Donald Trump will meet with Republican lawmakers Thursday to discuss the budget resolution, the White House said in a notice posted just after midnight. But first, you should know:
- White House aides want to tone down Trump’s Gaza takeover.
- Contractors and NGOs may review doing business with the federal government if the Trump administration’s USAID shutdown is a prelude of things to come.
- Democrats wants answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Speaker Mike Johnson on Elon Musk’s access to Treasury data.
Trump Meeting Set After Senate Signals Split with House
A meeting with Republican members of Congress was added to President Donald Trump’s schedule today as as Senate Republicans prepare to jump ahead of the House and make the first step toward the budget reconciliation process.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters Senate Republicans “are of the opinion that it is time for the Senate to move” its own budget resolution next week that would focus on border and defense funding but not on tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year. The move comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struggles to put together a resolution that can appease deficit hawks in his conference.
Graham said the roughly $300 billion budget reconciliation measure, split about equally between border and defense, would be offset.
The White House announcement of the meeting, which was released after midnight, did not list who would be attending. Read More
Read BGOV’s Congress Tracker for our breakdown of lawmakers’ agenda and the politics driving it.
Aides Seek to Tone Down Trump Proposal for US to ‘Own’ Gaza
President Donald Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of the Gaza Strip has broadened the debate about the future of the area, as aides to the president seek to tone down his pledge to depopulate and take over Gaza.
The approach, according to Trump, requires moving more than 2 million Gazans out of the war-ravaged enclave, with the president even raising the possibility of deploying US troops. Israel welcomed the suggestion Trump made Tuesday, but it was widely condemned elsewhere.
By Wednesday, the message from aides was that Trump was thinking creatively out loud. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that US taxpayers wouldn’t foot the bill, and said the president hadn’t “committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza.” She also indicated the displacement of Palestinians might only be temporary, rather than the permanent relocation Trump has repeatedly suggested.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a similar message, saying that Trump wanted the US to play a leading role in rebuilding Gaza, not own it. Read More
Ukraine, Syria Plans Drawn Up: Trump’s Gaza idea comes as he is set to present a long-awaited plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine at the Feb. 14-16 Munich Security Conference in Germany, according to people familiar with the matter. Elements include potentially freezing the conflict and leaving territory occupied by Russian forces in limbo while providing Ukraine with security guarantees to ensure that Moscow can’t attack again. Read More
Further coverage:
- Trump Flashes Newfound Imperialist Streak in White House Return
- Trump Call for Gazans to Depart Echoes in Their Destroyed Homes
Foreign Aid Lockout Shakes Contractors’ Faith
Funding shortfalls, furloughs, and the threat of closures is forcing contractors and nongovernmental organizations to review their relationship with the federal government — especially after USAID cut off payments.
USAID halted payments and credit to its partner organizations as part of a 90-day funding pause issued by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The chaotic stoppage could permanently alter the federal government’s relationship with organizations that do work overseas, contractors and NGO leaders told BGOV’s Jack Fitzpatrick.
The agency stiffed companies for work they did months ago, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. NGOs face the threat of closure. Plus, the waiver issued by Secretary of State and Acting USAID Director Marco Rubio, meant to allow lifesaving work to continue, hasn’t worked because the agency’s employees aren’t responding to requests and its money still isn’t being sent to organizations.
Contractors are being asked to float the operations of the federal government on their own dime, said Steve Schmida, chief innovation officer at Resonance Global, which works with the agency. That could force companies to rethink their relationship with the federal government.
- “This is not a high-margin business,” Schmida said in an interview. “Despite what everyone thinks, a typical USAID contractor earns about a 5% profit. If we had any idea that the full faith and credit of the federal government was going to be in question, we would not work for 5%.” Read More
Angry USAID Workers: Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers who joined a rally to protest Trump’s freeze on USAID activity found themselves under attack by the very same protesters.
“Do your job! Do your job!” the crowd of hundreds chanted at the lawmakers addressing the gathering in a Capitol Hill park Wednesday. Several people at the rally held up signs calling for more forceful opposition to Trump, with one placard simply reading “Democrats do something!”
The outpouring of anger dovetails with broader resentment among Democratic voters over the failure of their party’s leadership to mount a meaningful resistance as Republican Trump’s White House has moved to shrink the government workforce, freeze federal funds, boost fossil fuels, vilify diversity initiatives, and radically reorient US foreign policy. Read More
The Trump Administration
White House Says Musk Will Police His Own Conflicts of Interest
The White House said
Democrats Press Bessent on Musk’s Access to Personal Tax Info
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent should divulge whether billionaire Elon Musk and his team improperly reviewed confidential taxpayer data when it gained access to the Treasury Department’s payments system, House Ways and Means Committee Democrats wrote Wednesday.
Trump Taps Mike Davis Ally to Advise on Judicial Selection
The Republican National Committee’s lead elections attorney, who is a close ally of conservative legal advocate Mike Davis, has joined the White House Counsel’s office to work on judicial nominations, according to two people familiar with the administration’s plans.
Musk ‘Buyout’ Taken by 40,000 Federal Workers as Deadline Nears
The Trump administration’s offer to pay federal employees through the end of September if they agree to leave by the end of February has attracted more than 40,000 sign-ups as of Wednesday — about 2% of the federal civilian workforce.
Rubio Snubs G-20 Meeting Citing South Africa’s Focus on Equality
US Secretary of State
Bondi to Probe DOJ Weaponization, Target ‘Sanctuary’ Cities
Newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi kicked off her first day in office with a slew of memos announcing a new working group to examine past “weaponization” of the Justice Department and plans to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.
Bondi Diminishes Justice Department White Collar Enforcement
The Justice Department is scaling back enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying transparency and bribes of foreign officials, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced.
Data Hoarders Are Rushing to Save Vanishing US Health Records
Government agencies’ moves to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which affect everything from gender language to scientific publications, have sparked feverish efforts to archive government data in online repositories like the Internet Archive. Scientists and archivists say they’re determined to preserve a historical record and guard against potential erasure or revision.
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