In today’s issue:
- The name of the game: budget reconciliation
- Trump bans transgender service members
- Career lawyers booted at Justice Department
- What to know about bird flu
Reconciliation.
It’s the key word at the House Republican policy retreat at Trump National Doral outside Miami this week as lawmakers meet to discuss how to move President Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda forward — using a procedural maneuver that allows for expedited consideration of budget bills.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and GOP members have major decisions to make over the coming days on how to structure the vehicle for the massive, party-line bill that will cover everything from energy to border security and tax policy. The question is what to include, and which legislative items to save for a separate, bipartisan government funding measure Republicans will have to negotiate with Democrats.
Trump on Monday said, “Whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care,” seemingly throwing the legislative question back to Johnson and his fellow House Republicans.
The Speaker has been collecting member feedback for weeks while debating a host of options with GOP leaders. Committee chairs will present their proposals for the reconciliation package and answer member questions during a series of breakout sessions today.
But the clock is ticking.
In response to the GOP’s sprawling budget plans, congressional Democrats are considering forcing a showdown over the debt limit to rein in Trump’s vast plans to reshape both the economy and federal government. Using the threat of a default to usher in negotiations has historically been a Republican move, but in light of another potential debt crisis, Democrats have an opportunity to turn the tables.
With the razor-thin Republican majority in the House, lower chamber leaders know they will most likely need Democratic support to raise the debt limit.
That leaves Democrats able to bargain for what they want in exchange.
Trump on Monday said the current Congress will be the “most successful” in history if Republicans stick together despite their narrow majorities in both chambers.
“As long as we stay united, the 119th Congress will be remembered as the most successful and accomplished Republican majority in American history,” he said. “I think we have a chance to do it.”
▪ Politico: Trump detailed to House Republicans his costly congressional wishlist.
▪ NOTUS: Trump’s lesson: In Congress, the carrot can be more effective than the stick.
▪ 👉 The Hill’s Emily Brooks interviews Johnson today during a fireside chat at the House Republican retreat in Miami at 5:30 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to TheHill.com!
The Senate on Monday confirmed Scott Bessent to be secretary of the Treasury by a vote of 68-29. Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager and investor, now faces a daunting GOP push to enact Trump’s ambitious economic agenda.
“He brings a wealth of private sector experience in the economy and markets to his new role, as well as the concern for the needs of working Americans,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in his floor remarks on Monday, calling Bessent an “example of the American dream in action.”
USA Today: Trump on Monday pledged sweeping tariffs on steel, semiconductors and other imports.
Trump’s deportation blitz is picking up steam — along with criticism from Democrats that the administration’s actions will harm communities and hurt the economy without solving the border crisis. Democrats accuse the president of seeking petty political revenge by launching deportation raids in deep-blue cities like Chicago, where he frequently clashes with Democratic officials.
“These unwarranted raids have not only targeted hardworking individuals but, alarmingly, have also wrongfully targeted U.S. citizens and veterans,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “Such actions sow fear, disrupt families, destabilize local economies, and undermine public trust.”
Johnson, meanwhile, on Monday brushed aside economic concerns associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids as Democrats warn that the mass deportations could harm the economy. Asked during a press conference during the House Republican retreat whether he was concerned that the raids would have unintended consequences on the economy, Johnson responded, “I hope not, I don’t think so.”
“We are going to restore law and order at any cost, and I think we owe that to people,” he added. “It’s a very, very simple thing.”
CalMatters: A surprise immigration raid in California foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses.
Trump’s early moves are leaving Democrats and liberals feeling they are facing a five-alarm fire. Trump’s clemency toward those convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes, his dismissal of around 17 inspectors general, and his threats toward other leaders and the media have driven liberal fears about creeping authoritarianism to new heights. But, beyond court challenges, The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in The Memo that it’s not especially clear what Trump’s opponents can do about it.
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN:
One of America’s largest tech companies lost nearly $600 billion in value on Monday alone, the biggest single-day drop for any U.S. company ever. That itself is significant. But it tells just part of the story — an artificial intelligence (AI) global race between the United States and China is now squarely before us.
Consider this: The first event President Trump held on his first full day in office involved the Stargate announcement, which promises a massive investment in AI. However, the Chinese startup DeepSeek stunned Silicon Valley and beyond by releasing its AI assistant that it says costs a fraction of OpenAI’s comparable product.
Speaking to congressional Republicans Monday, Trump said, “We’re going to unleash our tech companies and we’re going to dominate the future like never before.”
Sounds like it’s game on.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:
▪ Chinese startup DeepSeek surprised the AI universe Monday, sparking both unease and excitement about the future of artificial intelligence, innovation and U.S. export controls. “It upends the way that investors have thought about how AI needed to be developed and implemented,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.
▪ Trump on Monday floated the idea of imprisoning U.S. “repeat offenders” overseas as a cost-saving measure by paying other countries “a small fee.” It would avoid using U.S. jails “for massive amounts of money” and private prisons, which he said, “charge us a fortune.”
▪ Airlines are raising their fares this year to respond to travel demand and limited capacity growth. Fares in January rose 12 percent compared with the same time last year.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | Kevin Wolf
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday it was an “honor” to “salute smartly” to implement as rapidly as possible the president’s orders to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, to reinstate members of the military previously discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines and to banish diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Pentagon.
Hegseth on his first day as secretary told reporters he welcomes Trump’s order to begin development within 60 days of plans for a U.S. missile defense system modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome for homeland defense. The order “directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next generation aerial attacks.”
Currently, the Defense Department operates Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which were conceived to defend against limited ballistic missile launches from countries such as North Korea.
▪ ABC News: Trump places his mark on the military with more presidential orders.
▪ Government Executive: Office of Personnel Management guidance asserts Trump possesses the constitutional authority to unilaterally rescind regulations put in place by the Biden administration governing federal personnel issues. A potentially massive legal battle over executive branch presidential sway is ahead.
▪ The Hill: Republican senators are trying to catch their breath as Trump unleashes a dizzying array of executive edicts and policy changes.
Federal grants and loans in limbo: The Office of Management and Budget ordered a government-wide freeze effective today on all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government to allow time to assess consistency with Trump’s agenda, including aid abroad, to nongovernmental organizations and for “DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal.” Federal agencies are required by Feb. 10 to submit detailed lists of projects suspended under the new order and present them to designated political appointees up the ladder. The instructions for a federal pause are not intended to directly affect assistance paid to individuals, according to a two-page memo. Social Security and Medicare payments to beneficiaries are excluded. Grants and loans from the government benefit thousands of recipients, including universities for education and research programs, nonprofits for health care and for Small Business Administration loans, including for disaster recovery.
The top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees immediately protested in a letter to Trump’s budget office, writing, “The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country. We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law.”
Sidelined, sent packing: Trump last week ordered an end to what he calls the “weaponization” of the Justice Department. On Monday, Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired a handful of career lawyers at the department, stating they prosecuted Trump while he was a criminal defendant and are not trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda. Appeals and litigation are expected. The Justice Department also suspended four career environmental lawyers and placed them on leave. The U.S. Agency for International Development on Monday ordered dozens of career staff members to go on immediate administrative leave, which means they get paid but cannot work. Also on Monday, the president fired three members selected by Democrats serving on the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Watchdogs removed: At least 17 former inspectors general from federal agencies and departments are reckoning with Trump’s recent order to fire them. Lawmakers from both parties are questioning the president’s decision to purge the federal independent watchdogs in the absence of the required notice to Congress and with the future of oversight in doubt.
Filling House vacancies: Florida will hold two special election primaries today to fill vacant House seats in Washington. The winners in each primary are widely expected to triumph in the April 1 general election. Trump’s endorsed candidates are Republican Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, and state Sen. Randy Fine (R).
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House convenes at 11 a.m.
- The Senate meets at 10 a.m.
- The president will receive his intelligence briefing at 11 a.m.
- The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | Julie Jacobson
HEALTH: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to appear Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee for the first of two confirmation hearings as nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Kennedy would have control of 18 federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The hearings are expected to be contentious; Kennedy is a known vaccine skeptic and holds controversial views, including repeated false claims linking vaccines to autism.
Kennedy is likely to face questioning about the rising cases of avian influenza across the country — especially as Trump ordered a “blackout” for federal health agencies, which bans them from publishing external communication.
The first outbreak of a rare bird flu in poultry was detected on a duck farm in California on Monday. Authorities said the discovery of H5N9 bird flu in poultry came alongside the detection of the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm, where almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed since early December. Bird flu is spreading in cattle herds and poultry stocks. The Department of Agriculture reported that more than 13 million birds were affected in the last 30 days across all 50 states.
Scientists said a pandemic is not inevitable. But the outbreak has passed worrisome milestones in recent weeks. H5N1 is “a low risk” for the general public “relative to the other risks they face today,” Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The New York Times. But “100 percent, that could change,” he said. “This is a dangerous virus.”
As health authorities around the world monitor the bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock, Trump during his first week in office issued an executive order to begin the withdrawal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO).
On Monday, U.S. public health officials were told to stop working with the WHO, effective immediately. Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as other threats.
▪ USA Today: Health officials in Kansas have reported a tuberculosis outbreak in the northeastern part of the state, with 67 cases since the beginning of January.
▪ Business Insider: Why eggs may stay expensive forever.
▪ The Hill: A significant number of political appointees who have joined the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump used to work for or have lobbied on behalf of the chemical and fossil fuel industries.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | John Leicester
UNDERSEA CABLES: Authorities in Sweden launched a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage and detained a vessel in the Baltic Sea after damage was reported to an undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden. It marked the latest in a string of ruptures of undersea cables; four cases since late last year have rattled European security officials. NATO officials accuse Russia of a “destabilization campaign” against countries in the Western defense alliance.
▪ Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced the commander of the eastern front, the most heated battlefield of the Ukraine war, after Russian forces captured another strategic town.
▪ The Economist: Amid talk of a ceasefire, Ukraine’s front line is crumbling.
▪ The Hill: Trump spoke Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told reporters later that Modi agreed to take back Indian migrants with no legal status in the U.S. The president said the prime minister will visit the White House, possibly in February.
TENS OF THOUSANDS of Palestinians returned to the most heavily destroyed part of Gaza on Monday as Israel lifted its closure of the north for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas. In accordance with a ceasefire, massive crowds of people on foot stretched along a main highway running next to the coast in a stunning reversal of the mass exodus from the north at the start of the war in Oct. 2023. Gazans who have been living in tent camps and schools-turned-shelters for more than a year are eager to return to their homes — though they have likely been destroyed.
“We want to go see my mother and father,” said Ahmad Adas. “It’s been a long time.”
▪ NBC News: Hamas has told Israel that eight of 26 Israeli hostages set to be released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire are dead.
▪ Reuters: A delegation from Hamas arrived in Egypt on Monday to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza.
▪ Axios: The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon will be extended until Feb. 18.
▪ The New York Times: Israeli forces opened fire toward residents of southern Lebanon for a second consecutive day on Monday as people pressed on with attempts to return to their homes along the border.
OPINION
■ DeepSeek sharpens AI arms race — and MAGA tensions, analysis by Chris Stirewalt, political editor, The Hill.
■ America 2025: A glimpse through Trump’s looking glass, by Harlan Ullman, opinion contributor, The Hill.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | Marco Ugarte
And finally … 🐝 Bees with backpacks are the latest innovations from scientists at Penn State who are solving a long-standing mystery: How far do honey bees travel from hives to collect pollen and nectar?
Bees wearing miniature QR codes glued to their backs in rural Pennsylvania and New York have revealed surprising findings. One is that honeybees live weeks longer than researchers originally thought. Researchers are also reappraising the generally accepted notion that bees travel many miles from their hives. That may be rare.
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