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IN THIS EDITION

Dems were in the dumps – until Trump helped them out

Scalise’s view on the Trump agenda — and how Congress will pass it

The best commute to Washington belongs to Jim Justice

The Vault: A new FOMC stares down the Trump era

THE TOP

Dems were in the dumps – until Trump helped them out

Happy Wednesday morning.

Democrats should’ve had a very bad Tuesday.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) stunned Capitol Hill by announcing he wouldn’t run for reelection in 2026, putting an open Senate seat in play in a key swing state. The party has no clear leader with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris gone (The DNC is picking a new chair this weekend). And Democratic congressional leaders were getting an earful from rank-and-file lawmakers who complained they had no clear strategy to counter President Donald Trump and GOP leaders on immigration and Israel.

But for the first time in weeks, Democrats were able to go on offense — thanks to Trump.

A Monday night memo from the Office of Management and Budget ordering a freeze in federal grant and loan programs sent congressional Republicans scrambling and helped Democrats rally behind a clear anti-Trump message. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Trump as “lawless, destructive, cruel.”

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, warned that thousands of federal programs could be impacted, including veterans, law enforcement and firefighters, suicide hotlines, military aid to foreign allies and more. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, demanded that the panel delay its confirmation vote for Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee for OMB director, for two weeks due to the controversy. This won’t happen, but it raises the political stakes for Republicans. That Budget Committee vote will come on Thursday.

OMB later released additional guidance stating that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP — food stamps — and Head Start weren’t frozen. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tried to dismiss the episode as “the first dumb media hoax of 2025.”

Yet the Trump White House let the memo trickle out late Monday night without explanation or any heads-up to Hill Republicans. The White House wasn’t ready for the pushback from the Hill or the national media uproar, and it forced a partial retreat by Trump officials. The top Senate GOP appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, complained that the funding freeze was “far too sweeping and will have an adverse effect on the delivery of services and programs.”

During a Senate Democratic Caucus lunch on Tuesday, Schumer urged his colleagues to make the freeze “relatable” to their constituents back home, a clear play for the messaging upper hand. Schumer also plans on doing several local TV interviews today. In the meantime, Schumer kept his caucus together on an Israel-related vote Tuesday that, in theory, should have divided the party.

Late on Tuesday, a Biden-appointed federal judge ordered an administrative stay on the funding freeze until Monday, meaning there will be several days more of press reports — and legal challenges — for the White House to endure.

There’s more where that came from. Trump’s firing of 18 inspectors general has prompted bipartisan pushback. The pardons for 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters have been heavily criticized. One of the pardoned rioters was killed by Indiana police during a traffic stop while another is being sought for soliciting a minor. DOJ officials who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith on the Trump criminal investigations have been ousted, spurring claims of retaliation by a vengeful president. New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an investigation into former Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley, per the Washington Post.

“We need to act with some urgency,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has taken an active role in Democrats’ post-election messaging. “We can’t continue business as usual here when there is a literal constitutional crisis unfolding.”

To be sure, Democrats don’t have a ton of leverage. They’re in the minority in both chambers. Twenty-two Senate Democrats registered their dismay with the Trump funding freeze on Tuesday by voting against a Cabinet nominee — Sean Duffy — who would’ve otherwise been confirmed unanimously. That’s not exactly going to intimidate Senate Republicans, who have lots more Trump nominees stacked up. House Democrats scheduled an “emergency virtual call” for Wednesday afternoon, but then were mocked for not moving with more urgency.

There are big confirmation hearings this week for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) and Kash Patel, that will allow Democrats to score points against Trump’s picks. Gabbard’s confirmation is in real doubt.

Trump is also offering a buyout for federal employees who don’t want to return to the office as he ordered. It’s not clear that Trump has the authority to do so, although this is sure to shake up Washington.

Yet as House Republicans huddle with Trump in Florida, there’s always this — you can count on the president and GOP leaders to overreach. Democrats did it under Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans did it under George W. Bush. The winning party overestimates the durability of their election victory and goes too far, inviting a backlash from fickle American voters.

Slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from social safety-net programs to pay for tax cuts is a tougher vote than it’s portrayed. House and Senate Republicans are a long way from reaching a deal with each other or Democrats on government funding as a March 14 deadline looms. Raising the debt limit by trillions will need a lot of GOP support, and conservatives hate it. There are so many places where Republicans can overplay their hands — and they just might.

— Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

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GOP LEADERSHIP

Scalise’s view on the Trump agenda — and how Congress will pass it

DORAL, Fla. — There is a lot of confidence these days among House Republican leaders. For example: top House Republicans are sure that they can pass their reconciliation bill by early April.

But the only House Republican leader who has the experience to judge the speed with which the chamber can move on Trump’s agenda is House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

Scalise was in the leadership during President Donald Trump’s last term in the White House, giving him a front-row seat to his party’s struggles to enact the president’s priorities.

During an interview at the House Republican retreat here, Scalise had some useful reminders for us — and perhaps the rest of the GOP conference.

1) Budgets are very hard. In 2017, 22 House Republicans voted against the budget that paved the way for the tax cut bill. And this was after Republicans failed to repeal Obamacare. So even faced with that dire political climate, nearly two dozen GOP lawmakers were willing to buck party leaders on the critical measure.

Remember: By the time Republicans get to passing their budget, they will have a one-seat majority. Any one GOP lawmaker can vote no and sink the measure.

2) How to think about the timeline for reconciliation. Almost to a person, senior House GOP leadership aides think top Republicans are far too bullish about passing a reconciliation package by April.

Scalise won’t quite go there. The majority leader said he thinks Republicans “ought to set an aggressive schedule in, and we need to push ourselves.”

“The country is in a desperate hunger for solutions to the problems that we’re facing right now,” Scalise said. “And a lot of those big problems can get solved in budget reconciliation.”

We pushed Scalise on the timeline, reminding him that it took until December in 2017.

“You won’t wait ‘til December like last time,” Scalise said. “There will be progress along the way.”

3) No red lines. Trump said during his address here Monday night that he wants to bring the corporate rate down to 15%. In 2017, Trump succeeded in lowering the corporate rate from 35% to 21% — even as he pushed Republicans to get it lower.

Scalise wouldn’t bite on whether 15% is realistic.

— Jake Sherman

DEPT. OF BEING RICH

The best commute to Washington belongs to Jim Justice

Most days before the Senate starts its day, a privately-owned Cessna Citation V jet lands at Washington Reagan National Airport.

And most evenings, after the chamber is done with its business, the same jet takes off for Greenbrier Valley Airport in Lewisburg, W.Va.

On that plane is newly elected Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).

Justice has been commuting to D.C. from his home in the Mountain State nearly every day, cutting what would be a four-hour drive to a 40-minute flight. Justice owns the famed Greenbrier resort, only 15 minutes from the airport.

On Monday, for example, Justice took off from Lewisburg at 3:42 p.m. and landed at DCA at 4:23 p.m., just an hour before the Senate voted. He left DCA at 6:49 p.m. — just two hours and 26 minutes later — and arrived back in West Virginia at 7:24 p.m.

On Tuesday, Justice took off from West Virginia at 9:54 a.m. and was in D.C. by 10:37 a.m. Justice then took off at 4:27 p.m., arriving in West Virginia by 5:05 p.m.

The plane started flying between Lewisburg and DCA on Jan. 14, the day Justice was sworn into the Senate.

In an interview, Justice acknowledged commuting to Washington on a private jet until he found a place to live in town.

“Well, I won’t do that as soon as I get a place to live,” Justice said last week.

“Because I came right out of the governorship on [Jan. 13], got sworn in that day, and so, really, truly, we just haven’t gotten a place yet,” Justice said. “God knows it’ll be a whole lot simpler.”

Justice added that he was paying the flight cost out of his own pocket, and no public funds were involved.

The 73-year-old Justice was once one of the wealthiest residents of West Virginia, but he has a negative net worth on paper thanks to more than $1 billion in debts and liabilities.

For normal people, landing a private jet at DCA is no easy task. After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security tightened regulations for landing at DCA, which is located just southwest of the National Mall across the Potomac. Private jets must have an “armed security officer” on the aircraft who has had “a threat assessment conducted by TSA, as well as specialized training and authorization from TSA.”

Speaker Mike Johnson frequently flies private in and out of DCA, but the speaker has a large Capitol Police security detail.

To underscore just how rare it is for private jets to fly in and out of DCA, the plane carrying Justice was the only tracked private flight in and out of the airport on Tuesday, according to online flight tracking services.

— Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

… AND THERE’S MORE

Clark staff moves: House Minority Whip Katherine Clark is making a number of staff changes. Michael Reed, previously director of whip operations and members services, will move up to senior adviser. Courtney Cochran has been promoted to member services director; Jake Bayer will move up to deputy floor director; Allison Blankenship will be elevated to senior floor adviser; and Joelle Lawrence is the new press secretary.

Spotted: Teamsters President Sean O’Brien had dinner Tuesday night with GOP Sens. Jim Banks (Ind.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Bernie Moreno (Ohio) and Jon Husted (Ohio), as well as some GOP chiefs of staff. We’re told they discussed the importance of getting former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), President Donald Trump’s labor secretary nominee, confirmed. Chavez-DeRemer is more pro-labor than some Republicans would like, but this group of GOP senators has long tried to align the party more with unions.

— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio

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