Principals

1. Non-zero shutdown odds
2. Shaheen retires
3. Fink talks Social Security
4. Senate stablecoin vote
5. South African diplomat struggles
6. NPR scrutiny
7. Trump’s energy project shift

PDB: Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of economy

Trump hosts NATO’s Rutte … G7 foreign ministers meet in Canada ... Trump admin flies migrants back to US from Guantánamo

Schumer says House spending bill can’t pass

Senate Democrats spent a second straight day haggling over how to handle the House’s spending bill. Then, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor to announce there were insufficient votes to get that funding legislation past a filibuster: “Our caucus is unified.” Schumer and his Democratic senators say they want a 28-day stopgap bill (a position loyal Principals readers will be very familiar with) — a tough proposition, considering the House already split for a recess. Does this mean there will definitely be a shutdown? No — a Friday midnight deadline is an eternity away in government funding time. Republicans are already sharpening their attacks, though. “Democrats’ hatred for President Trump has overpowered basic common sense that’s needed,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Semafor. “A shutdown hurts the American people. A shutdown costs the taxpayers more money.”

— Burgess Everett

Jeanne Shaheen gets candid

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., announced she won’t run for reelection in 2026. She told Semafor’s Burgess Everett she thinks her party is in a good position to hold her seat and scoffed at potential GOP candidates. Shaheen said former Sen. Scott Brown is “not from New Hampshire” and “hasn’t done anything in New Hampshire,” and that former Gov. Chris Sununu’s effort to align himself with DOGE is “not going to be a very popular position.” And after a long career in politics, Shaheen made clear she wants to end her service on a high note: “What I did weigh is wanting to still be able to do the job, and not wanting to be here if I were in a position that I could no longer do a good job for New Hampshire and do a good job for the country.”

BlackRock’s Fink calls for Social Security reform

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink waded into sensitive political territory by calling for Social Security reform during a retirement summit in Washington hosted alongside the Bipartisan Policy Center and Semafor. Fink told Semafor’s Liz Hoffman that US officials should revisit the idea of private investment accounts to supplement (but not replace) Social Security. “We have a plan called Social Security that doesn’t grow with the economy,” he said. The summit brought together policymakers and leading Wall Street executives, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who acknowledged rather diplomatically that Trump’s tariffs are causing “uncertainty” for companies. In another interview, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith pushed Senate Republicans to get on board with raising the debt limit as part of the party’s sweeping tax and border bill, after Semafor reported on widespread reluctance in the upper chamber to do so.

House keeps tabs on Senate stablecoin bill

The Senate Banking Committee will mark up its first cryptocurrency bill today — and the House will be watching closely. Both chambers have their own versions of the legislation, which would take a first swing at overhauling digital assets regulation by creating new rules for stablecoins, or crypto pegged to assets like the dollar. But there are key differences between the two, including how they treat state regulatory frameworks. Democrats, including Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., are also asking for stronger language in the Senate version around consumer protections and illicit finance. “We’ll see what they actually do in any votes to amend the bill,” Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., told Semafor. Ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will be a hard sell after she circulated a memo outlining her concerns: “Let’s see if we can fix those fundamental flaws,” she told Semafor.

— Eleanor Mueller

South African diplomat shut out of Washington

South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, is struggling to secure crucial meetings in Washington at a time when Pretoria needs to mend relations with Trump’s White House, Sam Mkokeli reports for Semafor Africa. A veteran diplomat who also served as South Africa’s ambassador to Washington during the Obama administration, Rasool returned to the post in November. But he’s been unable to secure routine meetings with State Department officials and key Republicans since Trump took office in January, frustrating Pretoria. Some blame his past criticism of Israel; Rasool is viewed as one of the South African government’s most ardent pro-Palestine voices. Additionally, a document circulating in Republican foreign policy circles calls attention to tweets Rasool purportedly posted years ago that criticized Trump. Rasool’s past statements “don’t bode well,” one Capitol Hill staffer said.

NPR reverses on Pride event

National Public Radio dissuaded one of its most visible gay employees from attending a corporate LGBTQ Pride event, only to reverse course hours later, Semafor’s Max Tani scooped. The organization’s managing editor for standards and practices, Tony Cavin, suggested to longtime anchor Ari Shapiro in an email Wednesday that he should avoid appearing at the event, citing the organization’s ethics policy. “Because this is a closed corporate event I think it would be best to politely decline,” Cavin wrote. Asked by Semafor later Wednesday about the exchange, an NPR spokesperson said Shapiro would be allowed to attend the event after all. The public broadcaster and its affiliates have become targets of congressional Republicans and are now finding themselves at the center of the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure media organizations it sees as ideologically opposed to its agenda.

Energy regulator sees ‘180-degree turn’ under Trump

The Trump administration is giving more free rein to energy infrastructure regulators to approve new electricity projects and gas pipelines, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told Semafor. Mark Christie, a Trump appointee, said that when he served on FERC under Joe Biden he felt pressured by administration officials to veto all fossil fuel projects, even though FERC is meant to be independent and despite the country facing what he called a “reliability crisis” as demand grows and coal-fired power plants shut down. FERC will no longer consider the carbon footprint of gas infrastructure other than leaks from the pipelines themselves, Christie said, a shift that will make it easier to greenlight power systems to run the AI boom. “This administration wants us to build stuff,” he said. “It has been a complete 180-degree turn.”

— Tim McDonnell

The World Economy Summit 2025 will bring together US Cabinet officials, global finance ministers, central bankers, and over 200 CEOs of the world’s largest companies. The three-day summit will take place Apr. 23–25, 2025, in Washington, DC, and will be the first of its kind since the new US administration took office. Featuring on-the-record conversations with top executives such as Domenic Dell’Osso, Jr., President and CEO, Expand Energy; Andrés Gluski, President and CEO, The AES Corporation; Mike Henry, CEO, BHP; Mark A. Nelson, Vice Chairman, Chevron; Güliz Öztürk, CEO, Pegasus Airlines; and Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO, FedEx Corporation, the summit will advance dialogues that catalyze global growth and fortify resilience in an uncertain, shifting global economy.

Apr. 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Blindspot: Fries and tolls

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised Steak ’n Shake for discontinuing its use of vegetable oil for cooking French fries.

What the Right isn’t reading: Support for New York’s congestion pricing plan is rising in the state as the Trump administration looks to roll it back.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Elon Musk already has a starring role in Democratic ads.

Playbook: Pete Buttigieg will announce he’s not running for Michigan’s open US Senate seat.

WaPo: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is packing venues as he crisscrosses the country to hammer President Trump’s economic policies, surprising even some of his aides.

Axios: The America First Policy Institute is naming Greg Sindelar, CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, interim president and CEO, succeeding now-Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

White House

• President Trump said the US would respond to the EU’s retaliatory tariffs.
• The Social Security Administration reversed course on plans to curtail phone services for retired and disabled Americans. — WaPo

Business

• Chinese officials lashed out at Walmart executives after hearing that the retailer pushed Chinese suppliers to reduce prices in order to reduce the cost of the Trump administration’s tariffs. — WSJ
• Packaged food giants PepsiCo and Conagra are seeking exemptions to Trump tariffs on ingredients like cocoa, spices and tropical fruit. — Reuters
• Intel tapped Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO.

Economy

• Consumer prices rose less than expected in February, offering some relief ahead of President Trump’s tariffs taking effect.
• Trump chose Michelle Bowman as the Fed’s vice chair for supervision.
• The US budget deficit spiked last month and now tops $1 trillion.
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told Semafor of the instability around tariffs: “The fear is real. I don’t think this is an exaggeration we are seeing or an over-indexing, either, from the markets or from CEOs.”

Polls

• Americans’ views of their mental and physical health are at a low point for the last quarter century, according to new polling from Gallup, an indication of COVID-19’s lingering effect on those attitudes.
• Fifty-six percent of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a new CNN poll.

Courts

• Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s sister was the target of a bomb threat.
• A federal judge blocked part of President Trump’s executive order retaliating against the law firm Perkins Coie, arguing it runs afoul of free speech and due process protections.

National Security

• The White House tapped an Israel critic for the role of deputy director of national intelligence.

Foreign Policy

• The probable next prime minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, says Greenlanders ”don’t want to be Americans” — or Danes.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to drag out peace negotiations over the Ukraine war in hopes of securing more favorable terms for Moscow. — Bloomberg
• US Air Force Col. Jean-Philippe Peltier is expected to be appointed Trump’s senior Africa director, Semafor’s Mathias Hammer and Yinka Adegoke report.

Energy

• The EPA is rolling back a suite of environmental regulations.

Technology

• The FTC is pushing forward with a broad antitrust probe of Microsoft. — Bloomberg

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

Kevin Sherry is CEO of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government’s economic development agency. Irish officials were in DC on Wednesday for annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities at the White House and US Capitol.