TUNE IN FOR HEALTH NEWS — Mark your calendars for Wednesday's Playbook First 100 Days breakfast focused on health care policy. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Union Station, the lineup includes Sen. Tammy Baldwin, former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and former CDC Director Robert Redfield. Register here.
IN TODAY'S EDITION:
Republicans balk at Trump’s cuts
What’s next on Senate budget plan
Senate Dems strategize budget pushback
Republicans are increasingly concerned about the depth and breadth of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's government cuts. | Alex Brandon/AP
Republicans are increasingly uncomfortable with President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s strategy to slash the federal government.
Sen. Jerry Moranwarned the White House that dismantling USAID could hurt Kansans who sell their crops to a government program that fights hunger abroad, our Ben Leonard and Hailey Fuchs report. Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s staff wants answers about how an OMB-directed hiring freeze could affect the National Park Service.
Some GOP lawmakers are privately expressing alarm as they pass around a letter the administration sent to fire USDA microbiologists working to stop the bird flu and other animal diseases, our colleague Meredith Lee Hill reports. Several Republican senators have also voiced concerns about how NIH cuts could hurt universities back home.
They're all early signs of the difficult task Republican lawmakers will face over the next four years: figuring out how to stand up for their constituents without appearing disloyal to the president.
And it’s highlighting a significant GOP divide. While some more centrist members are nervous about the pace and scale of the spending cuts, House conservatives want Trump and Musk to slash even more — especially if they don’t get their desired level of spending cuts in the party-line bill to enact the president’s sweeping domestic agenda.
Centrist Republicanscould withhold key support if the budget reconciliation measure guts safety-net programs for lower-income Americans. House Republican leaders already think they’ll need to scale back some of those proposed cuts to pass any bill through the Senate.
The Trump administration is offering Musk's Department of Government Efficiency as an alternative vehicle for slashing funding without relying on Congress, three GOP lawmakers tell Meredith — and some hard-liners are signaling they're open to that approach.
Fresh test: Expect Republican senators to face questions this week about DOGE seeking access to an IRS system that holds detailed financial information about millions of taxpayers.
The Senate is in session and will vote to confirm Howard Lutnick as Commerce secretary and advance Kash Patel as FBI director at 5:30 p.m.
— Small Business will meet to continue last week’s meeting to consider disaster loan bills.
The rest of the week: The Senate is expected to vote to confirm Patel as well as Kelly Loeffler as SBA administrator this week. The House is on recess until Feb. 24.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has a chance to retake the lead in advancing Trump's agenda. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP
John Thune’s budget play
Senate Republicans are aiming to retake the lead in the race to advance Trump’s agenda. Watch for an official signal from the majority leader today on when Republicans will bring their budget blueprint up for a vote.
Chuck Schumer’s call to arms
The Democratic leader urged his caucus on a Saturday call to push amendments to the GOP budget plan during an upcoming “vote-a-rama” that could put Republicans in a tough spot. Democrats can’t stop the resolution from advancing, but they’re going to try to make it hurt by forcing votes that they hope make Republicans look like they’re in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy over the middle class.
REVIVING THE ICC BILL — Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday he's optimistic the Senate could still pass a bill that would sanction the International Criminal Court for charging Israeli officials over their handling of the war in Gaza — even after Democrats blocked a version of the measure last month. “I think there’s a breakthrough to be had where we could get 80 votes,” the South Carolina Republican said in a press conference while leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers on a trip to Israel. Thune has also signaled that the sanctions bill isn’t totally dead.
TRUMP’S CRA STRATEGY — OMB Director Russ Vought on Monday threw his support behind a resolution that would overturn a Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that caps overdraft fees at banks and credit unions. The resolution would be taken up under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to skirt Senate filibuster rules to repeal agency rulemaking within a certain time frame.
Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. French Hill, the Banking chairs of each chamber, introduced the CRA resolution on Thursday, arguing that the targeted rule hinders access to important financial services, our Katherine Hapgood reports.
Former Sen. Joe Manchin is joining Bondi Partners as a senior adviser.
Andrea Woods is now deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Energy, and Ben Dietderich is now press secretary and chief spokesperson. Woods most recently was director of media relations at the American Petroleum Institute. Dietderich most recently was deputy comms director for Sen. Dan Sullivan.
JOB BOARD
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: Sen. Jon Husted has made a slew of hires: Rebecca Card Angelson is his new chief of staff, Joshua Eck will serve as state director, Jess Andrews will become his deputy chief of staff, Sean Dunn will serve as senior adviser and counsel, Maggie Ward has been tapped to become his legislative director and Katie Tomko will be his director of operations and administration.
Zach Fulton is joining the House Financial Services Committee as press secretary. He previously was deputy press secretary for Sen. Roger Wicker and is a French Hill alum.
Betsy Holahan is now chief of staff to the Senate sergeant at arms. She previously was president of Great Point Strategies.
June Zhu is now a policy adviser for Rep. Janelle Bynum. She previously was legislative assistant for Sen. Ben Cardin.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) … James Hohmann … Rachel Martin … Bill Bertles … Kiara Pesante Haughton … Al Quinlan … Marc Lampkin … Abby Blunt … NBC’s Rebecca Kaplan … Angela Chiappetta … Elizabeth Kanick … Jesse Purdon … former Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) … Ayodele Okeowo
TRIVIA
FRIDAY’S ANSWER: Jackson Snellman correctly answered that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the youngest female member of Congress, sworn in at age 29.
TODAY’S QUESTION, from Jackson: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi came from a political dynasty in her family. To what office were both her father and brother elected?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.
