Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 36 | Blog#42
Word of the day: Trompe l'oeil
Yesterday’s post
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Note from Rima: I highly recommend you look at yesterday’s news post going from the bottom, up to about the middle. It is very long, as all the posts have been over the past 30+ days, but some very important things have happened that you should know.
Potential cuts at AI Safety Institute stoke concerns in tech industry
The looming layoffs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could reportedly impact up to 500 staffers in the AISI or Chips for America, amping up long-held suspicions the AISI could eventually see its doors shuttered under Trump’s leadership.
Since taking office last month, Trump has sought to switch the White House tone on AI development, prioritizing innovation and maintaining U.S. leadership in the space.
Some technology experts say the potential cuts undermine this goal and could impede America’s competitiveness in the space.
“It feels almost like a Trojan horse. Like, the exterior of the horse is beautiful. It’s big and this message that we want the United States to be the leaders in AI, but the actual actions, the [goal] within, is the dismantling of federal responsibility and federal funding to support that mission,” said Jason Corso, a robotics, electrical engineering and computer science professor at the University of Michigan.
Continue reading at The Hill
US-China trade rule change hangs in the balance
Speaking to a governors’ conference at the White House on Friday, President Trump appeared to believe he had ended the “de minimis” exemption, a rule that allows packages valued at less than $800 to enter the U.S. without being taxed or inspected and that critics say helps to facilitate illegal shipments of synthetic opioid fentanyl into the U.S.
“We’re not doing that anymore,” Trump said in response to a question on the de minimis rule from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. Trump then spoke at length about how advertising campaigns were an effective measure against drug abuse, recommending that McMaster implement such a policy in South Carolina.
However, the U.S. is still accepting shipments under the de minimis exemption until “adequate systems are in place” to get rid of the rule and collect tariff revenues from the imports, according to a Feb. 5 executive order that has yet to be updated.
Continue reading at The Hill
The Memo: GOP divides emerge over Trump’s handling of Musk, Ukraine
President Trump is only beginning the second month of his second term but divisions are already erupting.
The friction is so obvious that Democrats, having been pummeled by their election loss last November, are taking heart.
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville told SiriusXM’s Dan Abrams in a Friday interview that the Trump administration “is in the midst of a massive collapse.”
That is almost certainly hyperbole fueled by wishful-thinking. But Carville’s comment, even if exaggerated, contains a kernel of truth.
There are obvious divides among Republicans on two very different issues.
One, the war in Ukraine, is a matter of global significance. The other, the furor over Elon Musk’s role in trying to scythe down the size of the federal government, has more in common with the reality TV-style drama that always surrounds Trump.
Both issues are in focus right now.
Continue reading at The Hill
Student loan borrowers face abrupt 180 as GOP budget plans threaten to raise payments
While the GOP proposals might change quickly, student loan forgiveness is now a thing of the past, and borrowers are bracing as their loans become a potential reconciliation target.
“We really see this as an attack on students and working families with student loan debt. We’ve seen an array of really problematic proposals that are on the table for congressional Republicans,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for Student Borrower Protection Center.
“Many of these would cause massive spikes for families with monthly student loan payments,” she added.
The House and Senate are working on competing massive legislative packages to fund the government and advance President Trump’s agenda, with the lower chamber aiming to vote on its budget reconciliation resolution as soon as Tuesday. With a slim majority, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can afford few defections.
House Republicans had over a dozen proposals on the table in a January memo about how to cut higher education costs, with some considered more likely to come to pass than others.
Continue reading at The Hill
Acting IRS chief to retire amid agency disruptions
The move comes after layoffs at the agency and DOGE personnel seeking access to taxpayer data.
Doug O’Donnell, the acting head of the IRS, is expected to announce his retirement on Tuesday amid turbulence at the tax collection agency, according to a person familiar with his plans.
His planned departure comes nearly a week after the Trump administration started laying off thousands of agency workers and following a bid by personnel from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to gain access to taxpayer data.
O’Donnell has worked at the IRS for four decades and took over leadership of the agency in January, after President Donald Trump made it known he planned to replace then-Commisioner Danny Werfel. His exit comes in the midst of tax-filing season for millions of Americans.
The New York Times first reported O’Donnell’s retirement Monday night.
Continue reading at Politico
Democrats see GOP’s Tillis as vulnerable after Hegseth, Gabbard votes
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is emerging as one of the Democrats’ top targets in the battle for the Senate after voting for all of President Trump’s most controversial nominees.
Democrats view Tillis and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) as the two most vulnerable Republican incumbents of the 2026 cycle as North Carolina is a perennial purple state and Maine hosts the only Republican-held Senate seat that Kamala Harris won last year.
But North Carolina may be shaping up as a more promising pickup opportunity because of Tillis’s votes to confirm Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel.
And with limited pickup opportunities on an electoral map that favors Senate Republicans, Democrats are expected to go all in on the North Carolina race, especially if they get their top recruit, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Continue reading at The Hill
Dan Goldman looks to be ‘the man in the arena’ against Trump
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) wasn’t planning to run for Congress after his stint as the lead counsel on President Trump’s first impeachment.
If anything, spending months as a staffer had discouraged him from seeking office, even as he felt assured the public would weigh details unearthed during Trump’s impeachment trial as they decided whether to return him to the White House.
“I had hoped that Joe Biden would win and that Donald Trump would ride his golf cart into the sunset,” Goldman said.
Instead, Trump denied his 2020 election defeat and a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol — events that inspired Goldman’s run for office in 2022.
“I’m somebody who lives by the Teddy Roosevelt quote that it is better to be the man in the arena than the person outside, criticizing the man in the arena,” he said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump wants Europe to buy more US farm goods. It can’t.
There are insuperable market, phytosanitary and political obstacles — and it could get worse.
BRUSSELS — Donald Trump is an equal-opportunity mercantilist. When it comes to the European Union’s €198 billion trade surplus with the United States, he’ll claw at any sector he can. Brandishing 25 percent tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, the U.S. president has demanded that the bloc buy more American cars, fossil fuels, weapons, pharmaceuticals — and food.
“They don’t take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them … tremendous amounts of food and farm products,” Trump complained to journalists in Florida earlier this month, decrying his country’s €18 billion deficit in agri-food trade with Europe.
Taking more of the first four is feasible. The Commission can lower its 10 percent duty on imported automobiles, while EU countries can purchase less oil from Kazakhstan, fewer missiles from South Korea, and smaller drug batches from Switzerland. These demands would hurt local industry, but they are doable if Brussels wants to appease the irascible ultranationalist.
The fifth is not. A range of culinary, phytosanitary and political obstacles bar the way to Europe's importing most American staples — from Texan beef and Kentucky chicken to Wisconsin milk and Kansas wheat. Then there's the fact the new EU commissioners for agriculture and animal welfare, Christophe Hansen and Olivér Várhelyi, want to tightly regulate agri-food imports.
It may be a bitter pill for the president to swallow. But not even his “Art of the Deal” can vanquish Europe’s Art of the Meal.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
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EU eyes €200B secret weapon as Trump dominates Ukraine peace talks
Europe has significant leverage after being left out of key talks on ending the war in Ukraine, but will it use it?
BRUSSELS — U.S. President Donald Trump is acting like he holds all the cards in talks to end the war in Ukraine.
But Brussels has a €200 billion secret weapon up its sleeve.
After being left out of discussions with the U.S. and Russia Feb. 18 on ending the war in Ukraine, European governments could go for the nuclear option — seizing the Russian sovereign assets that were immobilized after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Luckily for the bloc, the lion’s share of those funds — around €200 billion — is being held in Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear and is earning interest. The U.S., on the other hand, holds a mere $5 billion.
Seizure of those assets is a drastic option that would almost certainly guarantee Europe a bigger seat at the table, after it was frozen out by the U.S. and the Kremlin in their recent talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But as finance ministers and central bank governors gather in South Africa this week for the G20, EU governments remain divided on whether unfreezing those funds would prove to Trump that Brussels still has some muscle — or whether it would backfire.
Bargaining chip
Amid the looming threat of U.S. disengagement from Ukraine, Russia hawks argue that unfreezing the cash and handing it to Kyiv would allow the war-torn country to gain the upper hand on the battlefield and resist Trump’s demands to end the war.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Macron gets platitudes but nothing concrete from Trump
The American didn’t call Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” during Macron’s lightning visit to Washington on Monday — but he also refused to call Vladimir Putin one.
WASHINGTON — They joked, they held hands, they hugged — but they didn't see eye to eye on Ukraine.
The bromance between Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump was back on display in the White House on Monday, with the two leaders reminiscing about the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris and shared dinners at the Eiffel Tower.
Macron showered Trump with compliments, calling him "a game changer" and "Dear Donald," while the American hailed their "very special relationship."
But the pleasantries hardly papered over the gulf that separates the U.S. president from his French counterpart.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Documents reveal how military contractors want to take over mass deportations
The group, led by Blackwater veteran Erik Prince, has close Trump ties.
A group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, has pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of “processing camps” on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a “small army” of private citizens empowered to make arrests.
The blueprint — laid out in a 26-page document President Donald Trump’s advisers received before the inauguration — carries an estimated price tag of $25 billion and recommends a range of aggressive tactics to rapidly deport 12 million people before the 2026 midterms, including some that would likely face legal and operational challenges, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.
The group, which includes some former immigration officials, is led by Prince, who has close ties to Trump, and Bill Mathews, the former chief operating officer of Blackwater, the military contractor known for its role in providing security, training and logistical support to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war on terror.
The emergence of the proposal, marked “unsolicited,” is indicative of the major hurdles the administration faces as it struggles to find the resources to fulfill Trump’s ambitious deportation agenda. The administration’s desire to make good on that signature campaign promise has created an opening for private contractors who see a rare area in which the Trump administration is likely to increase spending.
Continue reading at Politico
Dems are preparing to blast Republicans on health care. It worked in 2018.
Democratic House leaders are urging lawmakers to “localize” the effects of Medicaid cuts.
House Democrats hammered Republicans on health care to win back the majority in 2018. Now, they are preparing to punish them again.
Private messaging guidance from party leaders, sent to Democratic lawmakers ahead of a planned Tuesday budget vote and obtained by POLITICO, urged them to accuse Republicans of “betray[ing] the middle class by cutting Medicaid while giving huge tax breaks to billionaire donors.” And it encouraged members to “localize” the effects of slashing billions from Medicaid.
“It is critical that you make the damaging local impacts of this legislation real for the people you represent,” said the memo circulated on Monday.
The messaging guidance reflects a consensus among Democrats that Medicaid may be their best opening as they scramble to find an effective line of attack against President Donald Trump and his Republican majorities in Congress. And there are signs that these budget votes, should they happen on Tuesday evening, could break through: Republican lawmakers faced angry constituents at town halls last week, while protesters showed up to decry Medicaid cuts at district offices in Arizona, California, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
Continue reading at Politico
Putin offers to sell minerals to Trump, including from Russian-occupied Ukraine
The proposal comes as Kyiv and Washington negotiate a deal on critical minerals in Ukraine.
The offer came amid an attempt by the Trump administration to gain preferential access to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Ukraine’s critical minerals as payback for previously supplied aid, while offering no clear security guarantees or prospects of future funds in return.
Speaking in a televised interview after convening a meeting on development of the rare earth metals industry on Monday, Putin said Ukraine’s potential critical minerals deal with the U.S. “does not concern us” — but claimed Moscow had more to offer Trump than Kyiv did.
“We would be ready to cooperate with our American partners ... if they showed interest in working together,” Putin said, adding that Russia has “an order of magnitude more resources of this kind than Ukraine.”
Continue reading at Politico
Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by DOGE are expected to produce no savings
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that the Trump administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.
The Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk last week published an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 417 in all, are expected to yield no savings.
That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.
“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
2. Searching for federal authority
Experts in federal employment law concur there's nothing in how OPM works that would allow for mass firings over an email (non)response.
"Neither DOGE nor OPM has authority to fire these federal workers," said David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law School whose research focuses on administrative law.
According to Tamara Slater, a shareholder at Alan Lescht & Associates, a D.C. law firm that represents federal employees, "I"m not aware of any authority that would allow OPM to direct an agency to fire somebody."
OPM seemed to concede the point yesterday with its memo, which also emphasized that the president's office is "exempt" from this exercise. That office presumably includes DOGE.
Between the lines: Even if agencies follow Musk's guidance, and try to fire employees for not responding, they would likely face challenges defending that move.
Continue reading at Axios
Elon Musk's DOGE efforts hit a brick wall
Despite his threats, Elon Musk can't simply fire federal employees for not responding to an email, attorneys and former senior federal officials told Axios.
Why it matters: So far legal barriers haven't stopped Musk's DOGE purge — and he even has President Trump's explicit support in his latest effort — yet Musk may now be bumping up against a harder boundary.
For the first time, federal agencies appear to be pushing back, and they're getting support from the executive branch, despite what Trump is saying publicly.
The big picture: It's too early to tell if agencies will hold the line and terminate workers for failing to reply to the email, sent from the Office for Personnel Management on Saturday with the subject line "What did you do last week?"
The deadline to respond was Monday at 11:59 pm EST.
Still, it's clear that some agency heads — who've been confirmed by the Senate in contrast to Musk's more murky power — are flexing muscle against DOGE, said one former senior OPM official familiar with the agency's workings.
OPM doesn't actually have the authority to reach into agencies and simply fire workers. That's in agency hands, and with Musk's latest move, "I think you're starting to see some of that tension playing out," the official said.
Continue reading at Axios
What's behind Trump's views on Ukraine and Russia
President Trump sparked criticism and suspicion last week when he falsely blamed Ukraine for invading Russia. But his offhand remark reflected a belief his advisers say is real: that NATO helped "provoke" the conflict years ago.
Why it matters: Trump's view of Ukraine is key to understanding why he has turned 80 years of U.S. foreign policy on its ear by criticizing NATO, opposing its expansion there, and cutting European partners out of peace talks.
Critics on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean accuse Trump of kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, embracing the dictator's disinformation, excusing his aggression and putting Ukraine in too much of a vise.
The big picture: Trump's approach to the war represents a rejection of the reflexively pro-European trans-Atlanticism of past presidents — especially Barack Obama, Joe Biden and George W. Bush. It's also rooted in Trump's longstanding desire to normalize ties with Russia.
Another sign of how Trump is dramatically changing U.S. policy came Monday, when the U.S. broke with European allies by declining to support a United Nations resolution that condemned Russia and demanded it withdraw from Ukraine.
Continue reading at Axios
Texas, Mississippi have the most detained immigrants
Facilities in Mississippi and Texas are holding the most detainees among the tens of thousands who've been rounded up across the nation during the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration, according to newly released federal data.
The big picture: The data shed light on the housing arrangements federal officials have made for detainees at a time when the U.S. government's immigration centers are at near capacity — and the Trump White House is pushing for dramatically more arrests.
By the numbers: The Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Miss., is holding the largest number of detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), averaging 2,154 a day, according to the data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) and reviewed by Axios.
The South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas has the second-most ICE detainees (1,680 a day), followed by the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. (1,531 per day).
No state is holding more immigration detainees than Texas: Eight detention centers in the state were among the nation's top 20 facilities that each are holding at least 800 people for ICE, according to an Axios review of the data, which runs through Feb. 8.
Continue reading at Axios
Federal watchdog Trump wants to oust tries to stop probationary staff firings
A government watchdog who oversees federal workers' whistleblower reports said Monday his office is seeking to halt some of the Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers.
The big picture: Hampton Dellinger, who's suing the administration after President Trump tried to remove him from his role leading the Office of Special Counsel, said he's requested that the firing of six probationary agency workers be halted due to concerns the action may violate the law — and he indicated he may intervene in more cases.
The Trump administration is facing several lawsuits as it conducts mass firings of federal workers that officials say is part of a drive to save money and reduce bloat.
Driving the news: Dellinger filed a request on Friday for a 45-day stay in the probationary workers' firings "across various executive branch agencies" with the independent agency the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which reviews the Office of Personnel Management actions, per a statement from the special counsel's office.
"Firing probationary employees without individualized cause appears contrary to a reasonable reading of the law, particularly the provisions establishing rules for reductions in force," Dellinger said in the statement.
Continue reading at Axios
Kremlin dismisses Trump’s claim that Russia would accept peacekeeping troops in Ukraine
Russia has not changed position on foreign troops in Ukraine, Peskov indicated.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov Tuesday declined to comment directly on United States President Donald Trump’s claim that Russia would accept peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, but referred to an earlier rejection of the idea by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“There is a position on this matter that was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. I have nothing to add to this and nothing to comment on,” said Peskov.
Following talks with the U.S. in Riyadh, Lavrov called the presence of the European peacekeepers in Ukraine “unacceptable.”
“Therefore, we explained today, the appearance of armed forces troops from the same NATO countries, but under a foreign flag — under the EU flag or national flags — does not change anything in this regard. This is, of course, unacceptable for us,” Lavrov said.
Trump said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine in a potential breakthrough that could help end Russia’s war against Kyiv.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
EU leaders to hold urgent video call for Macron-Trump debrief
The call comes ahead of a specially called summit.
BRUSSELS — European Council President António Costa announced a video conference of European leaders Wednesday morning ahead of the special summit scheduled for March 6.
“To prepare for the Special European Council on 6 March, I am organizing a videoconference of the members of the EU Council, tomorrow morning, to hear a debriefing from President Emmanuel Macron on his recent visit to Washington DC,” Costa wrote Tuesday in a post on X.
On Sunday, Costa announced he was convening a special meeting of European leaders next week to discuss security for Ukraine and Europe.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Macron to Trump: Make trade war with China, not with us
“Come on, you cannot have a trade war with China and Europe at the same time,” Macron tells Fox News in an interview.
French President Emmanuel Macron hopes he convinced United States President Donald Trump not to wage a trade war against Europe — and to instead focus on China.
“Come on, you cannot have a trade war with China and Europe at the same time. I hope I convinced him,” Macron told Fox News in an interview after meeting Trump in Washington Monday.
Macron said Washington’s “priority is to put tariffs on China” and that fighting a trade war with Europe at the same time would go against U.S. interests.
“I hope I did convince him on trade and tariffs," Macron told Trump’s favorite TV station. “I told him: It’s very important for you not to launch new tariffs.”
Continue reading at Politico
Capitol agenda: Big, beautiful budget on life support
Speaker Mike Johnson has several holdouts on his budget plan, which he still plans to send to a floor vote Tuesday evening.
Mike Johnson has about 12 hours to get his conference behind his plan for enacting the president’s sweeping agenda. It’s not looking good.
The speaker insists he’s not changing the budget resolution, which would set parameters for a sweeping bill to address border security, energy and tax policy. If House Democrats are at full attendance, just two GOP “no” votes would sink the resolution.
He and other GOP leaders held meetings late into the night Monday to try to flip holdouts, who fall into two camps with diametrically opposed demands: centrists who don’t want significant reductions to Medicaid and other safety-net programs, and conservatives who want steeper spending cuts.
There was some progress from those meetings. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, previously undecided, said she was leaning yes after she left Johnson’s office. But a handful of other centrists, including Reps. Tony Gonzales and Juan Ciscomani, remain undecided.
Many of them met Monday night with Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, as Republican leaders are scrambling to find cuts to other programs to soften the blow to Medicaid, according to three people granted anonymity to speak frankly. The existing budget framework would have Guthrie’s committee cut $880 billion from initiatives under the panel’s purview — with Medicaid poised to feature prominently on the chopping block.
Continue reading at Politico
Note from Rima: This news item repeatedly came up on many news sites all throughout yesterday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson tries to push Trump’s ‘big’ agenda forward, but GOP votes are in jeopardy
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will try against the odds to muscle a Republican budget blueprint to passage this week, a step toward delivering President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts over stiff opposition from Democrats — and even some Republicans.
With almost no votes to spare in Johnson’s bare-bones GOP majority, the speaker is fighting on all fronts — against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators — as he works to keep the package on track. Votes set for Tuesday evening are in jeopardy, and the outcome is uncertain.
“We’re going to get everyone there,” Johnson, of Louisiana, said at an event at the start of the week, half-joking that he had a “prayer request” involved.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Warren Davidson is the latest Republican to oppose the House budget
He joins at least three other Republicans who are leaning against Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan. Still others are undecided.
Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio on Tuesday became the latest Republican to oppose Speaker Mike Johnson‘s budget plan, further imperiling the House GOP’s plans for President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda.
Johnson can afford minimal defections, and Davidson joins Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana in publicly opposing the fiscal blueprint GOP leaders want to pass Tuesday evening. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee has also said he is leaning against supporting it.
“They convinced me in there — I’m a no,” Massie said as he left a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday.
Davidson said he was particularly frustrated with how GOP leaders were handling the impending March 14 government funding deadline.
“I’m not voting for that” without getting more details on Johnson’s plans for appropriations legislation, he said.
Continue reading at Politico
Consumer confidence registers biggest monthly decline since August 2021 as inflation fears take hold
The American consumer is getting worried about the economy.
Economic jitters are showing up across various sentiment surveys as the Trump administration aims to reconfigure America’s trade relationship with the world and inflation shows signs of getting stuck.
The latest evidence comes from The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for February, released Tuesday morning. The index fell to 98.3, falling for the third-straight month and marking the largest monthly decline since August 2021, as expectations for inflation in the year ahead climbed. That coincides with the trends reflected in the University of Michigan’s consumer survey for February.
Homebuilders are also growing worried, according to the National Association of Home Builders; even US small businesses, which remain somewhat optimistic about deregulation and tax cuts, are in doubt about the economy’s future. The National Federation of Independent Business’ Uncertainty Index rose in January to its third-highest reading on record.
America’s souring economic mood, driven by worries over President Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs, is a stunning reversal from the (brief) burst of optimism after President Donald Trump’s election in November.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Zelensky expected to visit White House amid push for minerals deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit the White House on Friday as Kyiv and the Trump administration work to finalize an agreement on critical minerals.
President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he heard Zelensky was visiting on Friday, “and certainly it’s OK with me if he’d like to.”
Trump a day earlier had signaled Zelensky could be in Washington this week or next week to sign off on a critical minerals deal between the two countries.
The Trump administration has been involved in talks with Ukraine about gaining access to the country’s critical minerals amid talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. U.S. officials have suggested the deal would benefit Ukraine because it would create a greater incentive for the U.S. to provide security guarantees for Kyiv.
Continue reading at The Hill
Ukraine and US agree to minerals deal, reports say
Donald Trump hinted Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to Washington to sign the deal on Friday.
Ukraine and the United States have agreed on the terms of a minerals deal and could sign it this week, according to several media reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to Washington to sign the deal this week, telling reporters: “I hear that he’s coming on Friday. Certainly, it’s OK with me if he’d like to.”
Ukrainian newspaper Economic Pravda cited a version of the deal dated Feb. 24 which would see Kyiv pay 50 percent of the revenues from its state-owned natural resources into a fund that would invest in Ukraine.
Notably, the agreement lacks American security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv was reportedly pushing for.
But it also does not mention the $500 billion figure Trump was demanding in compensation for Washington's support for Kyiv in fending off Moscow’s invasion.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
State Department officials pushing to release more frozen Ukraine funds
The efforts highlight internal discord inside the Trump administration over how to treat Kyiv.
Senior State Department officials are compiling a list of additional exemptions to the foreign aid freeze for Ukraine that could give the country access to some economic and security-related assistance currently on hold.
If enacted, the waivers would go beyond ones that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has allowed worldwide for “core life-saving” assistance to fund programs such as demining and narcotics control, according to a State Department official, two other people familiar with the planning and a document obtained by POLITICO.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump’s latest budget nominee avows funding freeze, pledges to follow Vought
Former Rep. Dan Bishop told senators it would not be his job to “decide what is lawful” if confirmed as deputy director of the president’s budget office.
The Senate began its public vetting on Tuesday of President Donald Trump’s pick for the No. 2 post at the White House budget office, a position key to carrying out the president’s funding freeze.
Dan Bishop, a former congressmember from North Carolina, testified before senators in his first confirmation hearing to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. Pledging to follow the orders of Trump and White House budget director Russell Vought, the OMB nominee vowed to “fix” a federal bureaucracy he characterized as “self-absorbed, inefficient, unaccountable and mal-administered.”
Continue reading at Politico
Trump speaks with several holdouts ahead of key budget vote
The president has been on the phone with GOP lawmakers reluctant to vote for the fiscal blueprint.
President Donald Trump is speaking with some House Republican holdouts ahead of an imperiled vote on the GOP’s budget Tuesday evening.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Trump had been “tremendously” helpful ahead of the critical vote. Speaker Mike Johnson likewise told reporters several House Republicans had called the president as they weighed their votes.
Several House Republicans are holding out for a commitment to deeper spending cuts, while others fear that the eventual legislation will cut Medicaid too deeply. Johnson can lose only one vote if all Republicans are present.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Trump asked him to support Johnson’s plan in an early-afternoon phone call. The key GOP holdout was seen speaking to the president as he and Johnson walked to the House floor for a key procedural vote.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump launches review that could lead to copper tariffs
The White House suggested Tuesday there is a strong case for copper import protections because the metal is an essential component of military hardware.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday instructing the Department of Commerce to investigate whether to impose tariffs on copper and derivative products, key industrial materials, in order to protect national security.
The action sets the stage for more trade friction with Canada and Mexico, which are substantial copper suppliers, as well as other nearby countries, such as Chile and Peru.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump administration lawyers deny plans to dismantle consumer watchdog
The Trump administration denied allegations Monday that it aims to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Government lawyers said in a new court filing that the consumer watchdog will continue to exist, as an employee union and other groups seek to halt what they have described as the “wholesale dismantling” of the agency.
“Remarkably, the CFPB employee groups and other Plaintiffs now spin these actions and others as being part of a ‘coordinated campaign by the new administration to eliminate the’ CFPB,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
Thune urges Musk to treat federal workers ‘respectfully’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday urged Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to treat federal workers respectfully as they look to cut wasteful programs and improve efficiency in government.
While Thune said he supports the effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy and overhaul programs that have grown steadily larger and more complex over the last several decades, Thune advised Musk to keep in mind the human element of cutting jobs and funding.
“I think that any process you undergo where you’re trying to find efficiencies, if that involves reductions in force, it needs to be done in a respectful way, obviously respectful of the people involved,” he told reporters.
Continue reading at The Hill
Under pressure, White House reinstates HBCU scholars program
The Trump administration has reopened applications for a federal scholarship that aids studying agriculture at historically Black universities after outcry from lawmakers over its abrupt suspension last week.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal 1890 National Scholars Program through its Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE), put the program on hold last week “pending further review,” but the program’s USDA website was updated Tuesday to note that the application process has resumed. Eligible students can apply through March 15.
USDA’s OPPE said its review had been completed so applications were reopened.
Continue reading at The Hill
Clips
Watch live: Jeffries, Dem leaders make case against GOP budget plan
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) alongside other Democrats will give remarks Tuesday afternoon as their Republican colleagues press forward with a budget resolution that seeks to push through President Trump’s legislative agenda.
Democrats remain united in their quest to block the GOP-led budget plan, and Jeffries urged all of those in the party to be in the chamber for the anticipated vote. With full attendance, Republicans can only afford to lose the support of one GOP lawmaker, which the New York Democrat said makes their presence “pivotal.”
Jeffries has also vowed to use the March 14 government shutdown deadline as a vehicle to block Trump’s early moves to gut federal programs.
Continue reading at The Hill
Progressives launch campaign against Trump, GOP tax agenda
Progressives have launched their first organized campaign against Republicans’ tax agenda, urging Democratic lawmakers and activists to fight jointly against what they say will be tax breaks for billionaires.
“It’s a con, it’s a grift,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) at a press conference with Congressional Progressive Caucus members on Tuesday. They argued the tax cuts plotted by Trump would leave wealth concentrated with the top 1 percent.
Liberal lawmakers and advocacy groups have started to sporadically address the wealth problem they see as corroding Washington under Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk, who is in charge of so-called government efficiency measures and controversial federal workforce cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: Here is a list of Progressive Caucus members. Chris Murphy is not on it.
Putin ready to work with US companies on mining rare-earth deposits in Russian-occupied Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation was ready to work with U.S. companies to secure rare raw minerals within the nation’s borders in hopes of ending the conflict in Ukraine after three years of war.
“It is important to emphasize that Russia possesses significantly — I want to stress this — significantly larger resources of this kind than Ukraine. Russia is one of the uncontested leaders when it comes to rare and rare-earth metal reserves,” Putin told reporters during a Monday interview aired on state TV, according to a transcript provided by the Kremlin.
He urged partners to substantially invest in the harnessing of resources for the use of microelectronics, energy and building infrastructure for the digital economy.
Putin’s statement comes after American officials proposed that Ukraine allow the U.S. access to its raw minerals to recoup billions of U.S. dollars designated to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
Continue reading at The Hill
‘Furious and looking for action’: DOGE is turning into a Democratic candidate recruitment tool
More than 2,000 people reached out to an organization that recruits people to run for office in the last week.
Democrats say sweeping government cuts led by Elon Musk have started to awaken a latent opposition to President Donald Trump — and they’re hoping it will motivate a slew of new down-ballot candidates to run in the years ahead.
Early interest in running for office is already beginning to rise — at least one major candidate recruitment organization saw a sharp spike of more than 2,000 new applications pouring in as Musk issued major actions pushing federal workers out. A lot of that web traffic came from Reddit threads of former federal employees considering runs for political office that sprang up last week.
Continue reading at Politico
Consumer confidence buckles as Trump’s policies revive inflation concerns
This is a “flashing yellow light regarding growth and inflation prospects,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at European insurance giant Allianz.
Consumer confidence plummeted in February as more Americans grapple with concern that President Donald Trump’s policies could slow growth and cause prices to rise, according to a new survey.
The Conference Board’s widely cited consumer confidence index notched its sharpest monthly decline since August 2021, when the country was experiencing a resurgence of Covid-19 variants. The index now stands at 72.3, well below the threshold that normally signals an imminent recession, as respondents reported increasing pessimism over income, business and labor market conditions. Average 12-month inflation expectations also spiked as Americans face higher prices on eggs and other household staples, according to the group’s summary of its findings released Tuesday.
Continue reading at Politico
‘There will continue to be a CFPB’: Trump administration says it won’t shut bureau
The bureau — long a big target of Republicans — is at the center of the Trump administration’s effort to slash the federal bureaucracy.
The Trump administration intends to keep the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau operating, although in a more streamlined form, according to a new court filing.
“The predicate to running a ‘more streamlined and efficient bureau’ is that there will continue to be a CFPB,” consumer bureau Acting Director Russ Vought said in a motion filed late Monday in federal court in Washington.
The bureau — long a big target of Republicans and financial institutions — is at the center of the Trump administration’s effort to slash the federal bureaucracy. Advisers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency embedded with the agency in early February, and Vought, directed staff to stand down from all work. The headquarters are shuttered and probationary employees have already been culled, sparking concerns that the bureau would be shut down.
Continue reading at Politico
Mike Johnson struggles to contain a GOP budget revolt
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is once again grappling with persistent right-wing defectors ahead of a key budget vote that could come as soon as Tuesday evening.
Why it matters: The vote on a budget resolution is the critical first step towards passing the massive fiscal bill that President Trump has put forth.
"Every time we've had a big vote on the House floor, we're talking to members all the way up until the moment the vote closes," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at a press conference.
But Johnson, acknowledging the uncertainty, told reporters: "There may be a vote tonight, there may not be — stay tuned."
State of play: Several GOP lawmakers said Tuesday they remain opposed to the resolution, which would allow for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase and $2 trillion in spending cuts.
Continue reading at Axios
21 federal employees just resigned "in protest" over DOGE's efforts
From CNN's Sunlen Serfaty
Twenty-one United States Digital Service technology staffers just resigned today in what is being seen as a mass protest resignation against the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to a federal government employee with knowledge of the resignations.
These are, according to this source, “Your most skilled people – pretty much handling the top priorities – they all just resigned. Engineers, designers, data scientists, project managers, leading work on critical projects across the government..”
These are workers who were USDS, which is the agency that became DOGE.
“It is people who don’t want to be a part of this. For this group…it is a protest. They don’t want to be a part of it.”
Continue reading at CNN.com
FAA testing Musk’s Starlink at 3 sites to fix ‘reliability’ issue
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is testing the use of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet platform to fix connectivity issues in U.S. airspace.
The agency, on Monday, stated that some remote areas in the U.S. have “long” had problems with providing reliable weather information for the aviation community.
“That is why the FAA has been considering the use of Starlink since the prior administration to increase reliability at remote sites, including in Alaska,” the FAA wrote on the social platform X. “This week, the FAA is testing one terminal at its facility in Atlantic City and two terminals at non-safety critical sites in Alaska.”
Later on Monday, Musk said the switch was in part due to issues with services provided by Verizon, which had a $2 billion contract with the federal agency.
Continue reading at The Hill
Bitcoin falls below 90K in 3-month low
Bitcoin fell below $90,000 on Tuesday, marking a three-month low for the popular cryptocurrency.
The price of Bitcoin dropped more than 8 percent to $87,262 as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Coinbase. This was the crypto coin’s the lowest value since November, when it slid to about $86,128.
Tuesday’s plunge put bitcoin about 20 percent off its all-time high on President Trump’s inauguration day following a weeks-long rally after the president’s election victory last November.
Continue reading at The Hill
How DOGE cuts might show up in the data
Efforts by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to cut vast numbers of federal jobs will surely show up in national economic data — but don't expect the impact to be massive, or immediate.
Why it matters: In a $30 trillion economy with 159 million jobs, it takes a lot to meaningfully move the dial. The types of cuts to federal employment and government contracts that have been enacted thus far by the DOGE crew are comparatively small scale.
That could change if President Trump and congressional Republicans enact a bigger agenda of austerity.
State of play: The administration is seeking to lay off probationary federal employees (those who've been on the job for less than a year), of which there are about 220,000, assuming they overcome pending legal challenges.
Another 77,000 federal workers have accepted DOGE's buyout, which keeps them on the payroll through September.
An open question is how many of those workers find new jobs, how many experience prolonged unemployment, and how many exit the workforce entirely.
Continue reading at Axios
Mike Johnson struggles to contain a GOP budget revolt
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is once again grappling with persistent right-wing defectors ahead of a key budget vote that could come as soon as Tuesday evening.
Why it matters: The vote on a budget resolution is the critical first step towards passing the massive fiscal bill that President Trump has put forth.
"Every time we've had a big vote on the House floor, we're talking to members all the way up until the moment the vote closes," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at a press conference.
But Johnson, acknowledging the uncertainty, told reporters: "There may be a vote tonight, there may not be — stay tuned."
State of play: Several GOP lawmakers said Tuesday they remain opposed to the resolution, which would allow for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase and $2 trillion in spending cuts.
Continue reading at Axios
Bessent's private sector pitch
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. private sector has been in a recession — putting the blame on the Biden administration's agenda.
What they're saying: "Our goal is to reprivatize the economy," Bessent said Tuesday at the Australian Embassy, just four blocks away from the Treasury Department.
"The private sector has been in a recession," Bessent said, adding that recent jobs growth has been concentrated in health care, government and education.
"This degree of concentration in the relatively less productive sectors of the economy is not only highly unusual relative to pre-pandemic years, but presents a drag on the growth potential of the U.S. economy."
Why it matters: In a wide-ranging speech, the Treasury secretary said the Trump administration was looking to reverse what he characterized as huge spending that came at the expense of the private sector.
Continue reading at Axios
What to know about the Feb. 28 "economic blackout"
A grassroots movement is calling on Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers on Feb. 28 as part of an "economic blackout."
Why it matters: The economic protest comes as many everyday Americans struggle to keep up in the current financial landscape, characterized by high housing costs, surging egg prices and stubborn inflation.
Between the lines: This week's economic blackout is the latest, but not the first, grassroots movement against consumerism that has gained steam in the face of high costs of living.
Earlier this year the "no buy 2025" challenge gained traction on social media for similar reasons.
Who is behind it?
The Feb. 28 economic blackout is an initiative by The People's Union USA, which describes itself as a "grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform."
The group says it has no political affiliation but is rather focused on uniting Americans against corporate greed.
The movement was founded by John Schwarz, who describes his movement as raising awareness about the ways the "system is rigged" against everyday Americans.
What is the economic blackout?
Continue reading at Axios
White House says it will determine which reporters have access to the president
“All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Fresh of a legal victory allowing it to ban the Associated Press from White House events, the Trump White House announced on Tuesday that the administration — not an independent group of journalists — will determine which outlets have access to the president as part of a pool allowed into the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One and into other otherwise closed meetings and events.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the changes in the briefing room on Tuesday, asserting that the White House Correspondents’ Association “should no longer have a monopoly” on organizing pools and that the White House would determine the makeup of the pool on a day-to-day basis.
Continue reading at Politico
Cramer suffers ‘severe concussion’ after fall in North Dakota
The Republican senator said in a Facebook post that he will stay away from Washington as he recovers.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is recovering back in North Dakota after falling on Sunday and suffering a “severe concussion,” he said in a Facebook post.
Cramer, who turned 64 last month, said that he was walking down to his dock earlier this week when he “stepped on ice and evidently fell hard, hitting the back of my head.”
[…]
His absence this time will leave the Senate Republican majority temporarily capped at 52 seats, which is still enough for the GOP to confirm nominees without needing help from Democrats so long as they remain mostly united.
Continue reading at Politico
Musk’s ‘what did you do last week?’ email hits a million replies
About one-third of the federal workforce replied to the demand.
More than a million federal employees responded to last weekend’s controversial email — amplified by Elon Musk in a threatening post on X — demanding a list of five things they did on the job last week.
The White House, eager to present the email demand as part of its coordinated attempt to dramatically scale down the size of the federal government, made that announcement at Tuesday’s press briefing.
“All federal workers should be working at the same pace as President Trump is working and moving,” Leavitt said. “This is to ensure that federal workers are not ripping off American taxpayers, that they are showing up to the office and that they are doing their jobs. And it’s a very simple task to complete.”
That amounts to roughly a third of the federal workforce, which numbers about 3 million.
Continue reading at Politico
Note from Rima: File under “lies, damn lies”
Treasury Secretary Bessent: Private sector has been in "recession"
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. private sector has been in a recession and placed blame on the Biden administration agenda.
The big picture: In a wide-ranging speech, the Treasury secretary said the Trump administration was looking to reverse what he characterized as huge government spending that came at the expense of the private sector.
"This is about more than just reducing the fiscal deficit," Bessent said. "Government overspending brings distortions in the economy that inhibit dynamism and limit growth to a designated subset of favorite sectors."
Zoom out: "Our goal is to re-privatize the economy," Bessent said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Australian embassy.
"The previous administration's over-reliance on excessive government spending and overbearing regulation left us with an economy that may have exhibited some reasonable metrics but ultimately was brittle underneath," Bessent added.
He said that the private sector has been in a recession, with jobs growth concentrated in government, education and health care sectors.
Reality check: As of January, the private sector was still adding jobs at a healthy rate, though the pace of gains in 2024 slowed from the prior year.
Continue reading at Axios
House GOP advances budget resolution as conservative opponents hold firm
House Republicans advanced their budget resolution to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda on Tuesday, teeing the measure up for a final vote even as GOP opponents of the measure appeared to hold firm.
The chamber voted 217-211 along party lines to adopt the rule — which governs debate on legislation — for the House GOP’s budget resolution. The conference is looking to use the blueprint to pass Trump’s domestic policy priorities, including border funding, energy policy and tax cuts.
The fate of the budget resolution, however, remains unclear. The chamber is scheduled to vote on the measure’s final adoption around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, but that timeline could slip as opposition from conservative budget hawks puts the legislation in jeopardy.
Continue reading at The Hill
Musk to join Trump’s first White House Cabinet meeting
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is set to join President Trump’s first White House Cabinet meeting slated for Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Musk’s attendance comes as widespread confusion continues to plague agencies over a directive by Musk over the weekend that indicated every federal employee must answer an email with five bullet points of what they accomplished over the last week.
Continue reading at Axios
Democrats warn of ‘largest Medicaid cut in American history’
House Democrats are ramping up their attacks on the GOP’s budget plan, warning that the massive spending blueprint would translate into the steepest Medicaid cut in the program’s history.
Behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the Democrats are vowing unanimous opposition to the budget resolution when GOP leaders bring it to the floor, which could happen as early as Tuesday evening.
Continue reading at The Hill
71 percent of Trump voters oppose Medicaid cuts
Most President Trump voters say they oppose any cuts to Medicaid as Republican lawmakers wrestle with how to reach up to $2 trillion in budget cuts through their reconciliation bill, a poll released Monday found.
The poll from Hart Research conducted for the nonprofit Families Over Billionaires, which advocates in opposition to tax cuts for the wealthy, found 71 percent of voters who backed Trump said cutting Medicaid would be unacceptable. Voters overall were even more opposed to it, with 82 percent saying so.
Six in 10 Trump voters also said cutting food and nutrition programs would be unacceptable.
Continue reading at The Hill
Kremlin appears to contradict Trump on Ukraine peacekeepers
“There is a position on this matter that was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Politico. “I have nothing to add to this and nothing to comment on.”
Peskov was hosting a media call with reporters about the developing situation to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The call came just a day after Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Trump said he’d asked Russian President Vladimir Putin about peacekeepers and Putin had “no problem with it,” despite the Kremlin later dismissing the remarks, NBC News reported.
Continue reading at The Hill
White House says follow agency heads, not Musk, on employee directive
The White House on Tuesday said Cabinet secretaries would have final say over whether employees need to respond to an Elon Musk-inspired memo asking workers to list five accomplishments from the past week.
Musk has spurred confusion with his call for federal workers to send their bosses a list of accomplishments, or face termination. But press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that President Trump was giving agency heads final say on whether employees needed to reply at all.
Continue reading at The Hill
Judge blocks Trump’s executive order suspending refugee admissions to the U.S.
The Seattle-based judge’s injunction blocks key components of one of Trump’s Day One executive orders.
A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order implementing an indefinite “pause” on refugee admissions to the United States, saying the directive appeared to amount to a “nullification” of federal law.
Trump’s order, which instructed the Department of Homeland Security to immediately stop processing refugee admissions, “has crossed the line from permissible discretionary action to effective nullification of congressional will,” said U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, a Seattle-based appointee of President Joe Biden.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s plan to freeze federal aid
A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration’s freeze of federal funding, dealing a stark blow to President Trump’s sweeping efforts to realign government spending with his agenda.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan enjoined the government from “implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name” the White House budget office’s directive to freeze federal assistance while reviewing the spending.
“In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning,” AliKhan wrote. “Defendants either wanted to pause up to $3 trillion in federal spending practically overnight, or they expected each federal agency to review every single one of its grants, loans, and funds for compliance in less than twenty-four hours. The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Farmers, green groups sue USDA over ‘unlawful purge’ of climate data
Farmers and green groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday for an “unlawful purge” of climate data from its website.
“This lawsuit challenges the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s unlawful purge of climate-related policies, guides, datasets, and resources from its websites, without any advance notice as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act, without engaging in reasoned decision-making as required by the Administrative Procedure Act, and in violation of its obligation under the Freedom of Information Act to publish certain information proactively,” the filing reads.
The organizations involved include Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which are representing the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump suspends security clearances for Jack Smith’s outside lawyers
President Trump on Tuesday signed a memo suspending security clearances for employees at a law firm who assisted with former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the now-president.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf said in the Oval Office that the memo targeted Washington, D.C.-based law firm Covington & Burling, which provided pro bono legal services to Smith in his probes of Trump that resulted in two criminal indictments.
“As a result of those actions, we’re now going to be suspending and putting under review security clearances for employees at that firm and holding people responsible,” Scharf said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump pitches ‘gold card’ as replacement for EB5 investor visa
The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would be revamping the U.S. investor visa, increasing the funds required to secure the status while dubbing the new option a “gold card.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters in the Oval Office that the Trump administration would be ending the existing EB5 visa program, while President Trump boasted the new visa would bolster the economy.
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card. They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful,” Trump said.
Continue reading at The Hill
The White House has evaded for weeks on saying who is leading DOGE. Here’s who it is.
Former U.S. Digital Service expert Amy Gleason — not Elon Musk — is DOGE’s acting administrator, says White House.
After repeatedly refusing to identify the administrator of the new Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration on Tuesday pointed to Amy Gleason, a former U.S. Digital Service official, as the operation’s acting administrator.
A White House official granted anonymity to speak openly confirmed to POLITICO that Gleason — who, according to her LinkedIn, served as a digital services expert at U.S. Digital Service during Trump’s first term and most recently worked as chief product officer at Nashville health care firm Russell Street Ventures — is helming the operation.
The White House has avoided naming the DOGE administrator for weeks. Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged multiple questions on the matter, saying: “I’m not going to reveal the name of that individual from this podium.”
Continue reading at Politico
Musk push to downsize federal workforce runs into Cabinet roadblock
Musk’s weekend directive for government employees to respond with bullet points describing what they accomplished in the past week under the threat of termination was not thwarted by courts or independent watch dogs.
Instead, it was newly minted department and agency chiefs who slowed the effort, earning the support of some GOP lawmakers.
“I think that’s why we worked so hard to get these folks confirmed,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday. “They’re now in a position to make those decisions, and I think some of those already asserted that right to make those decisions.”
Continue reading at The Hill
New data show deadly police encounters hit decade-high in 2024
The number of deadly police encounters jumped last year to its highest level since 2013, according to newly released data.
Why this matters: The rise comes as the momentum for police reform has died five years after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and as President Trump ends initiatives aimed at reducing police misconduct.
By the numbers: A mapping initiative by Campaign Zero, an organization that advocates against police violence, found that 2024 saw 1,365 people killed by law enforcement.
That was less than a 1% increase from the previous year, but the small spike came as early data showed an overall national decline in homicides and other violent crimes.
A large majority of police killings (64.6%) were in response to 911 calls, the analysis found.
Continue reading at Axios
About half of federal workforce answered Musk email, WH says
More than 1 million federal workers responded to an email asking them to document what they did last week, sent at Elon Musk's behest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
Why it matters: That's only about half the federal workforce — perhaps to be expected, as many agencies told employees to ignore the email.
The email created confusion and a bit of chaos inside agencies. Musk had said on X that workers who didn't respond would be fired, but the White House backed away from that threat on Monday.
Zoom in: "We've had more than 1 million workers who have chosen to participate in this very simple task of sending five bullet points to your direct supervisor or manager, cc'ing OPM [the Office for Personnel Management]," Leavitt said, noting that she herself had sent off her five bullet points.
"Took me about a minute and a half."
Where it stands: Leavitt noted that asking workers to report on their accomplishments is a strategy that Musk has employed at his private companies.
Continue reading at Axios
Republicans’ rosy Medicaid savings plan sees waste galore
Even if every improper payment were caught, it wouldn’t provide a third of the savings the GOP needs.
If House Republicans manage to adopt a budget proposal as they plan on Tuesday night, it’ll be because they convinced members of their caucus concerned about Medicaid cuts that those will come from rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, not reducing benefits.
It’s hard to see how the numbers add up.
The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, estimates about $31 billion last year in improper payments in Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.
Continue reading at Politico
The Fiscal Times newsletter
Number of the Day: 30,000
The layoff notices have been flying in Washington since President Trump and DOGE overseer Elon Musk took power in January, and all those pink slips are quickly adding up. According to a tally being kept by New York magazine, about 30,000 workers have been laid off so far, and that number is only expected to grow in the coming days. The administration says the goal is to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but critics charge that the mass firings are creating chaos that could be damaging and costly in the long run.
Here are some of the largest layoffs from the New York list:
Department of Agriculture: 4,200 probationary employees were fired, including about 3,400 from the Forest Service. Most probationary employees have been hired within the last year or two and have fewer legal protections, and their firings raise questions about whether they are being eliminated because they are poor performers or just easy targets. To complicate matters, some probationary employees are more experienced and have simply taken new positions within their organizations.
*** Department of Energy**: 1,000 probationary workers were fired, with about half of them working on the power grid in the West.
*** Department of Health and Human Services**: Around 2,800 fired, including 1,500 probationary employees at the National Institutes of Health and 1,300 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the Associated Press reports that the CDC firings were announced as 1,300 but have been closer to 700 so far).
*** Department of Homeland Security**: More than 400 were fired, about half from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Continue reading at The Fiscal Times
IRS Hit With Major Layoffs
The IRS began firing employees Thursday as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive effort to downsize the federal workforce.
The tax revenue agency is expected to lay off approximately 6,700 workers in the coming days, mostly recent hires who are still in their probationary periods. The firings Thursday reportedly include roughly 500 workers in Texas, more than 600 in New York and over 300 each in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Layoffs are being reported across divisions within the IRS, including collections and tax compliance, and arrive just as tax season swings into full gear. Sources told ABC News that another round of layoffs could occur once tax season comes to an end in April.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday that Trump ultimately wants to eliminate the tax agency. “Donald Trump announced the External Revenue Service, and his goal is very simple: to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” he told Fox News, referring to Trump’s proposal to create a new agency that would collect tariff and foreign tax revenues.
While tax experts say it would be all but impossible to replace U.S. income taxes with tariffs – the tariff rate would have to be 100% or more, so high that imports would plummet as prices double, eliminating the foundation of the revenue – National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended the idea Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that it is “absolutely” a possibility.
Continue reading at The Fiscal Times newsletter
Teachers union sues over Trump admin’s DEI warning to schools
The American Federation of Teachers sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its warning to schools that they may lose federal funding if they persist with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Baltimore, alleges the Education Department’s Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter is unconstitutionally vague and runs afoul of the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
“That racial discrimination was written into the laws of the United States is a historical fact that cannot be erased by a Dear Colleague Letter,” the complaint states. “Black Americans were enslaved by law, laws prevented Black Americans from owning property, attending public schools, and voting. This is, by definition, a legal structure that imposes differences based on race.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Comer threatens to remove Frost after Trump ‘grifter’ dispute
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) threatened to remove Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) from a committee meeting Tuesday following a dispute over the Florida Democrat calling President Trump a “grifter.”
“People like the grifter in chief, Trump, and President Musk are openly using their public offices to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars,” Frost said during the meeting.
“So, if we want to look at waste, fraud and abuse, which I’m down to do, why is there complete silence on the other side of the aisle about looking at the complete grifter that … is the president of the United States and the richest man on the earth,” the Florida Representative added before being interrupted.
Continue reading at The Hill
Florida governor’s race exposes DeSantis-MAGA fissures
President Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) for Florida governor is revealing fissures among the state’s Republicans in a state that has become the center of the GOP universe.
Trump’s endorsement is extremely valuable in Florida given his widespread popularity in the state. The public backing of Donalds, who has yet to officially jump into the race, has led many to ask whether the primary is effectively over.
But on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has also played a starring role in the state’s GOP wins, took a swipe at Donalds, suggesting he has not played a role in conservative wins in that state. The governor then went on to tout his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, as someone who would be able to take his record “to the next level.”
Continue reading at The Hill
First Senate Dem announces she will support Trump’s Labor secretary nominee
Sen. Maggie Hassan’s decision means Lori Chavez-DeRemer will almost certainly advance to the floor, and boosts her chances at confirmation.
Sen. Maggie Hassan will vote to advance President Donald Trump’s pick for Labor secretary, significantly boosting Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s chances at confirmation.
The New Hampshire Democrat is on the Senate HELP Committee, which on Thursday will consider whether to advance Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination to a floor vote. Chavez-DeRemer was expected to need Democratic votes to move forward, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has expressed significant reservations over her past support of the PRO Act, a bill backed by Democrats that strengthens unions' ability to organize.
Continue reading at Politico
House GOP pulls budget resolution, signaling Republicans lack votes
House GOP leaders pulled their budget resolution from the floor at the last minute Tuesday evening after they were unable to win over a handful of conservative fiscal hawks who threatened to tank the framework for President Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda.
In a stunning scene on the House floor, top Republican lawmakers decided to scrap plans to vote on the measure after lobbying holdouts in the chamber for more than an hour. They kept the previous vote remained open for far longer than anticipated, allowing leaders to speak with those opposed to the measure.
Trump even personally talked to holdouts — who included fiscal hawks skeptical about its effect on deficits and moderates concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid — trying to get their support for the “one big beautiful bill.”
Continue reading at The Hill
UPDATE: The vote is back on after, apparently, Rep. Warren Davidson flipped to yes. Watch here:
National parks cutting hours, services amid federal layoffs
Staffing shortages are affecting parks nationwide
Experts say it may affect park experiences this Spring
5,000 seasonal employees were reinstated last week
National parks across the U.S. face service reductions and staffing shortages due to federal budget cuts, affecting more than 1,000 employees and potentially millions of visitors.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, about 400 people took the federal buyout, and about 1,000 more were laid off.
Despite a hiring freeze, the Department of the Interior reinstated 5,000 seasonal employees last week, and now they’re signing off on more than 2,000 more.
Continue reading at The Hill
House approves ‘big, beautiful bill’ budget after wild whip effort
GOP leaders canceled then rescheduled a Tuesday evening vote as they tried to flip holdouts.
House Republicans approved a budget framework for President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda Tuesday — a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson who worked with Trump and fellow leaders in a chaotic last-ditch effort to win over naysayers within the GOP ranks.
The vote went almost entirely along party lines, 217-213, with every Democrat voting against the measure and only GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky joining them. Adopting the budget measure is a key step toward passing the “big, beautiful bill” that Trump and Johnson have called for — one that includes border security, tax and energy provisions that the president campaigned on.
The Senate passed a competing plan last week, and the Republicans in the two chambers must now reconcile the significant differences between the two fiscal blueprints.
Tuesday night’s vote came after a wild scene on the House floor that played out over the course of hours. Around 6:30 p.m. members were called to the floor to begin voting on an unrelated measure, with the budget plan to follow. But that unrelated vote was held open for more than an hour as the GOP whip team worked to win over the holdouts.
Democrats screamed “regular order” as the planned 15-minute vote stretched on and on. Shortly after 7:30 p.m., the vote was closed and members were informed the budget vote was canceled. Minutes later, leaders sent out another alert saying the vote was back on.
Continue reading at Politico
Crockett delivers blunt message to Musk: ‘F— off’
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) delivered a short and blunt message to tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday when approached by a reporter outside the Capitol.
“If you could speak directly to Elon Musk, what would you say?” the reporter asked, in a clip now widely circulated on social media.
“F— off,” Crockett responded.
The Hill has reached out to Crockett’s office for further comment.
Continue reading at The Hill
Dems join Republicans to kill Biden drilling rule
The Senate has voted on its first Congressional Review Act resolution of the 119th Congress to undo a Biden-era rule.
A group of Senate Democrats crossed the aisle Tuesday to blow a hole in former President Joe Biden’s environmental legacy.
The Senate voted 54-44 on a resolution that would undo an Interior Department rule affecting offshore drilling. Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada and Jacky Rosen of Nevada joined all Republicans present to overturn the rule.
Continue reading at Politico
Kern County immigration raid offers glimpse into new reality for California farmworkers
KERN COUNTY, Calif. — It has been more than six weeks since U.S. Border Patrol agents from the agency’s El Centro sector launched a three-day raid in rural stretches of Kern County, resulting in the detention and deportation of scores of undocumented laborers.
The unusual undertaking — carried out more than 300 miles from El Centro near the U.S.-Mexico border — came at the tail end of the Biden administration. Border Patrol Chief Agent Gregory Bovino, a 25-plus-year veteran who leads the Imperial County unit, headed up the operation without the involvement of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Three former officials with the Biden administration, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to share operational details, said Bovino “went rogue” with the January raids. No higher-ups knew about the operation before watching it unspool in real time, two of the former officials said.
Instead, said one, it seemed to be a play by some Border Patrol agents, on the eve of President Trump’s return to office, to “show that there was a new boss coming and that that’s where their loyalties lay.”
Continue reading at the Los Angeles Times
Congressional Republicans start backing away from Musk
The tech mogul hinted he might wade into spending negotiations again ahead of the next government funding deadline.
Elon Musk is beginning to wear out his welcome with congressional Republicans.
In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday shrugged off Musk’s attempt to interfere with his budget plan. In the Senate, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis pointedly suggested that President Donald Trump’s appointees should stand up to the billionaire’s whims, including his recent demand that all federal workers justify their employment. And a growing number of GOP lawmakers urged the tech mogul to show more compassion for the civil servants he’s already culled.
“As we get more Senate-confirmed leadership in the departments, I think they have to take the reins,” Tillis said in response to a POLITICO reporter’s question at the Capitol.
“They’re closer to it, they’re more granular, they’ll understand and be able to really implement thematically what they’re trying to do with DOGE,” Tillis said, “but to avoid some of the unintended outcomes that they have to go back and reverse.”
Meanwhile, some GOP members are calling on Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to route its cuts through Congress in a process known as rescission. And even Republicans staunchly supportive of Musk’s mission to shrink the government are beginning to acknowledge public pushback to the speed and sweep of DOGE’s cuts.
Continue reading at Politico
Who is Amy Gleason, the person named DOGE’s acting administrator by the White House?
Gleason, 53, worked from 2018 through 2021 in the United States Digital Service, an agency that has been renamed the US DOGE Service, according to her LinkedIn profile. In that role, she worked with the White House on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
She returned to the agency in January after Trump took office. DOGE and Gleason did not respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Marjorie Taylor Greene explains why she believes federal employees ‘do not deserve their jobs’
Note from Rima: Where to begin?
Economist Dean Baker
Economist Jared Bernstein
Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality cross-posted a post from Jared’s Substack
Brad DeLongFeb 23 · Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality
What does a truly fair economy look like? In this piece, Jared Bernstein dismantles the empty promises of faux populism and argues that the real solutions—rebuilding worker bargaining power, progressive taxation, a public sector that works for working Americans, and smart harvesting of our share of the enormous benefits from global economic integration—are hiding in plain sight. If we in the opposition party can articulate and implement these ideas, we stand to build a powerful and durable political-economic coalition.
Economist Brad DeLong
Brad DeLong is an economics professor. He posts various things, including the slides for his lectures. This one, we can all learn from
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Misogyny and Misanthropy Under Musk (and Trump) | Blog#42
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