Congress Surprises Itself

Today’s notice: What to watch for at the March for Life. Why Trump didn’t announce a housing plan in Davos. Another Republican attempts a comeback in Florida. Plus: Congress takes back its power of the purse.

THE LATEST

Whoops! A lawyer for Nekima Levy Armstrong, the Twin Cities activist arrested yesterday in connection with a protest at a local church Sunday, alleged that federal agents tackled and drove off with the wrong person at first — and had to return to the hotel where Armstrong was staying to apprehend her.

The attorney, Jordan Kushner, called the charges a “farce” and a “political circus” in a raucous news conference yesterday. He also told CNN she’s stuck in jail overnight while the Trump administration appeals her release, which was ordered by a magistrate judge earlier in the day.

As for the “memes” of her arrest shared on government social media accounts, Kushner confirmed that they were digitally altered. “They’re willing to just completely lie, not only by their words, but to actually make up video. It’s despicable,” he said.

Trouble in paradise: It’s hard to find a traditional conservative group that won more by backing Donald Trump over the years than the annual March for Life. In 2020, Trump became the first president to attend the rally, welcomed by a movement that was highly skeptical of him in 2016.

The skepticism is back. “One day, they’re going to realize they have all been fooled by this man,” anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson told NOTUS’ Oriana González.

Trump’s willingness to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment confirmed activists’ concerns. But plenty of politics are going their way: 28 new restrictions on abortion were enacted in 2025, according to the pro-access think tank the Guttmacher Institute.

What the White House says: Trump “is the most pro-life and pro-family president in American history.” Trump will reportedly speak via video at the march today. JD Vance is scheduled to appear in person.

Open tabs: Trump’s NATO Deal Would Mean US Mining and Missiles in Greenland (Bloomberg); A Year Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I. (NYT); Target of Viral Botched ICE Raid Was Already in Prison (The Bulwark); Judge skeptical of Trump’s arguments he has proper authority to build White House ballroom (CBS)

From the Hill

Better late than never: Yesterday, the House passed the last of its 12 spending bills for this fiscal year. Even appropriators were blindsided by their own productivity.

“I don’t believe that anyone thought that by Jan. 30 we would get to pass all the appropriations bills. Am I right?” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat, said Wednesday night. She told reporters that it shows the House is reasserting Congress’ power of the purse. After the bills were passed, she took victory photos with her Republican counterpart, Rep. Tom Cole, on the floor, NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports.

It wasn’t easy. Republicans relied on Democratic defectors to get it through. Just seven voted with the GOP to push through DHS funding, a topic that threatened to derail negotiations.

Next stop: the Senate, then the White House. House appropriators say they’re already working on next year’s budget.

From the White House

“I’m not a huge fan of it,” Trump said of the housing plan that the White House said he would be unveiling at Davos. The plan, teased by National Economic Council Chair Kevin Hassett, was to allow people to withdraw funds from their 401(k)s early for a down payment on a house.

Trump never detailed that plan at Davos. And now we know why.

“Other people like it. They’re talking about taking money out to put a deposit down on a home. And one of the reasons I don’t like it is that their 401(k)s are doing so well,” the president said yesterday on Air Force One. “I like keeping their 401(k)s in great shape.”

From the campaign trail

The “Where Are They Now?” primary: Chris Collins, a former Republican congressman from New York convicted of insider trading and pardoned by Trump, will run to replace Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running for governor in Florida. NOTUS’ Reese Gorman reports that Collins will announce his bid today, and make a splashy announcement that includes a Super Bowl ad.

Another former congressman from a different state is already running for the same nomination: Madison Cawthorn, a former MAGA ally that Trumpworld sources told Reese last year they want nothing to do with.

THE BIG ONE

Is the crackdown cracking? “This is not a victory lap for me, because it’s not over,” Don Lemon told his show’s viewers last night. “They’re going to try again and they’re going to try again, and guess what? Here I am. Keep trying ... Make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel if you want.”

More headlines than convictions: That’s how activists watching the federal response in Minnesota see the Trump administration’s strategy. It will only sour public opinion, they say.

“This is going to be a different era of protest than we saw in the last 10 to 20 years,” Marcus Bass, a longtime organizer and deputy director of the North Carolina Black Alliance, told Evan.

Current protests are more diverse than the George Floyd-era ones, he said. He’s also counting on local law enforcement to refuse federal efforts.

But maybe convictions aren’t the point. “The point is intimidation. I think they know that often, they’re not going to be able to obtain convictions. Sometimes they’re not even able to obtain indictments,” Rachel Cohen, a Chicago-area anti-ICE activist and lawyer, told us.

Still, charges can harm people, she added: “If you have charges filed against you, it becomes a huge monetary drain. It often interrupts people’s employment or makes them less employable.”

NEW ON NOTUS

Blumenthal blows the whistle: “It so desecrates the rule of law and respect for the Constitution that I never thought I would see from any high-ranking federal official,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal told NOTUS’ Jackie Llanos of an ICE memo he released on behalf of a whistleblower. The directive allowed for agents to enter homes with only an administrative warrant, which does not require a judge’s express permission.

Limits of MAHA: A U.S.-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau has been suspended amid growing skepticism and ethical concerns from the international public-health community. The trial, which got funding from the CDC, had a MAHA stamp of approval.

More: The Ethanol Lobby Vastly Outspent the Oil Lobby. The Oil Lobby Is Winning Out. By Shifra Dayak and Anna Kramer

Trump Administration Orders Massive Review of Federal Funding for Blue States, by Amelia Benavides-Colón

The House Just Rejected Trump’s Proposed Cuts to Housing Programs, by Oriana González and Raymond Fernández

PERSPECTIVES

Which issue, trend or crisis will dominate global economic news in the year ahead?

A NOTUS forum featuring Laura Alfers, Natalie Baker, Ian Bremmer, Kamissa Camara, Jason Furman, Kari Heerman, M. Ayhan Kose, Adam S. Posen and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

NOT US

• Iranian security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators. Only now are details of the carnage starting to emerge. By Cora Engelbrecht for The New Yorker
  
• In Chevy Chase, a fight over a library, affordable housing, and a ‘giveaway’ to a developer, by Martin Austermuhle for The 51st
  
• Betting on Prediction Markets Is Their Job. They Make Millions. By Benjamin Wallace for The New York Times

BE SOCIAL

The thing is, you absolutely do turn the Titanic around overnight. It’s literally the lesson of the movie.

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