President Trump said Saturday the U.S. will treat value added tax (VAT) systems the same as tariffs, for purposes of helping to calculate the reciprocal levies on other countries he ordered earlier this week.
Why it matters: At least 175 countries globally have a VAT, per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), meaning it could impact the math on any reciprocal tariff for most nations around the world.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) summoned his caucus for a rare Saturday conference call ahead of a potential "vote-a-rama" next week.
Why it matters: Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) budget package includes some $175 billion in border security spending, presenting a potential political minefield for Democratic senators.
New House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) has pushed for changes to Medicaid since his days as a state legislator. Now he's one of the main drivers behind what could become a sweeping overhaul of the safety net program.
Why it matters: Guthrie is pushing for spending limits that will be controversial as the House crafts a budget package. However, they could provide almost $900 billion to help extend the Trump 2017 tax cuts.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee want to power AI with fossil fuels and nuclear energy — but divergent Democrats mean the panel might struggle to do much.
Why it matters: AI's rise has prompted fears across the tech and energy industries about energy shortages and spikes in climate-warming emissions.
President Trump stunned, strangled and humiliated Europe — leaving America's closest continental ally dazed and dumbfounded.
That was over the course of three short days this week.
The big picture: No amount of "Trump-proofing" could have prepared Europe for the MAGA-shaped hurricane that swept across the continent this week, wreaking torrential havoc on America's closest allies.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s family is concerned that President Trump's order to release records about his assassination could revive the FBI's attempts to discredit him — efforts that sought to exploit his indiscretions and undermine his legacy, sources close to his relatives tell Axios.
The family requested a sneak preview of the records prior to their release. Trump declined, a White House official said, but not out of animus toward the family.
Why it matters: The brewing controversy pits Trump's determination to release documents the government has kept secret for more than a half-century against the family's lingering pain over how J. Edgar Hoover's FBI spied on King and tried to intimidate and humiliate him.
Despite decades of desegregation efforts, Black parents in the U.S. still face challenges in choosing where to send their kids. They often find their choices lack racial diversity or funding.
Why it matters: Schools with students and teachers from diverse backgroundsbest prepare students for thediverse world, experts said, but schools have become increasingly more segregated since the '90s.
The Justice Department on Friday evening moved to drop bribery and fraud charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Why it matters: At least seven prosecutors resigned this week rather than obey a DOJ order to withdraw the indictment, with some criticizing department leadership for making the decision for political rather than legal reasons.
The Trump administration over the past two days has fired thousands of federal workers with jobs reportedly ranging from wildfire prevention to medical research.
Why it matters: A mass firing on this scale is unprecedented — and will likely vastly reshape the way the federal government works, or doesn't, for many years to come.
Another prosecutor in New York on the Eric Adams corruption case quit Friday in a scathing letter addressed to the Trump administration after the No. 2 acting Justice Department official earlier this week ordered charges against the mayor be dropped.
Why it matters: Several of the prosecutors — including a Trump appointee who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — have derided the Justice Department's directive as skirting the law.
At least seven federal prosecutors resigned rather than comply with an order to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams — an unprecedented exodus that includes veteran lawyers with deep conservative credentials.
Why it matters: This was perhaps the most dramatic battle yet between the Trump loyalists taking the reins across Washington and the career civil servants attempting to hold the line against alleged overreach.
Munich - Vice President JD Vance shocked many European leaders who came to his speech at the Munich Security Conference expecting to hear about Ukraine, when he instead focused on what he called "the threat from within" Europe.
Why it matters: Vance dove headfirst into the politics of America's European allies, lambasting what he described a "retreat" from shared democratic values when it comes to issues like abortion, social media censorship and immigration.
A little-known fact outside of the health nerds circle is that some providers actually get pretty high payment rates now for seeing Medicaid enrollees.
Between the lines: What's been a brewing think-tank fight over Medicaid payments to hospitals and doctors could soon spill onto the main political stage should Republicans decide this is the most politically palatable way to cut the program's spending by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Top Senate Democrats are demanding the Trump administration reveal whether its federal hiring freeze has impacted national security operations, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Democrats on Capitol Hill are still trying to wrap their arms around the extent of President Trump's cuts into federal agencies in the opening weeks of his second term.
House Republicans signaled this week that they're looking for hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending cuts, and most — if not all — roads to getting there go through hospitals' and other providers' wallets.
Why it matters: Health care reform always creates winners and losers. To reduce federal spending and taxpayer obligations, lawmakers will have to choose pain for some combination of Medicaid beneficiaries, states or hospitals and other providers.
Already engulfed in a political firestorm, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) appeared on "Fox & Friends" alongside Trump administration border czar Tom Homan Friday morning.
Why it matters: Adams, who is facing calls for his removal from his fellow Democrats after receiving a legal lifeline from Trump's Department of Justice, publicly solidified his alignment with the new administration and pledged collaboration on its immigration crackdown.
The new chair of the Federal Trade Commission is putting his commissioners on notice that he thinks President Trump has the right to fire them if he wants to.
Why it matters: Andrew Ferguson, who replaced Lina Khan on Jan. 20, is the first head of an independent agency to embrace a controversial legal theory that could dramatically reshape the federal bureaucracy.
House Democrats are largely keeping quiet on what they will demand from Republicans to help stave off a government shutdown as the GOP struggles to get its ducks in a row.
Why it matters: Republicans will almost certainly need Democratic votes to keep the government open — key leverage that Democrats' grassroots are demanding they use to rein in Elon Musk and DOGE.
WARSAW -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on remarks he made at NATO this week about the terms of a potential Ukraine-Russia peace deal, saying his job was simply to "introduce realism to the conversation."
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith's announcement that she won't run again in 2026 could tee up a high-profile battle royale featuring some of Minnesota's biggest political stars.
The big picture: Open statewide seats are rare — the last time a U.S. Senate seat was open in Minnesota was 2008 — and there's a deep bench of state Democrats itching for a shot at a bigger gig.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in the Oval Office on Thursday after being sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
As President Trump nears his term's one-month mark next week, a White House adviser is keeping a calendar tracking daily wins, losses and "jump balls" — and loves the result so far.
Why it matters: Insiders tell us Trump, who came into office feeling ebullient and empowered, is just getting more confident — fueled by his expected clean sweep of Cabinet confirmations, plus a CBS News poll showing 53% approval amid his aggressive "flood the zone" opening actions.
U.S. agents arrested more than 21,000 unauthorized immigrants in November as President Biden's term wound down — a pace the Trump administration doesn't appear to be matching in its first month despite its crackdown, an Axios review of new data finds.
Why it matters: Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, says about 14,000 immigrants have been arrested in the three-plus weeks since President Trump took office.
Why it matters: Public opinion can constrain presidents when Congress does not. But these 11 voters — all of whom backed Joe Biden in 2020 but switched to Trump last November — said they're good with Trump aggressively testing disruptive, expansionist expressions of presidential power that are piling up in court challenges.
While Google has changed its position to allow greater military use of its AI technology, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis tells Axios the company will tread carefully.
House and Senate Republicans are barreling toward a showdown on how much extending President Trump's 2017 tax cuts should cost.
A group of senators, led by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), today threatened to vote against any tax package that doesn't make all of Trump's 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act "permanent."
Why it matters: That's code for using a "current policy" baseline to say extending the tax cuts should cost zero.
For the third time in three weeks,former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had a scathing explanation after he voted "no" on a Trump nominee.
Why it matters: Freed from his leadership role and with a long history of antagonism between himself and President Trump, McConnell has become one of new Senate GOP leader John Thune's (R-S.D.) top dissenters.
In private meetings with his in-cycle incumbents, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has asked for a small favor: If you're not going to run in 2026, please let me know soonest.
Why it matters: Two Democrats in potentially close races have now honored his request. A third —Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) — has yet to make an announcement.
Three top federal prosecutors resigned from their positions on Thursday after refusing an order from the Department of Justice to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, multipleoutlets reported.
Why it matters: The resignations are among the most public opposition to the DOJ after President Trump promised to overhaul the federal agency and has installed loyalists and allies in top jobs.
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