Principals

1. Trump cuts $3B from 2023 deal
2. Officials texted war plans
3. Republicans meet on agenda
4. Consumer confidence
5. Climate investors eye US deals
6. Progressives pivot from Biden
7. TikTok star runs for Congress

PDB: Ray Dalio briefs House Budget panel

Trump officials testify on worldwide threats … US, Ukraine officials meet in Saudi Arabia … China frees detained Mintz employees

Trump slashes billions in emergency spending

President Donald Trump is slashing nearly $3 billion stemming from the 2023 debt ceiling’s side deals, administration officials told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. Trump was able to cut from billions designated as emergency spending as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act — and he decided that $2.9 billion of it doesn’t fit the bill. Officials said most of the money being cut is from foreign aid; Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and his office flagged the spending for the president to slash from a deal he always hated. “It’s not the way to proceed,” said one of the officials, who added some of the foreign aid money is “not well-vetted, is not well considered. In fact, not only is it not an emergency, but it’s probably some of the lowest-priority spending that you could identify.”

A Signal chat stuns Washington

“A huge screw-up.” “Dangerous.” “Potentially criminal.” Those are some initial reactions to The Atlantic’s report that editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat on which senior Trump administration officials discussed secret plans to strike the Houthis in Yemen. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed the reported message thread “appears to be authentic” and defended it as a “a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials,” while Trump said he knew nothing about it. “We’re definitely concerned,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, who added the panel would “discuss what action to take.” Others in the party were harsher. “This can get our troops killed,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Semafor’s Kadia Goba. Democrats clamored for investigations, while some legal experts said the chat may have violated laws governing the handling of classified information.

Can the House and Senate finally reconcile?

The “Big Six” — Republican leaders Mike Johnson and John Thune, along with the top congressional tax writers and Trump administration officials — will meet today to make progress on the still-stalled border and tax agenda. There’s lots to resolve, from whether to keep the debt ceiling in the package to figuring out how to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent. Thune is hoping for — but not guaranteeing — Senate floor action sometime before the mid-April recess, while Johnson and his conference are calling for the Senate to move ASAP. “We need to start putting our foot on the gas, because time’s a-wastin’,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who counts himself among the impatient Republicans. “It feels like we’re not moving very fast. So I just think it’s time to start making decisions and not just to explore concepts.”

— Burgess Everett

Will Wall Street’s rally last?

A slate of economic reports this week will help determine whether the stock market will keep rallying. The US will get new clues about public economic sentiment from the consumer confidence report released later today by the Conference Board, while the personal consumption expenditures index out Friday will add to the overall inflation picture. Wall Street seems to be breathing a sigh of relief for now, amid signs of Trump targeting his planned reciprocal tariffs or even letting certain countries off the hook. “I may give a lot of countries breaks,” he told reporters Monday. But Trump also threatened 25% tariffs on countries that purchase oil and gas from Venezuela (China is the largest recipient of crude exports from Venezuela), and hinted at near-term plans for auto tariffs.

Green investors bet on America

Trump’s seemingly pro-fossil fuel policies may be drawing the ire of climate activists, but for some climate investors, they signal an opportunity to pick up renewables assets on the cheap. “The US is going to be a very relevant, meaningful market for us in the next few years,” said Oscar Perez, CEO and managing partner of Madrid-based Qualitas Energy, which last year acquired a North Carolina solar-and-battery-storage business after around 12 years of staying out of the US. It is one of a number of deep-pocketed investors who see bad climate vibes actually creating value by driving down the purchase price of major renewables assets: Executives at private equity giants Brookfield Asset Management and KKR, as well as the investment bank Jefferies, earlier told Bloomberg they, too, saw opportunity in the US renewable sector.

— Prashant Rao

AOC and Sanders sprint away from Biden era

No longer burdened with the task of supporting a presidential candidate, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have offered withering criticism of the Democratic Party as they’ve rallied to oppose Trump. They have also rarely mentioned the most recent Democratic president, Joe Biden. It’s an effort to disentangle their politics from the party’s toxic brand, Semafor’s Dave Weigel writes. “Trump basically said the system is broken, and I’m going to fix it,” Sanders told Semafor. “Democrats more or less said: You know, the status quo is not perfect, but we’re gonna tinker with it around the edges.”

Progressive TikToker raises $100,000 for House primary bid

Progressive TikTok star Katherine Abughazaleh entered the race for a safe Democratic seat in Congress on Monday, quickly raising $100,000 for her campaign. “What if we didn’t suck?” she asked in her launch video. Abughazaleh, 26, said that she only moved to Chicago last year, but didn’t see Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 80, wielding her power effectively in the House. “Democrats should have been standing outside the Treasury Department when Elon Musk and his cronies went in,” she told Semafor. Abughazaleh, whose videos for Media Matters helped her garner a social media following, was laid off after a Musk defamation lawsuit drained the progressive group’s resources. Schakowsky has not decided whether to seek another term in Chicago’s liberal suburbs; House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he supported his incumbents and had not heard of Abughazaleh.

— David Weigel

Blindspot: Tesla and courts

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: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he regretted joking about Tesla’s stock.

What the Right isn’t reading: The Supreme Court declined to take up a suit by casino mogul Steve Wynn against The Associated Press that would’ve sought to roll back defamation protections for journalists stemming from a 1964 precedent.

Reliable coverage without the chaos — Ground News is a news comparison platform home to over 50,000 sources, enabling readers to compare coverage on any story while getting insight into a news source’s political bias, credibility, and ownership. Readers from all political stripes, from Munich to Manhattan, can trust Ground News to stay informed and broaden their worldview. Semafor readers can get 40% off their Vantage plan today.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Democrats are trying to “find some much-needed unity” as they look to exploit Republican divisions in the reconciliation fight. It’ll be discussed at the Senate Democratic lunch tomorrow.

Playbook: Some White House officials are questioning whether national security adviser Mike Waltz should be forced to resign following the Signal chat revelations.

Axios: Others in the administration are shrugging off the Signal security leak. “We don’t care what the media says,” a Trump adviser said. “We can easily handle what would kill any other administration. This will blow over.”

WaPo: Republicans are sweating over the special election in Florida to replace Waltz next week, as the Democratic candidate significantly outraises the GOP candidate. The Republican Randy Fine isn’t expected to lose, but a poor showing could demonstrate real weakness.

White House

• President Trump tapped one of his former lawyers, Alina Habba, to be an interim US attorney in New Jersey.
• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a Cabinet meeting that the department would move to eliminate FEMA.
• The Social Security Administration will curtail its phone services in a matter of weeks, a change that will require claimants to verify their identity at in-person offices if they can’t do so online. In a letter to SSA nominee Frank Bisignano, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden said the policy change could be a step towards a DOGE-led privatization of Social Security.

Congress

• Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio will brief members of the House Budget Committee on the US debt later today.
• A bipartisan group of senators asked the Trump administration to push for the release of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. — Reuters

Outside the Beltway

• Cait Conley, a former Biden administration cybersecurity official, is running for GOP Rep. Mike Lawler’s seat in New York.
• The Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land was injured in an attack his Israeli co-director compared to a lynching.

Business

• President Trump championed a planned $20 billion investment from South Korea-based Hyundai in the US.
• Tesla sales are falling in Europe.
• JPMorgan has renamed its DEI program “DOI,” for diversity, opportunity, and inclusion.

Economy

• The probability of a recession in the US is hovering around 43%, a Deutsche Bank markets survey found.

Courts

• The White House declined to provide information to a judge about deportation flights to El Salvador, citing state secrets privilege. Lawyers for the Trump administration also urged a circuit court to allow deportations to El Salvador to proceed, which that panel appeared split on.
• The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow it to fire thousands of probationary employees.
• A Columbia University student and legal permanent resident of the US sued to prevent the Trump administration from deporting her over her participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

National Security

• The FBI set up a task force to investigate attacks on Tesla, describing them as “domestic terrorism.”
• Cybersecurity experts are worried that federal workers laid off by DOGE could be recruited by other countries as informants. — AP

Foreign Policy

• The UAE pledged to invest $1.4 trillion in the US following a visit by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed to Washington.

Technology

• The US needs to prioritize research and development funding in order to outcompete China, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Matt Pottinger write in The Washington Post.
• 23andMe filed for bankruptcy and its CEO resigned.

Media

• Two more journalists were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza.

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

The Colorado state legislature agreed to President Trump’s demand that it remove an unflattering portrait of him from the state capitol. Trump claimed the portrait, which has been there since 2019, looks “purposefully distorted.”