What to know today
- President Donald Trump signed executive orders on immigration enforcement, sanctuary cities and English proficiency for truck drivers. The White House has been focusing on border issues to mark the first 100 days of Trump’s second term.
- New polling at the 100-day mark shows Trump's approval ratings in the low-to-mid-40s and indicates he is losing ground on his handling of the economy.
- The NFL's Philadelphia Eagles visited the White House this afternoon in celebration of their Super Bowl victory, though quarterback Jalen Hurts did not join them. During the event, Trump took a dig at prominent Kansas City Chiefs fan Taylor Swift.
Follow here for the latest coverage on Trump’s first 100 days in office.
Sen. Brian Schatz says he's running to succeed Dick Durbin as the No. 2 Democratic senator
Sen. Brian Schatz says he's running to succeed Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, as minority whip, the No. 2 position in Senate Democratic leadership.
“Not everybody loves the aspect of politics that occurs on the floor,” Schatz told The Washington Post in announcing his bid. “This is where I think I can be most useful.”
Schatz would be leapfrogging a number of Democratic senators in the leadership hierarchy if he were to win.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, who would be next in line for the whip job, did not engage with reporters on whether she would run to be elevated in Democratic leadership, and she was quick to point out her current position.
“I’m No. 3 in the Senate, and my job is to focus on what policies are going to move our country forward,” she said. “I am focused on one thing right now, and that is taking on Donald Trump and gaining a better economy for the people of this country.
"And I truly believe that talking about something a year and a half from now and we have no idea who’s going to win the Senate, who’s going to get this, is a mistake,” she added.
The whip race won’t happen until after the 2026 midterm elections.
Schatz, whose chief of staff was previously Durbin’s floor director in his whip office, was one of only 10 Democrats who voted for the Republican-backed government funding bill this year.
Durbin, who is not seeking re-election to his Illinois seat next year, told reporters, “I don’t have any plans of endorsing, because I won’t be voting in that race.”
Asked whether there was a person he thought was best equipped for the role, Durbin said, “Yes, there is, but it’s a year and a half from now, and I won’t, I won’t be voting in that election.”
Asked what characteristics he thinks the next whip should have, he joked, “Try to emulate Dick Durbin’s energy.”
Treasury secretary says administration wants massive budget bill done by July 4
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a meeting this afternoon in the Capitol building with the so-called Big Six congressional leaders to chart a path on the budget reconciliation package that Republicans are trying to pass, saying his hope is the measure to advance Trump's agenda would be passed by July 4.
“We’ve got three legs to the president’s economic agenda — trade, tax and deregulation — and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July,” he said.
All of the “Big Six” are Republicans: House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo of Idaho, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith of Missouri, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and the treasury secretary.
Thune told reporters after the meeting that a July 4 completion deadline “would certainly be aspirational,” adding that "it all depends on how the progress goes in the next few weeks.”
But Thune and Bessent pointed toward the so-called debt limit X date as the true indicator for when the package must be completed, if only because an increase in the debt limit is included in the legislative package.
“I think a lot will be determined when the debt limit hits,” Thune said. “I think that is a hard deadline for us.”
Bessent said he hoped to have a better idea of of the X date “towards the end of the week or next week.”
Asked whether he’s worried about Congress’ not passing the package with the debt limit increase before the X date deadline, Bessent said, “The U.S. will never miss the X date.”
JB Pritzker says he gave a New Hampshire speech because 'it's time for people to mobilize'
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said tonight that yesterday's speech in New Hampshire was meant to remind people that they have power and to encourage them to mobilize in mass.
“We’re in a perilous moment in this country. There is, I mean, tumult around everyone in this country. We’ve had our economic rights taken away, we’ve had our civil rights taken away, and it’s only been 100 days, and it’s time. People have to stand up, speak out,” Pritzker told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki.
“It’s time for people to mobilize,” he added.
In his speech yesterday, Pritzker blasted his own party, saying Democrats have been too “timid” in the past. He called on them to fight “everywhere, all at once.”
Republicans consider unraveling a key part of Obamacare in Trump agenda bill
Top Republicans are considering rolling back a major piece of the Affordable Care Act in their massive bill for Trump’s agenda, exploring savings by slashing how much money the federal government spends to cover the 2010 law’s expansion of Medicaid.
Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, made the case for it today as Congress returned from a two-week recess, saying Medicaid spending is growing at an unsustainable rate.
“We have an expansion population that gets 90% federal money, and you have traditional [Medicaid], so a disabled child in Kentucky gets 72 cents when they go to the doctor. And we know that’s just unsustainable,” Guthrie said. “We want to fix that so everybody gets coverage. So I think it’s going to be a really responsible response.”
Guthrie’s committee is tasked with finding $880 billion in savings, a target that can’t be met without cutting Medicaid or Medicare, according to Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper.
‘Absolutely outraged’: Former cyber official targeted by Trump speaks out after U.S. cuts to digital defense
Chris Krebs, the former government cybersecurity leader whom President Donald Trump targeted for investigation for affirming the integrity of the 2020 election, said he was “outraged” today at the administration’s gutting of cyber personnel.
The comments are the first Krebs has made in public since Trump directed the Justice Department to take action against him.
Getting applause from a generally reserved crowd of industry professionals at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, a cybersecurity conference, Krebs criticized the second Trump administration for its repeated cuts to cybersecurity employees, contractors and programs.
“Cybersecurity is national security. We all know that, right? That’s why we’re here. That’s why we get up every morning and do our jobs. We are protecting everyone out there,” he said. “And right now, to see what’s happening to the cyber security community inside the federal government, we should be outraged. Absolutely outraged.”
First to NBC News: Trump’s federal force reduction effort faces new legal challenge
More than a dozen labor unions, nonprofit groups and cities and counties have joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s sweeping push to shrink the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed today, argues that Trump’s executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency violates the separation of powers under the Constitution.
The coalition of plaintiffs was organized by Democracy Forward, a progressive legal organization that has led various legal challenges to Trump’s agenda.
“The nonpartisan federal workforce — which works for all Americans — has been at the mercy of the lawlessness of the Trump-Musk agenda for nearly 100 days," said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. "The impact of the reckless decisions that have been made in an attempt to unlawfully reorganize the federal government without Congress and is being felt in communities across our nation, in red states and blue states.”
The plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees and four AFGE local chapters, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, the Center for Taxpayer Rights and VoteVets. They also include the city and county of San Francisco, as well as the cities of Chicago and Baltimore.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment tonight.
House passes bipartisan bill to combat explicit deepfakes, sending it to Trump to sign into law
The House passed a bipartisan bill tonight aimed at combating deepfake pornography, tackling a sensitive issue that has become a growing problem amid advances in artificial intelligence.
Trump is expected to sign the measure, which sailed through the House in a 409-2 vote, into law.
The “Take it Down Act” would criminalize publishing nonconsensual, sexually explicit images and videos — including those generated by AI — and require platforms to remove the content within 48 hours of notice. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent earlier this year.
Trump signs orders on immigration, law enforcement and English proficiency
Trump signed executive orders this evening related to law enforcement, immigration and English proficiency for truck drivers.
The law enforcement order focuses on state and local police forces and directs the attorney general to “prioritize the prosecution” of government officials who “willfully and unlawfully direct the obstruction of criminal law, including by directly and unlawfully prohibiting law enforcement officers from carrying out duties necessary for public safety and law enforcement,” or engage in DEI initiatives.
The FBI last week arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of obstructing the detention of an undocumented immigrant.
The immigration order directs the attorney general to “identify sanctuary jurisdictions” and take steps to withhold federal funding from such places.
The third order mandates English proficiency for truck drivers and directs the transportation secretary to rescind June 2016 guidance that removed a requirement to place commercial vehicle drivers out of service if they violated existing rules mandating proficiency in English. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is directed to rescind the guidance within 60 days and issue new guidance that would place those drivers out of service.
Trump signed an executive order last month that made English the official language of the United States for the first time in the country’s history.
Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, but the conflict still rages
Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office. But nearly 100 days into his second term, the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv grinds on.
Russian forces continue to batter Ukraine, devastating civilian areas. Ukrainian troops have mustered a resistance against the odds, though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on edge as his resources grow perilously thin. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested a deal is in the works while also expressing skepticism that any agreement will be reached soon.
“We have the confines of a deal, I believe,” Trump told reporters yesterday, saying he wanted Russian President Vladimir Putin to “sign it and be done with it and just go back to life.”
Trump has lately shifted blame back and forth between the two leaders, lashing out at Zelenskyy for “prolonging” the “killing field” and then blasting Putin for complicating negotiations with strikes on Ukraine late last week that were “very bad timing.”
A swing-state mayoral race is about to test what’s next for Democrats
A key battle over the future of the Democratic Party is playing out in a mayoral race in one of the most populous cities of Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state.
In Pittsburgh, Mayor Ed Gainey, who was first elected in 2021 amid a wave of post-pandemic, post-George Floyd progressive energy, faces a substantial Democratic primary challenge from Corey O’Connor, the Alleghany County controller and son of a former mayor. At its core, the race is a test case for the future of Democratic leadership in big cities on everything from crime and safety to combating the Trump administration to how the party prioritizes diversity and inclusion in the coming years.
The May 20 election is one of the first major off-year Democratic primaries in which the party’s progressive and center-left wings are facing off before voters — and the first in a key swing state. The race follows an election cycle in which Democratic governance of cities coming out of Covid was front and center to Republican campaigns, too.
