Sen. Todd Young said Tuesday he will support Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, improving her chances of confirmation.

Facing a wave of political pressure from Trump allies to back Gabbard, Young “engaged in extensive conversations” with Vice President JD Vance in which he sought written assurances about Gabbard’s perspective on whistleblowers, according to a person familiar with his deliberations who was granted anonymity to describe them.

“American intelligence officers around the globe deserve our respect and support. I appreciate Tulsi Gabbard’s engagement with me on a variety of issues to ensure that our intelligence professionals will be supported and policymakers will receive unbiased information under her leadership,” Young said in a statement to POLITICO.

“I have done what the Framers envisioned for senators to do: use the consultative process to seek firm commitments, in this case commitments that will advance our national security, which is my top priority as a former Marine Corps intelligence officer,” he added. “Having now secured these commitments, I will support Tulsi’s nomination and look forward to working with her to protect our national security.”

Young made his statement just hours before he is set to vote on Gabbard’s nomination inside the Intelligence Committee, where any Republican opposition could help scuttle her nomination.

The person familiar with Young’s deliberations said he also made clear he opposes granting any pardon to NSA leaker Edward Snowden — who was a major focus of Gabbard’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week.

A hawkish internationalist in the mold of his former mentor the late Sen. Richard Lugar, Young sharply questioned Gabbard there over her past support of Snowden.

“I think it would befit you, and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community,” Young told Gabbard during a hearing last week, “if you would at least acknowledge the greatest whistleblower in American history, so-called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land.”

Young did not back Trump’s 2024 presidential bid and has called his judgment about dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin into question.

The Hoosier senator has found himself the target of heavy pressure from MAGA Republicans in recent days, including from Elon Musk, who called him a “deep state puppet” in a post on X before deleting it, saying later he stood “corrected.”

After Musk and Young spoke Sunday, Young’s office told POLITICO the billionaire Trump adviser did not press him on Gabbard during the call.

With statements from Young today and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine yesterday, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas is the only Senate Intelligence Committee Republican who has yet to disclose how he will vote on Gabbard.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation chances are coming down to a trio of publicly uncommitted Republican senators who have the power to sink their nominations in committee votes Tuesday.

Sen. Bill Cassidy is the sole wildcard on the Senate Finance Committee, which will decide whether to advance the HHS secretary nominee at 10 a.m. Cassidy has indicated that he’s still troubled by Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism, and he’s balancing his physician past with his political future in deep-red Louisiana, where he’s up for reelection next year.

Cassidy told reporters Monday he had a “cordial” conversation with Kennedy over the weekend but was “still working through” his decision. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Cassidy have talked about it.

Over on Senate Intelligence, Sens. Todd Young and Jerry Moran have yet to disclose how they intend to vote on Gabbard’s nomination for national intelligence director during a closed session at 2 p.m. Young told reporters Monday that he had “a lot of great conversations” over the weekend regarding Gabbard. Moran left Gabbard’s hearing last Thursday saying her responses to his questions on Russia and keeping intelligence nonpartisan were “satisfactory” — but declined to say how he would vote.

Gabbard on Monday won the backing of Sen. Susan Collins, another Intel swing vote, who said the former Hawaii lawmaker “shares my vision” of scaling back the size of the DNI office and “addressed my concerns” over her past support for pardoning NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Sen. James Lankford, another Intel member, also reaffirmed his support for Gabbard despite raising concerns last week that she refused to call Snowden a traitor in her confirmation hearing.

Step back: If Gabbard and Kennedy advance Tuesday, it means President Donald Trump has a strong chance of getting all his Cabinet picks through the Senate (not counting Matt Gaetz). That’s a stunning turn of events from just weeks ago, when it seemed like Kennedy, Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were all in trouble. And it illustrates, yet again, Trump’s iron grip on the congressional GOP.

What else we’re watching:

• Other nominees: Senators confirmed Chris Wright as Energy secretary Monday evening. The Senate also advanced Pam Bondi for attorney general and Russ Vought for OMB director in procedural votes. VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins is set for a confirmation vote at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday. Senate Agriculture on Monday also approved Brooke Rollins to lead USDA.
• Budget resolution bills: Speaker Mike Johnson’s reconciliation plan is already running behind schedule. The House Budget Committee is not planning to vote on a budget resolution this week, despite the speaker’s initial plan to do so, according to two people familiar with the matter. GOP leaders have been scrambling to address demands from committee hard-liners who want deeper spending cuts.
• Bessent’s reassurances on Musk: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reassured Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill Monday night that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room. Rep. Andy Barr, a senior Republican on the Financial Services panel, said in an interview that Bessent’s presentation was “very reassuring” to GOP lawmakers and that he’s confident “Treasury has control of the Treasury payments system.” Meanwhile, Democrats are uniting around making Elon Musk their bogeyman — threatening to stall State Department nominees and filing amendments that prevent Musk and his allies from accessing Treasury payment systems.
• David Sacks on the Hill: Trump’s cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence policy czar, David Sacks, will be up on Capitol Hill this afternoon as Republicans craft industry-friendly digital assets legislation. He will speak at a 2:30 p.m. press conference at the Senate Banking hearing room.

Jordain Carney, Daniel Payne, Meredith Lee Hill, Jasper Goodman, Michael Stratford and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Two Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday they’ll support Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence.

The backing by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) for Gabbard ahead of a committee vote Tuesday is a positive sign for the embattled nominee following a rocky confirmation hearing last week.

Contentious confirmation: Gabbard, a former House Democratic lawmaker, has faced concern from both parties over a number of controversial stances, which surfaced during her confirmation hearing — including her past support of intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, opposition to the controversial surveillance tool known as Section 702 and a 2017 trip where she met with now deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Collins’ rationale: Collins said in a statement she’d help advance Gabbard’s nomination, adding that she and Gabbard agree on reducing the size of the DNI’s office and that Gabbard addressed her concerns about Snowden.

Lankford cites 702: Lankford had said before the hearing that he would support Gabbard, but his comments afterward — expressing concern that Gabbard refused to label Snowden a traitor — had raised doubts about his vote. Lankford told reporters Monday that he is indeed supporting Gabbard after the pair spoke this weekend. Federal surveillance programs were part of the discussion, Lankford said, adding, “Obviously we want to make sure 702 is clear.”

A bit more from Gabbard: Also Monday, the Intelligence Committee posted Gabbard’s answers to senators’ written post-hearing questions seeking further details on her visit to Syria, surveillance programs and Snowden, among other lingering issues.

In her responses, Gabbard reiterated her answers from the hearing that Snowden “broke the law” by disclosing classified intelligence without authorization and downplayed her sponsorship of a resolution in the House encouraging the charges against Snowden be dropped.

Gabbard was also pressed by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) on whether she was aware of threats of suicide bomb attacks against the U.S. made by Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, a Syrian cleric she met with during her 2017 trip. Gabbard said during the hearing that she’d only learned about them that day, but The Washington Post reported that documents undercut Gabbard’s assertion. In her answer to Heinrich’s follow up question, Gabbard responded: “I have no recollection of this specific information being presented to me eight years ago.”

Looking ahead: The Intelligence Committee meets Tuesday afternoon to vote to send Gabbard’s nomination to the full Senate. All Democrats are expected to oppose her, and Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Jerry Moran of Kansas are still seen as potential swing votes.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Chris Wright, the Denver-based fracking CEO tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Energy Department, was confirmed to the role by the Senate Monday evening.

Senators voted 59-38 to confirm Wright, including support from some Democrats, despite opposition to his nomination from environmental groups and their party’s leadership in the Senate who criticized his comments downplaying climate change as a serious global threat.

Wright has pledged to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy at the agency, which oversees a wide array of energy research and development, maintains the country’s nuclear stockpile and operates the network of national laboratories.

“What I like most about Mr. Wright is that he tells the truth about energy production. He acknowledges that climate change is real. He knows more American energy is the solution, not the problem,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on the floor last week. “His energy realism is welcome news.”

Wright spent his career pioneering fracking technologies that have helped revolutionize the oil and gas sector and turned the U.S. into the world’s largest producer of those energy sources. He is currently the CEO of Liberty Energy and is on the board of Oklo, a company developing small modular nuclear reactors. Liberty Energy is also an investor in enhanced geothermal start-up Fervo Energy.

Once confirmed, Wright pledged to divest interests and stocks and resign from his positions with Liberty Energy, Oklo and EMX Royalty, a global mining royalties company.

During his confirmation hearing last month, Wright detailed three “immediate tasks” he would focus on if confirmed: unleashing American energy at home and abroad to “restore our energy dominance,” pursuing innovation and technology breakthroughs and cutting red tape for energy and infrastructure projects.

Colorado Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, who has known Wright for years, acknowledged there are ample issues the pair disagree on, which has prompted “heated discussions” on the federal government’s role in addressing climate change, in particular.

But Hickenlooper — who introduced Wright at his confirmation hearing — ultimately supported his confirmation Monday.

“He genuinely listens. He gives honest answers. He has pledged he will follow the facts,” Hickenlooper told POLITICO.

“In a funny way he is going to give the Senate the chance to have a real debate again on how fast is the climate changing and how do we measure which parts of extreme weather are a part of that.”

Wright has come under scrutiny for his previous statements and views over the threat from climate change. Environmental groups, like the League of Conservation Voters, have criticized him as a wealthy Big Oil executive with direct conflicts of interest heading the department, as well as for his previous statements — some of which, like the connection between wildfires and climate change, he doubled down on during his confirmation hearing.

At the hearing, Wright acknowledged climate change is a global challenge that needs to be solved, but noted there are trade-offs between that and the need to boost energy production.

As secretary, Wright will also oversee an Energy Department that was expanded by former President Joe Biden to implement Democrats’ climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other programs under the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Much of that funding is currently in question as the department undergoes a review of projects and spending spurred by Trump.

Some Democrats expressed concern about Wright’s willingness to help protect those investments, which Republican lawmakers are targeting under planned reconciliation legislation.

“The IRA is on the table in reconciliation. They [Republicans] want to repeal it,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). “And in my state, the number one benefit to our clean energy economy, to creating jobs, and all the innovation and projects happening there is because of the bipartisan infrastructure package, the CHIPS and Science Act and most important the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who voted in favor of Wright’s nomination, told POLITICO he expected Wright before the confirmation process to be “dogmatic in his thinking on energy,” given his public comments promoting fossil fuels and downplaying climate change.

But Heinrich said in his conversations with Wright, the energy executive’s answers on upholding appropriated clean energy spending “were fairly clear.”

Wright will replace Ingrid Kolb, who has been serving as secretary in an acting capacity, since Trump’s inauguration.

The president also nominated James Danly, a Trump-appointed FERC commissioner, as deputy secretary.

Elsewhere in the department, Alex Fitzsimmons will serve as Wright’s chief of staff, while Trump tapped Wells Griffith for undersecretary of energy and Darío Gil for undersecretary for science and innovation.

Wright will also sit on the National Security Council and could play a key role in the National Energy Dominance Council that is still taking shape.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury wants to lead her party’s fight against Elon Musk’s attempts to transform the entire federal government, an exercise that will largely be focused on messaging and rhetorical counter-programming.

The New Mexico Democrat is the new chair of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, also to be called DOGE — the congressional counterpart to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that goes by the same acronym.

“As we ready ourselves for the battlefield, we’re going to have to fight across all three branches of government,” Stansbury said in a recent interview. “Because [Musk and his allies] are violating the law, they’re violating the Constitution, and they’re eviscerating the federal workforce, and we’re prepared to fight back.”

Democrats can do little else other than make noise; they have no power to override Musk’s sweeping alterations to the federal workforce under unified Republican control. Stansbury, a former Office of Management and Budget program examiner during the Obama administration, ultimately sees her job as helping to mount a front of resistance beyond the myriad legal challenges already in the works.

But Stansbury has her work cut out for her, even in that regard. Stansbury’s counterpart on the subcommittee will be Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a Donald Trump acolyte and conservative provocateur who on Monday revealed her first target will be going after NPR and PBS for their federal funding.

The larger Republican Conference is also signaling little appetite for challenging Musk’s growing influence within the Trump administration, creating a united front against Stansbury’s plans to draw a contrast between her party and the GOP.

She might even be losing support from fellow Democrats who are openly wondering whether they should even have members serving on the DOGE Subcommittee at all.

“It’s a conversation we should have,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said at a press conference Monday afternoon, cautioning he has not yet spoken to the ranking member of the full Oversight Committee, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

Stansbury, in an interview, insisted she was holding out hope there would be opportunities for common ground with Republicans. After receiving the ranking member assignment, she said she huddled on the House floor with her counterpart, Greene, along with Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the full House Committee Oversight and Government Reform of which the DOGE panel is a part.

“We had a professional and pleasant conversation,” she said. “Chairman Comer was very cordial. He shared with me that in his personal perspective, he felt like they were putting some of the more serious Republicans from the Committee on the subcommittee, and that he was hopeful that it would undertake serious work.”

Still, Stansbury added, “We’re not sure what the House Republicans plan to do with the committee … if it is in the service of what Elon Musk and [Office of Management and Budget director nominee] Russell Vought are doing to the federal government right now, Democrats’ sole responsibility on the committee is to fight back and to stop them.”

Reporter Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

The new House subcommittee designed to complement the work of Elon Musk has named its first target: the nonprofit news media.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s “Delivering on Government Efficiency” Subcommittee — or DOGE, mimicking its Musk-run analogue, the Department of Government Efficiency — is asking the leaders of PBS and NPR to testify next month.

DOGE Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, put out the request to the executives in a letter Monday morning, specifying a preference for the weeks of March 3 or March 24.

“As an organization that receives federal funds, both directly and indirectly through its member stations, NPR’s reporting should serve the entire public, not just a narrow slice of likeminded individuals and ideological interest groups,” Greene wrote in her Monday letter sent to NPR CEO Katherine Maher, with nearly identical language sent to PBS.

Greene’s letter to Maher specifically cited the network’s decision not to report on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in October 2020 and the April 2024 essay from former NPR editor Uri Berliner alleging systemic liberal bias across the company.

In her letter to PBS CEO Paula Kerger, Greene pointed to PBS reporting last month saying the billionaire and DOGE co-founder Musk “gave what appeared to be a fascist salute” at President Donald Trump’s inauguration celebration — a characterization that Greene alleges “was clearly false.”

The fight over funding for public broadcasting is nearly as old as the system itself and largely falls along party lines, with conservative budget hawks calling for elimination of federal support and Democrats backing the free news services that reach millions across the country.

Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting totals around $535 million, with federal dollars for CPB making up about 15 percent of public television and 10 percent of radio broadcasting funding.

“During the 119th Congress, the DOGE Subcommittee is committed to investigating the activities of PBS and NPR and assessing the value of continued federal funding of these entities,” according to a press release announcing the panel’s plans.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a key demand Monday as a March 14 government funding deadline approaches, saying President Donald Trump’s recent federal spending freeze “must be choked off” as part of any bipartisan deal to keep the government open, “if not sooner.”

The ultimatum, detailed in a letter to House Democrats, is a signal that Jeffries will use Democrats’ leverage in the narrowly divided House to push back on the Trump administration. Historically, Republicans have found it difficult to stick together on government funding bills, with the Senate filibuster giving Democrats additional clout.

Democrats rallied last week against a since-paused Trump-administration memo freezing federal grants, prompting widespread confusion about its scope and effects. Jeffries’ letter to his colleagues also laid out his party’s plans to “push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people.”

House Democrats also plan to introduce legislation blocking “unlawful access” to the Treasury Department payment system that billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk and his allies recently gained access to as part of their “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative.

The caucus’ messaging arm is also set to highlight GOP policies that would increase the cost of living including the sweeping tariffs rolled out by the Trump administration over the weekend.

In other efforts, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) is planning a caucus meeting with outside experts on how to “enhanc[e] our ability to unpack and expose a recently uncovered Republican scheme to Rip Off the American taxpayer,” while the No. 3 Democrat, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), is set to convene House Democrats’ immigration working group as the party searches for a response to GOP-led crackdown on migrants and the border.

Jeffries also urged Democrats to hold outreach in their districts today or this week to “discuss the challenges we are decisively addressing on their behalf.” He said that he will be holding a telephone town hall later Monday and will be tracking caucus participation.

Donald Trump is testing congressional power and Republican fealty on three major fronts this week as he steers the country into a backyard trade war, grants Elon Musk unprecedented access to critical government operations and forces senators to take their most difficult votes yet on his nominees.

There are early signals of trouble ahead. Here’s the state of play:

Tariffs: Agricultural states will bear the brunt of Trump’s weekend tariff barrage aimed at Canada, Mexico and China. The American Farm Bureau, which is influential among Republican lawmakers, is warning that farmers will bear the brunt of retaliatory trade measures. Maine Sen. Susan Collins is speaking out about the impact on her state, and Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a “60 Minutes” interview that tariffs will hit consumers. Some Republicans, including House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, are backing Trump’s trade moves.

Watch out for how the trade battle hangs over Jamieson Greer’s USTR confirmation hearing before Senate Finance on Thursday.

Musk: Democrats are raising alarms that the Trump administration is again attempting to seize Congress’ power of the purse by giving officials affiliated with Musk access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. Most Republicans have been publicly silent about the move and its potential to circumvent Congress. Top Senate Democrats will put the issue front and center at a news conference Monday afternoon.

As Musk rattles Washington — his latest target is USAID — he’s using his social media platform X to target Republicans. Musk over the weekend said GOP Sen. Todd Young was a “deep state puppet” in a post before deleting it and then calling Young a “great ally.” What happened in between? A phone call where the two discussed Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Nominees: Musk notably did not ask Young, a key vote on Senate Intelligence, to back Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence director, even as her confirmation prospects remain shaky.

Senators are moving to advance HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with Senate Finance teeing him up for a committee vote Tuesday. It’s unclear whether Sen. Bill Cassidy will deliver the critical vote to approve him. (Republicans shouldn’t count on any Democratic support there, either).

What else we’re watching:

• Budget resolutions: Mike Johnson’s plan to get budget resolutions through committee this week isn’t going as planned. House Republicans leaders are pushing panels for deeper spending cuts to address the requests of key conservatives on the Budget Committee. Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham has been working with House Freedom Caucus members behind the scenes on a two-bill approach to the party-line legislation  — which runs contrary to Johnson’s plans.
• Democrats tariff tactics: House Democrats’ messaging arm is pushing talking points about rising costs of consumer goods and housing, per guidance we reviewed Sunday, as Trump’s tariffs give Democrats a new opening to reclaim some ground on kitchen-table issues. Chuck Schumer gave us the latest taste of that with a post on X on the prices of Super Bowl snacks.
• Brooke Rollins on the Hill: The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to advance Agriculture Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins this evening. In her confirmation hearing, Rollins responded to senator questions over how she would handle the president’s tariff agenda by saying she was “prepared to execute something similar” to the farm aid package passed during Trump’s first administration.

Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.

If the reception Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received from Democratic senators last week is any indication of how they’ll vote on his confirmation to serve as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Kennedy’s going to need 50 Republicans to back him.

The Senate Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on the recommendation of Kennedy’s confirmation to lead federal health agencies, the committee announced Sunday.

From the opening statement of Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to the most junior Democrats on the Senate’s health panel, Kennedy took a beating from the left side of the dais, mainly for his views about vaccines, during two days of confirmation hearings.

“I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country,” said Maryland Democrat Angela Alsobrooks after Kennedy defended his view that Black people should be on a different vaccine schedule than white people.

Kennedy could still win a surprise vote from the Democratic caucus. But the likeliest possibilities — senators like Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, or New Jersey’s Cory Booker, who share Kennedy’s desire to regulate pollution and food additives — have given every indication they’ll be nos.

After the health committee hearing, Booker shared a video on X of an emotional Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in which she spoke of her son’s cerebral palsy and the torment she felt as a mother that something she did could have caused it. “The problem with this witness’ response on the autism cause and relationship to vaccines is because he is relitigating and churning settled science so we can’t go forward,” she said.

“So moved by my colleague,” Booker wrote.

Though Kennedy’s the scion of a storied Democratic family and Democrats once craved his endorsement in their campaigns, they now cannot abide his skepticism of vaccines or his willingness to ally with Trump.

Kennedy dropped his own presidential bid in August to endorse Trump.

Even Kennedy’s law school roommate and former hunting buddy, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), lectured him during the Finance hearing on Kennedy’s years of casting doubt on the safety of widely accepted shots. “You frighten people,” Whitehouse said.

It’s not that Senate Democrats have forgotten that Kennedy’s father, Robert, was a senator, one uncle, John, a president, and the other, Edward, the Senate’s “liberal lion” during more than 46 years in the chamber.

Sanders referenced all three in addressing Kennedy at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Thursday before unleashing a barrage of hostile questions about Kennedy’s views about vaccines and drug prices. It got so heated that another senator, Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), interrupted to accuse Sanders of “battering the witness.”

Democrats’ assault went beyond Kennedy’s views on vaccines.

They called out his past support for abortion rights, accusing him of flip-flopping to appease Trump, who appointed three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

They criticized him for his shaky responses to basic Medicare and Medicaid questions, and they drew attention to past Kennedy claims that AIDS is a different disease in Africa and Wi-Fi causes cancer.

Kennedy was nonplussed, citing a large turnout of devotees of his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, who filled the hearing rooms.

He chalked up Democrats’ criticism to his alliance with Trump.

“All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues,” he said. “They used to be my friends, agreed with me on all the environmental issues that I’ve been working on for my whole career. Now they’re against me because anything that President Trump does, any decision he makes, has to be lampooned, derided, discredited, marginalized, vilified.”