What's happening today
- The Senate voted tonight to confirm Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's pick to run the White House Office of Management and Budget. Vought, a Project 2025 co-author, was confirmed in a party-line vote.
- The NCAA announced that it will restrict women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while permitting all student-athletes to compete in the men’s category to comply with Trump's executive order rescinding support for sports programs "within which the relevant female sports category is based on identity and not sex."
- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's offer of buyouts to federal workers. Today was the deadline for employees to accept the controversial packages, which Democratic lawmakers have warned are legally dubious and have not received congressional authorization.
- The Office of Personnel Management sent a memo directing federal agency heads to send in information about employees who received less than "fully successful" performance ratings over the past three years or any employees who are under or have completed performance improvement plans within the last year.
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Hong Kong continues suspending parcels to the U.S.
The Hong Kong postal service said it would continue to suspend the shipment of packages to the United States “until further notice,” even after the U.S. Postal Service reversed a decision to ban parcels from the Chinese territory, as well as mainland China.
“There are still matters that need further clarification, including the request of the United States for the imposition of additional duty,” the Hong Kong government said in a statement.
The United States gave no reason for the initial suspension on Tuesday or its reversal 12 hours later. But the ban came in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on all goods imported from China and Hong Kong, as well as to close a trade loophole used by China-linked online retailers that allowed packages worth less than $800 to enter the United States duty free.
Both China and Hong Kong have criticized the U.S. tariffs, and China retaliated by imposing tariffs of 10% to 15% on some U.S. products.
“We urge the United States to take urgent actions to rectify its wrongdoing, so as to avoid causing confusion and inconvenience to the public owing to its constantly changing policies,” the Hong Kong government said.
Sheriff Chris Swanson jumps into Michigan governor's race
Chris Swanson, the sheriff of Genesee County, jumped into the race to be Michigan's next governor.
Swanson spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in support of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
"There’s a new Sheriff in town, and I’m up for the challenge," Swanson said in announcing his campaign on X. "My name is Chris Swanson and I’m running to be Michigan’s next Governor—to protect, serve, and unify our great state."
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cannot run for re-election in 2026 because she is term-limited.
Trump’s sweeping agenda is hitting legal roadblocks
The courts are slamming the brakes on some of Trump’s efforts to quickly trim and transform the federal government.
In his first weeks in office, Trump has signed more than 50 executive orders aimed at reshaping the government, from targeting birthright citizenship to changing how transgender inmates are housed. Government agencies have also used the orders to try to freeze federal funding nationwide and offer buyouts to the bulk of government employees.
The flood of orders has led to over two dozen lawsuits to date and a number of court decisions halting — at least temporarily — some of Trump’s actions. At least three such decisions were released today.
'Substantial' staff cuts expected at the General Services Administration, officials say
Officials of the General Services Administration have notified its workforce of more than 12,000 employees that it's set to face a “substantial” staff reduction and a massive downsizing of the government’s federal property footprint.
The GSA administrator sent a memo this week urging staff members to take the deferred resignation offer from the Office of Personnel Management, warning that the agency will be shutting down field offices and will subsequently assign employees to report to regional field offices in less than a month.
The commissioner of the GSA's Public Buildings Service sent an email this week informing staff members that the GSA “is going to be a substantially smaller organization in the future.”
An additional GSA unit, the Federal Acquisition Service, is seeking to eliminate 50% of its staff to meet the demands of DOGE, according to a GSA official familiar with the orders presented to the unit’s leadership.
Trump signs three executive actions, White House says
Trump signed three executive actions today, according to a White House office. The actions were signed behind closed doors.
Two orders aimed to sanction the International Criminal Court and "eradicate anti-Christian bias." The White House has not released information about the third action.
In targeting the International Criminal Court, Trump argued that it "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
His executive order on "anti-Christian bias" establishes a task force and reiterates U.S. commitment to protecting "the religious freedoms of Americans." He pointed to Christians' being arrested during anti-abortion-rights protests at clinics and said Christians had been pushed to "affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith."
Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump arrested in child solicitation case
A Texas man pardoned by Trump in the Jan. 6 riot — and who was released from prison despite a pending arrest warrant on suspicion of soliciting a minor — was arrested today, officials said.
A fugitive task force in Leon County, Texas, arrested Andrew Taake, one of around 1,500 people Trump pardoned in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Harris County district attorney’s office said.
Taake, 36, was released from federal prison after the pardon despite a request that he be held because of a pending warrant for his arrest in Texas on suspicion of online solicitation of a minor, the DA’s office said.
The DA’s office said the Harris County Sheriff’s Office first made the request that Taake be held because of the warrant in 2022. It said it faxed a copy of the warrant to the federal Bureau of Prisons on Jan. 15, but Taake was released on Jan. 20 after Trump’s pardon.
“We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office’s Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody,” District Attorney Sean Teare said in a statement.
Taake, of Houston, was being held without bail, court records show.
Taake’s attorney did not reply to a message seeking comment.
In the Jan. 6 case, Taake was sentenced in June to 74 months in prison, or six years and two months, after he pleaded guilty to a count of assaulting police with a deadly weapon. Taake went to the Capitol armed with a metal whip and bear spray, and he sprayed police officers with powerful irritant, prosecutors said.
He was awaiting trial in the Texas online solicitation case when he was arrested and convicted on charges connected to the Jan. 6 riot, prosecutors said.
USAID to be reduced to about 290 foreign service officers and civil servants
The U.S. Agency of International Development is expected to be reduced to about 290 workers of the more than 5,000 foreign service officers, civil servants and personal service contractors currently employed at the agency, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
Most of the approximately 3,000 Institutional Support Contractors have already been fired or furloughed. The status of the approximately 5,000 foreign service nationals serving around the world is not yet clear.
Casey DeSantis considers running for Florida governor amid push from top donors
Republican donors at a gathering last week in Palm Beach County, Florida, openly discussed the prospect of Casey DeSantis’ running for governor in 2026, and for the first time, the state’s first lady is seriously considering the idea.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, her husband, faces term limits and cannot seek re-election. There has long been speculation about whether Casey, a mainstay on the campaign trail for her husband, would herself one day run for office, but those plans seem to be coming closer to reality, five people directly familiar with the donor event and Casey DeSantis’ thought process told NBC News.
Justice Department appeals a court order that paused Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship
The Justice Department appealed a court order from a federal judge in Seattle that paused Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship through executive order.
The case will now move to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judges in Seattle and Maryland have blocked the executive order, which seeks to nullify the 14th Amendment's protection of birthright citizenship.
Health clinics face cuts, closures as Trump’s funding fight ripples outside of Washington
In West Virginia, a nonprofit mental health program for teenage girls is turning to a private donor to help cover its expenses. Three Virginia health clinics have shut their doors. And a network of health centers in rural Mississippi is facing a deficit of $500,000 and may have to scale back services.
Across the country, health clinics and nonprofit organizations largely serving rural and low-income patients have found themselves unable to access previously allocated federal funds as a short-lived government funding freeze has continued to disrupt daily operations for a variety of programs.
The disruption appears to stem from a vaguely worded, two-page memo the Office of Management and Budget sent early last week directing all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance” that could conflict with Trump’s agenda.