Things Trump Did... Day 17 | Blog#42
The demolition derby goes on...
Yesterday’s post
Senate Democrats delay Kash Patel committee vote
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI was pushed until next week as Democrats delayed it due to panel rules.
Voting on Patel’s nomination was on the agenda for Judiciary members, but Democrats requested it be held over one week. It is the prerogative of a member to request such a move one time.
A similar move was made on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s nomination last month.
Continue reading on The Hill
Bondi scraps Biden-era environmental justice enforcement policy
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo Wednesday that the Justice Department will reverse a Biden-era directive to prioritize enforcement of environmental laws in disadvantaged and low-income communities.
Bondi’s predecessor, Merrick Garland, issued guidance in 2022 directing the department to enforce environmental laws with emphasis on communities that have historically been underserved by such enforcement, including those that are low-income and majority racial minority.
Continue reading on The Hill
DOJ sues Illinois, Chicago over ‘sanctuary city’ laws
President Trump’s Justice Department sued the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and local officials Thursday over laws creating a so-called “sanctuary city.”
Accusing the officials of impeding federal immigration enforcement efforts, the Justice Department asked a judge to declare the state and local measures unconstitutional because of the federal government’s supremacy.
“The challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law reflect their intentional effort to obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,” the lawsuit states.
Continue reading on The Hill
Democrats demand answers on Trump plans for Education Department
House and Senate Democrats sent a letter to the acting Education secretary Thursday demanding answers around potential executive orders from the president to weaken the Department of Education.
“Over the course of two weeks, the Trump Administration issued sweeping executive orders and sought to broadly and illegally freeze federal financial assistance. Federal employees have been targeted, in some cases for simply following the law,” the Democrats wrote in the letter.
“Elon Musk is attempting to shut down the work of entire agencies while gaining access to some of the federal government’s most far reaching and sensitive data systems,” they added.
Continue reading on The Hill
Here’s where Trump’s Cabinet nominees stand
A slate of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees have appeared before senators in recent weeks for key hearings on their road to confirmation.
Former Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was the first to be confirmed, securing the secretary of State position with a unanimous vote on Inauguration Day. Other Trump picks, though, faced more resistance: Vice President Vance had to break a Senate tie to confirm Pete Hegseth as Trump’s secretary of Defense.
A handful of other nominees have already advanced out of committees, teeing up floor votes. But hearings are yet to be scheduled for still more of Trump’s choices as he looks to solidify his inner circle of second-term advisers.
Continue reading on The Hill
Murphy warns of risk to democracy: ‘Red-alert mode’
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) warned that there’s an ongoing risk to democracy, saying it’s time for a “red-alert mode.”
Murphy joined CNN on Wednesday to discuss his criticisms and concern over the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) recent actions impacting the federal government.
“I just think there’s a tipping point at which you can’t get your democracy back. And I see all of these very purposeful lines of effort that the Trump administration, Elon Musk, are taking, and I think we just have to be, right now at this moment, on red-alert mode,” Murphy said.
Continue reading on The Hill
Trump promises ‘great computerized’ system that could avert mid-air collisions
President Donald Trump suggested that his administration would usher in a new computer system for air traffic control to replace the current outdated one
President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed his administration will create a “great computerized system” for air traffic control that, had it been in place, could have prevented the recent midair crash involving a passenger jet and a helicopter that killed 67 people.
“It would have never happened if we had the right equipment,” Trump said Thursday morning during a speech in Washington, adding that “bells and whistles” would have gone off before the crash occurred. (The American Airlines jet was equipped with a traffic alert and collision avoidance system; whether it was adequate is still being probed.)
Continue reading at Politico
How 3 IRA projects are dealing with the spending freeze
After a week of confusion stemming from blocked funding, projects are slowing down in numerous ways.
Some groups that are frozen out of accessing federal climate money are waiting to hire new staff members. Others are worried about paying their employees, or rent. Still others are delaying solar projects by not signing contracts with communities, for fear of not fulfilling them.
Then there are those who believe the worst — that the freeze could permanently end their work.
More than a week after President Donald Trump plunged the government into chaos by halting federal grants, the effects of frozen funding for Inflation Reduction Act programs are biting deeper, according to numerous grant recipients — many of whom spoke on background to avoid reprisals.
Billions of dollars in fully obligated grants were still frozen Wednesday, despite two court orders requiring the Trump administration to release the money.
Continue reading at Politico
Democratic polling finds Elon Musk is unpopular
The billionaire aimed for the stars and wound up under water.
House Democrats have a plan to help them win back the working class: turn the world's richest person into their boogeyman.
They’ve set their sights on holding Elon Musk to account, by attempting to subpoena him and introducing legislation to block him from receiving federal contracts while he holds a "special" role inside the government. They believe the idea of an unelected billionaire wreaking chaos on the bureaucracy will be unpopular with voters — and now they have some data to prove it.
New internal polling, conducted on behalf of House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, found Musk is viewed negatively among 1,000 registered voters in battleground districts. His approval rating is upside down (43 percent approve to 51 disapprove) and his favorability is even worse (42 percent favorable to 51 percent unfavorable).
Continue reading at Politico
Dems Strategize on Musk
As they home in on Elon Musk's efforts to dramatically overhaul the federal government, House Democratic leaders held a meeting Thursday morning to discuss the Donald Trump ally's access to the system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments. It's part of their effort to turn the billionaire into a political foil as Democrats search for an opposition message.
Democratic lawmakers heard a presentation in their whip meeting from Julie Brinn Siegel, the former deputy chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman, according to a person familiar with the meeting. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had laid out a 10-pronged plan of opposition to Trump and Musk's plans to upend the federal government on Monday, though the minority party's options for effective action remain limited.
Continue reading on Politico
Capitol agenda: The rundown on reconciliation, Vought vote, Netanyahu visit
The Senate is planning to move ahead on their budget resolution next week, and some Republicans in the House are not happy about it.
Senate Republicans are forging ahead with their budget plan next week as Hill skepticism persists that Speaker Mike Johnson will be able to unify his conference around one mammoth bill.
There’s a lot of movement — here’s where things stand:
The House: GOP leaders are still stalled on a plan, and Republicans are getting antsy. To help break things loose, a group of Republicans will travel to the White House later this morning to meet with President Donald Trump about their budget plans. He's been reluctant to wade into intra-GOP agenda disputes so far; we'll see if that changes.
Continue reading at Politico
Rubio vows to skip Jo’burg G20 amid Trump and Musk’s feud with South Africa
“South Africa is doing very bad things,” rants U.S. foreign policy chief.
U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio announced late Wednesday he would not attend a meeting of the G20 in South Africa, as U.S. President Donald Trump and his top adviser Elon Musk take on its government.
“South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’ In other words: DEI and climate change,” Rubio railed on social media.
“My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism,” he added.
Continue reading at Politico
UK’s attorney general called Trump an ‘orange tyrant’
Richard Hermer said the U.S. president was an “autocratic populist” in the latest uncomfortable comments by British ministers
LONDON — Keir Starmer’s top legal adviser once branded Donald Trump an “orange tyrant,” in the latest awkward comments to be unearthed from Britain’s Labour government.
The Times reported Thursday morning that Attorney General Richard Hermer used a podcast before starting his government job to take aim at Trump and accuse him of running a government of “chaos and hatred.”
Continue reading at Politico
Trump's gut-it-all plan for D.C.'s "Deep State"
The Trump administration's gutting of USAID is just a start: Elon Musk and President Trump's Cabinet and advisers are combing through agencies to purge those deemed to be anti-Trump, anti-American or too "woke," top officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump promised during his campaign to root out the "Deep State" — generally framed as institutional resistance in D.C. that impedes his agenda. But the speed and tactics of Trump's vengeance-fueled cost-cutting efforts have been surprising.
The CIA on Tuesday became the first major security agency to offer "buyouts" to its entire work force. The buyouts, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, align with new director John Ratcliffe's push for a younger and less establishment-oriented workforce.
Fresh off her Senate confirmation, Attorney General Pam Bondi is establishing a "Weaponization Working Group" to analyze the actions of federal prosecutors and FBI agents in the criminal cases the Justice Department brought against Trump. It also will examine the New York civil and criminal cases brought against him.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump claims no U.S. troops needed for his Gaza takeover plan
President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that Israel will transfer Gaza to U.S. control at the end of the fighting and after the residents of the enclave have already been displaced, so there will be no need to use American troops.
Why it matters: Trump Truth Social post seemed to be aimed at pushing back on the criticism — including from some in his America First camp — that the plan he presented on Tuesday to displace two million Palestinians from Gaza and take over the enclave would embroil the U.S. in another costly conflict in the Middle East.
Trump initially declined to rule out sending in U.S. troops on Tuesday and presented a plan that could include huge financial costs for the US.
That's a sharp shift from a president who has railed against U.S. military involvement and nation-building abroad, and one the White House now seems to be partially walking back.
Continue reading at Axios
Panama Canal Authority disputes Trump admin claim on removal of boat fees
In a rebuke of the Trump administration, Panama has refuted a claim by the U.S. State Department that American vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without being charged fees.
Why it matters: The dispute comes shortly after the State Department made the announcement Wednesday evening. President Trump has pushed to regain control of the canal — one of the world's most significant pieces of infrastructure.
The latest: "In response to a publication released by the United States Department of State, the Panama Canal Authority, which is authorized to set tolls and other fees for transiting the Canal, reports that it has not made any adjustments to them," the authority said in a statement posted to its X account.
Continue reading at Axios
Musk's team accesses Medicare, Medicaid records
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has gained access to the inner workings of Health and Human Services, including data systems of the agency that manages a nearly $2 trillion budget, handles Medicare and Medicaid benefits and runs the National Institutes of Health, the world's biggest biomedical research institution.
Why it matters: As they march through the federal bureaucracy, Musk and his team now have a seemingly unfiltered view of the sensitive inner workings of much of U.S. health care.
DOGE is looking for examples of waste, fraud and abuse as it pursues "opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources" at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency spokesperson said.
But it's not clear how wide a net it's casting or how it's defining those words.
Continue reading at Axios
Exclusive: White House seeks public input on AI strategy
The White House is announcing Thursday a fresh call for public input on actions the federal government should take regarding artificial intelligence, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: President Trump has revoked former President Biden's executive order on AI, replacing it with one that calls for a focus on U.S. leadership in the sector, including a new "AI Action Plan."
Driving the news: The administration says it is now seeking input on what should go into that AI Action Plan, set to be developed within 180 days.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy says it is seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including academia, industry groups and private sector organizations as well as state, local and tribal governments.
Continue reading at Axios
Most Americans have positive view of agencies Trump is targeting: poll
The majority of Americans hold favorable views of the federal agencies that the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have begun overhauling, a new Economist/YouGov poll found.
Why it matters: President Trump has moved to swiftly gut critical agencies in order to reshape the federal workforce and cut costs from foundational portions of the federal government.
Driving the news: While the Trump administration has targeted the National Weather Service's (NWS) parent agency, the NWS had the highest approval rating among the agencies respondents were surveyed about (76%).
Elon Musk's DOGE has set its sights on remaking the U.S.' air traffic control system, but most Americans favorably view the Federal Aviation Administration (62%) and Transportation Security Administration (59%).
Continue reading at Axios
Trump: ’60 Minutes’ should be ‘immediately terminated’ after Harris transcript release
President Trump on Thursday suggested CBS News’s “60 Minutes” be taken off the air after the program released a transcript of an interview it aired last fall with former Vice President Harris amid a federal investigation into the broadcast.
“CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. “They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election changing answers to questions, and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Senate Democrat: DOGE has ‘burrowed into the private information of every American’
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), helmed by billionaire Elon Musk, has “burrowed into the private information of every American,” as the advisory group works to cut federal spending to further President Trump’s agenda.
Coons joined CNN on Thursday, where he was asked about Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza and rebuild the region.
“Where would the tens of billions of dollars and the expertise come from?” Coons said about the president’s proposal. “If every Arab and Muslim country in the region forcefully opposes the idea of relocation Palestinians and would not support this and they’ve publicly said so, where would all this money to rebuild Gaza come from?”
Continue reading at The Hill
Jared Bernstein On The Economy
He did not…
Red ALERT!
Elon Musk presents a new vulnerability for Donald Trump
The billionaire’s strategy of moving fast and breaking things isn’t going over so well with the public.
Democrats are starting to wake up and sketch out a plan to help them win back the working class: Turn the world’s richest person into their boogeyman.
They’ve set their sights on holding Elon Musk to account. Armed with new polling showing Musk’s popularity in the toilet, key Democratic leaders are going after the top Trump adviser who is dismantling the federal government. They are attempting to subpoena him and introducing legislation to block him from receiving federal contracts while he holds a “special” role leading Trump’s cost-cutting crusade.
In a sign of how toxic Democrats believe Musk is, battleground Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) called Musk an “unelected, weirdo billionaire” and said he has “been getting a lot of calls over the past few days” about him. Golden is a moderate who represents Trump country.
Continue reading at Politico
Musk aims to hobble federal workers ahead of ‘buyout’ deadline
Countless staffers in the government are now grappling with what to do.
Elon Musk has declared war on the bureaucracy. And as a Thursday deadline nears for federal employees to take a “buyout,” he is looking to demoralize and wear down his enemy.
Across the government, officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have fired off message after message pushing staff to accept the deferred resignation program, coaxing them with promises of paid vacations and threatening that there will be layoffs if they don’t leave. At the same time, Musk has bullied them with online taunts.
Continue reading at Politico
California utility company says its equipment likely sparked Hurst Fire
Southern California Edison said in a filing submitted to state utility regulators Thursday that its equipment likely started the Hurst Fire in Sylmar last month.
The utility company’s admission comes after it acknowledged that fire agencies are investigating whether its equipment may have started the Hurst Fire, which burned nearly 800 acres when it sparked on Jan.7.
The fire was active for eight days before it was fully contained. The official cause of the fire remains under investigation, and SCE said it continues to cooperate with authorities.
In a second filing, SoCal Edison said it’s looking into whether an idle transmission line became energized and possibly sparked the deadly Eaton Fire, which impacted Altadena and Pasadena.
Continue reading at KTLA
Judge temporarily blocks Trump’s exit plan for federal employees
Senior District Judge George O’Toole has hit pause on the plan until a new hearing Monday.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing its plan to cull the federal workforce until Monday.
Senior District Judge George O’Toole temporarily paused a deadline that was set to kick in at the end of the day Thursday so as to allow time for additional legal briefs to be submitted ahead of a hearing at 2 p.m. on Monday.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge temporarily blocks Trump’s exit plan for federal employees
Senior District Judge George O’Toole has hit pause on the plan until a new hearing Monday.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing its plan to cull the federal workforce until Monday.
Senior District Judge George O’Toole temporarily paused a deadline that was set to kick in at the end of the day Thursday so as to allow time for additional legal briefs to be submitted ahead of a hearing at 2 p.m. on Monday.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time
A second federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship, harshly condemning the administration for attempting to do so at a Thursday hearing.
“It has become ever more apparent that, to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain,” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said as he announced his ruling.
Continue reading at The Hill
Cook Political Report unveils 18 toss-up House races for 2026
The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report is rating 10 Democratic-held seats and eight seats held by Republicans as toss-ups ahead of the 2026 election.
The 10 Democratic seats are represented by Reps. Adam Gray (Calif.), Derek Tran (Calif.), Jared Golden (Maine), Gabe Vasquez (N.M.), Laura Gillen (N.Y.), Don Davis (N.C.), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Emilia Sykes (Ohio), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.).
The seats the Cook Political Report sees as most vulnerable for Republicans are those represented by Reps. David Schweikert (Ariz.), Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), Gabe Evans (Colo.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa), Tom Barrett (Mich.), Don Bacon (Neb.), Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.) and Scott Perry (Pa.).
Continue reading at The Hill
Scoop: Trump lays out tax priorities to House GOP
The White House outlined its tax priorities in a meeting with House GOP leaders on Thursday — a list that includes campaign promises like ending taxes on tips and Social Security benefits, a White House official tells Axios.
Why it matters: President Trump promised that tax cuts would be a centerpiece of his agenda, but the wishlist presented Thursday also includes the closure of some loopholes typically used by the wealthy.
The priorities: Administration officials informed the Republican leaders that they were stressing Trump's "no tax on tips" proposal as well as ending taxes on Social Security benefits and on overtime pay.
Continue reading at Axios
Maternal deaths drop — except for Black women
The mortality rate for Black mothers in the U.S. has not improved, per data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why it matters: The pregnancy-related death rate for Black women is more than three times the rate for mothers of other racial and ethnic groups.
By the numbers: The maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women rose from 49.5 to 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to 2023 data from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, the most recent available.
Continue reading at Axios
Netanyahu gives Trump golden pager after devices kill Hezbollah operatives
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted President Trump a golden pager during his visit to Washington this week, an Israeli official confirmed to NewsNation.
The symbolic device is a reference to Israel’s sophisticated September military operation in which small amounts of explosive material detonated in pagers used by hundreds of members of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The golden pager is fixed onto a wooden panel and is attached to a golden plaque, with black writing.
Continue reading at The Hill
Federal court pushes White House "buyout" deadline to Monday
A federal judge on Thursday pushed back the deadline for government employees to decide whether or not to take the "buyout" offer from the Trump administration.
Why it matters: The deadline had been midnight Thursday, but there is now a restraining order until Monday.
Federal employees have been uncertain about replying "resign," as the details of the offer have changed since it was first sent out last week.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump dumped these farmers' water. They’d rather not talk about it.
President Donald Trump followed through on his promise to unleash California’s water — only the water he released belonged to the very farmers he’d promised to help.
SACRAMENTO, California — California farmers — some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters in the deep blue state — are sticking with him, even after he wasted their water.
At least publicly, the farmers and their Republican allies are brushing off the president’s abrupt move last week to dump more than 2 billion gallons of their irrigation water from reservoirs in the name of aiding Los Angeles wildfires — even though the fires were already contained and the water couldn’t have made it to Los Angeles anyway.
Continue reading at Politico
Court warns FDIC of sanctions over crypto documents
A D.C. federal judge called the FDIC's interpretation of a court order to release all documents on a cryptocurrency policy matter "almost laughable" in a hearing transcript the plaintiffs released Thursday.
Why it matters: The judge warned the agency that if it can't reliably prove relevant documents were preserved, it will be in for sanctions from the court.
What they're saying: During the Jan. 22 hearing, Judge Ana Reyes was pointed in her very first question to the agency: "Can you please explain to me why you took the position you did with respect to the interpretation of the FOIA request, which was pretty obvious on its face not limited as you limited?"
Continue reading at Axios
Senators proposing new wildfire agency
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Thursday that would create a new Wildfire Intelligence Agency, seeking to streamline the federal response to fires.
The bill, led by Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), came in the wake of recent blazes that decimated parts of Southern California, primarily in the Los Angeles region.
“The scale of the wildfire crisis demands a singular, whole-of-government wildfire intelligence center to foster cross-agency collaboration and save lives,” Padilla wrote in a statement.
Continue reading at The Hill
House Democrat: ‘I don’t contest’ DOGE will likely find ‘awful examples of wasteful spending’
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said Thursday he thinks President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, will find “awful examples” of wasteful government spending.
But he said it’s important the findings be brought to Congress, which is responsible for appropriating government funds, according to the U.S. Constitution.
Continue reading at The Hill
Committee punts on Kash Patel vote as Democrats keep up the pressure
It's not unusual for the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay votes a week, but Democrats made a show of it in opposition to President Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI.
Democrats took advantage of the rules of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to delay consideration of Kash Patel's nomination to lead the FBI — but broke some recent precedent in the process.
While lawmakers typically do a one-week punt on Judiciary Committee votes for an variety of reasons — from opposing a bill to nominees — rarely if ever does the panel meet in person to formally approve the delay. Democrats' vehement opposition to confirming Patel prompted such an in-person gathering.
Continue reading at Politico
New Bill Targeting Musk
House Democratic leaders are targeting Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s access to sensitive information through the Treasury Department’s payment systems with a new bill — and they’re ramping up pressure on Republicans who may be uneasy about the billionaire tech mogul’s ever-expanding reach within the federal government.
“Why does Elon Musk and his minions need access to the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and bank account information of millions of Americans? … What are they doing with it? And why aren't House Republicans stopping them?” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a Thursday news conference.
Continue reading at Politico
Note from Rima: Musk accused Politico of impropriety when he canceled the $8 million Politico Pro contract the government had to keep the civil service informed.
Politico’s statement on this. Click to be taken to the Politico website
Continue reading at Politico
Scoop: Trump orders key government agency to cancel all media contracts
The White House has directed the General Services Administration to terminate "every single media contract" expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios.
What they're saying: "GSA team, please do two things," a Trump administration official wrote:
Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg
Pull all media contracts for just GSA - cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.
Why it matters: President Trump is targeting the federal government's media contracts after Elon Musk and his allies discovered millions of dollars in agency subscriptions to Politico Pro, a policy tracking service widely used in Washington.
The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available, triggered erroneous theories on X about the Biden administration "funding" anti-Trump media.
Continue reading on Axios
Note from Rima: Federal workers read all kinds of trade and news publications as a part of the job they do. So do members of Congress and their staff - all paid by the government.
Trump may 'love and cherish' Medicaid. He and Congress aren't ruling out cutting it.
Cuts to Medicaid remain on the congressional negotiating table to pay for Trump's legislative agenda.
President Donald Trump has vowed to “love and cherish” Medicaid — but the White House and House Republicans will continue to build support within the party for making deep cuts to the program as planned.
After rarely mentioning the safety-net health insurance program — including over the course of his 2024 campaign — Trump last week said Medicaid was on the list of programs he wants to protect. He said he won't "do anything" to Medicaid, except for in the case of abuse or waste, claiming beneficiaries wouldn't be impacted. “It will only be more effective and better,” Trump said.
Continue reading at Politico
Musk takes a shot at Bannon: ‘A great talker, but not a great doer’
Bannon has long taunted Musk, who Trump tasked with rooting out wasteful government spending.
Elon Musk clashed with former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Thursday, as the two try to position themselves as the most faithful lieutenants of President Donald Trump’s movement.
Bannon has long taunted Musk in live interviews, though Musk has rarely returned jabs. In a POLITICO forum a week before Trump’s inauguration, Bannon said Musk didn’t “have the ability to actually make decisions and inform those decisions and drive those decisions.” Musk’s fingerprints have since been found across the Trump administration as his government efficiency organization looks to hollow out the federal workforce.
Continue reading at Politico
Rick Scott hosts reconciliation dinner
Sen. Rick Scott hosted a dinner on Wednesday night for a group of House and Senate Republicans where they discussed budget reconciliation and the debt ceiling, among other topics.
The dinner — which the Florida Republican recounted in a brief interview — is part of regular series Scott holds on Wednesdays for lawmakers. But Senate and House Republicans are struggling to get on the same page on how to pursue a sweeping legislative package that will make up of the heart of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda.
Continue reading at Politico
Second strain of bird flu found in Nevada dairy cows
Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new strain of bird flu virus different from the one circulating in other herds throughout the past year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
The strain found in the Nevada cattle raises new questions about the spread of the avian influenza virus in dairy cows, which many assumed began after the virus jumped from birds in Texas.
The newer version of the virus matches the strain currently found in wild birds and domestic poultry, as well as in the severe human cases — a Louisiana man who died in January, and a Canadian teen who was hospitalized for more than two months and nearly died.
Continue reading at The Hill
IRS: Some employees can’t take buyout until after filing deadline
A letter sent to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees said those involved in the 2025 tax season won’t be able to accept the buyout President Trump offered federal employees until after the taxpayer filing deadline.
The letter said critical filing season positions “in Taxpayer Services, Information Technology and the Taxpayer Advocate Service” are exempt from the Trump administration’s buyout until May 15, The Associated Press reported.
Taxpayers have until April 15 to file their taxes unless they’re granted an extension.
Continue reading at The Hill
Top Democrat on Commerce panel says Musk’s work with FAA poses ‘clear conflict’
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, has sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy raising concerns that Elon Musk’s involvement in reform of the Federal Aviation Administration poses a “clear conflict” given his stake in the company SpaceX.
“I’m sending a letter to Secretary Duffy. It’s a clear conflict of interest. Secretary Duffy should make sure that Mr. Musk is not part of the FAA air transportation system. He has been fined for violations,” Cantwell told reporters Thursday morning.
Continue reading at The Hill
Red states sue New York over law making fossil fuel companies pay for disasters
A group of Republican attorneys general is suing New York over a state law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for extreme weather disasters.
The 22 red states are suing New York over its “climate Superfund” law, which could make companies pay $3 billion annually for the next 25 years.
The law is modeled off of the federal Superfund law which allows the Environmental Protection Agency to recoup costs from companies that are responsible for hazardous waste sites.
The suit argues that the law exceeds New York’s constitutional authority, saying, “The Founders recognized that certain categories of conduct are best regulated through nationwide rules.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Seasoned firefighters had higher levels of ‘forever chemicals’ following 2023 Maui blazes: Report
Veteran firefighters who responded to the 2023 blazes in Maui, Hawaii, had greater levels of “forever chemicals” in their blood in comparison to those of shorter-term recruits, new research has shown.
The more seasoned first responders presented with these higher concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) a month after fighting the fires, according to the research, published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump details his tax agenda in meeting of House Republicans
Hedge funders and sports teams could take a hit under the president’s plan.
President Donald Trump laid out his tax priorities to a group of House Republican lawmakers at the White House on Thursday, including dusted-off proposals to boost taxes on some financial titans and eliminating a tax break for owners of sports teams.
Trump also reiterated the promises he made on the campaign trail to renew expiring provisions of his 2017 tax cuts, as well as eliminate taxes on overtime pay, tips and Social Security, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump allies turn their attention to the Education Department
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s first secretary of Education, called for it to be abolished entirely on Thursday.
President Donald Trump and his allies — including his former Education secretary — have publicly zeroed in on the Education Department as a potential next target for his cutting spree, an action the president vowed to accomplish on the campaign trail and one Republicans have been calling for for decades.
The Trump administration and its backers have suggested the department has evolved into a weapon wielded by progressives to enforce “woke” education policies and is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Trump has mused about allocating the department’s funding to the states.
On Thursday, the push got a notable endorsement from Betsy DeVos, Trump’s secretary of Education in his first term, who wrote in an op-ed for The Free Press that the department should be scrapped entirely.
Continue reading at Politico
Like an episode of The Wire: Brussels gang wars spiral out of control
“Mafia” shootings with Kalashnikovs trigger alarm in the city as politicians convene an emergency meeting.
BRUSSELS — Brussels is grappling with a massive outbreak of violence after drug-fueled turf wars rocked the city this week, sparking concerns for public safety.
One local lawmaker even compared the dramatic escalation, which has been inflamed by narcotics trafficking and included AK-47s being fired in busy public places, to an episode of iconic American TV drama The Wire.
Two masked men shot Kalashnikov-style weapons outside the Clemenceau metro station in the west of the city early Wednesday morning, before a second shooting in the Saint-Josse region near the European Quarter in the early hours of Thursday morning was followed by more overnight gunfire at Clemenceau.
Continue reading at Politico
Pelosi: Trump likely unaware of intelligence moves
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that President Trump is likely unaware of the use of unclassified email by the CIA to provide a list of employees recently brought on by the agency to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“Senator [Mark] Warner, I thought, perfectly addressed the issues that relate to intelligence. Asking for the names of sources …. therefore methods of our intelligence, which is there to protect our men and women in uniform and the American people, is with stiff competition, one of the worst ideas of this administration so far, with stiff competition, the worst idea,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
“I [don’t even] think President Trump knows about it, cause it’s — doesn’t even reach the level of his lack of sophistication, [in] terms of intelligence,” she added.
Continue reading at The Hill
House Dems unveil bill to shield taxpayer records from Musk
House Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation designed to protect taxpayers’ sensitive financial information from Elon Musk and his government efficiency team.
Sponsored by Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), the legislation comes in direct response to the Trump administration’s recent decision to grant Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s extensive payment system.
Democrats and other critics have bashed the move, accusing Trump of opening troves of sensitive financial records to an unelected billionaire whose various business interests have raised questions about conflicts in his new role as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Continue reading at The Hill
Meta torrented over 81.7TB of pirated books to train AI, authors say
Meta's alleged torrenting and seeding of pirated books complicates copyright case.
Newly unsealed emails allegedly provide the "most damning evidence" yet against Meta in a copyright case raised by book authors alleging that Meta illegally trained its AI models on pirated books.
Last month, Meta admitted to torrenting a controversial large dataset known as LibGen, which includes tens of millions of pirated books. But details around the torrenting were murky until yesterday, when Meta's unredacted emails were made public for the first time. The new evidence showed that Meta torrented "at least 81.7 terabytes of data across multiple shadow libraries through the site Anna’s Archive, including at least 35.7 terabytes of data from Z-Library and LibGen," the authors' court filing said. And "Meta also previously torrented 80.6 terabytes of data from LibGen."
Continue reading at Ars Technica
The CEO of Palantir is Alex Karp. He and Peter Thiel are co-founders.
Politico Playbook PM Newsletter
God, Trump and pancakes
MUSK’S PURGE CONTINUES: ELON MUSK, the tech billionaire and White House “special government employee” tasked with slashing government spending, has declared war on the bureaucracy, our HOLLY OTTERBEIN reports. As the deadline approaches for federal employees to take a “buyout,” Musk is looking to demoralize and wear down his enemy. Across the government, officials in the Trump administration have fired off message after message pushing staff to accept the deferred resignation program, coaxing them with promises of paid vacations and threatening layoffs.
Meanwhile, Musk is bullying them online.
In an email to some federal employees Tuesday, obtained by POLITICO, a commissioner at a department overseen by Musk’s allies warned of the impending pain if they don’t leave. JOSH GRUENBAUM, who manages the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, said that “we won’t need staff in certain areas of the country” and “will be cutting redundant business functions and associated staffing.”
OK, SO THERE’S THE LINE: A DOGE staffer whose access to Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday has links to a deleted social media account that advocated eugenics and spread racist ideology, WSJ’s KATHERINE LONG reports. The 25-year-old employee, MARKO ELEZ, resigned Thursday after the Journal asked the White House about that connection. The deleted profile associated with Elez, who was embedded in the Treasury to carry out efficiency measures, advocated for repealing the Civil Rights Act and backed a “eugenic immigration policy.”
Continue reading at Politico
Facing fire from DeSantis, agriculture says it doesn’t rely on undocumented foreign workers
Immigrants — both documented and undocumented — play a large role in agriculture, but that represents a small portion of their overall employment in Florida.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s agriculture industry is quietly dismissing claims it depends on undocumented foreign workers in an attempt to steer clear of an intraparty battle among the state’s Republicans over immigration.
It’s not working. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said farmers have an “affinity for cheap, illegal foreign labor” and he’s promised to veto an immigration policy bill from the GOP-led Legislature that would establish the state’s agriculture commissioner, Wilton Simpson, as Florida’s chief immigration officer, rather than having that role sit under the governor’s authority.
Representatives of Florida’s politically powerful agriculture industry, which has a $270 billion economic impact, privately say they hire foreign workers with temporary visas rather than those who remain in the country illegally.
Continue reading at Politico
EPA puts 168 staffers on administrative leave
EPA said it will consider a new structure for the Office of Environmental Justice, which was formed during the Biden administration.
The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it placed on leave 168 employees who worked on addressing pollution facing communities of color and low-income and rural areas.
The move is the latest and most sweeping action by EPA to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda targeting diversity, equity and inclusion activities across the federal government.
Continue reading at Politico
Court rulings test limits of Trump's power
A federal judge on Thursday paused the Trump administration's "buyout" offer for federal employees hours before it was set to expire.
Multiple judges have now ordered freezes on President Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship.
Lawsuits involving Elon Musk's takeover of federal agencies are just getting started, but they're already resulting in some limits on the DOGE team.
The big picture: The courts are one of the only real threats to slow or stop substantial parts of Trump's agenda — and they're doing it.
Continue reading at Axios
Duckworth won’t vote for remaining Trump Cabinet nominees
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) will vote “no” on all of President Trump’s remaining Cabinet nominees in protest against the president’s sweeping and disruptive actions in the first few weeks of his administration, she indicated Thursday.
While she and all other Senate Democrats voted to confirm Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the opening hours of Trump’s term, the bipartisan cooperation has soured quickly.
Continue reading at The Hill
Searches for ‘abortion’ on CDC website prompt suggestion to look up ‘adoption’
Users who search for abortion information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website are now directed to try searching for the word adoption.
The change comes less than a week after over a dozen federal agency websites — including the CDC — went offline. Some of the CDC’s webpages have since been restored but scientists and public health researchers are concerned that the information that has come back has been altered in some way.
Continue reading at The Hill
DOGE staffer who accessed Treasury payment systems resigns after racist posts exposed
The Elon Musk deputy who accessed sensitive Treasury Department payment systems has resigned after social media posts of his came to light that espoused racist beliefs.
Twenty-five-year-old Marko Elez, who worked for a number of companies run by Elon Musk and was part of the billionaire’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force engaged in dismantling federal offices, resigned Thursday, a White House official told The Hill.
Elez’s racist now-deleted social media posts were uncovered and first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Continue reading at The Hill
Man pardoned in Jan. 6 case arrested on 2016 solicitation charge
The Harris County District Attorney’s office said it took Andrew Taake into custody Thursday morning for the May 2016 charges, according to a post to the social media platform X.
“Taake was arrested after a surveillance operation conducted on February 4th confirmed Taake was staying at a residence in Leon County. Taake’s bond in Harris County has been revoked,” the office added, noting it is working with local authorities to transfer him to Harris County Jail.
Taake is accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with a person he knew to be younger than 17 while using an online messaging platform. The case was still pending when he was arrested by the FBI following the 2021 Capitol insurrection.
Continue reading at The Hill
More Dems join with Republicans to pass fentanyl crackdown bill
The final breakdown on a House vote to put harsher sentences on fentanyl traffickers showcased how both parties are thinking about law enforcement after the 2024 elections.
The Republican-led House passed legislation Thursday with significant Democratic support that would lead to harsher sentences for fentanyl traffickers, leaving it with a good chance of becoming law.
The so-called HALT Fentanyl Act got more Democrats on board this year, with 98 voting in favor, compared with the 74 Democrats who backed a similar version when it passed the House last Congress. The bill didn’t receive a Senate vote at that time amid Democratic concerns it leaned too heavily on law enforcement and would result in more mass incarcerations — a worry for some Democrats this time around too.
Continue reading at Politico
Johnson aims to announce GOP agenda framework on Friday, including permanent tax cuts
Republicans are looking to permanently extend the 2017 tax cuts, according to two people who were in a meeting between House Republicans and President Donald Trump.
Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans are aiming to announce an overarching framework on their party-line agenda on Friday morning. It would include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts, according to two people who were in a meeting between House Republicans and President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon.
“We’re going to meet again tonight to finish up some final details. I think we’ll be able to make some announcements probably by tomorrow,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting. “The idea would be to get the Budget Committee working potentially as early as early next week, maybe Tuesday, for a mark-up of the budget resolution.”
Continue reading at Politico
Kamala Harris brushes off California governor’s race talk at fire victims shelter
For the second time since returning to Los Angeles, the former vice president toured neighborhoods damaged by the recent wildfires.
LOS ANGELES — Kamala Harris has a message for the California politicos eagerly awaiting her decision on the state’s governor’s race: Give me some time.
The former vice president, who has kept a relatively low-key presence since returning from Washington last month, made the sort of public appearance on Thursday — touring damage from the Palisades Fire and visiting displaced residents in a nearby Red Cross shelter — that stokes speculation of a possible return to political life.
Continue reading at Politico
Medicaid work requirements likely, despite Trump pledge
During the campaign, Trump was largely silent on Medicaid while also pledging he would protect Medicare and Social Security. But last week when asked about spending cuts, Trump included Medicaid in the list of programs he vowed not to touch — with a catch.
“We’re not going to do anything with that, unless we can find some abuse or waste,” Trump said. “The people won’t be affected. It will only be more effective and better.”
House Republicans are debating how deep they need to cut to pay for an extension of Trump’s tax cuts and border enforcement funding. They are also eyeing hundreds of billions of dollars in savings from Medicaid changes. Those changes include instituting work requirements and capping how much federal money is spent per person.
Continue reading at The Hill
House GOP reports progress after marathon Trump meeting
House Republicans reported “very positive developments” after a marathon meeting at the White House on Thursday focused on passing President Trump’s legislative agenda, predicting that the chamber could move on legislative as early as next week.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), members of his leadership team and an ideological cross-section of lawmakers huddled with Trump and Vice President Vance at the White House for hours to discuss a framework for advancing the president’s legislative wish list, including border funding, immigration policy and an extension of the 2017 tax cuts.
The meeting came days after Johnson was forced to scrap plans to mark up an initial budget resolution amid a conservative revolt over the level of spending cuts.
Continue reading at The Hill
What Happened the Last Time a President Purged the Bureaucracy
The impact can linger not just for years but decades.
Clay Risen is the author of RED SCARE: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, out from Scribner on March 18, 2025
On Jan. 22, 1953, his first day as secretary of state, John Foster Dulles addressed a group of diplomats at his department’s still-new headquarters in Washington’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. For years, the State Department had come under fire from Republicans and conservative activists as a haven for Communist spies and sympathizers — and not without reason, since one of its rising stars, Alger Hiss, had been convicted of perjury in January 1950 for lying about giving secret government documents to a Soviet spy.
The failure to find more Hisses, and the fact that Hiss’ actions had taken place over a decade in the past, did nothing to appease men like Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who shot to national prominence just weeks after Hiss’ conviction with his claim to have a list of hundreds of spies within the State Department. By the time Dulles arrived that morning, public faith in the department, and morale within it, had cratered.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Judge halts Trump buyouts ahead of deadline
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday doubled down on her opposition to the presidential immunity decision last summer and expressed concern about public confidence in the high court.
In her first public remarks since President Trump took office about two weeks ago, Sotomayor said she worried that the Supreme Court has departed too far from public sentiment, when asked about dwindling public confidence in the court.
“If we as a court go so much further ahead of people, our legitimacy is going to be questioned,” Sotomayor told an audience in Kentucky Wednesday evening.
Continue reading at The Hill
Russ Vought confirmed as Trump's budget director amid Dem protest
The Senate voted along party lines Thursday to confirm Russ Vought as President Trump's budget chief after Democrats staged an all-night protest session.
Why it matters: As head of the Office of Management and Budget, Vought will have the power to implement many of the key aspects of Trump's agenda. Democrats have sounded the alarm on him as the Trump administration rolls out plans to radically reshape the federal government.
The vote was 53-47, with all of the chamber's Republicans in favor and all of its Democrats against.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump’s next fight is against the judiciary
COLLISION COURSE — Since President Donald Trump took office, federal courts have been busy hitting the brakes on the most ambitious parts of his shock-and-awe agenda. Courts have temporarily blocked the administration’s ability to implement a federal funding freeze, its attempts to cull the federal workforce, the president’s order ending birthright citizenship and even a plan to move three incarcerated transgender women to men’s facilities.
What it tells us is that Trump’s second term seems likely to be defined by a different kind of conflict than his first. This time around, he understands the gears and levers of government better. He’s surrounded by loyalists in every agency. Congress has bent the knee and shows zero interest in serving as a check on the executive branch. Now, it’s the judiciary, which is fielding a deluge of legal challenges against the White House agenda, that’s barreling towards a confrontation with a president who already holds it in low regard.
The contours of the fight between the two branches of government — and exactly how a newly emboldened Trump plans to take on obstinate judges — are just now coming into focus.
After a district judge issued a temporary restraining order on the Trump administration’s ability to implement a blanket federal spending freeze on Monday, many EPA climate and infrastructure grants remain frozen as of today.
The Justice Department has acknowledged receipt of the judge’s order. But the Trump administration has not yet complied with portions of the order. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), described the standoff this way: “It’s hard to tell what is incompetence and what is confusion and what is basically contemptuous trickery.”
Continue reading at Politico
Jewish lawmakers form official House caucus for first time
Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) lauded the creation of the Congressional Jewish Caucus in a Thursday press release outlining an official forum for Jewish lawmakers.
“In response to unprecedented rising antisemitism in the United States and the challenges the American Jewish community has faced in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks of October 7th, the need for this Caucus is understandable,” Nadler, a founding co-chair, shared in a statement.
“I am confident this caucus will bring Jewish members together to strive to achieve unity not unanimity, and will be a productive forum to discuss issues of import to the American Jewish community.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration moves to suspend national EV charger rollout
The bid to freeze the money upends how the federal government delivers funding to states and may violate court orders issued this week.
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to halt a $5 billion initiative to build electric vehicle charging stations by instructing states not to spend federal funds previously allocated to them under the Biden administration program.
The move to stop the flow of money to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program appears to upend years of precedent in which federal promises of funds for highway projects had given states an all-but-guaranteed assurance that they were free to spend them. It also raises legal questions as two federal judges have already ordered the Trump administration to lift freezes imposed on federal funding.
Continue reading at Politico
House GOP pleads for time after "intense" White House meeting
House GOP leaders told White House officials Thursday they need another 24 hours on reconciliation, pleading for the Senate to let them figure it out.
Why it matters: After a four-plus-hour meeting in the White House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) returned to the Capitol and said they were "close" to an agreement.
"I think probably by tonight we wrap it," he said.
Vice President Vance was in the room for the first part of the meeting, while President Trump was in and out after it became clear the meeting would be a marathon.
They wrapped in the Oval Office, where the president gave the lawmakers pens and coins.
Trump told the Republicans to "figure out" how to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent.
Continue reading on Axios
FEC commissioner says Trump has moved to fire her
Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said Thursday evening President Trump has moved to fire her, but she indicated she won't be removed from office without a fight.
The big picture: Weintraub shared on X a copy of a letter she said was from "POTUS today purporting to remove" her from her role at the FEC.
"There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn't it. I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way," Weintraub said. "That's not changing anytime soon."
Continue reading on Axios
Trump makes enemies of his most likely Democratic allies
Democratic centrists find themselves in an increasingly hostile posture toward the Trump administration over the shock and awe tactics of Elon Musk's DOGE team.
Why it matters: These Democrats were singing a very different tune before President Trump's inauguration, expressing a willingness — even an eagerness — to work with the new president.
The souring of that bipartisan good spirit could come back to bite Trump when it comes time to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling later this year.
That's doubly so if Democrats retake the congressional majority in 2026.
Continue reading at Axios
DOJ appeals block of birthright citizenship executive order
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has appealed a federal judge’s order indefinitely blocking President Trump’s executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship.
In a short notice Thursday night, the government said it would appeal the nationwide preliminary injunction U.S. District Judge John Coughenour granted earlier Thursday at the request of four Democratic state attorneys general and a group of private plaintiffs.
Continue reading at The Hill
UNC system removes DEI course requirements following Trump orders
Public colleges in North Carolina must remove all course credit requirements linked to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) following President Trump’s executive order signed last month.
The UNC System Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Andrew Tripp wrote in a Wednesday memo to all 17 chancellors across the state that “all general education requirements and major-specific requirements mandating completion of course credits related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or any other topic identified in Section VII of the Equality Policy are suspended.”
Continue reading at The Hill
House Republicans pass fentanyl bill with Democratic support
Lawmakers rallied around the HALT Fentanyl Act on Thursday, successfully passing legislation in the House to classify the opioid as a Schedule I controlled substance in an effort to solidify harsher punishments for using or selling the drug.
Republicans asserted their majority to usher in the new bill with a 312-108 vote, earning significant support from Democrats.
Ninety-eight Democrats voted in favor of the new measure signaling an increase from the House ballots tallied after previous consideration of a similar act in the 118th Congress.
Under the proposed classification, offenses involving 100 grams or more trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term.
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: Someone wrote the headline and subhead with a straight face…
After Trump’s remarks on Gaza, some in Dearborn, Michigan ‘think we screwed up’
Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza was met with outrage in Dearborn, Michigan, an Arab American enclave.
Donald Trump won Dearborn, Michigan, a traditionally Democratic Arab American enclave, thanks largely to outrage over Kamala Harris and the Biden administration’s stance on Israel.
Some are starting to have regrets.
Continue reading on Politico
Democrats escalate attacks as Trump EPA holds back climate spending
DOGE representatives have fanned out to multiple federal agencies in recent days, including at least one at EPA.
Democrats ramped up their pressure against the EPA spending freeze for several Inflation Reduction Act climate programs on Thursday, blasting the move as an illegal impoundment of congressionally mandated spending that violated a court ruling issued earlier this week.
Lawmakers staged a rally at EPA’s downtown headquarters that drew about 100 people to protest actions by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led “Department of Government Efficiency” for efforts they said were designed to intimidate agency staff and flout the legal orders to resume spending on climate and environment programs enacted under the Biden administration.
Continue reading at Politico
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