With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
Happy Saturday. This is Adam Wren. Beware the Ides of March, as they say, and keep your head on a swivel. Drop me a line: [email protected].
Chuck Schumer is reeling. His fellow Democrats are fuming. And President Donald Trump and his Republican allies on the Hill are gloating.
If Trump’s dominant performance in November left Democrats shellshocked, the first major spending fight of Trump’s second term has left Democrats perhaps irrevocably riven.
After the Senate yesterday passed a seven-month funding stopgap just in time to avert a government shutdown, the fissures in the Democratic Party have become active fault lines.
In her new “Corridors” column out last night, POLITICO’s Capitol bureau chief and senior Washington columnist Rachael Bade laid bare the remarkable rift between the Senate minority leader and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who refused to throw his fellow Brooklynite a lifeline in a wild press availability yesterday.
A Democratic strategist with close ties to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and granted anonymity to speak frankly texted Rachael to say that he’s “afraid Jeffries is letting the Caucus’ emotional response get the best of him and his relationship with his home state counterpart.”
“Sure we’ve had disagreements in the past … but I cannot recall a moment when our bicameral leadership went this hard against each other,” the person added.
THE STEPBACK: “Trump had given the party a gift — the economy is tanking, his tariff wars are devastating Americans’ pocketbooks, and the courts are finally checking his authority — yet we’ve found a way to squander it,” Ashley Etienne, a former top comms strategist for Pelosi, tells Rachael. “To beat Trump, we need clarity of purpose, discipline and coordination. It’s clear none of that exists right now.”
“I don’t know who the leader of the Democratic Party is, but I know who runs it. It’s Donald Trump,” Scott Jennings, the Republican strategist and vocal Trump defender, told POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Meredith Lee Hill.
There are pressing questions about what the fallout means for Washington’s most powerful figures:
Can Trump and Hill Republicans keep up their winning streak? “His biggest fights are ahead, including wrangling a massive funding bill needed to accomplish Trump’s tax and immigration priorities,” Megan and Meredith write.
What does this mean for Schumer? The Senate Democratic leader is facing existential criticism from his own party. So much so that one Dem senator granted anonymity to share private discussions told us that conversations are starting about whether Schumer should be their leader going forward. “There’s a lot of concern about the failure to have a plan and execute on it,” the senator told POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein, Lisa Kashinsky, Jordain Carney, Elena Schneider and Brakkton Booker in their sharp look at Schumer’s perilous moment. “It’s not like you couldn’t figure out that this is what was going to happen.”
What Schumer is saying: “I’ll take some of the bullets,” Schumer told NYT’s Annie Karni. Schumer also told CNN he is not concerned with his leadership position: “I have the overwhelming support of my caucus. And so many of the members thanked me and said, ‘You did what you thought was courageous, and we respect it.’”
WHAT’S NEXT: Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told my colleagues that “active conversations” are taking place among liberal groups about how to make Schumer pay. He said Schumer will likely face protests over his support for the GOP bill at his tour stops next week for his new book, “Antisemitism In America: A Warning” ($28). “He has to be made an example of to enforce Democratic backbone going forward,” Green said.
A message from the American Bankers Association:
Support the ACRE Act. Congress has a great opportunity to lift up rural America. By supporting the bipartisan Access to Credit for our Rural Economy (ACRE) Act, lawmakers can lower the cost of credit for farmers and ranchers trying to navigate a challenging economic cycle. The legislation will also drive down the cost of homeownership in more than 17,000 rural communities across the country. Learn more about this important effort to support farm country.
THE WINNERS: We asked some of POLITICO’s Hill mavens who won and lost this first major spending showdown. It wasn’t difficult for them: Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump clearly emerge on stronger footing, Meredith tells us. Rachael notes that it was a big win for Johnson’s Republicans, too: “For years, GOP leaders (John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy) have argued to conservatives that if they row with the team on spending bills, they will win more concessions from Democrats. For the first time, the far right actually listened — and it has totally changed the game on spending negotiations from now on. Now they know that if they work together, they can possibly jam the minority.”
THE LOSERS: Schumer, Rachael argues, “may have chosen what he dubbed the lesser evil in refusing to allow a shutdown, but even some of his backers are griping that the Senate minority leader should’ve come out with his position much earlier to avoid looking like he’s caving at the last second. Had he set expectations and had tough conversations with Jeffries earlier, maybe Dems could have avoided the drama, the thinking goes — and perhaps limited the mass harassment he’s about to get from his party.”
And Jeffries didn’t emerge unscathed, she adds. “He may have ingratiated himself with the base and his members. But at what cost? No way to sugarcoat it — he threw Schumer under the bus yesterday, and that could impact their relationship. What’s more, his strategy has some Dems privately asking if he has what it takes to tell the base ‘no’ when needed, as Nancy Pelosi often did.”
WHAT’S AHEAD: “Democrats failed to imagine a world where Trump could force nearly every House Republicans to fall in line,” Meredith tells us. “It was, and will continue to be, at their peril.”
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Top law firms are debating whether to make a public show of support for two major firms that have come under attack by the Trump administration, our Daniel Lippman writes in. But they’re racked by private worries they’d be targeted, too.
In the past few weeks, Trump issued a now-temporarily blocked executive order that tried to bar Perkins Coie lawyers from interacting with federal agencies or even entering federal buildings. Trump also suspended active security clearances of numerous Covington and Burling lawyers, and yesterday did the same to lawyers for Paul Weiss, restricting firm access to federal buildings and terminating federal contracts with the firm so that tax dollars don’t “subsidize activities not aligned with American interests.”
When Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, the firm hired Fusion GPS to put together what became the Steele dossier; Covington is representing former Trump special counsel Jack Smith; and Paul Weiss long ago employed Mark Pomerantz, who more recently worked for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg as that office prosecuted Trump.
Since the start of Trump’s attack on Big Law, elite lawyers from many other firms have discussed issuing a statement supporting the firms and filing an amicus brief backing Perkins, according to two senior lawyers at large law firms and another person working with firms on the issue. A draft statement defending the rule of law and challenging attacks on it is expected to be circulated this weekend, they said.
But it hasn’t been easy getting firms to sign on, according to one of the people. Many are afraid of going public and being perceived as anti-Trump. “The administration is viewed as very punitive and retributive,” with strong elements of McCarthyism, the person said.
A message from the American Bankers Association:
The bipartisan Access to Credit for our Rural Economy (ACRE) Act of 2025 would provide critical economic support to rural communities. Learn more.
9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US
1. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: In a dark and bold speech at the Justice Department yesterday, Trump yesterday called for his political opponents to be jailed, repeating lies about the 2020 election and decrying “corrupt” judges and “scum” suing him in court, POLITICO’s Irie Sentner and Josh Gerstein report. Blasting through longtime norms that have preserved DOJ’s independence from the political preferences of the president, Trump (without evidence) accused law enforcement of unfairly targeting him, and indicated that he now planned to turn law enforcement against his enemies. “A corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and goodwill built up over generations,” he raged.
Trump also declared that he would prevent the FBI’s planned move to a new headquarters in Maryland (which he noted was “liberal” but said that didn’t affect the decision), and would keep it instead in D.C., per WaPo’s Aaron Wiener, Katie Shepherd and Lateshia Beachum. He floated the possibilities of the FBI staying in its outdated space or taking over the Commerce Department building, either of which could be crushing to Prince George’s County, where the new HQ is set to be located. And he said, baselessly, that news media reporting from outlets like CNN and MSNBC is “illegal” and “in total coordination with each other,” per The Hill.
2. THE DISMANTLING OF GOVERNMENT: In his latest move to seize power over the executive branch, Trump signed an executive order designed to take apart seven small agencies, despite laws protecting some of their independence, per NYT’s Tyler Pager. The U.S. Agency for Global Media is most prominent, along with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency.
The purge: Despite sweeping judicial rulings that blocked the mass firings of federal civil servants this week, the Trump administration is unbowed in its bid to slash the government, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton, Dasha Burns, Marcia Brown, Kelsey Tamborrino and Rebecca Carballo report. The White House says its firing plans are moving “full steam ahead,” while it appeals the ruling and attacks judges. Different agencies issued a confusing range of guidance in response to the court decisions. And one of the judges signaled that the coming mass “reductions in force” could be legal if done properly.
The specifics: Radio Free Asia plans to furlough the majority of its U.S. staff next week due to a Department of Government Efficiency funding freeze, POLITICO’s Phelim Kine reports. NASA got a slight breather: an extra week of time to send in its plans for mass layoffs, per Reuters. At the same time, a fraction of the CFPB is hanging on, having rehired some workers and restarted the work of some offices in recent weeks, NYT’s Stacy Cowley reports.
The fallout: Hundreds of layoffs at the Bureau of Reclamation have raised safety concerns about oversight of the nation’s dams, AP’s Martha Bellisle reports. And federal workers across the country are grappling with chaos: The Oklahoma City area has taken a hit from mass firings (though benefited from return-to-office mandates), WSJ’s Te-Ping Chen reports, while some civil servants were given days to relocate across the country, per WaPo’s Aaron Wiener and Hannah Natanson.
The deaths begin: Despite Elon Musk’s claim that the foreign aid freeze hasn’t killed anyone yet, NYT’s Nick Kristof finds ample evidence to the contrary in a must-read column. In South Sudan, he finds that the move by USAID and the State Department to pause aid funding has already led to the deaths of Peter Donde, Achol Deng, Jennifer Inyaa, Evan Anzoo, Martha Juan and Viola Kiden, all HIV-positive mothers and children who lost access to lifesaving drugs. This could be just the start: An estimated 1.65 million people could die annually if U.S. aid for fighting HIV doesn’t restart, plus many more from an end to food aid, vaccine funding and money for malaria and tuberculosis prevention.
In the DOGE house: A federal judge said she’s weighing whether to rein in DOGE’s access to Social Security Administration databases, likening its approach to “hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” per AP’s Lea Skene and Lindsay Whitehurst. … DOGE’s Marko Elez violated Treasury Department rules in sharing payments data with two other officials, Bloomberg’s Gregory Korte and Erik Larson report. … In an interview with NBC’s Henry Gomez, VP JD Vance said Musk had made some “mistakes” and struck a softer tone, saying they “want to try to preserve as much of what works in government as possible, while eliminating what doesn’t work.”
Whoa: Musk shared a post on X that said Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong weren’t responsible for genocide and the deaths of millions, which should instead be blamed on their public-sector workers, per the NYT. He later deleted it.
3. GREEN LIGHT: “Appeals court allows Trump to reinstate two executive orders targeting DEI,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “The three-member appeals panel — including two judges appointed by Democratic presidents — lifted a lower court’s injunction that had put the policy on hold last month. … [T]he three judges suggested the Trump administration should be allowed to demonstrate that it will abide by anti-discrimination laws and respect First Amendment rights as it implements the executive orders.”
4. ACADEMIA IN CHAOS: Following Mahmoud Khalil’s high-profile case, DHS said it has arrested a second pro-Palestinian protester from Columbia University, a Palestinian who allegedly overstayed her visa, while a third self-deported, per POLITICO’s Ali Bianco. The State Department accused the former, Leqaa Kordia, of supporting Hamas. And the Justice Department said it was looking into whether the Columbia protests had broken terrorism laws, per Reuters’ Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Goudsward.
The epicenter: It’s all part of a cascading crisis at Columbia, which now has a week to try to meet Trump’s demands to get back $400 million in federal grants and contracts. WSJ’s Douglas Belkin, Jessica Toonkel and Liz Essley Whyte report that the nine conditions, from banning masks to seizing control of an academic department, almost exactly track a letter several faculty members sent last month. But Trump’s demands for Columbia have been seen in the world of higher education “as a stunning intrusion” and “a direct attack on academic freedom,” AP’s Collin Binkley and Jake Offenhartz report.
Beyond Columbia: The Columbia move “has fundamentally changed universities’ outlook and livelihoods,” POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan and Madina Touré report. And more broadly, universities are reeling from the administration’s scientific research cuts, frozen grants and mass firings, which in their totality could “radically alter a system that’s allowed the US to become a world-leading hub for research since World War II,” Bloomberg’s Zahra Hirji, Jessica Nix, Lauren Rosenthal and Janet Lorin report.
5. WINS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: The U.S. and Iraq have killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, a leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the terrorist group’s head of global operations, per CNN. “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” Trump trumpeted on Truth Social. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has successfully stepped into a low-profile position as a key mediator in Syria, helping multiple Kurdish and other rebel groups broker agreements with the country’s new Islamist government, WSJ’s Jared Malsin, Stephen Kalin and Nancy Youssef report.
For your radar: Adam Boehler’s official nomination as envoy for hostage affairs has been withdrawn, and he’ll instead work on hostage negotiations in a role that doesn’t need Senate confirmation, per WaPo’s Missy Ryan. Israel had recently criticized Boehler’s talks with Hamas, but the White House says he withdrew to avoid divesting from his investment company. At the same time, the U.S. yesterday rejected Hamas’ offer to release several hostages, demanding that the group accept an American proposal, per the WSJ.
6. INCOMING: “Draft List for New Travel Ban Proposes Trump Target 43 Countries,” by NYT’s Charlie Savage and Ken Bensinger: The “red” list for complete travel bans notably includes Afghanistan and Bhutan, while the “orange” list to block most travelers includes Russia and Venezuela. This draft was compiled several weeks ago, though, and isn’t yet final.
7. IMMIGRATION IN THE COURTS: The Supreme Court took up the Trump administration’s request to block the nationwide injunction against his birthright citizenship ban, per NYT’s Abbie VanSickle. The justices’ move to ask challengers for a response indicates that they aren’t immediately dismissing Trump’s emergency application out of hand. Meanwhile, a judge declined to stop the administration from sending migrants to Guantánamo Bay for now, since there now aren’t any being held there, per NYT’s Karoun Demirjian.
A message from the American Bankers Association:
Urge Congress to support the ACRE Act which will lower the cost of credit in rural America. Learn more.
8. HEADS UP: “US Rep. Nancy Mace sued for libel and defamation after making public accusations of abuse,” by The Post and Courier’s Caitlin Byrd: “One of the four men accused of being a sexual predator by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is suing the South Carolina congresswoman for defamation and libel, contending she knowingly made false claims about him both before and after she made a speech on the House of Representatives floor … While the lawsuit centers on [Brian] Musgrave’s defamation claim, the case carries potentially bigger implications by challenging the boundaries of congressional immunity … Mace contends that as a member of Congress, her speech is protected.”
9. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “A still-unresolved North Carolina court election is back before judges next week,” by AP’s Gary Robertson: “The March 21 hearing by three judges on the Court of Appeals was announced Friday, the same day the court rejected a request by incumbent Supreme Court Associate Justice Allison Riggs to have the entire Court of Appeals consider the matter now instead. … [T]he North Carolina Supreme Court election is the only race nationally that is still undecided.”
CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies
GREAT WEEKEND READS:
— “The Unchecked Authority of Greg Abbott,” by The New Yorker’s Jonathan Blitzer: “The Texas governor gained national attention by busing migrants to Democratic cities. Now he’s paving the way for President Trump’s mass-deportation campaign.”
— “Can Anything Stop Bird Flu?” by N.Y. Mag’s Christopher Cox: “A virus run rampant, health systems hollowed, public trust destroyed … This is the way the next pandemic might work.”
— “Turtleboy Will Not Be Stopped,” by The Atlantic’s Chris Heath: “A profane blogger believes an innocent woman is being framed for murder. He’ll do anything to prove he’s right — and terrorize anyone who says he’s wrong.”
— “Power, Money, Territory: How Trump Shook the World in 50 Days,” by NYT’s David Sanger: “The system America took 80 years to assemble proved surprisingly fragile in the face of Trump’s assault, a revolution in how the country exercises power across the globe.”
— “The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions,” by WSJ’s Jason Zweig: “Shortly before Daniel Kahneman died last March, he emailed friends a message: He was choosing to end his own life in Switzerland. Some are still struggling with his choice.”
— “Inside the Fight to Save the World’s Most Endangered Wolf,” by Garden & Gun’s Lindsey Liles: “Once, the red wolf roamed every Southern state. Today, only seventeen remain in the wild on a swampy peninsula in Eastern North Carolina, a number on the rise thanks to the passionate team of biologists determined to help them thrive once more.”
— “What I Found on the 365-Mile Trail of a Lost Folk Hero,” by the NYT Magazine’s Sam Anderson: “The Old Leatherman, a sort of real-life Northeastern Sasquatch, gave me an excuse to step outside my own life.”
— “A ‘Jeopardy!’ Win 24 Years in the Making,” by The Ringer’s Claire McNear: “Harvey Silikovitz first auditioned for ‘Jeopardy!’ in 2001. On Monday, he finally got a chance to play.”
Richard Burr is now a registered lobbyist for colleges, pharmaceutical companies, AI clients and more.
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — In a surprise potential reprieve for D.C., the Senate passed a stand-alone bill to reverse $1 billion in funding cuts for the local city government, WaPo’s Meagan Flynn and Jenny Gathright report. Orchestrated by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the legislation would save D.C.’s budget from a provision in the continuing resolution the Senate passed last night. This bill still needs to pass the House — which could be tough, given that House Republicans were the ones who originally stripped the money. But Collins said it now has President Donald Trump’s and House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole’s (R-Okla.) support.
IN MEMORIAM — “Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Ford, dies at 90,” by AP’s Douglass Daniel: “[He] sought to restore the integrity that the position had lost during the Nixon administration … Nessen had covered Ford’s tenure as vice president in the final months of a 12-year stint as a television correspondent with NBC News. He was the first journalist to come to the White House post from a broadcast background. … He was the first ‘SNL’ host to come from outside the entertainment world.”
WEDDING — Shannon Wu and John Sanders, via NYT: “Ms. Wu, 33, is the director of payment policy at the American Hospital Association. … Mr. Sanders, 37 … is the senior manager of technical accounting at International Game Technology … They married at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia [on Feb. 28].”
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Morgan Keese, VP of external affairs at Airbus U.S. Space and Defense, and Adam Fry, real estate adviser with MDT Real Estate at Compass, welcomed Aidan Fry on Wednesday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff … Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.) … Kevin Munoz … Lenny Alcivar … Brendan Buck … House Judiciary’s Nadgey Louis-Charles … George Holman … former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) … POLITICO’s Jason Wermers and Kendall Ross … Mallory Culhane … Megan Uhrich … Franklin Davis … Amanda Broun … Kate Dickens of S-3 Group … Patrick Dellinger of FlexPoint Media … Suzanne Smalley … Lauren Marshall of FGS Global … Joe Carapiet … Ariel Hill-Davis … former West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin … Tom Baer … Josh Deckard … Dean Rosen of Mehlman Consulting … John Bozzella of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation … Jennifer 8. Lee … NYT’s Sopan Deb … Rachel Schindler … Marcus Weisgerber … Natalie D’Apolito of the American Cleaning Institute … Doug Calidas of Americans for Responsible Innovation … Svante Myrick … Mark J. Green … Jack Limper … Rebecca Graff
THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):
CNN “State of the Union”: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff … Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) … Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). Panel: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Brad Todd, Scott Jennings and Ashley Etienne.
ABC “This Week”: National security adviser Mike Waltz … Diane Swonk … Ashish Jha. Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Jonathan Martin and Marianna Sotomayor.
FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-hosted by Jacqui Heinrich: National security adviser Mike Waltz … Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman … Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) … Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.). Panel: Olivia Beavers, Matt Gorman, Mario Parker and Sabrina Singh. Sunday special: Benjamin Hall.
CBS “Face the Nation”: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick … Maryland Gov. Wes Moore … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
NBC “Meet the Press”: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Steve Kornacki. Panel: Cornell Belcher, Eugene Daniels, Sara Fagen and Anna Palmer.
Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt … Peter Navarro … Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) … Miranda Devine.
NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: VA Secretary Doug Collins … Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) … Robert Shibley. Panel: Molly Ball, Julie Mason, Jasmine Wright and Merrill Matthews.
MSNBC “PoliticsNation”: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul … Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist … Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell.
Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] 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.
A message from the American Bankers Association:
Support the ACRE Act. Farmers and ranchers play a critical role in ensuring America maintains its food independence and all Americans have affordable access to fresh, healthy food at their local grocery store. Congress can support our farmers and ranchers and lift up our rural communities by lowering the cost of credit for loans secured by rural or agricultural property. The Access to Credit for our Rural Economy (ACRE) Act of 2025 is a commonsense, bipartisan approach to help lower interest rates for rural borrowers. ACRE allows banks to offer lower interest rates on all loans secured by farm real estate and aquaculture facilities. ACRE would also reduce the cost of homeownership for people living in more than 17,000 thousand rural communities. Urge Congress to support our farmers and ranchers by passing the ACRE Act. Learn more here.
