The Trump administration’s order to freeze federal funding is met with confusion and legal challenges. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces a Senate confirmation hearing. And today marks the start of the Year of the Snake.
Here’s what to know today.
Trump’s efforts to withhold federal funding sets up a constitutional showdown
President Donald Trump's mission to cut government spending came into sharper view this week with a buyout offer for roughly 2 million federal workers and an order to freeze federal aid.
The Trump administration’s offer to all full-time federal employees, with some exceptions, offers benefits and pay through the end of September. A senior administration official said they expect 5%-10% of the workforce to quit, which, they estimate, could lead to around $100 billion in savings. Read more about the buyout offer.
Meanwhile, an abrupt halt on federal grants and loans announced Monday night created widespread confusion across the government. A memo sent yesterday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget clarified that Medicaid, food stamps, small business assistance, Head Start, rental assistance and federal Pell Grants for college students would be excluded from the pause and exempt from review.
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Minutes before the freeze was set to take effect, a federal district judge granted an administrative stay in a case challenging the Trump administration’s order. The judge’s decision pauses the plan for a week and sets up a hearing for further arguments on Monday.
Trump’s desire to freeze funding is fueling a long-brewing legal battle over the core constitutional principle that says Congress gets to decide how to spend taxpayer money. Litigation could quickly make its way up at the Supreme Court.
Challengers are likely to cite the Impoundment Control Act, a law passed in 1974 to regulate the president’s control over the budget. The Trump administration is already countering that argument. In the OMB’s memo, the Trump administration said it aims to evaluate the programs that receive federal funding to ensure they are aligned with Trump’s agenda, despite that funding having been approved by Congress and signed into law, making it exempt from the Impoundment Control Act.
“It seems clear to me that the Trump administration is aching to get this issue to the Supreme Court,” said Sam Bagenstos, who served as OMB general counsel under former President Joe Biden. “The Trump administration clearly thinks they have a favorable court.”
But several legal experts think the administration will be in for an uphill battle.
More politics news:
- Elected Republicans largely expressed support for the freeze, though some asked for more clarity to ensure certain services weren’t affected.
- Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made her debut in the White House briefing room, where she defended Trump’s mass deportation efforts and plans to slash federal spending.
- Republican lawmakers’ three-day policy retreat in Florida was filled with sunshine, palm trees and a call for unity. But intraparty fights seem to be bubbling just below the surface.
- Trump signed a sweeping executive order to restrict access to gender-affirming medical care for minors.
- The inside story of Kamala Harris’ lost gamble on Joe Rogan, Beyoncé and a late Texas rally: Read an excerpt of a new book by Jonathan Allen of NBC News and Amie Parnes of The Hill on the 2024 fight for the White House.
The latest immigration news:
- Trump administration officials are considering pulling funding from the Transportation Security Administration to make up for a budget shortfall within ICE.
- American citizens, including citizens of Native tribal nations, have been snagged in recent ICE operations, raising concerns about racial profiling in Trump’s efforts to carry out mass deportations.
- ICE raids in the Bronx in New York City took neighborhood residents by surprise.
Senators weigh RFK Jr.’s nomination as health secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to meet with senators today for his first confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of health and human services. As the head of HHS, Kennedy would oversee powerful agencies, including the CDC, the FDA, the NIH and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. While several of Trump’s Cabinet picks have generated controversy, few have provoked as much outside opposition from both the right and the left as Kennedy has.
Liberals have criticized Kennedy’s anti-vaccine positions. Conservatives have decried his stances on abortion. Beyond politicians, more than 15,000 physicians protested the nomination in a letter this month that called Kennedy “actively dangerous,” and 77 Nobel laureates in medicine, chemistry, physics and economics flagged an array of issues. Autism advocates fear Kennedy’s confirmation could undo years of progress unlinking vaccines and autism. And yesterday, Caroline Kennedy wrote a scathing letter asking the Senate to deny his confirmation, describing her cousin as a “predator” who is unqualified to lead the department.
Senate Republicans will ultimately decide Kennedy’s fate. While Kennedy can only afford to lose three GOP votes if Democrats are united against him, none have publicly opposed him. Read the full story here, and follow our live blog for updates throughout the day.
Slithering into the Year of the Snake
Today marks the start of Lunar New Year — and with it, two weeks of parties, customs and feasts celebrating the arrival of spring. This year is the Year of the Snake, and an animal commonly associated in Asian culture with intelligence, resilience and love. The snake matches up with the years of people born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2013.
A snake may get a bad rap across many Western cultures, but it is celebrated and revered in the Eastern hemisphere. This year is all about “shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits,” said Jonathan H.X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University. “This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.”
More specifically, this is the year of the wood snake, with wood holding profound meaning across Doaism, Confucianism and Buddhism. NBC Asian America reporter Kimmy Yam explains more about what’s in store for this year.
Read All About It
- Federal Reserve officials are expected to leave interest rates steady in their first policy meeting of the new Trump administration.
- The White House said the FAA authorized most of the mysterious drones that caused alarm among many New Jersey residents.
- As a ceasefire unfolds, Hamas is again displaying its authority in Gaza, posing a challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy the militants’ grip on power.
- Some of the more than 3.2 million people set to see increased Social Security benefits under a new law might have to wait for more than a year until they see the extra money that’s due to them.
- A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas that killed two people last year is still growing, state health officials said.
Staff Pick: The things they carried: What Californians saved from the fires
Los Angeles-area residents in the paths of the wildfires faced an impossible choice: Which belongings should they protect from the flames, and which should they leave behind? The fast-moving fires gave them just minutes to decide. Many took passports. Some grabbed jewelry. Others packed their children’s favorite stuffed animals or treasured works of art.
Three weeks after the blazes destroyed their homes, five families spoke to us about the enormity of their losses. The families revisited the neighborhoods where their houses once stood, allowing photographers to capture the devastation at the scene.
We are grateful these families shared their heartbreaking experiences with us, and we hope their powerful photos resonate with you. — Elizabeth Chuck and Daniel Arkin, national reporters
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
If you’re having back problems, the Wthn Acupressure Mat set promises to relieve aches and pains and improve circulation. One NBC Select reporter shared her thoughts about the mat after using it for about a year. Plus, experts weighed in on the best productivity and focus apps to help tune out distractions.
Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.
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