Axios

House Republicans are desperately hoping President Trump will settle their big fights for them next week at their retreat in Miami, even as he's shown no interest in filling that role.

Why it matters: With a zero-vote margin, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will have to make hard decisions to translate Trump's vision into a legislative reality.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) used a rare emergency meeting on Friday to make a plea for unity, but Democrats have a tactical problem he can't avoid.

Why it matters: Schumer can't guarantee the votes to give Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) the time and leverage to negotiate with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on the upcoming ICC sanctions bill.

The Elon Musk-Sam Altman feud entered a new hot phase this week on X following President Trump's announcement of Stargate, a new $500 billion AI infrastructure joint venture funded in part by OpenAI, the AI giant Altman leads.

Why it matters: Musk's public questioning of the financial strength of a venture that Trump had just blessed from the White House marked the first public sign that the "First Buddy's" relationship with the president might be turning rocky.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation hearing on Wednesday could shed light on President Trump's health care agenda, which has been unclear so far, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes.

• Why it matters: Both minimalist and maximalist approaches are still on the table.

👨‍⚕️ Kennedy, President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has mostly said what he won't do — like take away the polio vaccine.

January's icy weather demonstrates the differences between regional weather and climate conditions, Axios climate expert Andrew Freedman writes.

• Unusually cold air has been parked over the Lower 48 this week, leading to a record snowstorm along the Gulf Coast.

🥶 During Arctic outbreaks, the Gulf Coast usually stays dry or receives a wintry mix.

• But this time a storm formed along a frontal zone and tapped into warm Gulf of Mexico waters.

1. 🌀 During a visit to hurricane-battered North Carolina today, President Trump said he's considering "getting rid of FEMA" and would "like to see the states take care of disasters." Go deeper.
2. 📊 An AP-NORC poll found 60% of U.S. adults disapprove of the president relying on billionaires for policy advice — 78% of Democrats and 35% of Republicans. Go deeper.
3. 🌎 JPMorgan Chase hired a longtime national security official to launch a geopolitical advisory unit for clients and government leaders. Derek Chollet — who in the Biden administration was counselor to Secretary of State Tony Blinken, then chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin — will join JPMorgan next month. Go deeper.
4. 🎰 Las Vegas will host the 2027 College Football Playoff national championship game at the Raiders' Allegiant Stadium. The 2026 game will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Go deeper.

Craig Taulman was such a diehard Eagles fan, nothing kept him from watching the Birds — not life and certainly not death, Axios Philadelphia's Isaac Avilucea reports.

• Taulman, 45, died from cancer in September, but has still attended every Eagles game this season.

⚱️ That's thanks to Jamie Pagliei, a.k.a. "Philly Sports Guy," a superfan who carries Taulman's ashes with him to games in a green urn.

• The gesture has lifted the family's spirits — and they believe Taulman has boosted the Birds, who won 10 straight after he began attending in spirit.

Eight Jan. 6 defendants whose sentences were commuted by President Trump must get court permission to travel to Washington, D.C., or enter the U.S. Capitol, a federal judge ordered on Friday.

Why it matters: Trump issued pardons and commutations for the majority of rioters charged in the Jan. 6 attack the Capitol, and at least one has already met with lawmakers in D.C.

President Trump bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade in a video address to tens of thousands of attendees at the March for Life anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

The big picture: Trump had shied away from abortion while campaigning after it became a winning issue for Democrats. His speech Friday found him once again leaning into a core priority for many Republicans.

President Trump confirmed Friday he stripped security protections from former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the latest in a pattern of retaliation against political adversaries.

Why it matters: All of Trump's targets have received death threats during a time of heightened political violence.

Target is pulling back on some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, days after President Trump returned to the White House.

Why it matters: The retailer follows a litany of major companies that have already scaled back DEI initiatives, including Walmart, McDonald's and Meta.

In case you were placing bets on how long into his second term it would take for President Trump to start weighing in on interest rate policy, we learned the answer Thursday: 71 hours.

Why it matters: Trump telling the Fed what he thinks it should do is nothing new. But the details of the president's message about interest rates, inflation, and oil prices are worth parsing.

President Trump and his team spent their first week back in office wiping nearly all of the government's cybersecurity and surveillance advisers from its roster.

Why it matters: The pool of experts left to help new Trump officials and remaining agency staffers respond to major cyber incidents is shrinking.

Senate Democrats are naming veteran party strategist Devan Barber as the executive director of their campaign arm for the 2026 cycle, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Barber will oversee the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in a critical midterm cycle, with opportunities to flip red seats in North Carolina, Maine and Ohio.

President Trump has moved into the Oval Office, but his health care agenda — and its impact on the industry — isn't much clearer than it was when he first announced his selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS.

Why it matters: The void leaves open the option of both a minimalist and a maximalist approach to policymaking across public health and more nuts-and-bolts health care delivery topics. At this point, it's reasonable for Washington watchers to expect either.

About half of U.S. adults have an unfavorable view of Elon Musk, and an even larger share disapprove of President Trump relying on advice from billionaires to shape government policy, per new AP-NORC poll data.

Why it matters: Musk is playing a central role in the Trump administration with the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he has promised will revolutionize the U.S. government. But Americans are far from sold on the initiative and its leader.

So ... are we still calling it the Gulf of Mexico, as it's been known for 400 years? Or is it really the Gulf of America now, pursuant to President Trump's executive order?

Why it matters: That tension — between the formal policy of the U.S. and longstanding common practice — is a real one for government agencies, map makers and even journalists.

Whatever Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was supposed to be, on Monday it apparently took a new form altogether — a federal office with deep influence over the government's digital infrastructure.

Why it matters: Once explicitly envisioned as an out-of-government vehicle to cut $2 trillion from the budget, slash federal jobs, reduce waste and streamline bureaucracy, DOGE is instead starting with an apparent pivot to Musk's bread-and-butter: software development.

Every voter in our latest Engagious/Sago swing-voter focus groups said both President Trump and former President Biden went too far with their presidential pardons — and that future presidents should be reined in.

Why it matters: Trump's pardons of roughly 1,500 defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and commutations of 14 defendants' sentences, is testing the faith of voters who took a chance on him to offset the pain of inflation or better secure the border.

President Trump signed pardons on Thursday for 23 anti-abortion protesters who were convicted of illegally blockading a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C.

What they're saying: "They should not have been prosecuted; it's a great honor to sign this," Trump said as he signed the order one day before he's due to speak via video at anti-abortion activists' annual March for Life rally on the National Mall in D.C., which Vice President JD Vance is due to address in person.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided a Newark, New Jersey, business venue on Thursday and detained undocumented immigrants as well as U.S. citizens without warrants, the city's mayor said.

The big picture: Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement after that a U.S. military veteran "suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned" during the raid. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he'd "reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for answers."

President Trump is ordering the U.S. Interior Secretary to submit a plan to advance federal recognition for a North Carolina tribe whose legitimacy has been questioned by tribal nations.

Why it matters: The Lumbee Tribe has been trying to get federal recognition for years to unlock millions of dollars for Native American services, but has recently tried to circumvent traditional routes for recognition.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is making good on his threat to keep the Senate working after hours, vowing to go straight through the weekend if Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) doesn't cut a deal to speed things up.

Why it matters: Pete Hegseth for Defense is expected to get a final confirmation vote around 9pm ET on Friday, if Democrats take up the full 30 hours of debate time.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is summoning the entire Democratic caucus on Friday after a surprise meeting left key issues unresolved.

Why it matters: Republicans are already teeing up their next tough vote, and Schumer's members want a clear strategy from the top on protecting Trump-state Democrats.

The U.S. Department of Education took initial steps to carry out President Trump's anti-DEI executive order Thursday, putting employees on paid administrative leave and tossing out resources.

The big picture: The move comes after Trump instated a sweeping executive order revoking decades of federal diversity and affirmative action practices and gutting mechanisms historically used to root out discrimination and guarantee equal opportunity.

A House Republican on Thursday introduced a proposed change to the Constitution that would allow President Trump to seek a third term in office.

Why it matters: The amendment has virtually no chance of becoming ratified but it is a marker of the depths of fealty the new president enjoys within the House GOP.