| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | BREAKING: “White House rescinds freeze on federal grants, in reversal,” by WaPo’s Jeff Stein: “The White House budget office on Wednesday rescinded an order freezing federal grants, according to a copy of a new memo obtained by The Washington Post, after the administration’s move to halt spending earlier this week provoked a backlash.”
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HHS Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. linked his environmental advocacy to his focus on public health and said he's not anti-vaccine. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | KENNEDY CENTER: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to backpedal from many of his past positions in his Senate confirmation hearing today to become HHS secretary, but he faced tough questions from Democrats and some Republicans who weren’t ready to forget. The unconventional nominee began by linking his environmental advocacy to his focus on public health, saying he wants to tackle the country’s ongoing health crises. He emphasized plans to attack the drivers of chronic disease, make food more healthful and “create an honest, unbiased, gold-standard science at HHS.” He also again declared himself not “anti-vaccine,” despite his long history of activism against vaccines, and instead focused on vaccine safety. Angry Democrats weren’t buying it, despite their alignment with Kennedy on other health issues. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) grilled Kennedy on conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and AIDS, per Daniel Payne. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) all but accused Kennedy of lying and profiting off false claims, “even if that may mean the tragic deaths of children and other vulnerable people.” “Frankly, you frighten people,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a longtime friend and former law school roommate (!) of Kennedy’s, who’s been eyed as a possible yes vote. Kennedy also stumbled over details about how Medicaid operates when pressed by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor and a pivotal figure here. Kennedy repeatedly pushed back against Democratic criticism, saying senators had taken him out of context. He said he supports the measles and polio vaccines, that his own kids are vaccinated and that he “absolutely” supports PEPFAR. And he rejected the assertion that he’d contributed to a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa (read WaPo’s Dan Diamond from earlier this month for a nuanced look at that episode). On the other side, Kennedy sought to assuage conservative concerns by casting himself as no enemy of food producers — and saying he was open to studying mifepristone, perhaps opening the door to a crackdown on the abortion pill despite his past pro-abortion-rights stance. He reassured Republicans that he stood with President Donald Trump on abortion. (“I have never seen any major politician flip on that issue quite as quickly as you did,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said.) And in addition to vocal Make America Healthy Again supporters in the crowd, Kennedy got some strong GOP support: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called him an “answer to my prayers.” What happens next remains a mystery: Republican senators have shown a deep willingness to OK almost every Trump nominee, and one notable vote, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sounded pretty high on Kennedy today — and mad at Democrats. But other key voices have yet to back Kennedy. And despite Dems’ existential vaccine concerns, some of them haven’t ruled out voting yes over his approach to food and chronic disease. The hearing is ongoing. Live updates from the NYT More reading: “RFK Jr., once a Trump critic on immigration, now could help enforce it,” by WaPo’s Dan Diamond MORE NOMINATIONS: At a lower-profile confirmation hearing, Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick strongly defended Trump’s tariff plans, calling it “nonsense” that they’d worsen inflation. Live updates from Bloomberg … EPA Administrator-designate Lee Zeldin’s nomination is up now for a procedural vote on the Senate floor. … And Pam Bondi advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 12-10 this morning, though she got no Democratic support, per Hailey Fuchs. IMMIGRATION FILES: At POLITICO’s Playbook First 100 Days immigration policy breakfast event this morning, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told Rachael Bade that Trump’s highly public ICE raids are largely a show for media attention and to intimidate other immigrants. He also said he hasn’t given hope on more substantive, comprehensive immigration reform in Congress: “We can do something that’s better, more long-lasting, if we work on it together,” he pitched to Republicans. On the flip side, former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said to Myah Ward that the raids help deter illegal immigration and help more Americans understand that the ranks of the undocumented include criminals and gang members. Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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Learn more about how others are building with open source AI. | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. TRUMP’S NEXT SUITE OF ORDERS: Coming this afternoon, Trump is expected to sign another batch of executive orders. In addition to the already reported moves on school choice, here’s what’s on the docket:
- Barring federal money for K-12 schools that teach critical race theory or “radical gender ideology,” The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese scooped. (In the former case, the actual academic theory is rarely taught below the collegiate level, though it’s not clear how broadly Trump might seek to apply this to other instruction about race.) It’ll also reinstate Trump 1.0’s 1776 Commission, with an eye toward bolstering patriotism in schools.
- Ordering the whole federal government to make plans to crack down on antisemitism, the N.Y. Post’s Steven Nelson scooped. That will include a focus on deporting pro-Palestinian protesters, including those on student visas, who broke the law.
Also at 2 p.m.: Trump will sign the Laken Riley Act, the first new law of his second term. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is the only Democrat who’ll attend, at least so far, per Daniella Diaz. 2. THE TRUMP TRIALS: The Justice Department today took steps to drop the charges against Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, Trump’s former co-defendants in the federal criminal classified documents case that has already been ended for the president, per Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney. Meanwhile, Trump has retained Sullivan & Cromwell to represent him in his ongoing court fights against his hush-money criminal conviction and civil business fraud judgment, Fox News’ Brooke Singman scooped. He needed new lawyers because he’s installed the old ones in top DOJ positions. The president’s team now is led by Robert Giuffra Jr., with Matthew Schwartz, Jeffrey Wall, James McDonald and Morgan Ratner. 3. BY THE NUMBERS: House Republicans are taking some of their first concrete steps toward making the hard calls on spending cuts, as they work on a budget blueprint for their big reconciliation bill(s), Meredith Lee Hill reports from the retreat in Doral, Florida. Committee chairs laid out initial plans to target at least $60 billion from the Education and Workforce Committee, $50 billion from the Agriculture Committee and $200 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee. But those savings, relatively limited as they are, would also be partially offset by $125 billion more in defense spending. Despite the political and policy tightrope Speaker Mike Johnson has to walk, he insists to The Hill’s Emily Brooks that “all this is possible.” But not everybody’s thrilled: The House Freedom Caucus posted on X that for members “leaving Miami today feeling rudderless when it comes to reconciliation,” they have a plan to get to 218 votes. Shutdown showdown: Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), meanwhile, warned that Trump’s move to freeze federal spending could jeopardize negotiations for a funding deal to keep the government open past March, per Semafor’s Burgess Everett. 4. CRUZ CONTROL: “Ted Cruz plots major NIL push with new Senate committee power,” by Axios’ Stef Kight and Sara Fischer: “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is planning to hold an early hearing on the booming name, image, and likeness (NIL) industry as he seeks to pass a federal law to standardize NIL rules … Cruz’s goal isn’t necessarily to protect the NCAA, but rather ensure it has the necessary legal protections to enforce its own rules around things like spending caps, which make recruiting more equitable. … NIL has bipartisan support for reform, but it hadn’t been a top priority for congressional leaders.”
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| | | 5. MEGATREND: The U.S. is still failing to rebound from the pandemic school closures’ hit to students’ learning, according to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress. Eighth-grade reading scores dipped to a record law, with one-third of the nation’s near-high schoolers unable to demonstrate basic reading comprehension, per AP’s Collin Binkley. Even the relative bright spot of fourth-grade math, which saw a 2-point improvement from 2022 to 2024, still hasn’t recovered to pre-Covid levels. And the lowest-performing students are seeing some of the worst declines, widening a chasm with the top students. 6. TRUMP INC.: “Trump Media launches FinTech services brand amid crypto boom,” Reuters: “Truth Social parent Trump Media and Technology Group said on Wednesday its board of directors has approved the launch of a financial services and FinTech brand Truth.Fi, sending shares of the firm up over 11% in early trading. The company board has also authorized an investment of up to $250 million through Charles Schwab.” 7. POLL POSITION: An outside group backing Vivek Ramaswamy finds him way out ahead in the early going for the Ohio GOP gubernatorial primary, Axios’ Mike Allen scooped. Tony Fabrizio’s polling outfit has a survey with Ramaswamy at 52 percent, compared to AG Dave Yost at 18 percent. 8. WHAT WENT WRONG: “The inside story of Harris’ lost gamble on Joe Rogan, Beyoncé and a late Texas rally,” by NBC’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, excerpted from their upcoming book, “Fight” ($32): “Only a few people knew the real reason: the whole Houston rally was built to put [Kamala Harris] in proximity to [Joe] Rogan. The ongoing negotiations on that were touch-and-go. … [But m]utual friends Elon Musk and Dana White had convinced Trump and Rogan to bury their dispute, according to a Trump aide. There would be no Harris interview. … Harris aides thought they had one more ace to play. … [But] Beyoncé didn’t perform [at the rally]. She would speak. But she would not sing.” 9. THE FLIP SIDE OF ISOLATIONISM: “Leaving the W.H.O. Could Hurt Americans on a Range of Health Matters,” by NYT’s Apoorva Mandavilli: “Disengaging from the W.H.O. would rob the United States of crucial information about emerging outbreaks like mpox and resurgent dangers like malaria and measles, public health experts said. It may also give more power to nations like Russia and China in setting a global health agenda, and it could hurt the interests of American pharmaceutical and health technology companies.”
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Please take a 1-minute survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Jim Justice takes a private jet from West Virginia to D.C. and back nearly every day the Senate is in, though it’s just until he finds a place in the capital. Kyrsten Sinema and Chris LaCivita are joining Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council to work on pro-cryptocurrency policy. Mark Esper’s official Army secretary portrait has been taken down in the Pentagon. Washington’s hot new status symbol? Joking about Donald Trump throwing you in a gulag, per The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker. PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — “Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg explores purchase of Washington DC property,” FT BOOK CLUB — Will Hackman, senior officer for environmental policy at the Pew Charitable Trusts, just announced his new book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing. Coming out in spring 2026, the book will “seek to reframe the issue of climate change to overcome polarization, partisanship, apathy and paralysis,” he told Playbook. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party last night titled “The Hammer Returns to Washington, D.C.” celebrating the return of Breitbart’s Matt Boyle to D.C., hosted by War Room, The National Pulse and Human Events: Steve Bannon, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Sean Spicer, Raheem Kassam, Jeff Clark, Paul Dans, Katherine Doyle, Ed Roman, Britt McHenry and Jack Posobiec. MEDIA MOVE — Ben Jacobs is joining POLITICO to cover Congress for the magazine and the main site, per CNN’s Brian Stelter. He recently has been a contributor to POLITICO Magazine and N.Y. Mag, and is a Guardian and Daily Beast alum. TRANSITIONS — Lisa Miller will be a partner at Sidley. She previously was a deputy assistant AG, overseeing the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. … WestExec Advisors is adding Michael Horowitz and Harry Krejsa as senior advisers. Horowitz previously was deputy assistant secretary of Defense for force development and emerging capabilities. Krejsa previously was assistant director of the Office of the National Cyber Director. … David Evans is now a senior adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute. He previously was general secretary of the Labour Party in the U.K. and a Keir Starmer ally. … … Chris Leuchten is now an EVP at Elevate Government Affairs. He most recently was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). … Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is adding Joe Jackson as senior comms adviser and elevating Katie Warbinton to comms director. Jackson most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Greg Lopez (R-Colo.) and is an RNC alum. … Carter Houtman is now digital director for the House Budget Committee. He previously was content director for Mike Rogers’ Michigan Senate campaign. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
