our communities safe,” Gonzales said in a statement.
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House Republican on Hegseth’s Ukraine remark: ‘There are consequences of rewarding the invader’
Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), a moderate Republican, cautioned against “rewarding the invader” after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said returning to its pre-2014 border was an “unrealistic objective” for Ukraine.
“We should have moral clarity who started this war, who is bombing cities indiscriminately and who our real friend here is,” Bacon said Wednesday on the social platform X, responding to a report about Hegseth’s remarks.
“There are consequences of rewarding the invader even if its leader foolishly led over 700,000 of its citizens to slaughter,” Bacon continued, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who directed an unprovoked invasion of its neighboring country nearly three years ago.
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Denver Public Schools sues DHS over policy allowing ICE in schools
Denver Public Schools (DPS) sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday over its new Trump administration policy allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids in schools.
The federal lawsuits says the change from previous ICE policy has led to a decrease in attendance and a diversion of resources at the schools.
“DPS has therefore spent significant time and resources implementing policies ensuring student safety and training staff and faculty to effectively respond to encounters with individuals claiming to be conducting immigration enforcement activities on school grounds,” the lawsuit reads.
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Commerce pick Lutnick clears key procedural hurdle
The nominee to help implement Trump's tariff and trade agenda is on his way to confirmation in the coming days.
Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Commerce — and implement the president's sweeping trade and tariff agenda — is set for a full Senate confirmation vote in the coming days.
The Senate voted to advance Howard Lutnick's nomination Thursday afternoon, 52-45. It comes after the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted last week, 16-12, to advance Lutnick to the floor, with just Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voting with all Republicans in support.
Continue reading at Politico
Senate’s MAHA caucus readies legislation as RFK Jr. is confirmed
Throughout his confirmation process, Kennedy focused on the need to address nutrition and food systems to improve the country’s overall wellbeing — a reframing of the usual health policy debates in Congress.
The Senate’s Make America Healthy Again Caucus, formed to back the policy goals of incoming HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was readying legislation as the Senate confirmed the nominee Thursday.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), founder of the caucus, described a “package of bills” as he was going to vote to confirm Kennedy. He said the bills sought to improve the nation’s nutrition and agriculture systems, with a focus on soil health, regenerative farming and reworking the dietary guidelines.
“We do need to prioritize and organize,” Marshall said of the caucus’ legislative plans.
Marshall didn’t share a firm timeline for submitting the legislation but suggested Congress needed to move quickly on the MAHA agenda.
Continue reading at Politico
Senate Republicans vow to oppose short-term extension of tax cuts
Spending constraints in the House have some lawmakers there contemplating such a move.
Senate Republican leaders are telling President Donald Trump they will oppose a short-term renewal of expiring tax cuts, a warning that comes as their colleagues in the House discuss the option as a way to hold down costs.
In a letter released Thursday, the senators said any extension of the provisions due to lapse at the end of this year “must” be permanent.
Continue reading at Politico
RFK Jr.’s plans could make Musk’s look small
The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary on a mostly party-line vote Thursday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now in charge of the nation’s health agencies. His plans to upend them could make Elon Musk’s budget-cutting spree look modest by comparison.
Kennedy won Senate confirmation on Thursday even after vowing to take nutrition and health programs in a radical new direction, and despite his long history of criticizing the safety of scientifically proven vaccines.
“We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies,” he told the Senate Finance Committee in describing his goals. “We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people.”
Continue reading at Politico
Energy Department set to fire probationary employees
The jobs of as many as 2,000 DOE staff could be on the line as the Trump administration presses ahead with its effort to shrink the federal workforce.
Energy Department officials have told the agency’s program leaders to inform probationary employees they will be fired on Thursday, a move that could include up to 2,000 people, according to DOE officials who were granted anonymity to avoid retaliation.
The orders have been communicated verbally, one of the officials said, which appeared to be part of a strategy that aligns with a pattern of leaving no paper trail described by a second DOE employee. Two other DOE officials said they were also informed probationary hires will be laid off on Thursday, though they said the exact timing and whether any exceptions would be made was unclear.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge blocks Trump’s gender-affirming care executive orders nationwide
BALTIMORE — A federal judge Thursday blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care.
U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson at the conclusion of a hearing found a group of transgender teens and LGBTQ organizations that sued were likely to prevail on all of their claims that the orders are without authority and amount to illegal and unconstitutional discrimination.
“Stopping care in the middle of receiving it, any care, really, casts doubt on whether in fact the goals are to protect the recipients of the care,” said Hurson, an appointee of former President Biden.
Continue reading at The Hill
EU foreign policy chief on Ukraine-Russia talks: ‘Any quick fix is a dirty deal’
The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “any quick fix” in forging a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia should not be done without the involvement of the rest of Europe as one would result in a “dirty deal.”
“I would say that we shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” Kallas said on Thursday ahead of a meeting with NATO defense ministers. “Why are we giving them everything they want even before the negotiations have started? It’s appeasement, it has never worked.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Senators call for increased air traffic control funding
Two senators are calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to work with Congress to increase its funding and staffing in the aftermath of last month’s deadly plane crash near Washington.
In a Wednesday letter addressed to FAA acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) urged the agency to address the “urgent need” of air traffic controllers amid staffing shortages, citing last month’s midair collision at Reagan Washington National Airport that left more than 60 people dead.
“Although this incident was horrifying, it was unfortunately not unimaginable,” they wrote. “In recent years, near-misses at airports across the country have increased — and the incident at DCA has been particularly distressing.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Manhattan prosecutor told to drop Eric Adams case resigns, report says
Danielle Sassoon, who was pursuing a five-count bribery case against the New York City mayor, was instructed to nix the case by top Trump officials.
NEW YORK — The acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York resigned Thursday, just days after she was instructed to drop a five-count bribery cases against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Danielle Sassoon’s exit, first reported by The New York Times, injects further political intrigue into the mayor’s conditional clemency.
On Monday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove penned a letter to Sassoon, the Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, directing her to drop the case against Adams, who was accused of accepting illicit campaign contributions and travel perks in exchange for taking official action to benefit the Turkish government.
In his directive, Bove said Adams’ pending April trial was impeding the mayor’s support for President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda and was hampering the mayor’s reelection campaign. However, Bove did not make any decision on the merits of the case and said it could be reopened after the June Democratic primary — giving the Trump administration tremendous leverage over the big-city Democrat.
Sassoon, whom Trump appointed to lead the Manhattan federal prosecutors office until his permanent pick for U.S. attorney is confirmed by the Senate, had been forcefully pursuing the case.
Continue reading at Politico
Russia should rejoin G7, Trump says
Moscow never would have invaded Ukraine if it still had a seat at the table, the president insisted.
Russia should rejoin the Group of 7, an economic and political forum of advanced democracies that it was suspended from following its 2014 invasion of Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
“I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump's reciprocal tariff threat raises huge unknowns
President Trump directed top trade officials to study retaliatory tariffs on global trading partners that have steep import duties on U.S. goods, a process that could take several weeks to complete.
Why it matters: It threatens a historic attack on global trade norms to address what Trump has deemed unfair imbalances, but also leaves room for the White House to strike deals that might ultimately avert tariffs.
It reignites "will he, won't he" trade uncertainty, leaving companies guessing.
The intrigue: What looks like an opening salvo might be an effort to extract what the White House considers more favorable trade conditions, though Trump said on Thursday that the tariffs would help raise government revenues.
Early calculations by one Wall Street analyst shows the reciprocal tariffs would raise "minimal" revenue for the U.S.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump carves out remote work exemption for military spouses
Federal workers who are spouses of some military and Foreign Service members are exempt from return to office policies, the Trump administration said on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The administration has used executive orders and buyouts to crack down remote employees as part of its broader overhaul of the federal workforce.
Trump's return to office executive order required all federal departments to have employees end remote work by Feb. 20, though it did allow for department heads to allot for exemptions to in-office work "deemed necessary."
Zoom in: The directive applies to spouses of active-duty military members, disabled or deceased Armed Forces members, and members of the U.S. Foreign Service on overseas assignments, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump border czar meets with Eric Adams
Tom Homan sat down with the New York City mayor just days after federal officials intervened in the Democrat’s criminal case.
NEW YORK — With a newfound leverage over New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Trump border czar Tom Homan hosted the big-city Democrat on Thursday to discuss ramped-up immigration enforcement in the nation’s largest city.
The sit-down is the first mile marker in a new and precarious era in Adams’ political career. With each nudge toward more deportations from Trump officials — who hold the fate of the mayor’s criminal case in their hands — Adams gets farther from his Democratic political base as he seeks reelection in June.
Continue reading at Politico
Medicaid Cuts, Billionaire Tax Breaks: CA Reaction To House Budget
California's House Democrats spoke out against the proposed cuts to education, health agencies and more.
CALIFORNIA — Lawmakers in California are responding to House Republicans’ budget proposal that extends $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, setting the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump’s top domestic priorities.
At the same time, the budget plan released Wednesday directs a variety of House committees to cut spending by at least $1.5 trillion while stating that the goal is to reduce spending by $2 trillion over 10 years.
Several Golden State representatives and congress members spoke up on Thursday, decrying the proposed cuts, including former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).
Continue reading at Patch.com
Note from Rima: Patch.com is a nationwide local news service. Click through to locate your local Patch to subscribe to local news. They’ve been around for a long time and are pretty good.
House Democrats warn Energy Department against canceling approved loans
Twenty-five congressional Democrats wrote to Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday urging against the cancellation of loans already issued through the Energy Department’s Loan Program Office (LPO), saying it would be both illegal and a self-inflicted economic wound.
The members, led by Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), referred to “alarming reports” that the department is considering canceling LPO loans, which would put it in violation of legally binding contracts. The letter requests details on whether the department is actually considering such a move, the legal authority invoked to do so, the projected cost to cancel the loans and the criteria that would be used to decide cancellations.
Continue reading at The Hill
Mexico threatens to sue Google over ‘Gulf of Mexico’ name change
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to sue Google on Thursday over its decision to update its maps platform to reflect President Trump’s decision to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America.”
Sheinbaum argued at her daily press conference that Google is incorrect in renaming the entire body of water as the Gulf of America because Trump’s executive order only applies to the U.S. continental shelf.
She warned that the Mexican government may bring a civil suit against the tech giant if necessary.
Continue reading at The Hill
Murkowski introduces bill to reverse Trump’s Mt. McKinley name change
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced legislation on Thursday to rename North America’s highest mountain “Denali,” after President Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office changing its name to “Mount McKinley.”
The bill — which is cosponsored by the state’s junior senator, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) — would require the name “Denali” be used in all official references to the Alaskan mountain, including in U.S. laws, maps, regulations and other records.
“In Alaska, it’s Denali,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Once you see it in person, and take in the majesty of its size and breathe in its cold air, you can understand why the Koyukon Athabascans referred to it as ‘The Great One.’”
Continue reading at The Hill
Federal judge extends block on Trump putting USAID workers on leave
A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave while he weighs whether a further pause is warranted.
Unions representing government employees sued to stop the shutdown of USAID’s operations and restart the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump, who has accused the agency of fraud and corruption to justify its imminent shuttering. Trump issued the executive order freezing aid for 90 days pending review on his first day in office.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols previously halted the Trump administration’s plans until Friday but said he would extend the block through Feb. 21. He intends to rule on whether to issue a preliminary injunction before that date.
Continue reading at The Hill
Mitch McConnell’s party of one
The former Senate GOP leader is lonely in opposition to key Trump nominees.
Three months ago, Mitch McConnell ran the Senate GOP. Now he’s going it alone as he wages battles against some of President Donald Trump’s highest-profile nominees.
The Kentucky Republican became the only member of the Senate GOP’s 53-seat conference to oppose more than one Trump pick with his votes this week — first opposing Tulsi Gabbard’s director of national intelligence nomination on Wednesday and then Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services nomination on Thursday.
“He has expressed the fact that he is going to be independent,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “He is not burdened with ... leadership, and if he has a disagreement on a particular individual he will express that.”
Continue reading at Politico
Elise Stefanik’s UN posting is on ice
Senate Republicans are holding back on her confirmation amid concerns about the tight House majority.
Senate Republicans are keeping Rep. Elise Stefanik’s United Nations ambassador nomination in limbo amid concerns from the White House that her confirmation would risk President Donald Trump’s agenda in the House.
The New York Republican cleared the Foreign Relations Committee late last month and is expected to be easily confirmed in the Senate, where the GOP has a 53-seat majority, and some Democrats have also expressed support.
Continue reading at Politico
Fourth judge blocks Trump’s birthright executive order
A fourth federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship in the U.S., yet another blow to the president’s controversial idea.
In a pair of lawsuits, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin agreed that a group of 19 states and the District of Columbia, as well as nonprofit organizations, were “exceedingly likely” to prevail on the merits of their claims against the Trump administration.
“It is difficult to imagine a government or public interest that could outweigh the harms established by the plaintiffs here,” Sorokin wrote. “Perhaps that is why the defendants have identified none. Instead, they point only to the Executive Branch’s discretion in matters of immigration.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Senate Republicans propose bills to kill EV tax credit, add road repairs tax
Senate Republicans introduced a pair of bills on Wednesday aiming to strip the country of its electric vehicle (EV) tax credits and instead replace it with an obligatory $1,000 tax payment to be used for repairing roads.
“The hard-earned money of taxpaying Americans should not cover the cost for the luxuries of the nation’s elite. Nor should we be allowing China to infiltrate our markets and undermine our supply chain,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a statement.
“Repealing these reckless tax credits from the Biden administration once and for all will stop Washington from giving handouts to our adversaries and high-income individuals. Wyoming families should not foot the bill for expensive electric cars they don’t want and can’t afford.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump’s beef with Boeing
“Boeing, we’re not happy with the service we’re getting in terms of those planes,” he told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office.
Trump has been pushing for a new presidential jet since his first term, when in 2018 he got personally involved in contract negotiations with Boeing and landed a $3.9 billion deal for two 747-8s that will fly faster, farther and cleaner than the current fleet of Air Force One planes.
The aerospace firm is now trying to wiggle out of it, Trump argued.
“They’re saying they’re getting hurt by it,” Trump said. “They have to produce the product. They agreed to build planes at a certain price.”
A Boeing spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Continue reading at Politico West Wing Playbook
After weeks of GOP tension, Florida Legislature passes sweeping illegal immigration bills
The moves attempt to put Florida on the frontlines with Donald Trump on immigration.
After weeks of fighting among Republicans, Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature swiftly passed sweeping measures Thursday designed to aid President Donald Trump’s mass deportations.
The moves attempt to put Florida on the frontlines with Trump, as the White House openly battles with blue states such as New York over immigration. The legislation guarantees the state will spend nearly $300 million to help state and local authorities detain migrants and then hand them over to federal authorities for deportation.
Continue reading at Politico
14 states sue Musk and Trump, calling billionaire’s role unconstitutional
Fourteen states sued Elon Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Trump on Thursday, arguing that the tech billionaire’s sweeping efforts to cut government spending are unconstitutional.
The coalition of states, led by New Mexico, alleges that Musk’s expansive role as the head of DOGE violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution given that he has not been confirmed by the Senate.
“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” they wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
Eric Adams preparing ‘for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island’
“Today, I met with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan and local federal law enforcement officials to discuss how we can work together to remove violent migrant gangs from our city,” Adams said in a statement.
“We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years,” he continued.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democratic senator: ‘DOGE is now at the IRS’
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Thursday that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are now examining the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), warning against access to U.S. taxpayer data.
Democrats have sounded the alarm over DOGE and its leader, Elon Musk, attempting to overhaul the U.S. Agency for International Development and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to gain access into the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
“My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America,” Wyden wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X, which Musk owns.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrats needle GOP budget plan in hours-long hearing
Democrats raised the alarm throughout the hearing over potential cuts to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while criticizing Republicans on tax proposals they argued would disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans and needling the party on the estimated economic impact of the plan.
While the 45-page resolution leaves out key specifics on Republicans’ cost-cutting plans, it includes broad instructions that call on committees to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. But Democrats used much of their time seizing on some Republican proposals that have been floated in recent weeks.
Among the amendments sought by Democrats was one proposed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) aiming to strike instructions to the Committee on Agriculture, which the resolution called to find upward of $200 billion in spending reductions.
“Let me be clear about what these cuts mean. We’re talking about slashing food assistance for 40 million vulnerable Americans,” Omar argued, accusing Republicans of putting programs like SNAP and the federal supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, commonly known as WIC, “on the chopping block.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Key bird flu lab threatens to strike as California cases and egg prices climb
The only facility in the state able to handle high-risk cases could go offline as workers allege burnout and injuries.
SACRAMENTO, California — Workers at a key lab for testing animal disease are threatening to go on strike, raising concerns about California’s ability to respond to the growing outbreak of bird flu that has sent the price of eggs soaring nationwide.
Technicians at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab at the University of California, Davis, have been sounding the alarm for months, alleging staffing shortages and strains as their union has been in contentious negotiations with the University of California system. The University Professional and Technical Employees are set to finish voting Thursday on whether to strike, arguing their demands haven’t been met systemwide.
The lab is the only one in the state able to handle the most dangerous cases of avian flu, which has swept through dozens of poultry and hundreds of dairy farms in California’s agricultural heartland with no clear end in sight.
Continue reading at Politico
Quebec to Trump: Let’s make a deal
“I’m a businessman. He’s a businessman,” says Premier François Legault, who points out that aluminum tariffs are at odds with a U.S. manufacturing renaissance.
Quebec Premier François Legault, a former airline CEO, recalls a memorable exchange with Donald Trump, back when the U.S. president was launching a Trump Shuttle between Boston and New York and wanted to acquire the call letters “AT” from Air Transat.
Legault, then Air Transat’s CEO, says he had a gruff response: “No fucking way.”
During a visit to Washington, the leader of Canada’s second-most populous province said when he recently reminded the U.S. president of their exchange, Trump replied: “You’re my kind of guy.”
Continue reading at Politico
National retailers warn of higher prices with reciprocal tariffs
The National Retail Federation (NRF) is warning that higher prices will soon hit Americans as President Trump signs off on reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners.
“While we support the president’s efforts to reduce trade barriers and imbalances, this scale of undertaking is massive and will be extremely disruptive to our supply chains,” David French, NRF’s executive vice president of government relations, said in a statement.
“It will likely result in higher prices for hardworking American families and will erode household spending power,” he continued. “We encourage the president to seek coordination and collaboration with our trading partners and bring stability to our supply chains and family budgets.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Ocasio-Cortez says Adams ‘must be removed’
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) publicly urged New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) to resign on Thursday, echoing previous calls to remove him from leadership following his federal indictment on corruption charges.
“Adams must be removed. The city cannot sustain being governed for nearly a year by a Mayor who is being coerced by Trump admin in order to escape charges,” the lawmaker wrote on the social platform Bluesky.
“This corruption poses a real threat to the people of the city. He should have resigned a while ago, but will not. So it’s time for him to go.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Ex-Biden Ambassador Rahm Emanuel joins CNN as senior political commentator
Rham Emanuel, who served in the Biden administration as the U.S. ambassador to Japan, is joining CNN as a senior political commentator, the network announced Thursday.
Emanuel will also be a global affairs commentator and bring his “extensive knowledge of American politics and international affairs” to the network, CNN said in a release.
Continue reading at The Hill
Google and Apple restore TikTok to app stores
Apple restored the app after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the company assuring it will not face fines for violating a law that banned the video-sharing platform last month, according to a person familiar with the correspondence.
Continue reading at Politico
Forest Service fires 3,400 people after ‘deferred resignation’ deadline passes
The cuts amount to about a 10 percent reduction in the agency’s workforce.
The U.S. Forest Service will fire roughly 3,400 federal employees across every level of the agency beginning Thursday, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The move targets employees who are still within their probationary period, which means it’s easier for them to be let go.
Public safety employees at USFS are exempt from the firing. While firefighter jobs appear to be unaffected, other roles that support wildfire prevention are being cut. Employees who work on road and trail maintenance, timber production and watershed restoration are also impacted.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump administration fires thousands of federal workers
At least six government agencies have initiated layoffs, as DOGE’s efforts enter a more aggressive phrase.
The Trump administration moved swiftly to lay off thousands of government employees in at least six agencies Thursday, initiating a new and more aggressive phase of its push to shrink the federal workforce.
Officials would not say how many layoff notices they plan to send, but acknowledged they expect to go well beyond the 77,000 employees who have already accepted offers to leave. The voluntary resignation program — ended after a judge’s ruling Wednesday — culled 3 percent of the workforce, well short of the administration’s 10 percent goal.
“This is not a mission to reach a quota, this is a mission to streamline the government,” said a White House official granted anonymity to discuss the thinking behind the administration’s actions.
Continue reading at Politico
Texas judge fines New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas
The ruling was handed down on the same day New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the same doctor.
ALBANY, New York — A Texas judge on Thursday fined a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas in one of the first challenges in the U.S. to “shield laws” enacted in Democratic-controlled states where abortion is legal.
The ruling was handed down on the same day New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the same doctor, Dr. Maggie Carpenter, who was charged in that state with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.
Continue reading at Politico
Top Manhattan prosecutor and two DOJ officials resign after being ordered to drop Eric Adams case
In a letter, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said her office was preparing to bring a new indictment against the mayor.
Danielle Sassoon, who was selected by President Donald Trump’s administration to lead the Manhattan office while his permanent pick awaits Senate confirmation, quit in protest over the order to drop the Adams charges. So did the acting head of Justice’s Criminal Division, Kevin Driscoll, and the top remaining official in the Public Integrity Section, John Keller, according to a person familiar with the moves.
Sassoon’s exit, which was first reported by The New York Times, prompted an extraordinary response from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
In an eight-page letter accepting Sassoon’s resignation, Bove excoriated the seasoned litigator and said he transferred control of Adams’ case to Justice Department headquarters in Washington and will move to dismiss the case without the cooperation of the New York office.
“Under your leadership, the office has demonstrated itself to be incapable of fairly and impartially reviewing the circumstances of this prosecution,” Bove wrote.
Bove’s move to take over the case faced protests from within Main Justice too. Driscoll and Keller also resigned rather than move to dismiss Adams’ case, the person familiar with the developments said.
Continue reading this updated article at Politico
Mitch McConnell takes his revenge on Trump
For the third time in three weeks, former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had a scathing explanation after he voted "no" on a Trump nominee.
Why it matters: Freed from his leadership role and with a long history of antagonism between himself and President Trump, McConnell has become one of new Senate GOP leader John Thune's (R-S.D.) top dissenters.
"I'm a survivor of childhood polio," McConnell said of his "no" vote on Thursday for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary.
"I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles."
Zoom in: McConnell was the lone Republican to vote against Kennedy and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Continue reading at Axios
Schumer's private plea to Senate Dems who are weighing retirement
In private meetings with his in-cycle incumbents, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has asked for a small favor: If you're not going to run in 2026, please let me know soonest.
Why it matters: Two Democrats in potentially close races have now honored his request. A third — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) — has yet to make an announcement.
Schumer craves clarity on the 2026 Senate map, according to people familiar with the matter.
He also wants time to consider the party's options, allocate resources and develop a comprehensive strategy to eat into the GOP's three-seat majority.
Driving the news: Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) on Thursday morning became the second senator in as many months to announce her retirement, following Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in January.
Both decisions sent shockwaves throughout Washington.
The intrigue: That leaves Shaheen, 78, as the only open question for many senior Democrats.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump administration holds up money for wildfire mitigation projects
The decision to withhold the money pending an accountability review is threatening efforts to prevent or reduce damage from catastrophic blazes like the ones that recently ripped through Southern California.
It also undermines Trump’s repeated insistence that communities need to clear combustible materials like fallen branches and undergrowth to guard against wildfires.
The scrutiny is being applied only to projects using money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, two centerpieces of former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
India ‘fully prepared’ to take back Indians living in the US illegally, Modi says
More than 725,000 immigrants from India are in the U.S. without authorization, the third-most of any country after Mexico and El Salvador, according to the Pew Research Center.
Recent years have also seen a jump in the number of Indians attempting to enter through the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians in the year ending Sept. 30 — 60% of all arrests there and more than 10 times the number from two years ago.
“Any verified Indian who is in the U.S. illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India,” Modi said.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
House Republicans advance their budget after appeasing hard-liners
The House Budget Committee adopted a budget resolution Thursday as GOP leaders work to unlock the power to enact major Republican priorities along party lines.
Score one for the backers of “one big, beautiful bill.”
House Republicans launched their budget plan out of committee Thursday night — the first legislative step toward fulfilling President Donald Trump’s policy agenda but at odds with the Senate’s continued pursuit of a “two-track” plan.
[…]
Democrats are already blasting it. “How can my colleagues across the aisle take money that is meant to put food on people’s tables and instead use that money so a CEO can deduct the cost of a private jet?” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) said during the markup, calling the plan “a betrayal of the middle class.”
A floor vote on the fiscal blueprint is House GOP leaders’ next challenge in the arduous process of unlocking the filibuster-skirting power of reconciliation. The budget measure would allow the House’s tax panel to come up with tax cuts that increase the deficit by up to $4.5 trillion over a decade, while ordering other committees to cut enough from mandatory spending programs to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge orders Trump administration to restore funds for foreign aid programs
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for hundreds of foreign aid contractors who say they’ve been devastated by President Donald Trump’s abrupt — and in their view illegal — 90-day blanket freeze.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Washington, D.C.-based appointee of President Joe Biden, said the Trump administration failed to account for the extraordinary harm caused by the broad-based halt to foreign aid.
“At least to date, Defendants have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs,” Ali wrote.
Continue reading at Politico
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