Vought to Senate: Your move
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RUSS VOUGHT, a key architect of Project 2025 and a leader of the Trump administration's efforts to drastically shrink the federal government, heads to the Hill tomorrow with one goal: Put senators on the spot.
He plans to tell the Appropriations Committee in a hearing that it's time for the Senate to pass the $9.4 billion package of cuts, called rescissions, that axes programs Republicans have long wanted to slash.
'They begged us for months for this,' a senior administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the strategy, told West Wing Playbook. 'We say, 'Great, you guys are all in.' Let's all have at it together. Can you do it or can you not?'
Part of Vought's mission will be to provide justification for senators nervous about cutting funding for programs such as public broadcasting and the HIV and AIDS foreign aid program PEPFAR, which was created under GEORGE W. BUSH and is credited with saving more than 25 million lives. Another aim will be correcting what the administration believes are misconceptions about the rescissions package.
It will be a high-stakes moment for Vought, who will testify before appropriators, some of whom have long championed the same programs he is looking to cut. Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), chair of the committee, talks with Vought regularly about the rescissions package and the reconciliation bill, but she has publicly opposed cuts to PEPFAR.
Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska), another member of the panel, has voiced concerns about cuts to public broadcasting, and former Senate GOP Leader MITCH McCONNELL (R-Ky.) has historically been supportive of U.S. foreign aid. Further, the Appropriations Committee is stacked with lawmakers who strongly believe in Congress' power to decide how money is spent.
Vought plans to stress that the rescission does not touch money for lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment, only for some prevention programs that the administration opposes, according to two administration officials.
'This proposal would not reduce treatment but would eliminate programs that are antithetical to American interests and worsen the lives of women and children,' Vought wrote in his formal proposal to Congress, pointing to funding for 'family planning,' 'reproductive health,' 'LGBTQI+ activities,' and 'equity' programs.
Examples Vought is likely to point to in tomorrow's hearing include:
'That's what 'preventative care' is. That's what we're cutting,' said another senior administration official, also granted anonymity to discuss strategy. 'Most of the money for PEPFAR is still going to be there. That's what we've been crystal clear about.'
The package was shaped behind the scenes by feedback from appropriators in both the House and the Senate over the last two months.
'We had the original proposed package, they gave feedback and edits on what would be good,' the official said. 'They would say: 'These are accounts that could be a problem, these are ones we want to keep.''
MESSAGE US — West Wing Playbook is obsessively covering the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government. Are you a federal worker? A DOGE staffer? Have you picked up on any upcoming DOGE moves? We want to hear from you on how this is playing out. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
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POTUS PUZZLER
Which president had a cat named SOCKS?
(Answer at bottom.)
Agenda Setting
DON'T YOU DO IT: President DONALD TRUMP today scolded both Iran and Israel for an apparent violation of the two countries' ceasefire agreement the president says he brokered, our GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING and JAKE TRAYLOR report. Trump announced Monday evening that after nearly two weeks of war, the countries had agreed to a ceasefire that would begin at midnight EST.
It didn't last long. Israel threatened to strike Tehran early this morning, claiming Iran had already broken the deal, which Iran denies.
'We have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing,' Trump told reporters on the White House lawn this morning before departing to the Netherlands to meet with NATO allies.
Moments after, he took to Truth Social to continue. 'ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!' he wrote.
DATA WEB EXPANDS: The Trump administration is amassing a wide base of personal information about hundreds of millions of people living in the U.S., now including troves of databases run by states, NPR's JUDE JOFFE-BLOCK reports.
Some examples include:
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
THE OLD SWITCHEROO: While federal agencies scramble to deal with staffing shortages and coverage gaps from mass worker firings, the Trump administration is simultaneously reversing course on some of those firings and voluntary retirements and making new hires to fill vacancies, CNN's ERIC BRADNER reports.
As hurricane season approaches, the National Weather Service received permission to hire about 125 new meteorologists and specialists to fill gaps in its forecast offices around the country, despite a federal hiring freeze. The agency lost more than 560 employees to layoffs and early retirement incentives this year.
HHS reinstated 450 CDC employees who were fired in April, including workers focused on HIV and childhood lead exposure. The FDA rehired more than a dozen scientists at a food safety lab in Illinois. The Department of Agriculture halted plans to lay off a quarter of its staff at 58 facilities responsible for responding to the bird flu.
In the Courts
WE'RE NOT LISTENING: A top DOJ official who was nominated for a federal judgeship told colleagues that the administration would defy court orders in order to carry out its aggressive mass deportation plans, our JOSH GERSTEIN, KYLE CHENEY and HAILEY FUCHS report. According to a whistleblower letter submitted by another attorney present for the remarks, the official, EMIL BOVE, proposed ignoring court orders as administration lawyers discussed expected legal challenges to the president's plan to assert wartime powers to rapidly deport some immigrants.
The letter, submitted by EREZ REUVENI, who was fired from DOJ in April, said that the episode was followed by several attempts by DOJ officials to reject court orders in at least three immigration-related cases.
Musk Radar
TO HAVE A LAPTOP OR NOT TO HAVE A LAPTOP: In a court filing over the weekend, ELON MUSK's lawyers claimed the former DOGE chief 'does not use a computer,' WIRED's CAROLINE HASKINS, KATE KNIBBS and WILL KNIGHT report. This claim, from a filing in a lawsuit against SAM ALTMAN and OpenAI, comes as Musk has posted pictures and referred to his laptop on X several times in recent months.
Last year, Musk posted on X a picture of a laptop with a caption that said, 'This is a pic of my laptop.'
What We're Reading
Trump takes Middle East ceasefire to trade war strategy (POLITICO's Ben Lefebvre, Phelim Kine, Megan Messerly and Daniel Desrochers)
Elon Musk Is Playing God (The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel and Hana Kiros)
The plan to vaccinate all Americans, despite RFK Jr. (WaPo's Lena H. Sun and Rachel Roubein)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
Former President BILL CLINTON had a pet cat named Socks, an adopted tuxedo cat who gained fame as the first family's first cat. But Socks didn't have fans in every corner. In the late 90s, Rep. DAN BURTON (R-Ind.), then-chair of the House Oversight Committee, publicly questioned the use of White House personnel to answer letters addressed to the feline.
He eventually laughed it off as a 'mistake.'
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