Principals

1. Appropriations bills unveiled
2. Harris presses Israel
3. Haley wins D.C., snubs Trump
4. Biden polls everywhere
5. Biden’s SOTU blitz
6. Trump influence in Senate GOP

PDB: Gallup poll: Americans’ views on Israel, Palestinian Authority sour

The New Yorker publishes a long Biden profile … SCOTUS may rule on Trump ballot case …WaPo: Zelenskyy struggles to draft more troops

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

What each side got in the new budget bills

The latest budget deal looks like it’s moving ahead smoothly. Congressional leaders on Sunday unveiled text for the six full-year appropriations bills they’ll be looking to pass before this week’s partial shutdown deadline. Each side promptly touted a few wins: House Speaker Mike Johnson, who needs to cheer up cranky conservatives in his conference, played up cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (some of the right’s least favorite agencies). He also noted the bill will stop the DOJ from investigating parents who speak out at school board meetings and includes a (somewhat controversial) measure to protect veterans’ access to guns. Democrats, meanwhile, pointed to a $1 billion bump to the food stamp program WIC’s overstretched budget, as well as increases in rental assistance, among other gets. Once Congress wraps up this batch of appropriations bills, it will need to polish off six more before the final shutdown deadline on March 22.

Harris presses Israel on ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza

Vice President Kamala Harris described Gaza’s plight as a “humanitarian catastrophe” Sunday and implored Israel to “significantly increase the flow of aid” to starving Palestinians. The remarks, which came during her speech at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Ala., were the latest instance of the Biden administration openly pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over its handling of the conflict. There are signs of war fatigue among the U.S. public: A plurality of voters now say Israel has gone too far in responding to the Oct. 7 attack, according to a new WSJ poll. Harris also called for Hamas to accept an “immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks.” Talks are inching closer to a deal that would pause fighting but sticking points remain; Israel declined to send officials to Cairo for negotiations after Hamas refused to identify how many hostages they held were still alive. Israeli minister Benny Gantz is in Washington today for meetings with Harris and other senior U.S. officials, but the trip was reportedly not sanctioned by Netanyahu and his allies have criticized Gantz’s plans.

Haley wins DC, won’t commit to backing Trump

Nikki Haley picked up her first primary win, a resounding victory in the District of Columbia. She also scored her first Senate endorsements, with nods from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. But Trump continues to storm to the nomination, racking up three more victories over the weekend in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho. With Super Tuesday around the corner, Haley was pressed on NBC’s “Meet The Press” as to whether she’d eventually endorse him. While she insisted she was focused on her own race, she also said that she no longer felt bound by the RNC’s “loyalty pledge” to support the eventual nominee that candidates signed ahead of the debates. “No, I think I’ll make what decision I want to make,” she said, when asked directly by moderator Kristen Welker about its impact on her choice. She added that it was “not the same RNC” anymore with then-Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel leaving — and Trump’s daughter-in-law potentially stepping in as co-chair.

President Biden’s miserable polling weekend

Donald Trump narrowly led Joe Biden in poll after poll over the weekend, raising Democrats’ blood pressure with each news alert. A New York Times/Siena poll on Saturday had the race 48-44 in Trump’s favor among likely voters, a six-point swing in his direction since their December survey. They followed that up the next day with a chaser: A majority of Biden voters from 2020 either strongly or somewhat felt he was too old to serve effectively. CBS News had Trump up 52-48 among likely voters, while Fox News and The Wall Street Journal each put Trump up two points with registered voters. Democratic pollster Natalie Jackson described the situation as a perfect recipe for free-floating anxiety: Biden supporters desperately want to see his campaign ramp up to calm their nerves, but the most critical voters won’t be tuning in for six months. “There’s no point in rolling out September campaign strategy today,” she wrote on X.

White House preps media blitz around State of the Union

The White House wants to make sure its State of the Union message reaches the vast majority of Americans who won’t be tuning in. After last year’s speech saw TV viewership drop nearly 30%, to 27.3 million, the administration is looking to local media and online influencers to reach a wider audience. Officials are standing up regional radio and TV rows at the White House, Hispanic radio will broadcast live from the grounds on Thursday, and officials are conducting briefings with “dozens” of influencers and digital media organizations, according to a White House official. The administration is also “fanning out” in the coming weeks, said White House communications director Ben LaBolt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for instance, will head to deep-red Kentucky on March 13 to discuss Biden’s economic agenda.

GOP senator cautions Trump on weighing in on McConnell successor

Donald Trump has been noticeably quiet about who should succeed Mitch McConnell as Republican leader, and some Republicans want it to stay that way. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. said on CNN that his advice to Trump is to “stay out of the race because it’s a lose-lose situation” (Mullin said the two spoke last week). “He needs to work with whatever leader is there, and let me tell you, whatever leader is there understands that they’re going to have to work with President Trump, too,” Mullin said. “So it’s really not in his best interest to lean in the race at this point.” On ABC, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., one of the less Trumpy members of the Senate, suggested the next Republican leader should be able to “stand his own ground” against Trump should he win the presidency, while still working with him to advance shared goals. Both Mullin and Rounds are backing McConnell’s No. 2 John Thune, R-S.D., who hasn’t always been in Trump’s good graces (Thune hasn’t officially entered the race). Trump has reportedly been quietly encouraging Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. to enter the race.

Semafor is partnering with Gallup for an exclusive first look at the 2024 World Happiness Report, and we want to include voices from our readers!

Make a video or a voice memo telling us where you live and what happiness means to you, and email it to eventvideo@semafor.com
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Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Seventy-four percent of senior Capitol Hill aides say that Speaker Mike Johnson is ineffective, including 58% of Republican aides and 91% of Democrats.

Playbook: Ahead of State of the Union, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is trying to sell the bipartisan infrastructure law with a new digital video series about the law’s impact. “This is the time for storytelling, and all of us have a role to play,” he said.

The Early 202: Non-presidential primaries worth watching on Super Tuesday include California’s Senate race, and House primaries in California’s 47th district, California’s 22nd district, Alabama’s 1st district, North Carolina’s 1st district, Texas’ 26th district and Texas’ 23rd district.

Axios: Trump’s top advisers are trying to get him to be more disciplined about focusing on the border and economy, and not on a host of grievances like the 2020 election — and they may be getting through.

White House

• President Biden sat for an interview in January with the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos during which he said he believes Trump will contest the election results if the former president loses in November, and that he never doubted whether he would run for a second term. “If I didn’t think that the policies I put in place were best for the country, I don’t think I’d be doing it again,” Biden said. Osnos told David Remnick before the profile published that Biden was “slower in his movements” than the last time he interviewed the president but that “he didn’t do anything that made me think that his mind is any different than it was in 2020.”
• The White House is hosting a roundtable discussion on lowering drug prices today. Among the participants, according to a White House spokesperson: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and businessman Mark Cuban (who co-founded the company Cost Plus Drugs).
• As a federal appeals court in New Orleans holds oral arguments today in a case that could erode aspects of Obamacare, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates issued a memo this morning criticizing the case as a “baseless, rightwing attack that jeopardizes health care coverage for millions of Americans.”

Congress

• The House and Senate return on Tuesday.
• Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. replied approvingly to an openly antisemitic account on X: “Some of y’all having a rough time wanting to see something that ain’t there. But don’t give up!” he tweeted later.
• A group of House Republicans led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas is crafting a foreign aid package that would include support for Ukraine as well as border security measures. Speaker Mike Johnson has met privately with the group, but hasn’t yet taken a position on the emerging bill or committed to bringing it to the floor. — CNN
• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio sounded optimistic about the prospects of a House vote on Ukraine aid. “We have to support them now or they will lose and I think the Speaker sees that emergency, [Democratic leader] Hakeem Jeffries sees that emergency, and I think we’re going to see bills hit the floor,” Turner said on CBS.
• Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. is considering running to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as GOP leader.
• A former partner of Jim Biden disputed a piece of his congressional testimony last month regarding a loan that he claimed was forgiven. — Politico

Economy

OPEC+ members extended cuts to oil production to the end of June.

Courts

• The Supreme Court noted that it may release opinions later today, leading to some speculation it could rule on whether Colorado can kick Donald Trump off of the state’s ballot.
• Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking secret Pentagon documents online, is expected to plead guilty in federal court later today.

Polls

Americans’ opinions of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have soured in the last year, according to a new Gallup poll. Fifty-eight of those surveyed currently have a “very” or “mostly favorable” view of Israel, a 10-point decline from the previous year and a two-decade low. The share of Americans who view the Palestinian Authority favorably, meanwhile, dropped from 26% to 18%.

On the Trail

• The Biden campaign brought on four more people to its digital team.
• GOP candidate J.R. Majewski is bowing out of his Ohio congressional race after all.
• Rep. Adam Schiff’s, D-Calif. focus on Donald Trump helped him rise to the top of the Senate Democratic primary field in the state. — Politico

National Security

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas downplayed the use of executive orders to solve the migrant crisis. “Legislation is the enduring solution,” he said on CNN.

Foreign Policy

• The U.S. military airdropped emergency aid into Gaza over the weekend that contained about 38,000 meals.
• A British cargo ship struck by Houthi militants sank in the Red Sea. It was carrying tons of fertilizer, raising concerns about environmental repercussions.
• France’s parliament is set to vote today to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, making it the first country to do so at the national level.
• John Kerry steps down as U.S. climate envoy this week — Bloomberg

Media

The White House isn’t happy with NBC’s Kristen Welker for saying on “Meet the Press” that Donald Trump “allegedly” tried to overturn the 2020 election results.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he believes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. should succeed Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader.

What the Right isn’t reading: Donald Trump confused Barack Obama for President Biden during his speech at a rally in Virginia.

Correction

Last week, we mistakenly identified Pat Fallon as a U.S. representative from Massachusetts, when in fact he represents Texas in Congress. Semafor regrets the error.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

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Henry Cuellar is a Democratic congressman from Texas.

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