| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Elon Musk got strong backing from President Donald Trump at the Cabinet meeting today. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo | FROM THE CABINET ROOM: It was a lovefest between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the first Cabinet meeting of the term, as the Trump administration steps up its efforts to transform and shrink the federal workforce. Trump said his Cabinet members “have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this,” and despite some disagreements, “everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled.” For his part, Musk addressed the room and pitched the Department of Government Efficiency as “tech support” for the government. He acknowledged that DOGE had made some mistakes, like “accidentally” canceling work to prevent Ebola. Other bites from the president: Trump refused to comment on whether China will seize Taiwan. … He said the EU was created “to screw the United States.” … He said Republicans were “not gonna touch” Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, instead somehow finding all their savings by looking for fraud. … He said that if he ordered any Cabinet members to do something, they would comply, “no exceptions.” The cuts: OMB and OPM officially sent out their memo to agency leaders demanding initial plans for mass firings by March 13. The second phase of the plan is due April 14, to be implemented by Sept. 30. Trump said today that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin intends to lay off 65 percent of his agency. More from Fox News In the DOGE house: HUD has granted DOGE access to a highly restricted system with personal information on hundreds of thousands of people who alleged or were accused of housing discrimination, ProPublica’s Jesse Coburn reports. On the Hill: Musk and Speaker Mike Johnson met late last night at the White House, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports. With most Republicans still backing the administration’s sledgehammer approach, criticism has largely come from Democrats — and it is increasingly imperiling talks to avert a government shutdown, NBC’s Sahil Kapur reports. As Trump and Musk have blocked congressionally appropriated money, the blame game is ping-ponging. And the odds of a shutdown, or a continuing resolution to tide Washington over, have risen, NOTUS’ Riley Rogerson and Haley Byrd Wilt report. (Reminder: Government funding expires March 14.) Though an agreement on top-line spending numbers may not be far off, Democratic negotiators are doubling down on insisting that the White House implement congressionally directed spending and putting limits on the administration’s ability to deviate from it. Dems say the White House is already risking a constitutional crisis — and they see little reason to strike a deal on numbers that Trump can just ignore. Republicans say there’s no chance they’ll limit Trump’s powers in a spending deal, which they argue would create its own separation-of-powers concerns. “That’s a no go. We’re not moving,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters today after meeting with Senate GOP leaders. Johnson derided Democrats for “completely unreasonable conditions,” POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Tully-McManus and Jordain Carney report. Then there’s the separate intra-GOP squabbling over the reconciliation bill, as senators seek to make changes to the budget resolution the House adopted last night. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told CNN’s Manu Raju, “Hell no” the Senate shouldn’t just adopt the House bill outright. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was due to talk with senators about next steps at their lunch today, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said. Musk read: Despite his fuming against federal spending, an analysis from WaPo’s Desmond Butler, Trisha Thadani, Emmanuel Martinez, Aaron Gregg, Luis Melgar, Jonathan O'Connell and Dan Keating shows that Musk and his businesses have gotten a critical $38 billion in government funding over the years. SCOTUS WATCH: “Supreme Court signals it will make it easier for Americans to file ‘reverse discrimination’ suits,” by CNN’s John Fritze: “[B]oth the court’s conservative and liberal justices – as well as the attorneys arguing the case – appeared during brief arguments Wednesday to agree that some courts are misreading the law and erecting unfair burdens against discrimination suits filed by employees who are members of a majority group.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@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/ | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. 2026 WATCH: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will not run for Senate, and instead is considering running for reelection to a third term, per The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Sydney Kashiwagi. His team also said he won’t endorse in the Democratic primary. That field to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith could get crowded, with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and several other prominent Dems, including Rep. Angie Craig, weighing bids. 2. UKRAINE LATEST: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that he’s been invited to Washington; Trump said today that it was confirmed Zelenskyy will come Friday. Zelenskyy suggested he was OK with the draft framework for a deal to give the U.S. access to Ukrainian natural resources, while noting that it hasn’t been finalized yet. But a White House official tells Bloomberg’s Volodymyr Verbianyi that a meeting with Trump will only come after a final deal is agreed to. Diving into a draft of the text, NYT’s Andrew Kramer and Constant Méheut report that the language does make reference to security commitments (as Ukraine has sought) — but it’s “vague and does not signal any specific American commitment.” Trump said today he wouldn’t make many security guarantees and Ukraine “can forget about” joining NATO. 3. CLIMATE FILES: “EPA tells White House to strike down landmark climate finding,” by WaPo’s Maxine Joselow: “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged the White House to strike down a scientific finding underpinning much of the federal government’s push to combat climate change … By repealing the [2009] endangerment finding, the Trump administration would be taking one of its most consequential steps yet to derail federal climate efforts. … Conservatives have argued that repealing the finding is critical to unraveling what they see as burdensome limits on emissions.” Mandy Gunasekara and Jonathan Brightbill have been advising on the matter. 4. SOUNDS LIKE THE ECONOMIST: Billionaire WaPo owner Jeff Bezos seized control of the outlet’s opinion section today, saying it will stop seeking to include a wide range of views and instead focusing on supporting “personal liberties and free markets.” Opinion editor David Shipley resigned in response; the move prompted outrage from some Post staffers, while Musk and other prominent MAGA voices cheered the apparent libertarian shift. Bezos said the imperative for a broad newspaper opinion section had been obviated by the internet, and instead he wanted WaPo to focus on an ideology that he called “underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion.” Marty Baron issued especially withering criticism, telling The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies he was “sad and disgusted” and accusing Bezos of corrupt intent in acquiescing to Trump to protect his corporate interests.
| | | | 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. | | | | | 5. THE REVOLVING DOOR: “She Lobbied for a Carcinogen. Now She’s at the E.P.A., Approving New Chemicals,” by NYT’s Hiroko Tabuchi: “[I]n 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency began a new effort to regulate [formaldehyde]. The chemicals industry fought back with an intensity that astonished even seasoned agency officials. Its campaign was led by Lynn Dekleva, then a lobbyist at the American Chemistry Council … Dr. Dekleva is now at the E.P.A. in a crucial job: She runs an office that has the authority to approve new chemicals for use.” 6. TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: Major digital assets legislation, supported by the cryptocurrency industry, could soon trigger a policy showdown for divided Senate Democrats, POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman reports. The pro-crypto bill has lots of Republican support, but it would need at least several Dems to pass the Senate. And though Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is an outspoken skeptic of legitimizing the industry, warning about money laundering and a lack of consumer protection, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) are already on board with the stablecoin bill. Others are eyeing it, too. 7. KNOWING PAUL INGRASSIA: “White House point man at Homeland Security shared ‘martial law option’ post to keep Trump in office,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck: “Ingrassia and the Twitter account for a podcast he co-hosted posted the remark and similar sentiments on social media in December 2020 and January 2021 … The 29-year-old Ivy League-educated lawyer now serves as the second Trump administration’s White House liaison to the DHS.” Ingrassia did not respond for comment. 8. TOP-ED: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins today laid out a five-point plan in the WSJ for taking on bird flu and bringing down the price of eggs. Rollins said USDA will distribute up to $1 billion across biosecurity for poultry farmers, financial aid to farmers hit by outbreaks and vaccines/medicines for chickens. They’ll also seek to reduce regulations on egg producers and consider imports if necessary, all to “restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months.” Rollins told reporters that the U.S. is talking with three or four countries about purchasing 70 million to 100 million eggs. 9. BIG NEWS IN JERSEY: “Corruption indictment against New Jersey power broker George Norcross is tossed,” by POLITICO’s Matt Friedman: “A judge has dismissed indictments against New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and his five co-defendants, potentially ending a case that rocked New Jersey politics and boosted the profile of Attorney General Matt Platkin. … The indictment’s dismissal will not come as a great surprise to many New Jersey political insiders who saw the case as weak.”
| | | | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:  
| | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | BOOK CLUB — Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson are coming out with a new book in May, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” from Penguin Press. — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will publish a book, “Far From Home: An Alaskan Senator Faces the Extreme Climate of Washington, D.C.,” in June from Forum Books, telling her story and calling for bipartisanship. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — YouTube is hosting a master class with Nick Viall for Hill comms staffers on March 6 about the “power of podcasting.” It’ll include lessons from the 2024 election on how congressional offices can use podcasts and podcasters as part of their comms strategy. YouTube is announcing today that the platform now has 1 billion podcast viewers every month. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a Congressional Aluminum Caucus reception last night: Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) and Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), Charles Johnson, Henry Gordinier and Murray Rudisill. — The Washington Women Technology Network hosted a breakfast at the House at 1229 yesterday morning featuring POLITICO’s own Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns, hosted by Tammy Haddad and Jessica Nigro. SPOTTED: Symone Sanders Townsend, Olivia Igbokwe, Tina Anthony, Elizabeth Falcone, Susan Fox, Helen Milby, Catlin O’Neill, Alisa Vasquez, Shannon Ricchetti, Alla Seiffert, Victoria Espinel, Liz Johnson, Adrienne Elrod, Adam Verdugo and Rufus Gifford. — SPOTTED at the George Washington Presidential Library for a democracy retreat yesterday and today hosted by John Bridgeland, Melody Barnes, Gary Edson, David Lane, Doug Bradburn and Cheri Carter: David Kramer, Stephanie Streett, Tina Tchen, Maya Wiley, Judy Woodruff, David Brooks, Karl Rove, Tim Shriver, Jeffrey Rosen, Cecilia Muñoz, Michael Carney and Anita McBride. TRANSITIONS — Former Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is joining Andreessen Horowitz as a senior adviser. … Hensey Fenton is now deputy general counsel for privacy and digital governance at Comcast. He most recently was an attorney at Covington & Burling. … Erin O’Malley is now a public affairs manager at Meta. She most recently was a comms manager at GoFundMe, and is a Mary Miller and Trump White House alum. … … Joe Tutino will be comms director for Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). He previously was comms director for Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). … Ted Dean is joining DGA Group as partner and co-lead of DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group’s China practice. He most recently was principal adviser on international affairs to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. … Hillary Lassiter is joining the House Intelligence Committee as a professional staff member under Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.). She previously was deputy staff director at the House Administration Committee. 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. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misspelled French President Emmanuel Macron’s name. | | | | 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 | | | |
