Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will move Tuesday to start the process to consider Kash Patel’s nomination to be FBI director. Thune will file cloture around 6 p.m. Tuesday on Patel’s nomination, which was reported out of the Judiciary Committee along party lines, 12-10, earlier today.

Democrats are expected to force dilatory procedural votes Monday afternoon before Thune can make his move, but they will not affect the outcome.

The move means the procedural cloture motion vote related to Patel’s nomination will be next Thursday and his final confirmation vote will be just two hours after that, so he is expected to be confirmed next Thursday.

Musk posted a meme yesterday evening describing Americans who benefit from federal programs as "the parasite class."

"Watching Trump slash federal programs knowing it doesn't affect you because you're not a member of the Parasite Class," the meme read.

Musk commented: "Why 90% of America loves @DOGE," pointing to the Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has tasked him to run.

Musk, the world's richest man, is the beneficiary of billions from lucrative contracts his companies, such as SpaceX and Tesla, have with the federal government. In less than a month since Trump took office, Musk has run roughshod through federal agencies as part of Trump's effort to rapidly reshape the government in his image.

"Who are you to call someone else a member of the parasite class," posted Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, linking to a story about the State Department's plans to purchase $400 million of armored Tesla Cybertrucks.

Democrats from the House and the Senate, along with representatives from affected labor unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union, joined forces outside the Department of Veterans Affairs to call out Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts to reduce their workforce. 

“Nine million veterans are watching you give them the middle finger, and we’re not going to stand for it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “We are going to fight Elon Musk’s plan to slash and trash the VA in the biggest power grab and heist of valuable information and money in our nation’s history.”

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., called out what he said is Republican hypocrisy.

“These are the same politicians and billionaires who never miss a photo-op with veterans. These same ones who wave the flags and talk about supporting our troops,” Takano said. “But now, they are trying to destroy the very system our veterans rely on. They’re treating our nation’s veterans and VA employees like disposable parts, instead of the essential caregivers that they are.”

Fresh off Kennedy's confirmation as secretary of health and human services, the department announced a private welcome ceremony for him Tuesday at agency headquarters in Washington.

The announcement, which came in an email to HHS employees obtained by NBC News, noted that the agency "encourage[s] all staff to attend in person," adding that Kennedy will speak at the event.

"Immediately following his remarks, Secretary Kennedy will personally meet and greet" those on hand, the email continued. "Selfies are welcome!"

Kennedy defended his record on vaccines this afternoon in remarks after he was sworn-in as health secretary, seeking to assuage a key concern many Democrats expressed during the confirmation process.

Responding to a reporter's question about concerns from Americans over vaccines, Kennedy said his approach is "common sense."

For a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the West’s pariah after he first annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country. Now, Trump has given Putin a big boost — and possibly re-entry onto the global stage — by offering him much of what he has been asking for in Ukraine.

While Trump has made it no secret that he planned a radical departure from Joe Biden’s goal of an ostensible outright Ukrainian victory, his comments yesterday — including that Russia “fought for that land and they lost a lot of soldiers” — startled observers and apparently, governments across Europe.

Read the full story.

U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson said he will grant a request by a group of transgender people and their parents for a temporary restraining order on parts of Trump's executive orders that define sex as biological and stop federal funding of transgender medical care for people under age 19, saying they had “met the standard for a temporary restraining order.”

Hurson said Trump's orders could harm the lives of transgender youths and entire communities if hospitals lose significant funding. He added that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their legal challenge.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sworn in Kennedy this afternoon. In remarks leading up to the swearing-in, Trump praised Kennedy, saying he would restore Americans' trust.

"He’s absolutely committed to getting dangerous chemicals out of our environment and out of our food supply and getting the American people the facts and the answers that we deserve after years in which our public health system has squandered the trust of our citizens," Trump said.

"It was a very tough, it was a very nasty group of people that were after him, but he was tougher and he was smarter than they are, and that's why he's here today," Trump added.

The Senate voted along party lines, 51-43, to advance Kelly Loeffler’s nomination to be Small Business Association administrator.

Her final confirmation vote will be no sooner than Tuesday.