Welcome to the online version of Political officeAn evening newsletter that brings you the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Policy team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign campaign.
It was another wild day in Washington after the unexpected move of President Donald Trump’s night to suspend federal aid expenses. As Lawrence Hurley writes, he sparked a constitutional battle that could find himself at the Supreme Court. On immigration, Steve Kornacki is in the survey numbers to show how the Americans have changed directly on the issue since Trump’s first term. And Bridget Bowman breaks down a key early development of the 2026 battle for the Senate.
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– Adam Wollner
🚨 Breaking News: The Trump administration is expected to offer 2 million federal workers the possibility of taking “deferred resignations” with packages free from about eight months’ salary and benefits. Learn more →
Trump’s efforts to retain federal funding triggers constitutional confrontation
By Lawrence Hurley
The Trump administration’s attempt to retain federal funding fuels a long -term legal battle on the basic constitutional principle that Congress decides how to spend taxpayers’ money.
And as with the early decree of President Donald Trump on the citizenship of the right of birth, the struggle leads to immediate disputes which could quickly find itself at the Supreme Court.
A trial brought by non -profit groups has already led a federal judge to put in wait.
Trump’s management and budget office sparked the confrontation with a memo on Monday evening which ordered an immediate block on expenses related to federal assistance and programs.
The administration said that the objective was to assess the programs to ensure that they are aligned with the Trump agenda, even if such funding has been approved by the congress and signed. In a new MEMO OMB issued on Tuesday, the administration said that the order did not constitute a financing freezing and was not subject to the law on the control of deduction.
The Constitution specifically stipulates that the congress has the work of imposing taxes and spending money, giving it what is familiarly known as “the power of the bag”. It is the main authority that the congress confronts on the separation of powers with the president.
“It seems clear to me that the Trump administration is struggling to obtain this question at the Supreme Court,” said Sam Bagenstos, who was the lawyer general of the OMB in the Biden administration. “The Trump administration clearly thinks of having a favorable court.”
Chaos and confusion: The Trump administration’s decision to suddenly arrest subsidies and federal loans has created generalized confusion through government, congress, state programs and non -profit organizations based on this funding, Shannon Pettypice, Julie Tsirkin, Garrett Haake and Berkeley Lovelace Jr..
- What would be affected? We do not know exactly which programs would be interrupted if the frost came into force. But Omb sent a document asking the agencies of details on more than 2,600 programs, including school meals for low -income students, the American agency for foreign international development assistance, mine inspections, the program WIC nutrition for women and pregnant infants and a reintegration program for veterans homeless.
- The White House tries to clarify: The financing of programs that provide direct assistance to persons is excluded from the break and exempt from the examination process, said a senior administration official. They include Medicaid, food coupons, small businesses, a start-up, rental assistance and PELL federal subsidies for students, according to a service note sent on Tuesday afternoon.
- Medicaid problems: State agencies have said that problems accessing federal financing sites and disbursement systems, including Medicaid systems, which are used to manage and distribute previously authorized federal funds. Press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the White House was aware of the MEDICAIDE website failure and sought to repair it. (Lead more about Leavitt First briefing of the White House here.)
How the opinions of Americans on immigration have changed since Trump’s first term
By Steve Kornacki
Like he did eight years ago, Donald Trump came to the presidency with the wishes to take a hard line on immigration problems. But this time, he does it in a political atmosphere much more conducive to his posture.
Americans are now compatible To cite immigration as the first problem that the country is confronted and deeply supports efforts to expel immigrants who have committed crimes. Although these attitudes come with nuances (opposition to policies that separate families remain strong, for example), the overall change is undoubtedly.
For decades, the Gallup survey has watched Public feeling about immigration. His most recent investigation, taken last summer during the campaign, revealed that the part of the Americans who want to reduce immigration almost doubled since Trump’s first term.
The 55% of Americans who said that immigration levels should be reduced is the highest figure measured in all GALLUP polls in 24 years, since the immediate wake of the September 11 attack in 2001.
And while a solid majority of Americans continue to believe that immigration is a net positive, this opinion has also weakened in recent years.
In addition, the country is now almost perfectly divided on the question of whether those here, whether they have committed crimes or not, should be subject to deportation.
This is a net change of 20 points compared to 2019, when the detention policies of the first Trump administration were the source of the national controversy. The trend also extends to other questions. The public still largely supports a path to citizenship for those who here here, but the opposition has doubled since Trump took office, from 15% to 30%. And support for a considerably widened border wall has reached the majority status, a leap of 12 percentage points since Trump’s first term.
A Ipsos / Reuters survey Released while Trump took office last week revealed that a plurality of Americans, 47%, now approves his approach to immigration. It is not exactly an overwhelming approval, but it is better that he tended to get away in his first round. And given the trajectory to the right of public opinion on the subject, it can represent more a floor than a ceiling.
➡️ Deportation depuls: Federal law enforcement agencies target three cities per week for large -scale arrests in immigration, with Aurora, Colorado, to come. Learn more →
The release of Gary Peters shakes the struggle for the Senate
By Bridget Bowman
Democrat Senator Gary Peters Decision not to go to re -election In Michigan means that a crucial battlefield state will now organize an open race key for the control of the Senate.
Here are three ways in which Peters’ retirement could shake up the struggle for the Senate, where the Republicans have an advantage of 53-47:
- Michigan was already a target of the GOP, like one of the two states (with Georgia) that the Democrats of the Senate defend that Trump won last year. He could go to the top of the target list now that it is an open seat, because the Democratic candidate will not have the advantages that accompany the holder.
- The release of Peters exerts even more pressure on the Democrats to keep Michigan, which they must win to have a chance to return the Senate. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to return the room, and a single GOP Senator (Susan Collins of Maine) is re -selected in a state that Kamala Harris won last year.
- The two parties could end up with crowded primaries (and this race could test how the party leaders want to try to merge around a candidate to avoid the division). The former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg is one of the potential candidates.
🗞️ The best stories of today
- 👀 Confirmation battles: Several Republicans of the Senate have problems with Trump’s candidate to the Secretary of Labor, the former representative Lori Chavez-Deremer, citing pro-union positions that she has concluded with those of the business world. Learn more →
- 👀 Confirmation battles, Suite: The Senate voted 77-22 to confirm Sean Duffy as a transport secretary after having advanced his 97-0 appointment on Monday. Some Democrats said they had voted against him to protest against freezing the Trump administration. Learn more →
- 📕 Resistance 2.0: While Trump floods the area during his first week in power, the Democrats go away from their “resistance” strategy during his first mandate and try to focus on portfolio issues. Learn more →
- 📝 In opinion: Sense. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Dick Durbin, D-ill. – The president and classification member of the judicial committee – sent a joint letter asking Trump to explain his recent dismissal of 18 general inspectors “immediately”. Learn more →
- 🗳️ If it’s Tuesday: Trump’s approval power will face the first tests of his second term in a pair of special primary elections in Florida this evening. Learn more →
- 🛸 It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a …: The mysterious survaining drones The New Jersey who caused an alarm among residents last year were largely authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, said the White House. Learn more →
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It’s all of the political bureau for the moment. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Fiath Wardwell.
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