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Politico
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The fight Dems didn't want
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine Happy Friday. This is Zack Stanton. Get in touch. IN MEMORIAM: 'Rep. Raúl Grijalva, one of Arizona's longest-serving congressmen, dies at 77,' by the Arizona Republic's Ronald Hansen and Laura Gersony: 'Rep. Raúl Manuel Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant who rose to the halls of Congress in a public-service career that stretched more than 40 years, died Thursday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.' More from the Tucson Sentinel … the Arizona Daily Star YOUR MORNING LISTEN: Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita sits down with my colleague Dasha Burns for a rollicking, wide-ranging conversation on this week's episode of 'Playbook Deep Dive.' Among the highlights: On Project 2025: 'A ton of stuff in Project 2025 is your standard Republican fare. … But there was some stuff in there where we were like, 'Where the hell did that come from?'' On Susie Wiles: 'When you're dealing with me, you see me coming a mile away. I make a lot of noise. Susie, she'll sneak right up on you.' On Musk and DOGE: 'They're not going to cut Social Security. … He's not the president. He doesn't get to make those decisions.' On tariffs and market volatility: 'There's a lot of shock therapy going on right now. It's very fast. It's a lot. It's literally ripping the bandaid off.' On 2028: 'It's a little early and I mean, the shit-stirers are always trying to stir. But JD [Vance] is just fundamentally not only a good person, a brilliant person but I think he's more than capable of carrying on the MAGA mantle.' Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify … Watch on YouTube FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is 'at his professional apex. Turns out it's a personal crossroads.' That is the crux of a magisterial new profile by POLITICO's Michael Kruse, who goes deep on the South Dakotan and finds a preternaturally driven man who's 'unambiguously conservative but temperamentally moderate — a collaborator instead of a combatant, even-keeled and deliberative when so much of the populace seems to want intemperate attacks.' It's an uncommonly rare look of one of Washington's most important people — one that leaves you feeling like you have a sense of the actual human being behind the political profile. You're going to want to make time to read it. DRIVING THE DAY NOT THE FIGHT DEMS WANTED TODAY: Ahead of a midnight deadline to fund the government … at a moment when escalating tariffs and raging economic uncertainty have put the Dow on track for its worst week in two years … as President Donald Trump is expected to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to carry out mass deportations as soon as today … with the president due to speak this afternoon at the Justice Department amid ongoing concerns about its independence and the rule of law … Democrats are seized by a debate over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's reluctant support for the House GOP's continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown. The summary: On Tuesday, the House approved a stopgap that would keep the federal government funded through the end of the fiscal year, 217-213. … On Wednesday, Schumer announced that the House-backed CR did not not have the eight Democratic votes needed to overcome a filibuster — which some observers interpreted to mean that Schumer was going to go all-in on opposing the CR. … Yesterday, Schumer announced that he will support the CR. What Schumer said: 'As bad as passing the continuing resolution would be, I believe a government shutdown is far worse,' he wrote in a Times op-ed, launching into four primary reasons for that calculation: (1) A shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk the ability to 'destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now;' (2) Republicans could use the shutdown to 'cherry-pick which parts of government to reopen;' (3) it'd mean 'real pain for American families,' and; (4) it would distract from the 'chaos' reining across government and the economy. Cue the outrage. While it's almost a certainty that there are a sufficient number of Senate Dems who privately share Schumer's thinking, you sure didn't hear from them in the ensuing maelstrom of reactions. Today, you're going to want to watch a few different things … 1. The split within the Senate Dem caucus. Support for the CR does not break down neatly along ideological lines. Yes, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) will vote for cloture. Yes, the most prominent lefties are nos. But it's striking how many early-tenure Democratic senators — especially those from states Trump carried in 2024 — have lined up in opposition to the CR across a wide spectrum of views. Consider this: In the hours after Schumer told his colleagues his position on the CR, Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) all reiterated their opposition to the CR. Add to that mix a few freshmen from bluer states, like Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), and you start to see a breakdown that is perhaps less ideological than generational. These younger, newer members view the world differently, Senate insiders told Playbook last night. 2. The House Dem reaction. One of the most surprising developments of the last 12 hours is that late last night, House Democratic leadership — repeat: not backbenchers — felt compelled to release a fiery statement that does not give Senate Dems who support the CR much of any room for cover. From the statement: 'The far-right Republican funding bill will unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government,' read the joint release from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. 'House Democrats will not be complicit.' Thought bubble: When was the last time that fellow Brooklynites Jeffries and Schumer seemed on such different pages in such a public manner? And the caucus seems unified: 'Virtually every swing district House Dem walked the plank to vote NO for a reason,' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) noted last night. The gentlewoman from Queens was at a House Dem retreat in Virginia, where some members were 'so infuriated with Schumer's decision that some have begun encouraging her to run against Schumer in a primary, according to a Democratic member who directly spoke with Ocasio-Cortez about running,' CNN's Sarah Ferris reports. 'The member said that Democrats in Leesburg were 'so mad' that even centrist Democrats were 'ready to write checks for AOC for Senate,' adding that they have 'never seen people so mad.'' 3. If not fight now, then when? On some level, this is a debate about what an effective resistance looks like. 'In a political economy that requires attention and friction, we are passing up a huge opportunity to fight an unpopular president and his billionaire buddy,' posted Mike Casca, AOC's chief of staff. 'Fights define you. FDR knew this. Harry Reid knew this.' But but but: Former Reid right hand Adam Jentleson sees it quite differently: 'Schumer is right. Dems are understandably spoiling for a fight but this was not it. … Fight — but pick smart fights.' What would a 'smart' fight look like? The 'oppose the CR' argument is more or less as Casca laid it out. But there are, of course, other ways to see it. Matt Yglesias offers a different view: The House Dems' approach failed to bring Republicans to the negotiating table because they ruled out giving any votes to the CR. As a result, the party-line bill had to placate conservative Republicans, and as such, shifted 'public policy to the right somewhat.' Senate Dems were left with no cards, and keeping the government open is the less-bad option. Or, as Senate Republicans see it: 'The Democrats have A or B: Keep the government open or yield the authority to the president,' Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), told my POLITICO colleagues Jennifer Scholtes and Megan Messerly. That's the calculation Schumer made: 'Musk has already said he wants a shutdown, and public reporting has shown he is already making plans to expedite his destruction of key government programs and services,' Schumer said on the Senate floor last night. 'A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country.' The question now: How many other Senate Dems are making the same calculation? For your schedule: The Senate is in session and voting at 10:45 a.m. to advance Stephen Feinberg's nomination as deputy Defense secretary. The Senate then plans to vote at 1:15 p.m. on Feinberg's confirmation, the HALT Fentanyl Act and then the CR. THE MAGA REVOLUTION TRUMP HEADS TO JUSTICE: Trump is due at the Justice Department today around 3 p.m., where he is expected to lay out his vision for the agency amid ongoing concerns that he has compromised DOJ's traditional arms-length relationship with the White House, POLITICO's Myah Ward and Josh Gerstein write. The precedent: Though the visit is not unprecedented, they write, 'it is highly unusual for a president to visit the Justice Department in person. Trump had repeatedly criticized the department during his campaign, calling prosecutions against him and his associates partisan, while vowing retribution.' The last known public in-person appearance by a president at DOJ came a decade ago, when President Barack Obama visited to pay tribute to Attorney General Eric Holder on his last day. What he'll say: 'It's going to be their vision, really, but it's my ideas,' Trump told reporters yesterday, referring to AG Pam Bondi, deputy AG Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino. 'Basically, we don't want to have crime in the streets … we want to have justice, and we want safety in our cities, as well as our communities. We'll be talking about immigration. We'll be talking about a lot of things. It's a complete gamut.' Mood music: Trump has 'quietly directed the FBI to halt the background check process for dozens of President Donald Trump's top staffers, and has transferred the process to the Pentagon,' ABC's Katherine Faulders and Luis Martinez reports. 'The directive came last month after agents tasked with completing the background investigations had conducted interviews with a handful of top White House aides — a standard part of the background check process. White House officials took the unusual step of ordering a stop to the background check investigations after they deemed the process too intrusive, sources said.' IN THE DOGE HOUSE: Elon Musk is facing a series of losses in the courts as he tries to carry out his vast reshaping of the federal government. Back to work: In a sweeping decision yesterday, a second federal judge ordered the mass reinstatement of fired federal workers, reversing the Trump administration's terminations of probationary employees at 18 major agencies, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. The agencies covered by the order include the USDA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS, DHS, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury, among others. It is even more broad than a ruling earlier in the day from a different federal judge, who directed six Cabinet departments to immediately rehire probationary employees. Discovery network: Musk and his team have been ordered by a federal judge in D.C. to 'hand over documents and answer questions about its role in directing mass firings and dismantling government programs,' NYT's Zach Montague writes. The judge ruled that the case brought by 14 Democratic state attorneys general 'had demonstrated a clear need to shed light on the inner workings of Mr. Musk's team,' marking the 'first time a judge has ordered Mr. Musk's division be subject to discovery.' Musk on the move: Musk dropped by the NSA HQ on Wednesday, his first visit to the agency that he has called for an overhaul to, focusing on 'staff reductions and operations, officials said, with one describing it as a 'positive' conversation,' WSJ's Alexander Ward, Dustin Volz and Brett Forrest report. You've got mail: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a letter to lawmakers that he had reached an agreement with DOGE to allow for help in 'identifying and achieving further efficiencies' at USPS, NYT's Tim Balk reports. DeJoy said the workforce 'had shrunk by 30,000 since the 2021 fiscal year, and that the agency planned to complete a 'further reduction of another 10,000 people in the next 30 days' through a previously established voluntary-retirement program.' New DOGE, old tricks: Musk's DOGE team has significantly changed how it's posting the cuts that it makes, making it nearly impossible for the public to fact-check the actions that it is taking, NYT's David Fahrenthold and Jeremy Singer-Vine report. 'The New York Times, at first, found a way around the group's obfuscation. That is because Mr. Musk's group had briefly embedded the federal identification numbers of these grants in the publicly available source code. … Mr. Musk's group later removed those identifiers from the code, and posted more batches of claims that could not be verified at all.' EMERGENCY ACTION: Trump is making an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court requesting to eliminate a key tool that lower courts have used to block various aspects of his agenda. The ask is for the justices to rein in or shelve three nationwide injunctions lower-court judges have issued against Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship. 'But his request could have repercussions far beyond the debate over the controversial citizenship plan,' POLITICO's Josh Gerstein writes. 'Judges have used nationwide injunctions to hobble many of Trump's early moves, from his bid to end 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion' programs to his cuts to federal medical research.' ONE TO WATCH TODAY: Mehmet Oz, Trump's pick to lead CMS, is set to appear before the Senate Finance Committee shortly after 10 a.m. for a confirmation hearing. Among the topics that you can expect to hear Democrats drill into are allegations that Oz may have significantly underpaid his Medicare and Social Security taxes from 2021 to 2023, POLITICO's Robert King scooped. THE TRADE WAR THE MARKET MESS: The S&P 500, the 'world's most widely followed stock-market benchmark slid into a correction on Thursday, a drop that underscores how the two-year-long bull market is running out of steam in the early days of the Trump administration' amid the president's tariff war and dramatic reshaping of the federal government, NYT's Joe Rennison and Danielle Kaye write. The details: 'On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent. After weeks of selling, the index is now down 10.1 percent from a peak that it reached less than one month ago and is in a correction — a Wall Street term for when an index falls 10 percent or more from its peak, and a line in the sand for investors worried about a sell-off gathering steam.' Another sign of volatility? Gold prices are reaching record highs, per WSJ. Shrug it off: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brushed off the short-term market volatility yesterday, telling CNBC that the administration is more focused on long-term economic gains. 'We're focused on the real economy — can we create an environment where there are long-term gains in the market and long-term gains for the American people,' Bessent said, adding that he's 'not concerned about a little bit of volatility over 3 weeks.' More from POLITICO's Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing THE TARIFF WARS TICK ON: Keep an eye on Canada today, with new PM Mark Carney set to be sworn around 11 a.m. While it's unclear if Carney will hold an official media availability following his ceremony, the biggest question looming over the new government is how it will measure up with Trump's White House. Who Carney picks as his deputies will also be a good indicator of who he trusts to handle the ongoing negotiations with Trump and his own emissaries. The view from this side of the border: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on Fox News to slap Canada on the wrist a bit, saying: 'Why are we doing all this business in Canada if they're not respectful and thankful?' … which sounds a bit like the treatment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got in the Oval Office. THE MIDWEST MESSAGING WARS: As the Trump administration tries to shore up support for its trade policies in major manufacturing states like Michigan, VP JD Vance will be dispatched to the Great Lakes State for a tour of a plastics manufacturer today to highlight what they say is an 'industrial resurgence,' POLITICO's Daniel Desrochers reports. Dems' dilemma: Daniel writes that Trump's 'slash-and-burn approach to trade policy has given Democrats an opening,' but the party just can't seem to figure out how to use it. And it's in the Midwest where Dems' conflicted response is most evident. 'Democrats from states like Michigan and Pennsylvania are trying to thread the needle by condemning Trump's erratic policy pronouncements and attacks on allies like Canada, while not criticizing tariffs or protectionist policies.' Put in a pickle: Trump's ambassadors-to-be for Canada, Mexico and Japan are also in a bit of a jam. The trio appeared on the Hill for a confirmation hearing yesterday, underscoring the tricky spot that their boss has put each in as he's 'infuriated officials from those countries' with tariffs, 'along with his withering criticism of America's key trade and security partners,' WaPo's Abigail Hauslohner writes. For the record: Pete Hoekstra, tapped to be ambassador to Canada, reaffirmed that our northern neighbor is a 'sovereign state.' BEST OF THE REST THE NEW WORLD ORDER: POLITICO's Eli Stokols and Paul McLeary have a good bite-sized summary of how the Trump administration's negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are going: 'Volodymyr Zelenskyy got sticks from President Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin is still getting carrots,' they write. 'Trump and his aides insist that the different approaches to Zelenskyy and Putin are aimed at getting both sides to the negotiating table and cementing a lasting peace.' How it's playing: Over on the Hill, GOP Russia hawks lambasted Putin for not accepting the terms of a ceasefire deal with Ukraine yesterday, following the Trump administration's lead as it seeks to pressure the Kremlin into a deal, POLITICO's Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing writes. 2028 SNIPING: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear had some sharp criticism for his fellow potential presidential contender Gavin Newsom, telling Democrats at a policy retreat that the California governor's new podcast is raising more concern than interesting dialogue. 'Newsom bringing on different voices is great, we shouldn't be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone,' Beshear said, per POLITICO's Seb Starcevic and Mia McCarthy. 'But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points violence, and I don't think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere.' THE WEEKEND AHEAD TV TONIGHT — PBS' 'Washington Week': Laura Barrón-López, Stephen Hayes and David Sanger. SUNDAY SO FAR … ABC 'This Week': National security adviser Mike Waltz … Diane Swonk … Ashish Jha. Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Marianna Sotomayor and Jonathan Martin. FOX 'Fox News Sunday,' guest-hosted by Jacqui Heinrich: National security adviser Mike Waltz … Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman … Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Panel: Olivia Beavers, Matt Gorman, Mario Parker and Sabrina Singh. Sunday special: Benjamin Hall. CBS 'Face the Nation': Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick … Maryland Gov. Wes Moore … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). NBC 'Meet the Press': Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Steve Kornacki. Panel: Cornell Belcher, Eugene Daniels, Sara Fagen and Anna Palmer. Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures': Karoline Leavitt … Peter Navarro … Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) … Miranda Devine. NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday': VA Secretary Doug Collins … Robert Shibley. Panel: Mollie Ball, Julie Mason, Jasmine Wright and Merrill Matthews. MSNBC 'The Weekend': Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) … Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Becky Pringle. TALK OF THE TOWN Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., has been quietly dating Tiger Woods since Thanksgiving, according to the Daily Mail. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned around the fortunes of Steak 'n Shake following its turn to beef tallow. QUITE THE SHOW: VP JD Vance received a less-than-warm welcome at the Kennedy Center yesterday. Vance's attendance, along with second lady Usha Vance, already delayed the performance by the National Symphony Orchestra by 30 minutes because attendees were subjected to higher security screenings upon entry. With the orchestra already onstage, people in the crowd noticed the Vances taking their seats in the balcony and 'erupted into loud boos and shouts for more than 30 seconds,' per WaPo. The occasion for the orchestra? A performance of two Russian composers: Shostakovich's 'Violin Concerto No. 2' and Stravinsky's 'Petrushka.' Watch the video IN MEMORIAM — 'Larry Buendorf, U.S. Agent Who Saved President Ford, Dies at 87,' by NYT's Sam Roberts: 'Larry Buendorf, the Secret Service agent who, by wresting a handgun away from Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme, was credited with saving the life of President Gerald R. Ford in an assassination attempt in 1975 in California, died on Sunday at his home in Colorado Springs. He was 87.' OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Alex Bruesewitz's 28th birthday at Butterworth's on Wednesday night: Kelly Loeffler, Brendan Carr, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.) and William Timmons (R-S.C.), Kari Lake, Alexandra Preate, Raheem Kassam, Jeff Clark, Maureen Bannon, Jack Posobiec, Kaelan Dorr, Alex Pfeiffer, Alina Habba, Margo Martin, Chamberlain Harris and Carolina Urrea. — SPOTTED at Qualcomm's 40th anniversary celebration at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where CEO Cristiano Amon and Qualcomm Technology Licensing President Alex Rogers gave remarks: Nate Tibbetts, Izzy Santa, Katie Patala, Andrei Iancu, John Bozzella, Mike Flynn, Laura Chace, Jake Colvin, John Neuffer, Katie Kerrigan, Patrick Halley, Matthew Eggers, Cole Bornefeld, Mitchell Shea, Sloan Shelbourne, Charles Cogar, Sloan Shelbourne and JC Lintzenich. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Jonathan Cohn is joining The Bulwark to cover the remaking of the government led by Trump and Musk and will helm a twice-weekly newsletter called 'Explainer.' He previously was a senior national correspondent at HuffPost and is a New Republic alum. TRANSITIONS — Craig Wheeler is now comms director for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). He previously was comms director for Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and is a Jaime Herrera Beutler alum. … Carrie Schroll is joining Fenwick as counsel in its Washington, D.C. office. She previously was special counsel at Kelley Drye & Warren. … Justin Folsom is joining Southern Company's D.C. office as director of government affairs. He most recently was legislative director for Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Adam Sharp, president and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (aka The Emmys) and a C-SPAN, Mary Landrieu and NBC News alum, and Cindy Sharp, a former producer at the AP, on Saturday welcomed Owen Roger Sharp, who came in at 7 lbs, 4 oz and 20.5 inches. He joins big sister Elsa. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) … Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon … State's Jimmy Loomis … Bill McGinley of the Vogel Group … Christine Emba … Faith McPherson of National Public Affairs … Cicero's Rory (Brosius) Martin … Andrea Bozek of Big Dog Strategies … AEI's Kevin Kosar … Deb Jospin … T.A. Hawks of Monument Advocacy … Lily Adams … Eric Reath of Rep. Lloyd Smucker's (R-Pa.) office … Kei Helm … Kelsey Cooper of Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) office … Moderna's John Lepore … Georgetown's Lauren Mullins … Virginia Dem Chair Susan Swecker … former Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-La.) … Rick Grafmeyer … Kathy Wright … John Connolly of Council for a Strong America … Margita Thompson … Ashley Simmons … David Sadava … Erika Gulija of New Heights Communications … Amy Travieso Loveng … Axios' Andrew Solender … POLITICO's Campbell Rawlins … Joshua Walker Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Politico
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The GOP goes to war
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine A Note to Our Readers from POLITICO's CEO and Editor-in-Chief POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false. Let's set the record straight. POLITICO is a privately owned company. We have never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years. Millions of people around the world read our journalism on and in newsletters like this one. It is supported by advertising and sponsorships. POLITICO Pro is different. It is a professional subscription service used by companies, organizations, and, yes, some government agencies. They subscribe because it makes them better at their jobs — helping them track policy, legislation, and regulations in real-time with news, intelligence, and a suite of data products. At its core, POLITICO Pro is about transparency and accountability: Shining a light on the work of the agencies, regulators, and policymakers throughout our vast federal government. Businesses and entities within the government find it useful as they navigate the chaotic regulatory and legislative landscape. It's that simple. Most POLITICO Pro subscribers are in the private sector. They come from across the ideological spectrum and subscribe for one reason: value. And 90% renew every year because they rely on our reporting, data, and insights. Government agencies that subscribe do so through standard public procurement processes — just like any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more efficient. This is not funding. It is a transaction — just as the government buys research, equipment, software, and industry reports. Some online voices are deliberately spreading falsehoods. Let's be clear: POLITICO has no financial dependence on the government and no hidden agenda. We cover politics and policy — that's our job. We are so proud of our journalists and so proud of the connection we have with you, our readers. We stand by our work, our values, and our commitment to transparency, accountability, and efficiency — the same principles that drive great journalism and great business. Now, back to work. Goli Sheikholeslami and John Harris DRIVING THE DAY Happy Friday. This is Eugene Daniels, up early to help you make sense of a frenzied end to the week here in Washington. TODAY: It might be Friday, but the internal Republican battle for the upper hand on reconciliation is still in full swing. Speaker Mike Johnson had promised House Republicans he and fellow GOP leaders would unveil their reconciliation framework this morning — but it now seems they'll still be working on it all through the weekend. (Majority Leader Steve Scalise said late last night they still hadn't agreed on a topline.) As that work continues, Senate Republicans will descend on Mar-a-Lago for dinner tonight with President Donald Trump, where they'll try to woo him toward their own competing vision for reconciliation. In the balance is nothing less than Trump's entire legislative agenda … No pressure. And smack dab in the middle of it all … Trump will meet with Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba at 11:30 a.m. — followed by an inevitably news-packed press conference at 1:10 p.m. (More on that in a moment.) RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Top House Republicans huddled in the White House for a roughly five-hour meeting yesterday that kicked off with a visit from Trump but continued mostly as a conversation amongst themselves. How it began: 'Trump laid out a list of tax policies and other priorities for the legislation,' Benjamin Guggenheim and Meredith Lee Hill report. 'He then told lawmakers he had other meetings, told them to work out a plan among themselves, and let him know when they had settled on something that could pass.' Then what? 'We don't exactly know what went down, which is how we know it might have actually been a productive meeting,' senior Congress editor Mike DeBonis told us for today's Playbook Daily Briefing. 'The aphoristic rule of Washington meetings is: The more you know about what happened in it, probably the less fruitful it was.' Here's what we do know: House Republicans are looking for a deal that includes not only border, energy and defense, but also a permanent extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, as Benjamin and Meredith report. That's different from the Senate approach: The Senate Budget panel looks to mark up its own package next week, tackling the border, energy and defense in one bill while punting taxes until later. The view from the House: Trump 'is very clear about what he wants,' Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) tells us on t his week's episode of Playbook Deep Dive. 'He gives us a lot of latitude on how to get there, so he's not a micromanager. But he is very clear on his expectations.' (You can listen to that interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.) What Trump wants: The president's tax priorities, as Benjamin and Meredith report, include 'eliminating a tax break for owners of sports teams' as well as zeroing out 'taxes on overtime pay, tips and Social Security.' Also on the table, per Bloomberg's Akayla Gardner, Billy House, and Alicia Diaz: 'ending the carried interest tax break used by private equity fund managers and expanding the state and local tax deduction,' which is a top priority for a number of swing-district Republicans in blue states. The potential cost: Depending on the details, a package like that would reduce revenue by between $5–11.2 trillion over 10 years, according to a new analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, while boosting debt 'to between 132 and 149 percent of GDP by 2035, if not offset.' Where some offsets might come from: '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,' Ben Leonard and Adam Cancryn report. Working with the administration, 'the House Energy and Commerce Committee was already on track to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from programs within the panel's purview to offset the budget reconciliation effort, much of it coming from Medicaid.' (Cue the attack ads!) Meanwhile, in the Senate: Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has indicated he's ready to start moving on his two-bill plan next week, and Majority Whip John Barrasso told our colleague Jordain Carney yesterday that Graham 'is ready to go.' Which brings us to tonight: Republican senators will be in Palm Beach for the annual NRSC retreat at The Breakers, and will make the jaunt to Mar-a-Lago this evening for a senators-and-spouses dinner with the president where they'll make the case for their two-bill approach. But the lobbying won't stop there: Assuming that House Republicans work through the weekend, Speaker Johnson will surely lobby Trump for the House approach on Sunday, when the two are due to attend the Super Bowl together in New Orleans. MEANWHILE IN THE WHITE HOUSE TRUMP'S FRIDAY: The president is today hosting Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba — the second foreign leader to visit the White House this week seeking favor and face time with Trump. A standard foreign visit: Trump will greet Ishiba in the driveway just after 11 a.m., they'll then head to the Oval Office, where you can be sure reporters will yell questions. After a bilateral meeting, the two will do a press conference in the East Room where, if the past is any indication, Trump will make lots of news — both on the scheduled topic and off. On the agenda: A White House official tells Playbook that the two 'will discuss trade and investment, economic security, and defense industrial cooperation, among other topics.' Experts on U.S.-Japan relations aren't forecasting any huge announcements; they're expecting this to be more of a sizing up, if you will. (Then again, this is Trump, so be ready for anything.) What the U.S. wants: Under the surface of those public-facing agenda items, one topic looms large: countering China. The timing of foreign visits at the beginning of the administration tells you a lot about their priorities, and that the Japanese PM was invited so soon indicates just how important countering China's influence in Asia is to this White House. (We're told that a surefire sign they went deep on specifics is if Taiwan comes up.) What Japan wants: There's an international angle and a domestic one. I'm told that Ishiba hopes to double check that the U.S. is still on Team Japan and nothing has changed in that key strategic partnership. But, just as importantly, Ishiba wants to prove to his own people that the powerful new leader of America is ready to, at the very least, have a friendly relationship with him. What Ishiba wants: 'For Ishiba, this is a very high-stakes meeting,' said Yuki Tatsumi, former special assistant for political affairs at the Japanese Embassy in Washington and current director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center. 'He wants to show to Japanese constituents that he's a strong and confident enough leader to be able to build, if not a personally friendly relationship with Trump, at least a positive [one].' In that, Trump's chummy relationship with the late Japanese PM Shinzo Abe provides a pretty easy blueprint for Ishiba to follow. What Trump wants: At the end of the day, every meeting Trump has with foreign leaders is about how that relationship can make the U.S. more dominant. I'm told that Trump may bring up deals that Japan made with the Biden administration that he is interested in, if not renegotiating, then at least kicking the tires to make sure they are in line with his priorities. On deck: After Ishiba, the next foreign leaders scheduled to visit the White House are Jordan's King Abdullah II on Feb. 11 and Indian PM Narendra Modi on Feb. 13, per Eric Bazail-Eimil and Robbie Gramer of our sister newsletter, National Security Daily. WHIPLASH WEEK HOW DO YOU COVER A WEEK LIKE THAT? Our White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns emails in with her reflections on a head-spinning week in Washington … THE ART DEALER: If you can remember back as far as Monday, the week kicked off with America poised to enter a trade war with its closest neighbors … before President Trump suddenly struck last-minute agreements with both Mexico and Canada. The White House comms team was buzzing with excitement. 'Art of the deal!' one person cheered. 'Have you read it? This is straight out of the book!' The chaos is the strategy: Plenty of observers have opined about the upsides and downsides of the tariff whiplash. But for those close to President Trump, that debate misses the point: He is a destabilizing force; the chaos is the strategy. And they say it's getting results. (Naturally, opponents disagree.) And so to the Middle East: The following day, standing next to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room, the president described his vision of turning war-torn Gaza into the 'Riviera of the Middle East,' prompting a uniform double-take among the assembled press. That statement has meaning: The common mantra from Trump allies is to 'take him seriously, not literally.' For reporters, this is the daily tightrope we now live on: Take the president too literally and we risk raising a false alarm. Don't take him seriously enough, and we risk missing a hugely important story. Before the election, the press may have treated his Gaza comments as just another outlandish campaign promise. But on Tuesday, these words weren't coming from a candidate; they were being said by the sitting president during his administration's first White House visit from a foreign leader. So what's a White House reporter to do? My approach is to report what the president says, check its factuality, note the tenacity with which he does or doesn't double down — and then start making calls to understand what happened behind the scenes. Following his Gaza remarks, a White House aide told me the whole thing was designed to send a message that we are not where we were before, and we're not going back. Trump is injecting 'intentional uncertainty' into the process, they said. It is, once again, 'The Art of the Deal.' Substance vs. signal: A big part of the so-called 'art' is just that: optics, visuals, PR. Among the flurry of executive orders the president has signed, quite a few lack real teeth to consequentially change policy without additional action from Congress. But what they lack in substance they make up for in signal. Already, companies are dismantling DEI initiatives — the NFL is even removing the 'End Racism' slogan from the endzones for the Super Bowl. That's not happening because of the hard power of the pen atop the Resolute Desk; it's happening because of the president's soft power — his ability to influence private and public sectors alike. Business as usual: 'If it looks like things are a little chaotic, it's not,' Peter Navarro told me during my on-stage interview with him this week. 'It's genius.' Navarro's view may or may not be your main takeaway from a week of Trump's 'out of the box' ideas — but it's important to understand that this is the strategy. The real estate mogul's worldview that Trump sold in 'The Art of the Deal' has informed his method on everything from tariffs to immigration policy to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And if you want to prepare yourself for what the next four years will be like in Trump's Washington, you need to get comfortable (again) with whiplash, shock and confusion. JOBS JOBS JOBS BY THE NUMBERS: The January jobs report comes out at 8:30 a.m., and Dow Jones economists' predictions are for 169,000 new jobs and a 4.1 percent unemployment rate, per CNBC. It's far too early to gauge Trump's impact on hiring around the country, but there's a deluge of news on a different kind of jobs report: all his cuts to federal workers (and beyond). Writ large: More than 60,000 workers have now opted in to the offer to leave their jobs and get paid through September, though a judge yesterday extended its deadline at least a few days, Reuters' Daniel Wiessner, Tim Reid and Nathan Layne report. USAID: The Trump administration plans to reduce the agency's headcount from five digits to fewer than 300 employees, per NYT's Karoun Demirjian and Aishvarya Kavi. That could mean nearly 14,000 people placed indefinitely on administrative leave. There was fresh pushback last night, as employee unions filed the first lawsuits against the USAID gutting and the foreign aid freeze, per CNN's Jennifer Hansler and Devan Cole. HHS: A coming White House executive order will force thousands of firings across the federal health agencies, WSJ's Liz Essley Whyte and Betsy McKay scooped, though the White House denied it. EPA: The administration axed much of the agency's Office of Environmental Justice, putting 168 employees on leave, Alex Guillén and Annie Snider report. More broadly, upward of 300 career staffers have already left since the election, per ProPublica. FEC: Democratic Chair Ellen Weintraub announced that Trump had tried to remove her — but his method wasn't legal, she said, appearing to reject the attempt. And beyond … in the private sector: The knock-on effects of Trump's efforts to gut the federal government are playing out across the country, where related layoffs have already hit several thousand people in the past two weeks, WaPo's Abha Bhattarai reports. Thanks to the federal funding freeze and other cuts, the 'wave of job losses … could pick up steam in the coming weeks, threatening the broader labor market.' NOW HERE COMES RUSSELL VOUGHT: The new OMB director will be sworn in today after he was confirmed last night in a 53-47 party-line vote. But even before he arrives, Vought's broader project to gut the federal government is already well underway, as our Megan Messerly writes in a must-read story that just published. Despite the pause placed on Trump's mass federal funding freeze, tens of billions of dollars are on hold for energy, transportation and other projects that Congress has already appropriated (which Democrats say is illegal), Reuters' Bo Erickson and Richard Cowan report. Some community health centers have closed, per Roll Call's Jessie Hellmann and Sandhya Raman. USAID in the crosshairs: The foreign aid agency has, of course, been the earliest and biggest target. In Trump's very first week back in office, Treasury chief of staff Dan Katz tried to get DOGE-affiliated software exec Tom Krause access to actually freeze foreign aid payments, NYT's Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Teddy Schleifer revealed. These guys, remember, are only meant to have read-only access. Rearguard action: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told diplomats that they're 'not walking away from foreign aid,' NYT's Michael Crowley scooped. But in the meantime, the large-scale dismantling of U.S. foreign aid continues to have huge real-world effects. Anti-famine systems have been laid low, Reuters reports. Anti-trafficking work in Latin America has been hit hard, per CBS News. Thirty clinical trials were frozen midair, with some patients left with experimental medical devices still in their bodies, per NYT. Damage to Ukraine's energy system could boost Russian President Vladimir Putin, per Semafor. And billions of dollars that flow into the U.S. economy — like supporting farms to produce food aid — are at risk, per WaPo. The Muskovites: A judge yesterday reached an agreement with the Treasury and staff unions to temporarily limit DOGE's access to the payments system, per Bloomberg. Only Tom Krause and Marko Elez were given access, and at a read-only level. But a few hours later, as you may have seen, Elez resigned — after WSJ's Katherine Long dug up a series of proudly racist X posts. ('Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,' read one.) The next lawsuit: New York AG Letitia James and a dozen other Democratic AGs sued over DOGE's access to government systems, per NYT's Hurubie Meko. But still it goes on: WaPo reports that DOGE staffers accessed sensitive, restricted employee records via OPM. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave DOGE access to DOE's IT system, which includes info about nuclear weapons, per CNN's Zachary Cohen. Up next: DOGE now has its eyes on the Social Security Administration, Semafor's Shelby Talcott reports. It's also developing an AI chatbot, GSAi, Wired's Paresh Dave, Zoë Schiffer and Makena Kelly report. … The Labor Department has indefinitely suspended the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health, surprising even its GOP members, NOTUS' Katherine Swartz scooped. … And DOJ employees are now concerned Elon Musk could make public the names of law enforcement officers, per WaPo's Spencer Hsu and Jeremy Roebuck. And on and on it goes. BEYOND THE BELTWAY IMMIGRATION FILES: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem will visit Guantánamo Bay today, as flights there of detained migrants are expected to ramp up to a daily cadence, CBS' Camilo Montoya-Galvez and Eleanor Watson scooped. In the courts: Federal judge John Coughenour again slapped down Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship, issuing a preliminary nationwide injunction, The Seattle Times' David Gutman reports. Coughenour accused Trump of trying to alter the Constitution and said the president sees the rule of law as 'something to navigate around or simply ignore.' This is headed to a federal appeals court now. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Speaker Johnson is due to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu at 10 a.m., after Trump signed an executive order yesterday targeting the International Criminal Court for sanctions because it accused Israeli leaders of war crimes. (CNN has more on that.) Rubio intends to go to the region in the middle of the month, Axios' Barak Ravid scooped. The Middle East, of course, is still reeling from Trump's proposal to seize Gaza, with Egypt privately pressuring the U.S. against it, per AP's Samy Magdy. BEST OF THE REST FOR YOUR RADAR: Trump's anti-transgender drive continues as the Education Department launched civil rights probes into Penn, San Jose State and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association over their inclusion of trans girls and women in women's sports, per NYT's Zach Montague. Prompted by Trump's executive order, the NCAA announced it would bar trans women from taking part in women's competitions, per ABC's Kiara Alfonseca. On the flip side: Advocacy groups sued yesterday over Trump's transgender military ban, per ABC's Deena Zaru. DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS: Federal employees will know a lot less about the world after the White House ordered the General Services Administration to end all its media subscription contracts, Axios' Zachary Basu and Marc Caputo scooped. 2026 WATCH: Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is 'seriously considering' running for governor, NBC's Matt Dixon scooped. … Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson jumped into Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary, per The Detroit News' Beth LeBlanc and Craig Mauger. BILL TO WATCH: Nearly 100 Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act in the House, Ben Leonard reports. The growing bipartisan support for toughening criminal penalties could give the legislation a good shot of becoming law, unlike last Congress, when Dem concerns about mass incarceration tanked it. NOMINATION TO WATCH: Hawkish GOP senators have some reservations about Elbridge Colby and some other Pentagon picks whom they view as too isolationist, Roll Call's John Donnelly reports. THE WEEKEND AHEAD SUNDAY SO FAR … FOX 'Fox News Sunday': Speaker Mike Johnson … Louisiana first lady Sharon Landry. Panel: Will Cain and Clay Travis. NFL panel: Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Strahan and Howie Long. Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures': Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth … Woody Johnson … U.S. Ambassador to Israel-designate Mike Huckabee. CNN 'State of the Union': DHS Secretary Kristi Noem … Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). NBC 'Meet the Press': National security adviser Mike Waltz … Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) … Amanda Gorman. Panel: Sara Fagen, Gabe Gutierrez, Andrea Mitchell and Symone Sanders Townsend. CBS 'Face the Nation': Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) … Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). ABC 'This Week': Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). Panel: Terry Moran, Asma Khalid, Sarah Isgur and Susan Glasser. MSNBC 'The Weekend': Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) … Norm Eisen … Brendan Ballou. NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday': Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer … John Yoo. Panel: George Will, Burgess Everett and Julie Mason. TALK OF THE TOWN Andrea Mitchell has her last day in the anchor chair on MSNBC today. Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff checked out the Lakers game. Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House yesterday. Lorne Michaels faced serious internal 'Saturday Night Live' pushback over Donald Trump hosting in 2015, a new book reveals. Patrick Mahomes rejected Tommy Tuberville's claim that he recruited the star athlete. Tucker Carlson's ALP feels pretty similar to Zyn, Ian Ward finds. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — The FAA will reduce the number of hourly arrivals at Reagan National Airport, Reuters' David Shepardson scooped. And CBS' Olivia Rinaldi and Kris Van Cleave report that last year, FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker wanted to close one of the airport's three runways after near-accidents. … Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill to end D.C. home rule, per The Daily Caller's Henry Rodgers. OUT AND ABOUT — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution hosted a live taping of its 'Politically Georgia' podcast at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library yesterday evening. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) talked about DOGE and running for office; Ayesha Rascoe, Dana Bash and Kasie Hunt talked about covering the second Trump term; Keneshia Grant and Minkah Makalani discussed the dismantling of DEI; and VA Secretary Doug Collins said a federal hiring freeze won't block veterans' care. — SPOTTED at an annual dinner for the DSCC hosted by lobbyists from Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid on Wednesday night, raising more than $225,000: DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Seth Radus, Cristina Chou, Doug Calidas, Janelle McClure, Virginia Zigras, Amy Rosenbaum, Joy McGlaun, Corey Miller, Haider Murtaza, Elizabeth Sharp, Rich Santoro, Justin Goldberger, Natalie Armijo and Marty McGuinness. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Carl Sceusa will be the next president of IMGE, a GOP-aligned digital marketing firm. He's a longtime GOP operative and former chief executive of WinRed. Current IMGE leader Ethan Eilon will remain with the company as a senior partner. — Jack Stukel is launching Summa Insights in partnership with ColdSpark, providing opposition research and other intelligence to campaigns, groups and companies. He previously was research director at the NRSC for the 2024 cycle. MEDIA MOVE — Kate Sullivan is joining Bloomberg News as a White House correspondent. She previously was a campaign reporter and producer at CNN. TRANSITIONS — Don Andres is joining BGR Group as a VP in its appropriations practice. He most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.). … Annie Clark is joining Rokk Solutions as SVP. She previously was comms director for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the Senate Appropriations Committee. … … Elizabeth-Burton Jones is now comms director for Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.). She previously was comms director for Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.). … Caroline Carter will be deputy comms director for Sen. Jim Justice ( She most recently has been digital director for Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). ENGAGED — Jeff Hasselman, who advises blockchain and crypto startups at 926 Ventures and is an Amazon Web Services alum, proposed to Denise Grace Gitsham, founder of Vitamin D Public Relations, a NewsNation contributor and a former Republican congressional candidate, on Sunday at the Caribou Club in Aspen, Colorado. They met on Bumble in May. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Cara Edmundowicz Aftuck, a veteran GOP fundraiser, and Philip Aftuck, managing director of investments at The Bernstein Companies, welcomed Philip Maxwell Aftuck Jr. ('Max') on Wednesday (with the cool birthdate of 2/5/25). He joins big sister Margaux. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) … PBS' Laura Barrón-López … Dave Levinthal … Beth Frerking … IMF's Jeff Kearns … former Reps. Allen West (R-Fla.), Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) … John 'Rage' Criscuolo of Squire Patton Boggs (41) … Emily Hampsten … Patrick Ferrise … Judge James Gilbert of the U.S. Postal Service … Carleton Bryant … Community Change's Jasmine Nazarett … Jessica Kershaw ... Miguel L'Heureux ... Christine Grimaldi … Jeff Marschner … Invariant's Mary Beth Stanton … Justin Papp … Josh, Rachel and Eric Mogil … Austin Myhre of Sen. Raphael Warnock's (D-Ga.) office … Monica Medina … POLITICO's Patricia Iscaro and Marvellous Ogudoro … Marley Ward … Gay Talese (93) Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday's Playbook misstated the location in the Capitol where President Donald Trump would be speaking. It was Statuary Hall.
