What's going on today
- The Trump administration took a major step toward firing workers across the federal government by advising agency leaders to dismiss probationary employees. Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected, though the exact number of expected dismissals was not immediately clear.
- President Donald Trump announced a plan to impose "fair and reciprocal" tariffs against U.S. trading partners, including allies. He later held a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as health and human services secretary after the Senate confirmed him in a largely party-line vote. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a childhood polio survivor, joined Democrats in voting against Kennedy.
- Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, was advanced by the Judiciary Committee, also along party lines, over Democrats' concerns about potential political retribution at the Justice Department.
- Trump's nominee for education secretary, Linda McMahon, faced a grilling from senators at her confirmation hearing about Trump's promises to abolish the Education Department.
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Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily reinstate foreign aid funding
The Trump administration must temporarily allow the disbursement of foreign aid, a judge ruled tonight, dealing the latest blow to the administration’s sweeping efforts to halt international aid.
The court order came in response to a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups that work on international aid projects.
House GOP panel passes budget blueprint with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and steep spending reductions
The Republican-controlled House Budget Committee voted along party lines to advance a massive budget blueprint to slash taxes and spending by trillions of dollars.
The vote of 21-16 after a marathon daylong session sends the budget resolution to the full House, where Republicans must unify their paper-thin majority to approve it, and instructs committees to craft a massive package to pass Trump’s agenda on immigration, taxes and more.
The budget calls for up to $4.5 trillion in new deficits through tax cuts, which Republicans plan to use to extend Trump’s expiring 2017 tax law and pass other pieces of his tax agenda.
Congress approved FEMA funding that DOGE allies have criticized
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced yesterday that she had clawed back a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant given to New York City to help it pay for the massive influx of migrants in the city, slamming the funds as money “that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels.”
Her post echoed a claim made earlier in the day at a congressional hearing, where the FEMA funding was condemned.
“All of these insane projects have one thing in common: They were all approved and funded by unelected bureaucrats,” said Stewart Whitson, senior director at Foundation for Government Accountability.
It’s true that FEMA officials awarded the grant to New York City; it’s also true that hundreds of elected lawmakers approved funding designed for that very purpose.
In an appropriations bill that became law last spring, 350 House members — 158 Republicans and all voting Democrats — approved a funding bill that included $650 million to be spent on helping nonfederal entities pay for sheltering migrants.
“$650,000,000 shall be transferred to 'Federal Emergency Management Agency—Federal Assistance' to support sheltering and related activities provided by non-Federal entities, in support of relieving overcrowding in short-term holding facilities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, of which not to exceed $9,100,000 shall be for the administrative costs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” the bill text said.
At the time, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle discussed and debated the funding source. Prominent Democrats in the Senate tried to more than double the funding. After passage, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, touted the funding, while Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., boasted in a release of reducing funding for the program. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for stricter immigration rules, slammed the funding, saying it would go to “sanctuary jurisdictions which facilitate illegal immigration.”
At a December 2023 congressional hearing, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., argued that increasing federal funding for the program would be important to help lessen the financial burden of the migrant crisis on New York City, where vacant hotels have been repurposed for migrant housing alongside shelters in tented facilities and warehouses.
“There’s a federal program called the Shelter and Services Program that can reimburse localities and states for expenditures on immigration,” he said. “If we had Republican support, we could increase the funding in the shelter and services program so that the federal government could offset the expenditures of New York City and of the state of New York through the Shelter and Services Program so that we would not have to have budget cuts to the FDNY.”
Trump’s executive orders cause ‘chaos’ at the VA, some staffers say
Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs say Trump’s flurry of executive orders and policy changes have already chipped away at staff morale, and now they fear the impact will be felt by the country’s 9 million veterans for whom the VA provides lifelong care and benefits.
Nearly a dozen VA employees working in various capacities across the United States — from a boiler plant operator in Nebraska to a cancer researcher in the Northwest — spoke with NBC News about how the changes have already affected their jobs.
More than half of them used the same word to describe what they’ve experienced: chaos.
DOGE software approval alarms Labor Department employees
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has received approval from the Labor Department to use software that could allow it to transfer vast amounts of data out of Labor’s systems, according to records seen by NBC News and interviews with two employees.
The approval for Musk’s team to use the file-transfer and remote access software, known as PuTTY, has alarmed some of the Labor Department’s career employees. Musk, the head of DOGE, has dispatched subordinates throughout the government to radically overhaul or dismantle federal agencies with the backing of Trump.
Many of the details around DOGE’s actions have remained secret, though it has moved to gain access to large swaths of data held in the computer systems of individual agencies.
Senate Republicans slow-walk Elise Stefanik’s confirmation to be U.N. ambassador
The Senate is deliberately slow-walking Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, with several Republicans publicly and privately blaming the delay in confirming her on the White House’s concern over their party’s historically slim majority in the House.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who said Republicans are taking cues from the White House on the timing and sequencing of nominations, believes Stefanik is being held up because the White House is being mindful of the tough political dynamic in the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has almost zero room for error to advance Trump’s agenda. With Stefanik still in office, Republicans have just a three-vote margin over Democrats.
At a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump announced a plan to impose “fair and reciprocal” tariffs against U.S. trading partners. NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor reports.
Trump’s presence looms as Florida GOP passes immigration deal after weeks of infighting
Florida Republicans today passed legislation they called the “strongest” immigration enforcement bill in any state after a fight that amplified political tensions within the party as they aimed to help Trump.
Over the past two weeks, Republican leaders in the state have feuded with Gov. Ron DeSantis over the direction of immigration reform in the state, with the fighting spilling over at times into nasty, personal territory on social media, with DeSantis supporters on one side and GOP legislative leadership mostly on the receiving end.
All that took a back seat today when DeSantis signed the legislation flanked by state House Speaker Daniel Perez and state Senate President Ben Albritton.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sues the Trump administration over funding freeze
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sued the Trump administration today over its broad freeze of federal funding, saying in a lawsuit that the effort has “jeopardized at least $5.5 billion that has been committed to Pennsylvania” in federally appropriated money.
In the lawsuit, the Shapiro administration said Trump is violating the Administrative Procedure Act and conducting “an unconstitutional withholding of funds.”
Trump administration tells federal agencies to fire probationary employees
The Trump administration began a mass firing of federal workers today.
Office of Personnel Management officials met with agency leaders today and advised them to dismiss probationary employees, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management, although the exact number who will be terminated was not immediately clear.