| | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Republican leadership sought to circle the wagons at a conference meeting this morning. And they did — just not in the direction they had intended. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | At this moment, as House Speaker Mike Johnson counts the yeas and nays ahead of a planned budget vote later this evening, one thing is clear: The math ain’t mathing, as the kids say. Republican leadership sought to circle the wagons at a conference meeting this morning. And they did — just not in the direction they had intended. "They convinced me in there: I’m a ‘no,’” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). “I was a ‘lean no’ until this meeting. Now I'm a ‘no.’” Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) also voiced their opposition coming out of the meeting. Said Davidson: “I’m not voting for that.” “Johnson faces some bleak arithmetic: No Democrats are expected to back the budget plan, and if all members are present and voting, he can lose only one Republican and still approve it,” POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Nicholas Wu report. Still, some GOP lawmakers are optimistic.
- “I think people will embrace it as the right and responsible path,” said Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), while expressing concern that Elon Musk’s comments on the package (he’s lukewarm at best) will peel away votes, per WSJ’s Olivia Beavers.
As for Johnson, he doesn’t exactly sound confident about the outlook and timing of the budget package. “There may be a vote tonight, there may not be,” he said. “Stay tuned.” Will President Donald Trump weigh in? Though Trump has been reluctant to fully wade into the intraparty squabble, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told NBC News’ Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur and Syedah Asghar that the president may reach out directly to the holdouts: “I think President Trump may have to get involved — with a slim margin, as he should. I think he’ll get involved,” Norman said. The policy angle: “As G.O.P. Eyes Medicaid Cuts, States Could be Left With Vast Shortfalls,” by NYT’s Noah Weiland and Sarah Kliff DOGE DAYS — As Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency project continue their “slash and burn” approach to cutting the federal government, 21 federal civil service tech workers resigned from DOGE today, writing in a joint resignation letter that they were quitting rather than help Musk “dismantle critical public services,” AP’s Brian Slodysko and Byron Tau report. The staffers all worked for what was once known as the U.S. Digital Service before it was absorbed by DOGE, and their ranks include data scientists, product managers and engineers. “All had previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon and wrote in their resignation letter that they joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service,” per the AP. More DOGE bites …
- Nearly 40% of the contracts that DOGE claims to have canceled “aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows,” AP’s Ryan Foley reports.
- “The Trump administration intends to keep the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau operating, although in a more streamlined form, according to a new court filing,” POLITICO’s Katy O’Donnell reports.
- “Veterans Affairs leaders dismissed more than 1,400 additional probationary employees on Monday evening, the second round of mass layoffs at the department this month,” Military Times’ Leo Shane reports. “Officials said specifically that Veterans Crisis Line responders were not affected by the latest or past dismissals. But workers within the department said that support staff for the crisis line were among the workers let go.”
- The “delivery of therapeutic food assistance to nearly 400,000 severely malnourished children abroad is in doubt due to ongoing firings at USAID,” two manufacturers of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food tell The New Republic’s Greg Sargent. “It is a sweet paste largely made of peanuts, milk, and vitamins. It’s designed for safe ingestion by young children inflicted with what’s known as ‘severe wasting,’ meaning they’re suffering extreme, acute malnutrition or hovering on the edge of starving to death.”
Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
| | | | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices: Protect Medicare Advantage: 34 million seniors are counting on it.
Over half of America's seniors choose Medicare Advantage because it provides them better care at lower costs than fee-for-service Medicare. With their coverage and care on the line, seniors are watching closely to see whether policymakers keep the bipartisan promise to protect Medicare Advantage by ensuring this vital part of Medicare is adequately funded.
Learn more at https://medicarechoices.org/ | | | HAPPENING TODAY — Trump is expected to sign another round of executive orders at 3 p.m. today, per a White House announcement. The statement did not say what topics will be covered or how many will be signed. ICYMI — Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) defended the administration’s slashing approach to the federal bureaucracy in a live conversation with POLITICO's Ben Lefebvre at Playbook’s “First 100 Days” breakfast series. Read more about the interview here
| | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | 
Russia reiterated their opposition to Western nations deploying peacekeeping forces to Ukraine today. | Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP | 1. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: As Trump pushes for a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated the country’s opposition to Western nations deploying peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, despite Trump’s comments to the contrary, NBC News’ Richard Engel and Mithil Aggarwal report from Kyiv. Following yesterday’s meeting with French President Emmanual Macron, Trump claimed that Putin “had no problem with” deploying peacekeeping forces. When asked today, Peskov referred back to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comments last week that “the deployment of troops from [NATO] countries … is, of course, unacceptable to us.” The comments from Russia come as European leaders meet with Trump this week to push for continued American support for Kyiv. Ahead of his Thursday meeting with Trump, UK PM Keir Starmer announced today that Britain will accelerate what he described as “biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” CNN’s Rob Picheta reports. 2. OH, CANADA: Trump adviser Peter Navarro “is arguing that the US should increase pressure on Canada by evicting the country from the Five Eyes” intelligence partnership, Financial Times’ Demetri Sevastopulo scoops. The move comes as Trump continues to threaten the country with tariffs and signals his desire to annex the Great White North. It’s unclear if the idea to remove Canada from the decades-old alliance “has gained traction with Trump but it is being discussed among his officials,” Sevastopulo writes. What it could mean: “While Canada and New Zealand provide the least amount of intelligence in the group, expelling any member would spark criticism from the other allies and also from intelligence officials in Washington and beyond.” 3. CONFIRMATION STATION: There are still several confirmation proceedings in the works on Capitol Hill as Trump fills out his second administration. Here’s where we are at today:
- As expected, the Senate easily confirmed Daniel Driscoll as secretary of the Army today in a 66-28 vote, The Hill’s Colin Meyn reports. A former senior adviser for VP JD Vance, Driscoll garnered bipartisan support at his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
- Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s (R-Ore.) bid for Labor Secretary may be on more even footing today, with Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) signaling he’s “leaning” toward supporting her, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Bipartisan support could even out Chavez-DeRemer’s odds, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says its "a difficult vote for me to decide."
4. WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN: As the Trump administration weighs imposing more tariffs against Beijing, the White House is drafting a plan to expand Biden-era restrictions against China’s chip industry and is hoping other countries will do the same, Bloomberg’s Mackenzie Hawkins, Cagan Koc, and Jenny Leonard report: “Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd. and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China.” Still, “it could take months before the talks” are productive as the administration continues to staff up, and “it also remains to be seen whether allies will be more receptive to the new leadership in Washington.” 5. STEEL STANDING: Nippon Steel COO Tadashi Imai said today that the Japanese steel company is planning to meet with Trump administration officials to continue talks around their attempt to buy U.S. Steel, WSJ’s Kosaku Narioka reports. 6. SCOTUS LATEST: The Supreme Court ruled today that Oklahoma courts cannot go ahead with the execution of death row inmate Richard Glossip, after the state’s AG argued the “inmate’s conviction for a 1997 murder was too flawed to justify putting him to death,” WSJ’s Jess Bravin reports. “Glossip, an Oklahoma City motel manager, was convicted in the murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in one of the rooms on his property, the Best Budget Inn. No forensic evidence linked Glossip to the crime; the conviction rested almost entirely on the testimony of Justin Sneed, a handyman.” State authorities now have the chance to either retry Glossip or release him. 7. FED UP: “Americans Are Expecting Higher Prices. That Could Unnerve the Fed,” by NYT’s Colby Smith and Ben Casselman: “Most economists see keeping inflation expectations in check as crucial to controlling inflation itself. That’s because beliefs about where prices are headed can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. … Now, though, there are hints that Americans are anticipating higher inflation in the years ahead.”
| | | | Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to reshape the federal government is consuming Washington. To track this seismic shift, we're relaunching one of our signature newsletters. Sign up to get West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government in your inbox. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Rich McCormick skateboarded to his office from the Cannon tunnel. PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — The site of the former D.C. Trump Hotel is back on the market, per Semafor’s Liz Hoffman. IN MEMORIAM — “Frank G. Wisner, Diplomat With Impact on Foreign Policy, Dies at 86,” by NYT’s Alan Cowell: “Over decades as a member of the policy elite, Mr. Wisner headed embassies in Zambia, Egypt, the Philippines and India, held high office under both Republican and Democratic administrations and was linked to initiatives that wrought change in regions as disparate as southern Africa and the Balkans. … But, long after he retired from public duty in 1997 and embarked on a lucrative career as a senior adviser to private companies, Mr. Wisner’s final act of public diplomacy during the so-called Arab Spring of 2011 turned sour when he found himself at odds with the Obama administration.” STAFFING UP — Ross Stewart is now executive secretary at DOL. He most recently was a corporate adviser for PavCon LLC. MEDIA MOVES — Kevin O’Leary, Scott Jennings and Jillian Michaels are now columnists for DailyMail+, the Daily Mail’s new subscription service in the U.S. and Canada. TRANSITIONS — Kurt Campbell has rejoined The Asia Group as chairman and co-founder. Campbell previously was deputy secretary of State for the Biden administration and functioned as Biden’s “Asia czar.” … The Center for a New American Security has added Adham Sahloul and Daniel Schneiderman as adjunct senior fellows. Sahloul previously was a special adviser for USAID and DOD. Schneiderman previously was senior coordinator for Afghanistan at DOD and is a State Department alum. … Dan Archer is now senior director of government relations at FICO. He previously was a partner at the Majority Group. 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.
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