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White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion — Trillions of dollars could be on hold, according to an Office of Management and Budget memo. — The White House budget office is ordering a pause to all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government …
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The Handbasket, The Atlantic, Raw Story, HuffPost, CBS News, Associated Press, Axios, Baltimore Sun, Forbes, RedState, USA Today, The Post Millennial, The Guardian, Fortune, Good Politics/Bad Politics, Chase 🌾 …, NOTUS, E&E News, Wall Street Journal, Althouse, Saywhat Politics and Mourning Dove
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White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants — The full extent of the order was not immediately clear, but the directive sent to government agencies on Monday threatened to paralyze a vast swath of federal programs. — The White House budget office has ordered a pause in grants …
Discussion:
Jill Filipovic, The Independent and Lawyers, Guns & Money


Trump administration orders sweeping freeze of federal aid — In a two-page memo, the Office of Management and Budget ordered all federal agencies to temporarily suspend payments. — One week in, the Trump administration is broadening its assault on the functions of government …
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CBS News, Rolling Stone, MeidasTouch News, Scripps News, NBC News, Hollywood Life, New Republic, Justin's Political Corner and E&E News


Playbook: Trump's massive power grab — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, currently drinking tea and reading up on the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. What a life. — DRIVING THE DAY
Discussion:
The Transom


All federal grants and loan disbursement paused by White House — The White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday, potentially impacting trillions in government spending and halting public programs that affect millions of Americans.
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The Hill, NBC News, Daily Mail, Roll Call, Fox News, Bloomberg, Forbes, Hollywood Life, American Greatness, The Guardian, FOX 13 Tampa Bay, Reason and IJR


White House orders freeze on federal aid to focus on Trump's conservative agenda
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Daily Mail

Trump orders pause to all federal grants and loans
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The Hill, CBS News, Raw Story and Heatmap News


Michigan's Gary Peters won't seek reelection to U.S. Senate. Here's why — Washington ― Gary Peters, Michigan's senior senator and a former congressman, said he won't seek reelection next year and will retire from the U.S. Senate when his second term ends in January 2027.
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Associated Press, Axios, New York Times, CBS News, Scripps News, Fox News, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, The Hill, WXYZ-TV, Politico, Townhall, The Guardian, Michigan Advance and The Daily Caller
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Scoop: Pete Buttigieg taking “serious look” at Michigan Senate race in 2026
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The Independent, Associated Press and Talking Points Memo

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters won't run for re-election in battleground Michigan
Discussion:
Axios


Democrats' playbook for Trump 2.0: Tune out the noise and focus on economic issues — As Trump floods the zone in his first week in office, Democrats are departing from their “resistance” strategy in his first term and zeroing in on issues that cost them the last election.
Discussion:
Eschaton
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Read the Memo Pausing Federal Grants and Loans
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The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider and Semafor

He Did It: Trump Calls for Ending the Federal Income Tax!
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Baltimore Sun and Louder With Crowder, more at Techmeme »

Emmer cheers Trump's federal aid freeze
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal


Trump Ousts Top Labor Board Leaders Who Backed Broader Worker Rights — Jennifer Abruzzo says she was fired by email late on Monday — Donald Trump is forcing out top leaders of the US labor board, ushering in a swift reboot of workplace law enforcement while testing the limits of presidential authority.
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, Axios and HuffPost
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Confirmed: Unions Squandered the Biden Years
Discussion:
New York Times


120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025 — The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of “impoundment”—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon. — Welcome back to “One First,” a weekly newsletter that aims …
Discussion:
Vox and AMERICAN HERITAGE
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Trump's Most Lawless Action Yet
Discussion:
Washington Post and Digby's Hullabaloo


Google says it will change Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ in Maps after government updates … Google said Monday it will change the name of Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” after the government updates its “official government sources.” — The company also said it will start using Mount McKinley …
Discussion:
Quartz, Associated Press, Fortune, Must Read Alaska, Benzinga, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, The Verge and USA Today, more at Techmeme »
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Google Maps says U.S. users will see Trump's new name for Gulf of Mexico
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Axios, Washington Examiner, Reuters, The Hill, Global News, Townhall, HuffPost, Deadline, IJR, Metro.co.uk, The Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, israelhayom.com, TechCrunch, New York Post and Alternet.org


Top USAID career staff placed on immediate leave — “This is like taking out all the generals,” said a former Trump administration official informed of the decision. — The Trump administration has ordered dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development …
Discussion:
New York Times and NBC News
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Acosta La Vista — The anchor signaled to associates in private conversations over the weekend that he intends to depart the network, Status has learned. … The anchor, I'm told, signaled to associates in private conversations over the weekend that he intends to depart the network …
Discussion:
Fox News, Variety, Mediaite, The Independent, Deadline, TVLine, The Gateway Pundit, The Hollywood Reporter, IJR, Breitbart, RedState, The Post Millennial and HuffPost, more at Mediagazer »


Tillis Assured Hegseth's Former Sister-in-Law Her Testimony Could Convince GOP Senators to Vote No — North Carolina senator provided pivotal 50th ‘yes’ vote to confirm Hegseth as defense secretary — WASHINGTON—A key witness in the contentious Senate confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth …
Discussion:
The Bulwark, Townhall, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money


Week One inside Trump's DOJ: ‘It feels like a non-violent war’ — Fear reigns among the staff at the beleaguered law-enforcement agency as a new reality sets in. — Career lawyers and staff at the Department of Justice say the rush of changes in the first week of the Trump administration make them feel like they're under siege.
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Trump administration fires DOJ officials who worked on criminal investigations of the president
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Civil Discourse …, USA Today, Washington Post, Politico, ABC News, Associated Press, Fox News, WUSA, Mediaite, New Republic, Raw Story, Alternet.org, Bloomberg, CBS News, Reuters, The Independent, Washington Examiner, One America News Network, NPR, Lawyers, Guns & Money, emptywheel, CNBC and The Daily Signal


The Strategy Behind Trump's Policy Blitz — The staff was still setting up dinner on Mar-a-Lago's outdoor patio on a balmy early-January evening when Donald Trump sat down. He was surrounded by several top advisers who would soon join him in the West Wing and who wanted to get his input …

Trump's Dictatorial Theory of Presidential Power - What the Executive Orders, in the Aggregate, Tell Us — In a flurry of executive orders and proclamations this past week, President Donald Trump took decisive action on a range of significant issues including border enforcement, energy policy …


Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joins immigration enforcement operations in NYC — She witnessed both criminal and civil enforcement operations, sources said. — Newly sworn in Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rides along on an immigration enforcement operation in New York City, Jan. 28, 2025.
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, New York Daily News, RedState, The Post Millennial, The Independent, VINnews, Daily Mail and CNN


No Limits: Crypto Scams Set to Proliferate in 2025 — Donald Trump drew attention when he launched a so-called “meme coin” immediately before his inauguration. The value of the cryptocurrency, called $TRUMP, reached a price of $73 within a day of its release, giving it a total market valuation of about $72 billion.
Discussion:
Futurism


Trump Administration Payment Freeze May Delay Money For Critical Preschool Program — Head Start providers logging onto the online funding system this morning found a message warning of delays because of “potentially unallowable grant payments.” — LOADING


Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries — PEPFAR's computer systems also are being taken offline, a sign that the program may not return, as Republican critics had hoped. — The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries …
Discussion:
New Republic, Raw Story, Advocate, Mediaite, Brown Babe and them.


The MAGA terror has begun — Their leader is glorifying political violence and weaponizing the threat of it. — ⛓️💥 ✍️ ⚖️ With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent media is more important right now than ever.


Congressional Republicans' coming war on poor people — What we know about GOP reconciliation plans — Donald Trump is nothing if not a master of attention, and the eyes of the world have been on his executive orders. With most of these, my sense is that there's less to them than meets the eye …
Discussion:
Fox News, Punchbowl News, E&E News and Politico
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Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary, giving him a key role in extending Trump's tax cuts
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CNN, Washington Blade, New York Post, PinkNews, Wall Street Journal, Axios, Raw Story, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, One America News Network, Alternet.org, New York Times, Advocate, IJR, Roll Call, Washington Examiner, freebeacon.com, CoinDesk, Townhall, Reuters, Bloomberg, Business Insider, RedState, Fox Business, The Hill, USA Today, The Post Millennial, CBS News, Scripps News, NPR and Fox News


Border Czar Tom Homan Responds To Selena Gomez Crying Over Deportations: ‘No Apologies’ — Trump's immigration enforcement pick had blunt words for the “Only Murders in the Building” star. — LOADING — Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's border czar, was not moved Monday by viral video …
Discussion:
New Republic, The Hill, Daily Mail, Billboard, PinkNews, Townhall, ABC News, Daily Kos, RedState, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Raw Story and Page Six
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Trump border czar has blunt message for Selena Gomez: 'Where's the tears' for sex trafficked children?
Discussion:
The Hill, Global News, New Jersey Online, Breitbart, Daily Mail, New York Post, One America News Network, People, Cosmopolitan, Townhall, Page Six, Deadline, Mediaite, Raw Story, TMZ.com and The Hollywood Reporter


Trump signs 4 new executive orders, transforming military — President Trump signed a bevy of new executive orders Monday evening that have the potential to significantly transform the Defense Department (DOD). — The new orders prevent transgender people from openly serving in the military …
Discussion:
Reuters, Washington Post, BBC, NOTUS, CBS News, KRQE NEWS 13, them., ABC News, Washington Examiner, Axios, Al Jazeera, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, CNBC, Scripps News, PBS NewsHour, New York Post, USA Today, Townhall, MeidasTouch News, The Guardian, IJR and Fox News


Johnson Joins the Trump Entourage, Shrinking the Role of House Speaker — In positioning himself as a junior partner to the president and doing his bidding on matters large and small, the Louisiana Republican is diminishing a job that involves leading a coequal branch of government.

By killing remote work, DOGE will only bleed taxpayers dry — Republicans in Congress, bolstered by a 41-page report from the House Oversight Committee, have unleashed a wave of criticism against federal telework policies. Their claims, aired at a Jan. 15 congressional hearing titled …