As more schools eye bans on smartphones, a new study finds the average teen with a smartphone is spending nearly a quarter of the school day texting, streaming or scrolling through sites like Instagram.
Why it matters: To understand the risks of too much screen time, researchers say, it's important not just to tally the hours kids spend on devices but to consider what activities are being displaced — in this case, learning.
What they found: The study led by Seattle Children's Research Institute tracked 117 kids ages 13 to 18 who owned a smartphone and had them download an app to measure their usage.
The teens spent an average of 1.5 hours on their smartphones during a 6.5-hour school day over two study periods in 2023, the researchers wrote in JAMA Pediatrics. 1 in 4 teens spent more than two hours on their phone during the school day.
Whole-day phone use averaged 5.6 hours.
What were they doing? The top five most-used apps were messaging, Instagram, video streaming, audio and email.
Reality check: Since the study only focused on smartphone use, researchers said, these numbers likely underestimated overall screen use.
The big picture: While the pandemic is often blamed for exacerbating the youth mental health crisis, a growing body of research links the intensifying crisis to the arrival of the smartphone.
Social media might make them stressed and depressed, but the hours they're spending online keeps rising.
Scale AI CEO and founder Alexandr Wang is heading to Washington Tuesday and Wednesday for meetings with lawmakers and Trump administration officials to discuss China's AI threat to America, sources confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: Wang made global headlines last month when he said DeepSeek, an open-source AI model that was built with barely any capital, showed that China has caught up with the U.S. in AI.
Scale AI provides enterprise AI products for private companies and the government. The company recently took out an ad in The Washington Post that featured an open letter to President Trump saying "America must win the AI War."
Scale AI did not respond to a request for comment.
Zoom in: Wang is in town to discuss AI's contributions to American job growth and how the U.S. can win the AI competition against China.
The big picture: Wang is the latest in a string of CEOs from major tech companies to pay court to the new administration.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was in D.C. last week to unveil new technology to a crowd of lawmakers and administration officials.
A slew of advertisers are bringing a healthier and more female-focused message to this year's big game, with spots highlighting everything from breast cancer awareness to obesity and body positivity.
Why it matters: The trend is a shift from the last few years when the Super Bowl was flooded with ads that typically target young men and their vices, like sports betting and crypto investing.
Zoom in: Novartis will mark its Super Bowl debut with a 60-second, star-studded commercial spotlighting breast cancer awareness.
Hims & Hers, a health startup, will also run its first Super Bowl ad this year, spotlighting America's obesity crisis.
Dove is back this year with a 30-second ad that will highlight how body confidence issues prevent girls from playing sports in high school and beyond.
WeatherTechhas a 60-second spot showing four older women flirting with other road passengers and spray painting trucks while enjoying a joyride in a vintage Lincoln convertible.
Several non-alcoholic drinks will also appear during the Big Game, including Killer Cola and Cherry Obituary from water company Liquid Death and probiotic soda from Poppi.
Reality check: A large number of Super Bowl advertisers — 17 of the 59 — are still fast food, snacks and alcohol brands, including Taco Bell, Doritos and Budweiser.
Zoom out: Super Bowl marketing typically reflects broader economic and cultural trends that impact consumer spending and sentiment. This year, a few key industries are sitting out.
Fewer politics. No political cause or appeal ads have been teased yet for this year's game. Last year, Robert Kraft's Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and a religious group both ran advocacy spots.
Less media. The COVID-era digital bubble drove more entertainment and social media firms to advertise. But this year, companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Snap haven't announced a return. Disney and Tubi, Fox Corp's ad-supported streaming service, are the only entertainment companies that have teased spots so far. Meta is back but showcasing its smart glasses. The NFL will air its annual spot.
China checks out. Temu, the Chinese e-commerce giant that spent millions on multiple spots throughout last year's game, is sitting it out this year as Chinese retailers and tech giants brace for new trade rules and the possible implications of the TikTok ban law.
Gambling gutted. There are no sports betting companies that have announced plans to run national ads during the game. DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM each had splashy spots last year. Crypto advertisers also have yet to return en masse following a big splash in 2022, before the FTX scandal.
The big picture: With big ratings expected this year, Fox has sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory.
Nearly a dozen spots have sold for a record $8 million.
Benjamin Netanyahu will enter the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon for a second-chance meeting with President Trump, an opportunity for the Israeli prime minister to reset their frosty alliance and map out relations for the coming years.
Why it matters: Although they buried the hatchet during the presidential campaign, Netanyahu will seek to avoid reminding Trump why he developed an extremely negative attitude toward him during his first term.
"A lot of time has passed and their relations have improved, but Trump still does not like Bibi, does not trust Bibi and has more sympathy for the Palestinians than one might think," a U.S. source close to Trump told Axios.
The big picture: Netanyahu is no stranger to the Oval Office and is likely the world leader who spent the most time there with U.S. presidents.
Trump gave Netanyahu the honor of being the first foreign leader to visit the White House since his inauguration.
Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu and his aides worked through a significant "build-up" and raised expectations about what they could accomplish.
"I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw (the Middle East) even further and for the better," Netanyahu said on Sunday before heading to Washington.
Flashback: Trump's first term in office was a dream for Netanyahu.
Netanyahu drew quite a few political wins from Trump's moves, some of which took place weeks before elections in which Netanyahu was at a disadvantage.
Reality check: Not everything was rosy in the relationship. At a relatively early stage, Trump realized that Bibi was dragging his feet in the effort to reach peace with the Palestinians.
Trump kept most of his bitterness about Netanyahu private for years, especially because his public bromance with Bibi was good politics.
But when Biden won the 2020 election, the Trump-Bibi relationship suffered a severe blow: Trump was furious that Netanyahu congratulated his political rival for his victory.
"F-ck him," Trump told me of Netanyahu three months after leaving the White House. For almost four years, he didn't speak to Netanyahu and after the October 7 attack, he even criticized Bibi for his failure.
Only last summer, in the middle of the election campaign, did Trump meet Netanyahu again when he hosted him at Mar-a-Lago.
Zoom in: The main issue in the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is expected to be the future of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
The results of the meeting will have a direct impact on the negotiations regarding the deal's second phase.
Netanyahu wants to convince Trump not to force him to implement the second phase of the deal, instead hoping he gets more time to dismantle Hamas.
Trump and Netanyahu will also discuss the Iranian nuclear issue. Trump has expressed a desire to try and reach a deal with Iran that would make an Israeli military action unnecessary.
Netanyahu would like to get assurances from Trump that he will provide him with the weapons Israel needs to independently strike Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails.
The issue of normalization with Saudi Arabia will also likely come up. For Trump and Netanyahu, a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is the crown jewel.
Donald Trump's immigration crackdown isn't just about making arrests. It's about choreography, photo ops, wardrobe changes and tough talk — all designed to discourage undocumented people from wanting to be in the U.S.
Why it matters: The underbelly of Trump's immigration strategy is, as one White House official told Axios, "the visuals" — showing force and creating a sense of urgency through viral videos and photos of top officials at the border and on raids.
Zoom in: That's why a casually dressed Pete Hegseth, Trump's new defense secretary, traveled to El Paso on Monday to meet with some of the 1,500 active-duty troops deployed to the southern border by a Trump executive order.
In recent days the Department of Homeland Security touted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, dressed like an ICE agent, joined a raid in New York City.
On Sunday, Noem posted a video of herself on X, riding horseback with Border Patrol agents in the Southwest and wearing an olive green Border Patrol jacket and a cowboy hat. The post was praised by MAGA loyalists — and mocked by critics who called Noem's appearance "cosplay."
The White House's feed on X, meanwhile, is amplifying images of military airplanes ready to deport illegal immigrants. In the first week, it touted the number of deportations and featured mugshots of "the worst" criminals who were being expelled.
The big picture: Trump's team figures that the more undocumented immigrants who see such images and decide not to try entering the U.S. — or who "self-deport" without being arrested — the better.
Beyond the U.S., the White House's messaging is aimed not just at discouraging migrants, but also smugglers and human traffickers.
"The visuals are important," the White House official said, noting that the voter anger that helped get Trump elected was driven partly by "the visuals of hordes of people overwhelming [the] Border Patrol and storming the border."
"We've been elected on a campaign promise to fix the border, and it would be foolish of us to sit back and just let the media tell our story."
Between the lines: It's not totally clear how much the pace of immigration arrests has picked up under Trump compared to the last days of the Biden administration.
What is clear is that the arrests made since Trump took office two weeks ago have received more attention, even in the same cities.
One example: ICE agents, during a week-long surge of raids in Newark, N.J., in December, arrested 33 noncitizens, including a Mexican national convicted of sexual assault of a minor teen and a Brazil national convicted of murder. Those arrests got little attention.
During Trump's first week in office, an ICE raid of a Newark seafood restaurant that netted three people drew international attention and condemnation from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
One U.S. citizen — a Puerto Rican who was a military veteran — allegedly was harassed by federal agents, the mayor and the restaurant owner said.
Zoom out: The White House press office is regularly promoting the arrests of migrants with criminal records from the briefing room and on its official X page.
ICE hit a high under Trump of more than 1,000 daily arrests on Jan. 27, according to an X post. The White House hasn't disclosed how many of those arrested have criminal backgrounds or are simply unauthorized to be in the U.S., which is only a civil offense.
Trump's team has said it considers all undocumented immigrants to be criminals.
"I know the last administration didn't see it that way, so it's a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week.
President Trump and Elon Musk promised to break Washington. No one thought it would look this easy.
Why it matters: Trump 2.0 has already laid waste to democratic norms, precedents and even some laws. Paralyzed by the breadth of disruption, many of the president's demoralized critics have been left sputtering: "He can't do that."
And yet he is.
The big picture: With a popular mandate, unified control of Congress, a pliant Republican Party, a struggling opposition and the resources of the world's richest man, there are few guardrails to curb Trump's maximalist agenda.
Short of a court order, Trump's opponents have so far failed to stop him from bending and breaking the limits of presidential authority.
This weekend, Musk's allies orchestrated a physical takeover of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ousting security officials who tried to stop them from accessing classified spaces.
With USAID employees locked out of their accounts and Musk vowing to shutter the "evil" agency, Secretary of State Marco Rubio took over as acting administrator and notified Congress of a "potential reorganization."
Democrats reacted furiously, holding a press conference outside USAID headquarters to sound the alarm over what they called an "illegal" takeover of an independent agency authorized by Congress.
"We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
"You cannot wave away an agency that you don't like ... by literally storming into a building and taking over the servers," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who vowed to stall Trump's State Department nominations in protest.
Trump, meanwhile, disputed that shutting down USAID would require an act of Congress — arguing it would be justified because the agency is rife with "fraud."
Between the lines: Beyond rhetoric, Democrats have limited recourse to slow Trump's agenda — especially with the party still grappling with an identity crisis in the wake of the disastrous 2024 election.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) unveiled a plan Monday to try to stop Trump from freezing or diverting congressionally appropriated funds, namely by using leverage in government funding negotiations.
But Democrats are fundamentally limited by life in the minority. Even if they reclaim a majority in the 2026 midterms, history suggests Trump officials will have no qualms about blowing off subpoenas.
"We'll speak out. We will open investigations, and we will demand accountability," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Monday. "The one tool we do not have is the majority in this Congress. So that means our Republican colleagues have to say enough."
Reality check: So far, there's no sign Republicans will put up any resistance. In Trump's first two weeks in office, his administration has:
Fired at least 17 independent agency watchdogs, openly defying a statute requiring an explanation to Congress 30 days in advance.
Fired federal prosecutors involved in Trump-related investigations and hinted at an additional purge for thousands of FBI agents.
Signed an executive order directing the attorney general not to enforce the law Congress passed requiring TikTok to be sold by its Chinese parent company or face a U.S. ban.
What to watch: The courts acted swiftly to block Trump's most audacious Day One executive order: terminating birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
Still, the judicial branch is inherently a slow-moving, last line of defense — one that Democrats can't always count on to curb Trump's executive encroachment.
Challenges to the U.S. government's checks and balances are likely to continue in the coming weeks, months and years.
Trump officials are now discussing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, fulfilling a longtime conservative goal, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Joe Biden has left Washington, but he still seems to be living rent-free in Donald Trump's mind.
Why it matters: Trump has brought his grievance-laden playbook against Biden to the White House and frequently derides his Democratic rival — in speeches, executive orders, off-the-cuff comments and social media posts.
Trump's criticisms follow a strategy he's used since he first took office in 2017: Accuse his predecessor of doing a terrible job (then it was Barack Obama, now Biden) and blame them for any problems or setbacks.
Driving the news: This time it began moments after Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20. With Biden sitting just a few feet away, Trump said in his inaugural speech that the outgoing president had left the country in "decline."
Since then, Trump has issued dozens of executive orders, many of which he cast as remedies for problems he claimed Biden or his administration created.
As investigators began looking into the deadly in-air collision near Reagan National Airport last week, Trump — without evidence — blamed the Biden administration's diversity programs for the crash.
In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump took aim again, announcing that he'd ordered airstrikes against the Islamic State in northern Somalia and accusing "Biden and his cronies" of not acting quickly enough to "get the job done."
That's just a sample of Trump's darts at Biden.
He also trashed Biden's border policies as "stupid," and cast the former president as weak on everything from relations with China to disaster response and inflation.
Zoom in: It's not just Trump. His allies have made a sport of criticizing the Biden White House.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt last week attributed the increase in egg prices during Trump's first week in office to the Biden administration's "mass killing of more than 100 million chickens" amid concerns about bird flu.
She also cast Biden as a president who slept on the job.
Democrats counter that Trump's moves dismantling the federal government in D.C. threaten to become far more destructive than beneficial.
Between the lines: Trump and Biden, who was Obama's vice president, have had a bitter rivalry for years.
Trump blames his many legal troubles on Biden and his administration's Justice Department.
Even after Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and was replaced on the Democratic ticket by Kamala Harris, Trump continued to bash Biden.
What they're saying: "Anything bad that happens on your watch, you try to find someone else to blame, and Donald Trump has a good foil in Joe Biden," Arizona-based Republican political consultant Barrett Marson told Axios, referring to Biden's low favorability ratings.
"Trump is untethered to facts and ... will blame Biden and Democrats for anything that goes wrong," Marson said.
But he added that with Republicans' in full control of the federal government and the rapid pace at which Trump is dismantling many Biden administration policies, "he's going to run out of that excuse quickly."
President Trump and many Republicans are steadfastly defending Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump's pick to lead Health and Human Services. But some MAGA loyalists aren't convinced — they're wary of the influence of Kennedy's closest adviser, a longtime Democratic activist.
Driving the news: For weeks, conservative-leaning groups, activists and policy groups have been privately sharing links to Kennedy aide Stefanie Spear's past social media and blog posts that show her support for Democratic causes, three people familiar with the messages tell Axios.
Spear has worked closely with Kennedy, a former Democrat, for several years. They've known each other for more than a decade, drawn together by their activism on environmental issues and skepticism about vaccines.
The chatter among her conservative critics casts Spear — who functions as Kennedy's executive assistant, scheduler and manager — as a potential gatekeeper to Kennedy.
"This woman just has every appearance of being a disaster from a conservative perspective," one person from a conservative-leaning organization told Axios.
What they're saying: Spear did not respond to several requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Kennedy said Spear's past Democratic activism hasn't been an issue and that she's "a team player," not an obstacle.
"She is crucial in fulfilling the promise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump to Make America Healthy Again and end the chronic disease epidemic," spokesperson Katie Miller said in a text.
Zoom in: Even so, Trump's team has decided that Spear would not be Kennedy's chief of staff at HHS, if he's confirmed by the Senate, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Instead, Spear is in line to be deputy chief of staff and senior counsel to the HHS secretary. Kennedy's chief of staff would be Heather Flick, a department veteran who served in Trump's first term.
Catch up quick: Spear was the traveling press secretary and principal communications staffer on Kennedy's long-shot presidential campaign.
Kennedy began his campaign as a Democrat, then ran as an independent before dropping out and endorsing Trump.
Spear is "a safety blanket for Bobby," said one person familiar with their relationship.
She's one of the few former Kennedy campaign staffers being considered for a role in the new administration.
State of play: Kennedy has just finished two days of of often-heated confirmation hearings before separate Senate's committees. Spear was among the Kennedy supporters at the hearings.
Kennedy received pushback from several senators for his past statements questioning vaccine safety, including childhood inoculations for polio and measles.
Among those expressing skepticism about Kennedy was Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Cassidy said he wasn't sure he could back an HHS nominee who "spent decades criticizing vaccines, and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines."
Cassidy is also on the Senate Finance Committee, which also questioned Kennedy. That panel is scheduled to vote on Kennedy's confirmation Tuesday.
China's government announced tariffs on U.S. imports including coal and liquefied natural gas in retaliation for Trump administration measures targeting its products.
The big picture: China's finance ministry announced the measures in response to 10% tariffs on Chinese products imposed by President Trump's administration, which took effect Tuesday.
The announcement comes after the Trump administration said it would suspend for 30 days plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico after striking border security deals with the nations on Monday.
Driving the news: China's government would impose 15% tariffs on U.S. coal and LNG from this coming Monday, per a finance ministry statement.
U.S. crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks would face 10% tariffs.
What we're watching: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said tariffs "will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains."
Meanwhile, China's government said Trump's action "seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization" and it's announced plans to file a legal complaint with the WTO.
Yes, but: The WTO's dispute system has been hampered since 2019 when the first Trump administration blocked the appointment of judges.
Worth noting: Many of Chinese goods already faced import taxes held over from Trump's first term, per Axios' Courtenay Brown.
El Salvador's president has offered to "house in his jails dangerous American criminals" and accept deportees of any nationality, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday night.
Why it matters: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's offer is "the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world," per remarks by Rubio that the State Department released.
Rubio made the announcement that was criticized by human rights groups while visiting El Salvador as part of a wider trip across Latin America to push for President Trump's "America First" policy, which includes plans for large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Driving the news: Rubio called Bukele's offer "an act of extraordinary friendship" and said it would include accepting for deportation "any criminal from any nationality," even members of the international criminal gangs MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, which Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Among those Bukele has offered to house in Salvadoran jails are "dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents."
Rubio added: "No country's ever made an offer of friendship such as this."
Zoom in: Bukele said on X he'd offered the U.S. the "opportunity to outsource part of its prison system."
He added: "We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee. The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable."
The big picture: Bukele's harsh anti-gang measures saw violent crime fall in El Salvador, but critics have said the results have been at the expense of civil rights and incarceration rates have soared.
A State Department advisory says El Salvador's prison and detention center conditions are "harsh and dangerous," while overcrowding "constitutes a serious threat to prisoners' health and lives."
In many facilities, "provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, temperature control, and lighting are inadequate or nonexistent," it adds.
What they're saying: Latino advocacy group the Board of the League of United Latin American Citizens called the deal "a sad day for America," per CNN.
LULAC "opposes treating deported non-criminal migrants like cattle who can be shuttled from one country to another without regard to their home of origin," added Roman Palomares, the group's national president and chair.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
The Trump administration on Monday pushed back on what it's calling "misinformation" about its "fork in the road" offer to federal workers, who were given the option to resign and get paid for eight months.
Why it matters: The deadline is Thursday for 2.3 million workers to decide on the offer, which has been widely criticized.
The big picture: Unions,former officials from previous administrations and others have advised workers not to take the deal.
Critics argue the offer is illegal, there's no real guarantee people will get paid out, and it's something Congress would need to authorize.
The offer to resign is part of what's seen as a broad purge of the federal workforce, meant to clear the way for more Trump-friendly workers.
The administration says it's following through on a promise to restructure the federal government.
"Union leaders and politicians telling federal workers to reject this offer are doing them a serious disservice," said McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the agency.
Where it stands: Senior officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), effectively the federal government's human resource department, disputed the criticisms in a call with Axios Monday afternoon.
The group also sent out a contract on Monday that agencies can give to federal employees, which is meant to provide some more reassurance.
The contract says employees will agree to work through Feb. 28 to "ensure a smooth transition" of their duties and responsibilities, and says "employee shall not be expected to work during the deferred resignation period except in rare circumstances."
The contract says explicitly that workers can take other jobs, and still get paid — and appears to contain a provision where workers waive their right to sue over the offer.
Zoom in: OPM officials insisted their offer was fair, and called out critics.
"It's very malicious, the way that it's being spun as being some sort of way to trick people, which it isn't," one official said on condition of anonymity. The offer had been thoroughly vetted by lawyers, and was in the works during the transition period before President Trump took office.
"There was a comprehensive legal analysis done about the labor law implications, the implications of communicating with all employees, the data privacy implications," said the second official. "You can't coerce someone into resigning, which we didn't do, but there's an analysis of that as well."
They declined to answer questions about Elon Musk's reported involvement in the offer.
As for the criticism that there isn't authorization for the deal from Congress:
"That's a red herring," one of the officials said. This is an offer for workers to stay on as employees, but effectively take administrative leave; there's no additional salary needed. So they didn't need any Congressional sign-off, this person said.
"It's a buyout in the sense they don't have to work very much, and they continue to get paid, but there's no additional payout."
The bottom line: The officials pointed out there is a lot of restructuring coming in the federal government; their offer, they said, is a way to avoid the stress that the changes could bring.
"People voted for government restructuring," one official said. "And that's what's happening. It's not like we're coming up with this on the fly."
Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard has wind in her sails ahead of Tuesday's Senate Intel Committee vote.
Why it matters: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced her support on Monday. She's a critical swing vote who worked against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
That leaves Sen. Todd Young(R-Ind.) as the vote Gabbard allies are watching most carefully.
Between the lines: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — a close Trump ally who has been an advocate for nominees — told reporters he's feeling confident about Gabbard's chances. "Tulsi has done the work," he said.
Conversations are ongoing between leadership and senators viewed as swing votes on both Gabbard and HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
GOP leadership feels good that even the skeptics are still willing to engage.
But Young and Cassidy were not eager to talk about the upcoming votes when asked by reporters Monday night.
The bottom line: "I think Todd [Young] is doing just what [Thom] Tillis did," Mullin added, referencing the North Carolina Republican's last-minute hesitancy before voting to confirm Hegseth.
Democrats are bowing to grassroots pressure and unleashing a wave of angry spectacles to show they are doing something to fight the Trump administration's stunning attempts to reshape the federal government.
Why it matters: "I think what you're hearing ... from people is: We just can't do things as usual. We can't be like, 'Oh let's let the long arc of a congressional session happen as we hope to stop Elon Musk and Donald Trump,'" a senior House Democrat told Axios.
"That's not a thing. No one f***ing cares about that," the lawmaker said. "People want us to be doing more aggressive actions."
Driving the news: Just on Monday, Democrats unloaded a flurry of letters, press conferences and media events and outlined an array of new tactics to try to counter Trump's efforts to slash spending, shutter agencies and lay off federal officials.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) unveiled a 10-part plan for countering Trump that includes using the federal funding process to thwart his efforts to "defund programs important to everyday Americans."
A group of House and Senate Democrats spoke to protesters outside the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which Trump has moved to shut down. They were denied entry to the building.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he will place "blanket holds" on Trump's State Department nominees until his efforts to shutter USAID are ended.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent Trump a letter demanding a massive trove of documents on his efforts to reconfigure and slash the federal bureaucracy.
A trio of House Democrats from New Jersey said they made an "unannounced visit" to an ICE detention center in their state and questioned agents there.
What they're saying: "There's a lot going on — far more than most people know about from social media and newspapers," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said of Democrats' efforts to resist Trump.
Huffman, who leads Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, said he is "still pushing for more, but I'm pleased with how things are revving up."
"We're going to use every legal, political and constitutional means at our disposal to stop this reign of terror targeting congressional programs and federal workers," said House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Raskin added, "You're going to see growing creative opposition everywhere."
Yes, but: Democrats are also trying to reconfigure the expectations of their furious activist base.
"I totally understand the 'do something' voices, but often they don't know the things we already are doing. We need to do a better job showing them," said Huffman.
"I get thousands of suggestions on social media ranging from totally infeasible and illegal things (like "lock someone up") to interesting strategies like supporting class action litigation against Musk/DOGE for messing with our private taxpayer data," Huffman said.
The bottom line: "My grandfather told me that duck hunting was a lot of fun until the ducks start firing back," said Raskin.
Three federal employees' unions are suing the Trump administration in an attempt to stop the Treasury from sharing confidential data with the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Why it matters: The lawsuit that was filed in D.C. federal court Monday alleges Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent let DOGE representatives access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which manages the U.S. government's accounting, central payment systems and public debt.
It follows reports about DOGE representatives allegedly accessing American citizens' data and classified spaces at the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) D.C.
For the record: Representatives for the Trump administration declined to comment on the matter due to pending litigation.
Driving the news: The unions allege in a statement that instead of protecting the private information of Americans as required by law, "Bessent took punitive measures against officials who sought to protect that information from improper access and allowed DOGE full access to the data."
Bessent, the Treasury Department and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service are named in the suit, filed by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Zoom in: The complaint says Musk and other DOGE members had sought access to the Bureau's records for some time, but were "rebuffed" by the employee then in charge of the Bureau.
"Within a week of being sworn in as Treasury Secretary, Mr. Bessent placed that civil servant on leave and granted DOGE-affiliated individuals full access to the Bureau's data and the computer systems that house them," it continues.
"He did so without making any public announcement, providing any legal justification or explanation for his decision, or undertaking the process required by law for altering the agency's disclosure policies," the complaint adds.
"The scale of the intrusion into individuals' privacy is massive and unprecedented."
State of play: Congressional Democrats are pushing back against DOGE, which was set up to cut government spending and streamline bureaucracy.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as "an unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Democrats will introduce a bill designed to stop DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department's payment systems.
And Democrats say they'd intervene to stop DOGE after Musk said President Trump had agreed to shut USAID down.
What he's saying: Trump had yet to directly address those comments, but did say Monday: "Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval. And we'll give him the approval where appropriate; where it's not appropriate, we won't."
The Senate voted 52-46 Monday to limit debate on Pam Bondi's nomination for Attorney General,
Why it matters: President Trump is now on the cusp of installing a loyalist in the nation's highest law enforcement role, empowering a MAGA overhaul of the Justice Department that could include investigating his political enemies.
The Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines on Jan. 29 to recommend her confirmation.
A U.S. federal judge on Monday extended a temporary block on the Trump administration's spending freeze.
Why it matters: District Judge Loren AliKhan expressed concern in her order that the Trump administration was still enforcing the spending freeze despite the temporary restraining order.
Catch up quick: The White House ordered a "temporary pause" on federal funding on Tuesday that prompted intense confusion and backlash.
AliKhan issued an initial temporary pause on the order last week, which was due to expire Monday.
The Office of Management and Budget rescinded the memo on Wednesday, following AliKhan's order. However, the White House said pulling back the memo didn't mean withdrawing the funding freeze.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's social media posts claiming the freeze was still in effect despite withdrawing the order were grounds for the lawsuit to continue.
What they're saying: AliKhan said in her order that plaintiffs had proven certain funding sources outside of executive order parameters were inaccessible even after the OMB rescinded its memo.
The government, AliKhan wrote, had "offered no rational explanation for why they needed to freeze all federal financial assistance."
AliKhan added that the plaintiffs had proven that the injuries caused by the freeze were "sufficiently concrete" and "potentially catastrophic."
"Each day that the pause continues to ripple across the country is an additional day that Americans are being denied access to programs that heal them, house them, and feed them," she added.
Data: Trade Partnership Worldwide; Note: Based on January-November 2024 trade data. Map: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios
Businesses in some states — many near the country's northern and southern borders — may feel President Trump's tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China most acutely, per a new estimate shared with Axios.
Why it matters: Trump and others view tariffs as political cudgels for extracting concessions from targeted countries. But they're also likely to make stuff more expensive as companies pass higher costs along to everyday Americans.
Catch up quick: Trump on Saturday imposed tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian goods and 10% on Canadian energy imports, plus issued new 10% tariffs on Chinese imports.
Trump on Monday delayed his planned Mexico and Canada tariffs for a month.
Driving the news: The tariffs as issued Saturday would have an estimated $232.7 billion national impact, per economic research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide and based on trade from January to November 2024.
That impact would be largest for businesses in Texas ($47.1 billion), California ($32.6 billion) and Michigan ($27.8 billion).
How it works: The estimates are based on census data for foreign imports and reflect "the composition of current trade based on existing company-to-company relationships," Trade Partnership Worldwide president Daniel S. Anthony tells Axios.
What they're saying: "Canada and Mexico account for over 90% of all Montana imports, versus just 5% for Hawaii," Anthony says. "So virtually anything that Montana companies import from the world could be subject to new tariffs in the immediate future."
"Similarly, states where Canadian energy imports are large see reduced impacts from the lower energy tariff. But even 10% is a huge cost when you look at a state like Illinois that imports tens of billions of dollars annually in Canadian crude oil."
Caveat: Tariffs may lead to less trade overall, Anthony notes — meaning past data isn't necessarily indicative of future tariff effects.
What's next: Trump is having ongoing conversations with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, who bashed U.S. tariffs as a shocking and perplexing betrayal of a longtime ally and promised retaliation.
The big picture: Trump, who has yet to make an official statement on USAID's future, appeared to damper Musk's ambitious plans, telling reporters the billionaire can't take action without "our approval."
Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), "can't do and won't do anything without our approval," Trump said Monday at the White House. "We'll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won't."
"Where we think there's a conflict or there's a problem, we won't let him go near it," Trump added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was out of the country when Musk announcedUSAID was shutting down, said Monday he's now the agency's acting director.
Driving the news: House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called the move to shut down the agency an "illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power," during a press conference outside the USAID headquarters,
He noted that Congress created the agency and Musk "doesn't have the power to destroy it."
"We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk, and that's going to become real clear," Raskin added.
What they're saying: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called Musk's efforts "an absolute gift to our adversaries — to Russia, to China, to Iran and others" because the agency "is an essential instrument of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security policy."
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said a billionaire who hasn't been elected, vetted, or gone through confirmation "should not be telling American employees that they cannot access the building they work at."
She added: "Privileged billionaires who don't give a damn about America and Americans should not be making decisions that put Americans at harm."
Where it stands: Staffers were barred from entering the agency's headquarters, a source familiar with the USAID situation told Axios.
Most of the USAID's Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management had their access to agency systems revoked as of Monday afternoon, the source said.
Employees in the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, — which houses teams for agriculture and climate, among others — were told they could lose access to their emails tonight or tomorrow, the source said.
"We work in countries where this happens," the person told Axios. "We never imagine[d] it would happen here."
Catch up quick: Musk said Monday morning that Trump had "agreed" to "shut" USAID down.
That was followingreports that two senior USAID officials were placed on administrative leave after barring DOGE representatives from internal systems during a recent visit.
Trump himself has railed against USAID, telling reporters over the weekend that the agency was run by "radical lunatics."
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which Elon Musk has vowed to "kill" with President Trump's support, could destabilize regions where human-caused climate change is hitting particularly hard.
Why it matters: By ending humanitarian assistance and proactive climate resilience and adaptation programs, the U.S. military could get pulled into responding to more future crises.
Experts tell Axios that axing the agency completely, or even significantly downsizing it, would have security implications when it comes to climate change.
Catch up fast: USAID, an independent, operational agency now potentially moving under the State Department, conducts a variety of projects in climate-vulnerable locations such as Africa, Central America and parts of Asia.
These include programs meant to help boost the resilience of agricultural production to extreme weather events and make infrastructure better able to withstand such events.
Zoom in: According to archived versions of USAID's websites, the agencyhelps countries cut their emissions, conserve carbon-rich tropical rainforests and rely more on renewable energy sources.
"Climate change affects nearly everything we do at USAID," its climate page stated as of Jan. 17, according to the Internet Wayback Machine.
"As such, the Agency mainstreams climate change considerations across much of our development and humanitarian assistance work."
What they're saying: Curtailing USAID is "going to add substantially to the instability in these volatile regions, because vulnerable populations will be doing without," Sherri Goodman, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center and board chair at the Council on Strategic Risks, told Axios.
"Instability morphs, as we've seen in certain regions where insufficient governance, you don't have access to the basics, and there's a vacuum created and that also allows for other malign actors to come in," she said.
She said it's a choice between paying "a little bit now" to help make regions "more resilient to food and drought shocks, or pay more later by having to send American sons and daughters into conflict areas."
A pullback in foreign aid could also benefit China, which may step into the void to offer its aid and earn more favor in Africa and elsewhere, Goodman and others said.
"Trump's decision to shut down USAID has frozen critical work to deliver vital assistance around the globe, and put China in the driver's seat," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) tweeted.
By being proactive with aid and on-the-ground programs, USAID provides the U.S. with a way to head off future crises before they get to that point.
For example, USAID, along with other agencies, operate a famine early-warning system to predict them before they occur, and direct aid to where it is needed most.
The agencies also distribute food aid from U.S. farmers to those who need it most, which can cut down on migration that could destabilize countries or send waves of immigrants to the U.S.
What's next: It's currently unclear what USAID's fate will be given Musk's intense focus on it in recent days and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement that he is now the acting USAID administrator.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is placing a "blanket hold" on Trump's State Department nominees in response to USAID actions, the WSJ reports.
The Trump administration has targeted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for potential shut down, the latest in its broad and escalating push to radically reshape the federal government.
Why it matters: USAID is the U.S. government's lead humanitarian aid arm and administers a wide array of programs around the world focused on fighting disease, reducing poverty and providing relief to people impacted by conflicts and natural disasters.
The U.S. government is the world's single largest humanitarian donor, per the United Nations.
The big picture: In the 2023 fiscal year, USAID disbursed roughly $44 billion of aid across 160 countries and regions around the world, per the agency's foreign assistance dashboard.
Ukraine was the top recipient of foreign assistance funds in FY 2023, with over $16 billion issued. Israel received more than $2.2 billion in disbursements, while Ethiopia and Jordan each received over $1 billion.
Other top recipients also included Somalia, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
State of play: From virtually the start of the new Trump administration, USAID's ability to carry out its work was thrown into disarray after a funding freeze on foreign aid ground much of the humanitarian sector to a halt.
Elon Musk, head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said Monday morning that President Trump had "agreed" to "shut" USAID down.
This followedreports that two senior USAID officials were placed on administrative leave after barring DOGE representatives from internal systems during a recent visit.
Trump himself has railed against USAID, telling reporters this weekend the agency was run by "radical lunatics."
Case in point: USAID's website and X account have both been taken down.
