Trump's Terms

The fight over the U.S. Department of Education has begun, but the battle lines are a little blurry.

President Trump says he wants to close the department, and the Senate is expected to vote soon on the confirmation of Linda McMahon, his nominee to be education secretary.

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Federal employees were told they have until the end of Monday to detail what they accomplished last week or face firing. Some bosses said to hold on before replying to the email, stoking confusion. NPR's Emma Bowman reports.

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Elon Musk is working to slash federal spending while also promoting his business ventures. Experts in government ethics are worried he's acting in his own best interest and not in the country's, as NPR's Tamara Keith reports.

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President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to give the president greater power over independent regulatory agencies — government entities Congress set up to be shielded from White House control.

Well-known independent regulatory agencies include the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which issues recalls and safety warnings; the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees markets; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits.

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European leaders have called an emergency meeting in Paris Monday after the Trump administration has cut Europe out of negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. "Their worst nightmare has come true," Elie Tennenbaum, a security expert at the French Institute for International Relations, tells NPR's Eleanor Beardsley.

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The No. 2 acting official at the DOJ, Emil Bove, has been shaking up the agency and its past work on the 2021 Capitol riot. But he also has his own history with Jan. 6 cases.

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Many of President Trump's foreign policy moves, including suspending foreign aid and saying the U.S. should take over Gaza, have shaken the globe.

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House and Senate Republicans are charting competing courses to implement President Trump's top agenda items, including boosting funds for security along the U.S. southern border and extending tax cuts.

The Senate budget committee is expected to begin marking up a budget resolution Wednesday that begins the process of reconciliation to provide $175 billion to secure the southern border and $150 billion in new military spending.

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Back in April 2023, a conservative political operative named Paul Dans laid out what was basically a political battle plan. It was called Project 2025, a 900-plus-page blueprint for a future conservative president. After the plan became a Democratic talking point, Trump repeatedly disavowed Project 2025.

Politico has been looking into where Project 2025's ideas are showing up in Trump's early executive orders. And this past week, they published a breakdown of 37 different examples.

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The DOJ's lawsuit against Chicago's sanctuary laws is the most visible effort to force local police to help with immigration enforcement. But the more serious pressure is coming from states.

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