Principals

1. Dems work past fracture
2. DC fix needs House action
3. Democrats face angry base
4. Fight over deportation flights
5. US retail sales data
6. South Africa’s diplomat search
7. UAE’s tech, energy visit
8. Breitbart in power

PDB: Trump, Putin to speak this week

Trump to attend Kennedy Center board meeting … House, Senate on recess … NYT: US plans to withdraw from group probing responsibility for Ukraine invasion

Schumer, Jeffries try to mend ties

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on Sunday for the first time since the government funding debacle that prompted a public clash between their respective chambers. But as they try to unite around a plan to counter Republicans, there’s some lingering discontent. “There will be ongoing frustration until there’s a clear vision on working better together,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. One form of resistance Democrats are trying out: holding town halls in more conservative districts over recess. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is headed to Bakersfield, Anaheim, and Norco to target vulnerable Republicans, while Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is planning town halls in two red districts and a border town. Some downplayed the divide between the two chambers. “This, too, shall pass,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who has an event scheduled with Schumer this week.

— Kadia Goba

Spending drama fallout continues

The drama over funding the government is technically over until September, though Washington is still sifting through the aftermath. The Senate passed separate legislation preventing DC’s budget cuts, a bill which critically has support from the Trump White House. The House still needs to take it up to finish the job and send it to President Trump’s desk. The political fallout will take Democrats a bit longer to settle. It’s pretty clear that counting again on the GOP House to flounder on the next must-pass bill is a bad play for them. For Schumer, who supported funding the government, it’s a moment mirroring some of Mitch McConnell’s experiences. Both took arrows from the base for decisions they thought were best for their members.

— Burgess Everett

On ground, Democrats rage at party

Democrats sprayed each other with friendly fire over the weekend, criticizing Schumer over the GOP’s spending bill and themselves for not winning the last election. “When Democrats have been in power, we’ve been timid about passing things that make a difference in [Americans’] lives,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told a town hall meeting in Des Moines. Some progressive groups urged Schumer to resign; Indivisible said Saturday it would organize for “a Minority Leader who’s up for the fight this moment demands.” A CNN poll released Sunday found a record-low favorable rating for the Democratic Party. “I would have liked to see, when Chuck Schumer had leverage here, to say we need A, B, C, and D for the Democratic Party, and force Republicans to meet him halfway on those issues,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

— David Weigel

Trump prepares for a court battle over deportation flights

The Trump administration is gearing up for a fight at the Supreme Court over his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. A federal judge on Saturday blocked Trump from citing the 18th-century law to remove suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, ordering planes carrying alleged gang members to return to the US. But the flights landed in El Salvador that night. (As the country’s president posted on X: “Oopsie…Too late.“) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Semafor in a statement Sunday that “nearly 300 Tren de Aragua” members were arrested and deported, adding that the administration “did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order.” The order, Leavitt said, came after the migrants were removed from US territory and has “no lawful basis.” A White House official told Semafor there are no additional planned flights at this time.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump braces for economic news

The Trump administration will face myriad tests on the economy this week, as the US awaits new data on retail sales and the Federal Reserve gears up for its second meeting of 2025. The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, as the central bankers keep a close eye on Trump’s tariffs and their impact on consumer prices. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted on NBC he isn’t worried about the stock market’s decline, though he didn’t completely rule out a recession. “We are going to have a transition and we are not going to have a crisis,” Bessent said. Trump is still gliding on his highest-ever approval rating, but an NBC poll contains ominous signs (majorities disapprove of his handling of the economy and inflation).

South Africa scrambles for new top diplomat to US

South Africa is scrambling to appoint a new ambassador to the US after the expulsion of its top diplomat last week, Sam Mkokeli writes for Semafor Africa. South African government leaders were let down by Ebrahim Rasool’s “indefensible” criticism of Trump at a webinar on Tuesday, said the three senior members of the African National Congress, the largest party in the ruling coalition. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and Trump. In the webinar on Mar. 11, Rasool told participants that Trump is leading a “supremacist” movement disrupting long-established political norms. Semafor first reported last week that Rasool, a veteran diplomat who also served in the post during the Obama years, had been essentially frozen out in the Republican-led Washington.

Key Emirati figure to talk chips, investments

The UAE’s powerful national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, arrives in Washington today with an agenda that includes regional security, amid a US assault on their shared Houthi adversaries in Yemen; energy investments; and access to sensitive US technology. Abu Dhabi firm G42 has four times more computing capacity in the US than in the UAE, while Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips power data centers in the emirates. Microsoft’s Brad Smith sits on G42’s board, following a $1.5 billion investment last year. Sheikh Tahnoun is expected to meet top officials including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as US business figures, one person familiar with the planning said.

— Kelsey Warner and Ben Smith

Breitbart becomes MAGA’s paper of record

The look and feel of Breitbart News hasn’t changed much. But in the second Trump administration, the conservative news site is a kind of MAGA legacy media, scoring newsmaking interviews and competing with tech-savvy right-wing influencers with a shakier relationship with the truth. It’s a mandate Breitbart staff are taking seriously, Semafor’s Ben Smith writes: Breitbart’s editor-in-chief, Alex Marlow, said “there is a massive hole, in conservative media in particular, for people who are covering things with an eye on being comprehensive and entirely accurate.” Matt Boyle, Breitbart’s Washington bureau chief, may be second only to Fox News’ Bret Baier in his access to the Trump Cabinet. One reason why, Boyle said, is that a writeup in Breitbart is a sure way to reach the president: Trump officials know that White House aides will “print it out and show it to him.”

Uncommon bonds: Stablecoin regulation

The Senate Banking Committee took its first big move toward legislating on cryptocurrency last week by advancing bipartisan legislation that would create rules for stablecoins, a type of crypto pegged to assets like the US dollar. The bill cleared the committee in a bipartisan 18-6 vote. “I was really interested in making sure that we had a bill that protected consumers; also advanced innovation; and made sure that we kept it here in America, and I believe this bill is one that would help us to achieve those goals,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., one of the bill’s Democratic co-sponsors. But the industry-backed legislation faced criticism from other Democrats, who argue it lacks sufficient consumer protections and illicit finance controls and hope to adjust it further before it reaches the Senate floor.

In a polarized world, where do people find their happiness? Semafor, in partnership with Gallup and in coordination with the World Happiness Report editorial team, will present the latest data and insights at The State of Happiness in 2025: A World Happiness Report Launch Event, exploring key themes around kindness, generosity, and policies that enhance well-being.

Join Costa Rican Ambassador to the US Dr. Catalina Crespo-Sancho, Finnish Ambassador to the US Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Icelandic Ambassador to the US Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir, special guest Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and more to explore the report’s key themes around kindness, generosity, and happiness and policies that enhance well-being.

Mar. 20, 2025 | Washington, DC | RSVP

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: As House Republicans look to retain control of the lower chamber, the NRCC put 26 Democrats on its 2026 midterm target list.

Playbook: The former leader of Project 2025 Paul Dans said he is thrilled “way beyond my wildest dreams” that the Trump administration has largely implemented his vision from the Heritage Foundation plan.

WaPo: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may “get an earful from activists” when he hits the road for his book tour this week.

Axios: The White House aims to shift the debate over the deportations from legal to political questions: “If the Democrats want to argue in favor of turning a plane full of rapists, murderers, and gangsters back to the United States, that’s a fight we are more than happy to take,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

White House

• President Trump said he plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as part of his effort to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• The White House is “seriously considering” an arrangement that would involve Oracle overseeing TikTok’s American user data in order to keep the app running in the US. — Politico

Congress

• Former New York Rep. Nita Lowey died.

Courts

• President Trump claimed that the pardons former President Joe Biden signed for members of Congress are “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT” because they were signed with an autopen.

Outside the Beltway

• The Vatican released the first photo of Pope Francis since his hospitalization.
• Several states endured severe weather over the weekend, including rare wildfires in Oklahoma.
• A Brown University medical school professor was deported by the Trump administration to Lebanon, though her lawyer said she has a valid visa. — NYT

Business

• Shopping mall mainstay Forever 21 has filed for bankruptcy. — Bloomberg

Foreign Policy

• President Trump narrowed the role of Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, amid questions about his absence in US-Russia talks to end the war in Ukraine.
• A French member of the European Parliament suggested the US should return the Statue of Liberty, donated by France in 1886. — Politico

Technology

• On his way out, a top Commerce Department official warned that the Trump administration “is poised to unduly enrich” Elon Musk’s Starlink. — Politico
• A SpaceX capsule docked with the International Space Station, delivering new crew members to replace NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Media

• The Trump administration moved to gut federally funded media outlets, putting hundreds of Voice of America employees on leave and cutting funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Mondaire Jones is a former Democratic congressman from New York.