DCA CRASH — Lawmakers are seeking answers from authorities after an American Airlines passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night while attempting to land at Reagan National Airport. Sen. Jerry Moran said that he lobbied the airline for the direct flight from Wichita, Kansas that the jet was flying, adding it was one he took "many times myself." He described the crash as a “very personal circumstance” and said “we’re going to know people who were on this flight.” Kansas' other senator, Roger Marshall, and Rep. Ron Estes, who represents the city, also offered prayers for those involved.
The deadly midair crash appears to be the most serious aviation incident in the U.S. in more than 11 years. Members of the Kansas delegation and leaders of the House Transportation Committee have already been in contact with federal officials.
Expect plenty more questions from Congress. Lawmakers' interest in aviation safety is high — and especially so for operations at Reagan, a facility most members use on a routine basis. The involvement of a military helicopter adds to the oversight implications.
IN TODAY'S EDITION:
Gabbard, Kennedy, Patel face senators
Republicans to approve Vought amid spending chaos
Thune ready with Plan B
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is among President Donald Trump's embattled nominees up for hearings today. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO
Several of President Donald Trump’s toughest confirmation fights are playing out in the Senate today. Here’s a rundown of what we’re watching.
Tulsi Gabbard: Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence will appear before Senate Intel at 10 a.m. At least three Republicans on the panel are undecided, our Jordain Carney reports: Sens. Susan Collins, Jerry Moran and Todd Young. Sen. Mitch McConnell is also being closely watched after voting “no” on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Republicans have been discussing unconventional tactics to advance Gabbard. Rachael Bade scooped this week that some want to take the unusual step of making the Intelligence Committee’s vote public to pressure members.
Another option would be to send her to the Senate floor without a favorable recommendation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn't sounding convinced it's a viable alternative, telling Jordain: “It’s been done before, but rarely.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: The HHS nominee appears before Senate HELP at 10 a.m. Kennedy seemed to pass his first test on Wednesday at Senate Finance, despite flubbing questions on Medicare and Medicaid. He’ll face tough scrutiny from senators today about his past anti-vaccine rhetoric, our Daniel Payne, Lauren Gardner and Chelsea Cirruzzo report.
Kash Patel: Democrats are preparing to hammer the FBI nominee at a 10 a.m. Senate Judiciary hearing over social media posts making light of violence against lawmakers and his past statements suggesting he would go after the president’s political adversaries, Hailey Fuchs reports.
Russ Vought: Senate Budget is expected to approve Vought’s OMB nomination along party lines at noon. As Katherine Tully-McManus and Jennifer Scholtes report, Republican lawmakers are declining to press Vought on the uproar around the Trump administration’s federal spending freeze. Democrats were already inclined to oppose him, and they unsuccessfully pushed for his committee vote to be delayed amid this week’s chaos.
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— The Senate will vote to confirm former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be secretary of the Interior around 11 p.m., absent a time agreement. — Senate Armed Services will have a nomination hearing for Daniel Driscoll to be secretary of the Army at 9:30 a.m. — Senate Judiciary will have a nomination hearing for Patel to be director of the FBI at 9:30 a.m. — Senate Intelligence will have a nomination hearing on Gabbard to be director of national intelligence at 10 a.m., immediately followed by a closed hearing. — Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will have a nomination hearing on Kennedy for HHS secretary at 10 a.m. — Senate Foreign Relations will vote on Rep. Elise Stefanik for U.N. ambassador at 10:25 a.m. — Senate Foreign Relations will have a hearing on China’s influence at 10:30 a.m. — Senate Budget vote on Vought for OMB director at noon.
Looking ahead: The Senate will continue to vote on nominations, including Chris Wright for Energy secretary and Doug Collins for VA secretary. The House will have a pro-forma session on Friday.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says his budget reconciliation blueprint is ready to go. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
Scoop: Thune’s Plan B
The Senate’s budget reconciliation blueprint is ready to go, Thune told Jordain in an interview Wednesday. Thune said the “text is ready” for a plan that would guide the Senate’s preferred two-bill approach to enacting border, tax and energy policies. Republicans are waiting to see what happens in the House, where Republican leaders are trying to tackle Trump’s agenda with a single bill.
“There’s a point at which we will decide to pull the trigger,” Thune said.
Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries stay on message
Democratic leaders are doubling down on their new line of attack against Trump, hammering the president for “creating chaos” even as the White House walks back his attempted federal aid freeze. Democrats are also vowing to keep voting against Trump’s nominees and GOP-led legislation in protest of the proposed pause.
It’s a breakthrough of sorts for the party, which has struggled to present a unified front in the new Trump era. We’ll see if they can keep the unity up; they’ll have plenty more opportunities to ding the GOP over funding issues should Republicans forge ahead with the president’s policy wishlist.
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POLICY RUNDOWN
THE HOUSE BLUEPRINT — House committee chairs have started shaping their budget plans for reconciliation, including a range of possible cuts to programs under their jurisdictions, Meredith Lee Hill reports. In addition to deep spending cuts across committee jurisdictions, which Meredith outlines in her piece, House Republicans are targeting $125 billion in additional defense spending. In a warning sign for Johnson, conservatives are already unhappy with what they’re hearing.
SOCIAL MEDIA BILL MOVING — Senate Commerce is set to consider legislation next week from Chair Ted Cruz and Sen. Brian Schatz that would prohibit children under 13 from using social media, our Ben Leonard reports.
LUTNICK VOTE — Senate Commerce plans to vote Feb. 5 to advance Howard Lutnick's nomination as Commerce secretary. His hearing on Wednesday was dominated by Democrats’ questions about Trump's funding freeze, Ben reports.
Lutnick told senators at the hearing that he would count “each whole person” in the census. It was a notable comment because Trump has attempted to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count in the past. Lutnick said that it is what the Constitution says, so he will follow it.
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Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, are joining cryptocurrency firm Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council.
Chris Leuchten is now an EVP at Elevate Government Affairs. He most recently was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Sinema.
Lora Snyder and Lindsay Gressard have launched Snyder Gressard Strategy, a legislative strategy and defense consulting firm. They previously were staff director and communications director for House Natural Resources Democrats, respectively.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is slated to host a pair of fundraisers next month benefiting the House and Senate Republican campaign arms, which will feature appearances from NRCC Chair Richard Hudson on Feb. 10 and new NRSC Chair Tim Scott on Feb. 19. Suggested contributions for both fundraisers start at $2,500 for individuals.
JOB BOARD
Evan Dixon is now communications director for the House Budget Committee; Allison Dong is senior communications adviser and Carter Houtman is digital director.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis is adding Joe Jackson as senior communications adviser and elevating Katie Warbinton to communications director. Jackson most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Greg Lopez and is an RNC alum.
Sen. Ashley Moody has hired Justin Roth as her chief of staff and Whitney Ray as her state director.
The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee seeks a content partnership manager.
Sens. Ed Markey and Gary Peters are looking for summer interns.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Speaker Mike Johnson … EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin … Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) (40) and Herb Conaway (D-N.J.) … CFPB Director Rohit Chopra … Steven Portnoy … NBC’s Natasha Korecki and Sarah Mimms … Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour … former VP Dick Cheney … American Petroleum Institute’s Mike Sommers … POLITICO’s Bob Hillman and John Sakellariadis … former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) … former Del. Michael San Nicolas (D-Guam) … Jeff Naft of Senate Banking (30) … Todd Sloves … Hastie Afkhami of S-3 Public Affairs
TRIVIA
TUESDAY’S QUESTION: Tak Tada correctly answered that George Washington delivered the shortest inaugural address, at 135 words.
TODAY’S QUESTION, from Tak: Japanese politician Kono Taro once interned for which former House member while studying at Georgetown? Hint: This lawmaker eventually became a Republican senator.
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.
