As Congress charts the path forward on government spending and the Trump administration prepares to release the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission strategy report, we are monitoring the following:
Both chambers are in session this week with just 22 days before government funding expires. Republicans are still mulling strategy on how to move forward as Democrats prepare to set the terms they could accept to lend Republicans the votes needed to avoid a shutdown.
- Republicans are seeking to reach consensus on how long a continuing resolution (CR) would last. Leading appropriators in both chambers want a shorter CR into November/December, while conservatives want a longer-term CR.
- Additionally, both chambers are set to take action on the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which must be passed before the end of the year.
- Senate Republicans are also considering a rules change this week that would allow for non-Cabinet nominees to be approved in tranches, significantly expediting the confirmation process for Trump’s pending nominees.
- In committees this week, notable hearings include:
- On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the United States’ AI Action Plan.
- Also on Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee will vote to advance Stephen Miran to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve board, pursuing an aggressive timeline to get him confirmed before next week’s Fed meeting.
President Trump is intensifying crime and immigration enforcement. On Friday, ICE targeted a battery plant in Georgia that led to the arrest of nearly 500 people. Following the raid, Trump said on Truth Social, “we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people… and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”
- Claiming victory in the District of Columbia over the deployment of the National Guard to fight crime, Trump is now focusing enforcement efforts on Chicago. Today the Department of Homeland Security announced “Operation Midway Blitz,” a concerted immigration crackdown in Chicago.
- The Supreme Court today lifted limits on immigration stops in Los Angeles, paving the way for increased ICE enforcement in southern California.
Last week, President Trump signed several executive orders, including an order to provide tariff exemptions to trading partners with whom the U.S. has recently minted trade deals. The order provides exemptions for 45 categories of goods including minerals, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and agricultural products that are not readily producible in the United States. Other orders included:
- Implementing the U.S.-Japan trade agreement, which sets a 15% base tariff on most Japanese imports in exchange for increased Japanese market access for autos and agriculture products and increased U.S. investment.
- Further protecting U.S. nationals from improper detention abroad and allowing the Secretary of State to designate offending countries as State Sponsors of Wrongful Detention.
- Creating a secondary title for the Department of Defense as the Department of War. (Formally changing the name of the Department would require an act of Congress).
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission strategy report is expected to be released this week. The report was first presented to President Trump nearly a month ago but has not yet been made publicly available. Close attention will be paid to how the report’s final version compares to leaked drafts, which some activists characterized as more industry-friendly than they had expected.
- Additionally, tomorrow the House Oversight Committee will hear testimony from HHS and Agriculture officials at a hearing titled “Better Meals, Fewer Pills: Making our Children Healthy Again.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine traveled to Puerto Rico today as the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean continues. In recent days the Trump administration has deployed ships and aircraft to the region to assist with drug smuggling interdiction efforts, leading to last week’s destruction of a smuggling ship and its eleven crewmembers. While some have suggested that the buildup could be leading to a military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on Friday Trump rejected that possibility.