Trump to Name Fighter Jet Competition Winner: BGOV Starting Line

White House Decisions

Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s competition to develop the next US fighter jet is culminates with a White House event later this morning. The winner gets the contract for the Next Generation Air Dominance manned fighter, or NGAD, that’s intended to fly in tandem with drones. Like the F-22, the replacement is intended to be an air-to-air fighter.

That announcement follows a jolt of White House activity last night. We’ll get you up to speed and then help you get ready for the week ahead.

• Secrets: In a social media post, President Donald Trump denied a New York Times report that said Elon Musk will be briefed today about the American military’s contingency planning for any potential war with China, writing that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed.”
  
  The Wall Street Journal also reported that Musk’s getting a briefing about a potential China war, and cited a person familiar as saying it’s happening because Musk asked for a briefing. Read More

• Critical minerals: Trump signed an executive order invoking emergency powers to boost the ability of the US to produce critical minerals — and potentially coal. The minerals are used in an array of products from batteries to defense systems that are seen as crucial to the nation’s energy and security. Read More
  
• Information: Another executive order requires federal agencies to share data. It applies to all agencies but specifically requires the secretary of Labor to receive “unfettered access to all unemployment data” — which could include jobless claims filed under state unemployment insurance programs that receive federal funding. Read More
  
  We’ll be watching how that’s reconciled with court-imposed guard rails around Americans’ personal data under the Privacy Act.
  
  A federal judge temporarily blocked anyone connected with Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing personal information at the Social Security Administration. The agency responded that the order’s too broad, and Trump said on social media that there should be no more nationwide injunctions and the Supreme Court should “fix this toxic and unprecedented situation.”

New Rules

An extraordinary flex of presidential muscle that threatened to bring a big law firm to its knees ended with the firm responding to the pressure by making a $40 million promise.

Justin Henry reports that Trump rescinded an executive order against Paul Weiss, saying the law firm will dedicate $40 million in pro bono legal services during his term to support administration goals.

“The rules of the game have changed and this is a very different game,” said Cari Brunelle, founder of legal industry advisory firm Baretz+Brunelle.

One of the law firm’s former partners, Mark Pomerantz, led the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation that resulted in convictions against Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump’s March 14 order stripping the law firm’s security clearances and threatening to terminate clients’ contracts specifically mentioned Pomerantz. It also rebuked the firm for its work on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. Read More

Congress Returns

The House and Senate will be back for a week that will include the confirmation of more presidential appointees, an announcement about the debt limit, and more private talks as Republicans try to figure out how to give Trump what he wants on taxes. The House will break up its voting schedule so members can travel for the Wednesday funeral of Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Some of the highlights on next week’s horizon:

Taxes: Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee expect a two-week meeting marathon to discuss how to use the budget reconciliation process to prevent the 2017 tax cuts from expiring plus enact other priorities, according to a member on the panel and a person familiar with the planning.

GOP tax writers held two similar meetings last week lasting several hours that featured an appearance from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Ken Tran reports that part of the puzzle is how to revise federal law so that there’s no tax on tips.

Debt Limit: Congress often struggles over the debt limit, because lawmakers generally support paying the bills the government’s already rung up, oppose defaulting on the nation’s obligations, and scowl at more borrowing. Midweek, the Congressional Budget Office will release its X-date — the estimated deadline for increasing or suspending the debt limit.

Crash Investigation: Lawmakers have a lot of personal experience as Reagan National Airport travelers, so don’t be surprised if they take a personal interest in the National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the recent plane-helicopter crash. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy is scheduled to testify before both a House and a Senate panel.

Nominations: Senators are preparing to vote on Jay Bhattacharya to be director of the National Institutes of Health and Martin Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

And on the House floor, next week brings consideration of a bill (H.R. 1048) that would require colleges and universities to report in more detail when they accept gifts from abroad. Republican sponsors say it’s part of an effort to prohibit contracts between institutions of higher education and certain foreign entities and countries of concern, such as China.

Rep. Bobby Scott (R-Va.) called the proposals “solutions in search of a problem.”

Bloomberg Government subscribers, read more about the week ahead in BGOV’s Congress Tracker.

Running Out of Time

Republicans are nearing the deadline to introduce measures to nix the final rules of the Biden era without having to worry about filibuster from the Democrats.

Bloomberg Government legislative analyst Dan Lee took a close look at the Congressional Review Act, and found that Senate Republicans have until roughly March 25 to introduce resolutions opposing specific regulations under the Congressional Review Act. After that, they have a little more time—potentially early to mid-May—to use the expedited procedures that let them bypass Democratic support. The exact deadline will depend on how many days they’re in session. Any official determinations are made by the Senate parliamentarian.

House members have roughly until April 1 to introduce their CRA resolutions.

The CRA gives Congress a chance to reject executive-branch rules finalized in the last 60 legislative days of a congressional session without its action being subject to a Senate filibuster. To see the CRA in action, watch the House next week, when measures to relax new energy efficiency standards for freezers and refrigerators (H.J. Res. 75, H. J. Res 24) are taken up on the floor.

Dig deeper with this BGOV OnPoint.

In Court: Gerrymandering

The Supreme Court is taking a fresh look at the landmark law enacted to stop states from making it hard for Black citizens to participate in elections.

The justices next week will hear arguments in a case challenging a congressional district map that created two majority-Black seats out of a total of six in Louisiana, which has a population that’s almost one-third Black. A lower court declared that to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander — even though a different court had ruled that the second majority-Black district probably was needed to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill, a Republican, told the Supreme Court in her appeal that the state was like a ball “stuck in an endless game of ping-pong.” Read More

Eye on the Economy: Significant Survey

Check out the red line in the graphic below. Economists trying to figure out what will happen next on the financial health of the country will be watching next week to see whether it pushes upward again.

Though it’s a survey rather than a measurement of activity, the University of Michigan’s running assessment of consumer sentiment is a gauge of what’s on the minds of everyday Americans as they consider whether to make big purchases, plan vacations, or save for a rainy day.

“The concern with higher inflation expectations is that it can be self-fulfilling — what people and businesses expect to happen, often does,” said Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell talked about the consumer confidence survey just a couple days ago. “We do understand that sentiment has fallen off pretty sharply, but economic activity has not yet and so we are watching carefully,” Powell said. “I would tell people the economy seems to be healthy.”

Before You Go

All of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain and most of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska are going to be opened for oil and gas leasing.

Bobby Magill reports that this flips the policy of the Biden administration, which said fossil fuels development in the biologically diverse region would contribute to changing climate, which is warming the Arctic faster than anywhere else in North America and harming the region’s migratory birds, polar bears, and other species.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) praiesd the Interior Department’s announcement, saying it “will provide more investment opportunities, more jobs, and a better future for Alaskans.” Read More
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