Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is postponing his book tour. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
THE CATCH-UP
SCHUMER SKIP DAY: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has postponed a previously scheduled tour for his forthcoming book, “Antisemitism in America,” that was originally set to start tonight in Baltimore but which, it became clear, would face major protests over his vote last week to join Republicans to avoid a government shutdown, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports.
“Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled,” a Schumer spox said in a statement.
Jewish Voice for Peace, a left-leaning group, was organizing protests ahead of tonight’s appearance in Baltimore. Schumer was also planning to sit down for a conversation about the book in New York City on Tuesday with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who had sharp criticism of Democrats who voted with Republicans. The tour was also set to take him on stops in D.C. and Philadelphia on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
FED UP: The Fed is holding its policy meeting this week, with the economic spotlight once again turning to Chair Jerome Powell, who has signaled in recent weeks a steady-as-it-goes approach.
But but but: President Donald Trump’s two-step of bruising tariffs and cuts across the federal government have put the Fed in a pinch. While the “foundation of the U.S. economy is still solid, and it will take quite a big shock for it to crumble,” NYT’s Colby Smith writes, Powell is facing a rocky road to a soft landing. “When the Fed wraps up its policy meeting on Wednesday, it is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at 4.25 to 4.5 percent.”
What comes next: Powell has said any changes to borrowing costs aren’t immediate and the Fed can withstand the whims of Trump’s recent moves. “But if the economy starts to crack and inflationary pressures grow — a situation that consumers increasingly fear — the Fed’s policy decisions will take on an entirely new degree of difficulty. That risks putting the central bank more squarely in the cross hairs of Mr. Trump.”
At 1600 Penn: Trump, meanwhile, is having a difficult time getting a clear message out about his plan for the economy. While the president has acknowledged the immediate future could bring some pain, “administration officials have been much less clear about what that destination will look like — and how long it will take to get there,” WaPo’s David Lynch writes.
Taking the temperature: “Amid signs of investor unease, the Trump administration insists it aims to help Main Street, not Wall Street. But so far, the administration’s discordant chorus is not satisfying either one. The erratic pace and tone of Trump 2.0 is taking a toll on the stable economy the president inherited, denting growth prospects and leaving Americans more downbeat than they have been in years.”
The view from the C suite: Still, top executives are mostly in a wait-and-see stance as Trump drives forward with his agenda, with some fully shrugging given the relatively limited runway that the administration has to pull off a complete overhaul. “The president’s not going to be around forever,” a Republican business executive told WaPo. “In four years, you have a different administration.”
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7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. IN THE DOGE HOUSE: One of Elon Musk’s banner cost-cutting efforts involved DOGE canceling leases for federal buildings that his team said weren’t worth the spend. But the effort has hit “major stumbling blocks in recent weeks, with lawmakers and some agency officials saying those efforts could undermine vital government services and conflict with the administration’s requirement that federal workers return to the office,” NYT’s Madeleine Ngo reports. “Now officials at the General Services Administration, an agency that manages the federal government’s real estate portfolio, say they are reversing more than 100 lease terminations.”
Getting a callback: Probationary employees at the Energy Department, EPA and NOAA who were previously laid off are getting hired back, Axios’ Andrew Freedman reports. “These employees aren't being put back to work, but placed on paid administrative leave while court cases play out.”
Blowing things up: “DOGE Cuts Reach Key Nuclear Scientists, Bomb Engineers and Safety Experts,” by NYT’s Sharon LaFraniere, Minho Kim and Julie Tate: “In the past six weeks, [the National Nuclear Security Administration], just one relatively small outpost in a federal work force that President Trump and his top adviser Elon Musk aim to drastically pare down, has lost a huge cadre of scientists, engineers, safety experts, project officers, accountants and lawyers — all in the midst of its most ambitious endeavors in a generation.”
2. TO THE LETTER: The DOJ sent a letter to the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, a multinational group formed to investigate those responsible for the war in Ukraine, notifying the body that the U.S. would be withdrawing by the end of March, NYT’s Glenn Thrush reports. The U.S. was the only non-European country that was part of the organization.
3. IMMIGRATION FILES: “Trump Administration Revives Detention of Immigrant Families,” by NYT’s Jazmine Ulloa and Miriam Jordan: “Families have begun to arrive in recent days at a detention facility in South Texas, and immigration lawyers are expecting more to be brought in the coming days. A second detention center, also in South Texas, is being readied for families. Each of the facilities is being set up to hold thousands of people. At one site, lawyers say, multiple families are being detained in rooms with four to eight bunk beds and shared bathroom facilities. … With the border now quiet and illegal crossings notably low, immigration enforcement has shifted to the interior of the country to make good on the Trump administration’s pledge to carry out mass deportations.”
More moves: Those who took advantage of a Biden-era program known as “humanitarian parole” are also facing increased threat from the Trump administration, WSJ’s Michelle Hackman reports. Trump froze the program when he entered office and “has taken a step further, stripping the immigrants who used the program of their status and targeting them for deportation. … Now, these immigrants’ previous cooperation with the government has put them at risk: The details they shared with authorities to enter the U.S. are now being used to identify them as potential targets for deportation, as the administration seeks to accelerate its crackdown.”
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4. FOR YOUR RADAR: “Deported Brown University professor had ‘sympathetic photos’ of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, DOJ says,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein in Boston: “Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding ‘sympathetic photos and videos’ of prominent Hezbollah figures in the deleted items folder of her cell phone. Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and supported him ‘from a religious perspective’ but not a political one.”
5. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU:Dan Bongino today is stepping into his post as No. 2 at the FBI under Director Kash Patel — with the duo set to strain the limits of a historically nonpartisan agency. “Collectively, they have the least leadership experience of any pair overseeing the F.B.I. since its founding more than a century ago,” NYT’s Adam Goldman writes. “In selecting Mr. Bongino, whose experience in law enforcement dates from years ago when he served as a police officer and Secret Service agent, Mr. Patel is breaking from tradition and relying on someone who has little familiarity with the bureau’s inner workings. Indeed, the past five deputy directors had spent an average of more than 20 years in the bureau. Mr. Bongino, by contrast, has never been an F.B.I. agent.”
6. MAPPING THINGS OUT: “Trump Wants to Build Homes on Federal Land. Here’s What That Would Look Like,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Picciotto and Drew An-Pham: “Developing even 512,000 acres of the Bureau of Land Management’s lots could yield between three million and four million new homes across western states … But few housing analysts see a clear path for a program like this. In some areas, the surrounding infrastructure and zoning laws would have to allow for home building, or be changed to do so. President Trump’s plan would also contend with logistical and environmental challenges.”
7. BIG IN THE BIG APPLE: In the most-watched mayoral race in years in New York City, Adrienne Adams seeks to offer an alternative for Democrats — with embattled Mayor Eric Adams and disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo leading the pack in name recognition — as she attempts to become the first woman elected mayor in the reliably Democratic city. “One lever she’s looking to pull ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary is the Divine Nine — a network of historically Black sororities and fraternities that were among Kamala Harris’ staunchest supporters in her White House bid,” POLITICO’s Jeff Coltin reports. “Her first week of fundraising demonstrates she needs the boost.”
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TALK OF THE TOWN
MEDIA MOVE — Victoria Rossi is now a comms specialist at Bloomberg Industry Group. She previously was a publicist at WaPo.
TRANSITIONS — Joe Diver is now chief of staff for Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.). He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-Colo.) and is a Cindy Axne alum. … Mary Guenther is now head of space policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, as the organization expands into space policy. She previously was VP of space policy at the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and is a Maria Cantwell alum. … … Nico Ballón is now media strategist at the National Education Association. He previously was comms director for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). …
… Rhyan Lake is joining Bryson Gillette as director of earned media. She previously was deputy comms director for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. … Share Our Strength is adding Leah Ray as chief revenue officer and George Kelemen as SVP of program partnerships, campaigns and advocacy. Ray previously was chief strategist for nonprofit and foundation clients at Social Capital. Kelemen previously was executive director at the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Benjamin Haas, former chief of staff of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, and Morgan Dwyer, head of policy operations at OpenAI, welcomed Aidan Joshua Haas on March 7.
BIRTHWEEK (were yesterday): The Washington Blade’s Chris Kane and Michael Key
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