Principals

1. Funding fight
2. House GOP tax marathon
3. US-Ukraine talks
4. Trump preps tariffs
5. New NRCC face
6. White House photog

PDB: Canada’s new prime minister

Trump to hold tech meeting … Senate to vote on labor nominee Chavez-DeRemer … China tariffs on US agricultural goods take effect

Johnson makes his shutdown move as Dems watch

House Speaker Mike Johnson faces another bruising unity exercise as he tries to muscle through a spending bill running through September, though he’ll have help from President Trump. The president backed the bill, which boosts defense and trims non-defense spending and includes veterans and ICE add-ons, putting the squeeze on conservatives who hate continuing resolutions. “I need some assurances on Pentagon spending,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Semafor. Republicans are up against a tight March 14 deadline, too. Democratic leaders want to leave Johnson’s slim majority to do all the heavy lifting; if Johnson succeeds, he’ll give Senate Democrats little choice but to back his measure or shut the government down ahead of a recess. Don’t expect too much budget reconciliation movement until Congress returns; the Senate might not take additional budget floor action until mid-April or later.

— Kadia Goba and Burgess Everett

House GOP prepares to grind out tax plan

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are gearing up for all-day meetings today and Wednesday to hash out how to enact Trump’s tax agenda without spending more than their budget proposal dictates. Some members flew in Sunday to be ready for the sessions, which are expected to run from 10 a.m. until evening votes today, and from morning votes until as late as 9 p.m. Wednesday, a person familiar with the plans told Semafor. Lawmakers must find a way to extend expiring cuts while also enacting new proposals, like no tax on tips and overtime pay — all while staying within the $4.5 trillion cap greenlit by deficit hawks. “Both members and the president will have thoughts on how closely you have to hew to the campaign promise,” the Cato Institute’s Adam Michel told Semafor.

— Eleanor Mueller

US prepares for talks with Ukraine in Jeddah

Ukraine’s fate hangs in the balance as the Trump administration holds talks with Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia this week about bringing an end to Russia’s war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and special envoy Steve Witkoff are representing the US, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent his top aide, Andriy Yermak, plus Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Russian forces are advancing in Kursk, following Trump’s decision to suspend intelligence-sharing and military shipments to Ukraine amid a feud with Zelenskyy. NBC reported that Trump wants the Ukrainian president to agree to make concessions in talks with Russia, as well as sign a critical minerals deal, before the US resumes aid and intelligence-sharing. However, Trump told reporters Sunday that the US had “just about” lifted the intelligence pause.

Trump faces down the economy

The Trump administration continues to stare down potential economic challenges. The president declined to give a straight answer Sunday when asked by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo whether he was concerned about a potential recession. “I hate to predict things like that,” he said, adding that the economy is currently in “a period of transition.” Stock futures and Treasury yields fell on the comments, which come as his tariffs cause whiplash for businesses and investors. Later Sunday, Trump defended the duties as “the greatest thing we’ve ever done as a country.” The administration argues tariffs will deliver long-term benefits for the US. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday said the planned 25% duties on aluminum and steel are still expected to go into effect Wednesday. He also had a more definitive prediction: “There’s going to be no recession in America.”

— Shelby Talcott

Trump flexes control over midterm recruitment

A new leader in the House Republicans’ campaign arm will ensure that Trump asserts significant sway over the midterm elections. The National Republicans Congressional Committee tapped Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., Trump’s former political director, as recruitment chair last week. “I’m excited to work with President Trump very closely, as I did before, to help ensure that there’s this complete congruency with respect to our approach with recruitment,” he told Semafor. Jack said the committee plans to go on offense with a strong emphasis on recruiting in the 13 Democratic-held districts Trump won, but held open the possibility of bringing back candidates who lost in 2024. (There’s expected to be a third matchup between former GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, and Democrat Rep. Laura Gillen of New York’s 4th congressional district, according to two sources familiar with the plans.)

— Kadia Goba

White House taps ex-magazine photog

The White House hired Patrick Witty, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who left his role at National Geographic in 2017 amid allegations of misconduct, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. Witty, who had also worked with The New York Times, Time, and Wired, abruptly left his job with the magazine after it launched an investigation into him over accusations he’d made inappropriate advances towards female coworkers, Vox reported. Witty denied many of the allegations at the time, but apologized. He now writes a Substack newsletter about photography and has amassed a large following on Instagram, where he shares his own photographs and other iconic political images, as well as essays and commentary about them. Witty did not respond to requests for comment, and the White House declined to comment.

Debatable: Should the US scale back non-military foreign aid?

Trump moved to dismantle the US Agency for International Development as one of his first steps after taking office and imposed a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. Following court challenges, the Supreme Court last week denied a bid by Trump to keep the foreign aid frozen, giving State the green light to resume billions of dollars in payments. Trump’s efforts have touched off a widespread debate about the benefits of foreign aid — particularly non-military assistance that flows to countries for humanitarian, economic, and other reasons. Ian Vásquez of the Cato Institute argues that US foreign aid should be “reduced dramatically” because it has failed to promote economic development in poorer countries. Meanwhile, Frances Z. Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says that foreign aid serves US interests, criticizing Trump’s “wrecking-ball” approach.

CEOs Larry Fink and Margaret Spellings are convening elected officials, corporate leaders, small business owners, union representatives, pensioners, and state and federal policymakers for the 2025 Retirement Summit to find bipartisan solutions and commitments. The theme of the event, “Redefining Retirement: It’s All of our Work,” highlights how critical it is for both the public and private sectors to think about retirement in new ways to help people live better, longer.

Mar. 12, 2025 | Washington DC | Request an Invitation

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The House Freedom Caucus is pushing a resolution that would strip Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, of his seat on the Financial Services Committee following his protest during President Trump’s address to Congress last week.

Playbook: There are more Navy SEALs in Congress than ever before, a sign of the “warrior mentality” that has become a “defining feature of the MAGA movement and Republican Party.”

WaPo: Vice President Vance has been a key figure working behind the scenes to persuade Senate Republicans to go along with Trump’s agenda, leveraging the relationships he’s built in the chamber. “When he comes in, he doesn’t act like he’s the vice president,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. “He acts like he’s among friends, and we enjoy that.”

Axios: Trump’s “cash-flush political operation” ensures that he’ll retain a tight hold on the GOP even if his poll numbers decline.

White House

• President Trump defended Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett as she faces attacks on the right following her vote on a foreign aid case last week.
• Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Doha tomorrow for Gaza ceasefire talks. — Axios
• FEMA is canceling trainings for firefighters, citing fears about Trump administration budget cuts. — WaPo

Outside the Beltway

• ICE agents arrested a Columbia graduate student active in the campus’ pro-Palestinian protest movement. His lawyer says he has a green card.
• Utah is set to be the first state to ban fluoridation of public drinking water.
• Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a Manhattan Tesla dealership to protest Elon Musk and DOGE.

Health

• HHS is offering some 80,000 agency employees as much as $25,000 to quit their jobs.
• Public health authorities confirmed a measles case in Maryland (unrelated to the ongoing outbreak in the Southwest).

Campaign

• Tim Walz said he and Kamala Harris played it too safe in the 2024 election. — Politico

National Security

• The Secret Service shot an armed man near the White House over the weekend.

Foreign Policy

• Former central banker Mark Carney will succeed Justin Trudeau as Canadian prime minister after winning party elections over the weekend, assuming power as Canada feuds with its longtime ally — the US — under President Trump. Carney’s economic experience may lend him a hand as he looks to respond to Trump’s tariff threats.
• The Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid have “hobbled programs that prevent and snuff out outbreaks around the world.” — NYT
• Israel cut off electricity to Gaza, in a bid to pressure Hamas to release hostages.

Technology

• A whistleblower alleged that Meta considered censoring content and sharing user data with the Chinese government in order to bring Facebook to internet users in China.

Media

• Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is dating Tara McGowan, the CEO of Courier Newsroom, a network of liberal digital news sites, Max Tani reports.
• Tara Palmeri is leaving Puck to take her reporting to YouTube. — NYT

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Adriano Espaillat is a Democratic congressman from New York.

It’s not all the manosphere: Female right-wing content creators like Daily Wire breakout star Brett Cooper, TurningPoint USA’s Alex Clark, and Jessica Reed Kraus of House Inhabit are building powerful brands catering to conservatism-curious young women.

There’s space for younger voices on the right, Cooper told Semafor’s Max Tani — particularly those that have a political viewpoint but aren’t “just making people angry.”