Lawmakers Closer to Avoiding a Shutdown: BGOV Starting Line

The Latest on Two Layers of Spending Talks

Top appropriators from both parties in the House say a deal on top-line numbers is very close, but leaders are focused on passing a stopgap to avert a government shutdown first.

Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said the text of a stopgap bill to keep things running after March 14 should be released this weekend. “Let’s nail down certainty through Sept. 30,” he said.

That’s short-term.

Long-term, eyes are on a prize Republicans have coveted for decades: putting the government on a permanent diet.

President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting mastermind Elon Musk talked privately about that with House Republicans last night. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) said afterward that Musk and a staffer described how they’re coming up with their targets, including the use of artificial intelligence.

Our team reports that Musk conceded making some mistakes, such as canceling a USAID contract for a plant in Georgia that makes specialized peanut butter paste for malnourished children.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), whose district is home to the plant, said he thanked Musk in the meeting for reinstating the contract. Read More and find additional details in the BGOV Budget Brief

How Medicaid Math Is Mathing

There’s no way to abide by the instructions in the House Republican budget without cutting Medicaid. That’s the official conclusion of the Congressional Budget Office, which examined the framework that seeks $2 trillion in reductions over the next decade.

For the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees health programs, the budget reconciliation instructions call for $880 billion in savings.

The non-Medicaid part of that committee’s programs add up to $581 billion. Even if all of that was zeroed out, Energy and Commerce would have to go after Medicaid to reach the $880 billion goal, Jack Fitzpatrick reports.

Trump has said his party shouldn’t cut benefits for Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.

Green Censure Vote Today

The last thing the House plans to do this week is to vote on censuring Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who shouted about no mandate to cut Medicaid during Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress.

If the censure resolution is adopted, Green will have to stand before the House floor while Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reads a reprimand.

Maeve Sheehey reports that the censure comes with no penalty apart from any embarrassment and a place in the permanent record of House disciplinary actions.

Key Court Hearing After Administration Went 1 for 2

After the Supreme Court said no to keeping a freeze on promised foreign aid payments, the Trump administration will be back in court today.

The justices ordered US District Judge Amir Ali to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill” so Ali scheduled a hearing on whether to order a longer-term continuation of payments.

Humanitarian groups say the money — as much as $2 billion — is urgently needed. They say the freeze is upending hundreds of projects, forcing USAID partner groups to lay off or furlough thousands of US workers, and putting people who depend on the assistance at risk of disease and death. Read More

Another court handed Trump a victory.

A federal appeals court cleared the way for at least a temporary firing of the head of a whistleblower agency.

That court paused a decision by a judge who determined the dismissal was illegal.

The ruling is a major setback for Hampton Dellinger, who was fired from the Office of Special Counsel without explanation on Feb. 7 but remained in his job by judicial order.

His termination was part of the president’s bid to get rid of some agency officials whose independence was established by Congress. Read More

And a new suit to know about: the National Endowment for Democracy is arguing that the government is illegally locking it out of $167 million in grant funding.

The group wants the US District Court for the District of Columbia to order the release of its funds, declare the impoundment unlawful, and enjoin the government from further withholdings.

“For the last month, the executive branch has denied the endowment access to its congressionally appropriated funds—something that has never occurred before in the endowment’s forty-two-year existence,” the endowment said. Read More and get an assist on following all the cases with our exclusive Trump litigation tracker.

Here’s Who Had the Most to Lose Under Trump’s First Real Estate Plan

Before the Trump administration’s hasty about-face on closing federal buildings, government contracting analyst Paul Murphy was examining the impact. As you would have guessed, DC and the surrounding suburbs had the biggest concentration of real estate on the hit list, which generally overlapped with districts represented by Democrats.

The Republican with the most buildings marked for closure would have been Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan. Read More

Nominations to Move Ahead Today

The Senate Judiciary Committee is on track to advance the nomination of Trump’s choice for the administration’s top lawyer for Supreme Court cases. Another panel will vote on a chief White House economist.

Solicitor General nominee John Sauer had been Trump’s personal lawyer. And he’s the one who successfully represented Trump at the Supreme Court in his bid for immunity from being criminally charged for trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Before the case got to the Supreme Court, Sauer argued at the D.C. Circuit that the president would be immune from prosecution if he ordered SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent.

In his confirmation hearing, a bit of Q&A that stood out was when Sauer was asked whether federal officials must follow court orders. He said “generally if there’s a direct court order that binds a federal or state official, they should follow it.” Read More

Also on track for a vote today: the nomination of hedge fund strategist Stephen Miran to become chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“We need to strategically use tariffs to rectify distortions in the terms of trade that stem from other countries’ tariffs and barriers to trade,” he said in prepared testimony to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Read More

And another Senate committee will hold a hearing today on Trump’s choice to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

Surgeon Marty Makary, a public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, will face questions from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

In his prepared testimony, Makary discussed a priority he shares with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Childhood obesity is not a willpower problem, and the rise of early-onset Alzheimer’s is not genetic — we should be, and we will be, assessing the foods impacting our health,” Makary plans to say. Read More

Trump stood in front of Congress for 100 minutes on Tuesday, but spent little time talking about his intentions to work with lawmakers, Jonathan Tamari writes in his latest Elevated Take. Read More

Check out more Capitol Hill developments in BGOV’s Congress Tracker

Before You Go

A few quick catch-ups on bird flu, tariffs, and the newly open House seat:

“I walk up while drinkin’ milk and he’s looking at me like I’m juggling uranium": Bird flu has started to infect cows, and Trump administration’s whirlwind effort to reduce the size of government is complicating efforts to keep the virus at bay. Read More from Skye Whitley.
Car and truck tariffs on our closest neighbors are on hold. “We are going to give a one-month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, referring to the trade deal Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term. Read More
After this week’s death of Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), who served just two months in Congress, a first-round election to choose a successor could be held as soon as May 3, Greg Giroux reports. Read More