FILE - The Department of Health and Human Services building is seen in Washington, April 5, 2009.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted 25 hours and 5 minutes, setting the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history. His feat of endurance was aimed at showing Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions.

Booker broke a record previously held by Strom Thurmond, a segregationist who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to the Senate’s records.

Meanwhile, Trump is promising to roll out a set of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, on April 2 that he says will free the U.S. from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he’ll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products.

Earlier Tuesday, employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people.

Here's the latest:

Republican Jimmy Patronis wins special election in Florida’s 1st Congressional District

The state’s chief financial officer and Trump-backed candidate fended off a challenge from Democrat Gay Valimont.

Patronis was far outraised and outspent by Valimont, who benefited from the outrage of national donors alarmed by Trump’s aggressive second term.

Patronis will fill the northwest Florida seat vacated by former Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz had been tapped to be Trump’s attorney general but dropped out amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied.

Sen. Cory Booker ends his record-breaking speech

The senator wrapped his speech at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday, 25 hours and 5 minutes after he began.

The chamber had exploded in applause when Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Booker had broken the record, which was previously held by segregationist Strom Thurmond at 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Sen. Cory Booker breaks record for longest Senate speech

Booker took to the Senate floor Monday evening, saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” More than 24 hours later, the 55-year-old senator is still going.

He has set the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history, though he was assisted by fellow Democrats who gave him a break from speaking by asking him questions.

It was a remarkable show of stamina as Democrats try to show their frustrated supporters that they are doing everything possible to contest Trump’s agenda.

Yet Booker also provided a moment of historical solace for a party searching for its way forward: By standing on the Senate floor for more than a night and day and refusing to leave, he had broken a record set 68 years ago by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a segregationist, to filibuster the advance of the Civil Rights Act in 1957.

Sen. Cory Booker’s speech is still going, closing in on the all-time record

Sen. Cory Booker has held the Senate floor for 24 hours and is closing in on the record for the longest continuous floor speech held by Strom Thurmond, a segregationist.

Thurmond filibustered for against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to the Senate’s records. As Booker’s speech rolled past 24 hours, anticipation is growing in the Capitol.

Maher vows to dish about his dinner with Trump later this month

“Thank you for all the interest in my dinner with the president last night,” TV host Bill Maher posted Tuesday on X. He vowed that “all will be revealed” during his show “Real Time” on April 11, adding that if he offered details on April Fool’s Day, “no one would believe what I said.”

That followed Kid Rock, who was at the White House on Monday, offering to help arrange a dinner. He told Fox News Channel that “Bill’s obviously a very big liberal” but Trump was nonetheless “so gracious.”

Democratic leaders in Congress say they are standing together against Trump’s tax cuts

The Democrats are under pressure to show their voters they are doing all they can, even as the minority party in Congress, to block Trump’s agenda.

“We are standing together against the GOP tax scam and in defense of the American people,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at the Capitol steps with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Schumer praised fellow Democratic Sen. Cory Booker as a “tour de force” for seizing the Senate floor in a landmark speech as they work to stall action on the GOP agenda.

Biden urges people in Wisconsin and Florida to ‘GO VOTE’

“Florida and Wisconsin, it’s not too late. Go VOTE,” former President Joe Biden posted on X — offering a rare political pronouncement since leaving office.

Wisconsin has a state Supreme Court election, while two Florida districts are holding special elections to replace Republican congressmen who vacated House seats after Trump tapped them for administration posts.

Biden has kept a low profile since leaving office. His words echoed Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who also urged Wisconsin residents and Floridians to vote during her briefing with reporters.

Most immigrants at risk of deportation from the US are Christian, report finds

As many as four in five immigrants at risk of deportation from the United States are Christian, according to a new report.

The report, under the auspices of major Catholic and evangelical organizations, says about 10 million Christians are vulnerable to deportation.

“Though we’re deeply concerned about fellow Christians, we’re not exclusively concerned with immigrants who happen to share our faith,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an evangelical humanitarian organization that cosponsored the report.

Trump enjoyed wide support from certain Christian blocs in all three of his campaigns. While the report doesn’t directly refer to that support, it says it seeks to raise awareness of the potential impact of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

? Read more about the report on Christians at risk of deportation

Musk makes last-minute appeal to Wisconsin voters in closely-watched state judicial race

The billionaire government adviser told voters that the battle is so close that it could be decided by a single vote.

He made clear the political reasons behind supporting Brad Schimel, the candidate backed by Republicans.

“A judge race, election in Wisconsin will decide whether or not the Democrats can gerrymander Wisconsin in order to remove two House seats from Republican to Democrat,” Musk said during a Fox News interview Tuesday afternoon.

If Republicans lose control of the U.S. House, Musk asserted that Democrats would do “everything possible to stop the agenda that the American people voted for,” Musk said.

“If you know people in Wisconsin, call them right now,” he added.

Trump to hold Wednesday meeting on possible TikTok sale

Trump will hold a Wednesday meeting with aides about possible investors who could buy a stake in TikTok, a deal that could potentially stop the social media site from being banned in the U.S.

The details of the meeting were confirmed by a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

There has been uncertainty about the popular video app after a law took effect on Jan. 19 requiring its China-based parent, ByteDance, to divest its ownership because of national security concerns. After taking office, Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed until April 5 the enforcement of the law requiring a sale or effectively imposing a ban.

Among the possible investors are the software company Oracle and the investment firm Blackstone.

CBS News first reported on the meeting.

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Associated Press reporter Joshua Boak contributed.

Major international law firm reaches deal with White House

Another major international law firm has reached a deal with the White House to dedicate at least $100 million in free legal services to causes including veterans support and combating antisemitism.

The agreement announced Tuesday makes Willkie Farr & Gallagher the third law firm in the last two weeks to cut a deal with the White House. As part of the arrangement, Willkie agreed to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in their hiring decisions.

The firm is home to Doug Emhoff, the husband of 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and Tim Heaphy, who was chief investigative counsel to the House of Representatives committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The firm had been bracing for an executive order like the one leveled at nearly a half-dozen other major firms over the last month. Those orders have generally targeted firms over their association with attorneys Trump regards as adversaries.

The orders have threatened the security clearances of attorneys at the firms as well as the termination of the firms’ federal contracts and access by employees to federal buildings.

Trump administration pauses some family planning grants

The Trump administration has paused $27.5 million for organizations that provide family planning, contraception, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection services as it investigates whether they’re complying with federal law.

The money isn’t allowed to be used for abortion, but much of it goes to organizations that also provide abortions — and that’s long made the funding a target for conservatives.

About one-fourth of the grant recipients were told this week that their funding is on hold. That includes all the groups that receive the money for seven states.

Sen. Cory Booker overtakes Sen. Ted Cruz’s record for length of Senate speech

As Sen. Cory Booker’s speech rolled past 21 hours, it marked the fourth-longest in Senate history.

Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, has surpassed the longest speech time for a sitting senator — the 21 hours and 19 minutes that Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, held the floor to contest the Affordable Care Act in 2013.

Throughout his determined performance Tuesday, Booker has repeatedly invoked the civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

The longest speech time in Senate records is that of Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Booker would need to hold the floor for almost three more hours to beat that record.

Republican senator calls RFK Jr. to testify as mass layoffs roil nation’s top health department

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor from Louisiana, summoned Kennedy to testify about his restructure of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before the Senate health committee next week.

Cassidy backed Kennedy for the health secretary job after obtaining “serious commitments” from the administration, including that the health secretary would regularly appear before Senate lawmakers.

Cassidy’s request comes on the same day thousands of staffers were laid off from the health department.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO calls health department firings ‘reckless, thoughtless cuts’

Dr. Richard Besser, who also previously served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said those carrying out the mass firings at Health and Human Services are “systematically and cruelly dismantling our nation’s public health system and workforce, which threatens the health and wellbeing of everyone in America.”

The firings “represent an abdication of the department’s essential responsibility to promote and protect health,” Besser said in a statement on Tuesday. “And they present a fundamentally different vision of what government can and should do to improve people’s lives. Americans deserve better.”

He concluded his statement by saying: “It is clear that political leaders in this administration are neither committed to nor serious about improving everyday people’s lives and health.”

Staff reductions close regional Head Start offices

Five regional offices for Head Start were closed Tuesday as part of a workforce reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the National Head Start Association.

Head Start is a preschool program that serves some of the nation’s neediest families and children. Parents who otherwise would not be able to afford child care often rely on the program when they go to work or school.

The association’s statement said the move was taken without a “clear plan for how the administration intends on supporting Head Start.”

The Office of Head Start had 12 regional offices to provide oversight and support administration of grants. It was not immediately clear which regional offices were closed.

Canadian prime minister talks with Mexican president about boosting their trade relationship

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney says he had a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to discuss the “importance of building upon the strong trading and investment relationship between the two countries.”

The discussion came in the lead up to Trump’s anticipated tariffs on Wednesday. If enacted, the tariffs would deal a hefty economic blow to both nations, which are both in a free trade agreement with the U.S.

In the call, the two leaders spoke about the “challenging times ahead,” safeguarding economic competitiveness in the region and calls by both nations for the U.S. to respect their sovereignty, according to the Canadian government.

The leaders they would remain in “close contact,” and that top government officials would work together to boost trade between the two countries.

Groups ask judge to order Trump administration restore legal services for migrant children

A federal judge in California held off Tuesday on granting the request from legal aid groups.

The Republican administration on March 21 terminated a program that provides legal services for unaccompanied migrants under 18, which plaintiffs say puts 26,000 children at risk of losing their attorneys.

Defendants say taxpayers have no duty to pay for direct legal services and the contract has expired.

But plaintiffs said Tuesday they’re asking not for contract restoration but for the government to come up with a plan so children as young as five months old will have legal representation in immigration courts as required by Congress.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of San Francisco requested further briefing.

Speaker Johnson fails to squash proxy voting effort from new moms in Congress

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday exercised his power of the gavel — and tried to bring it down with an unusually aggressive effort to squash a proposal for new parents in Congress to able to vote by proxy, rather than in person, as they care for newborns.

His plan failed, 206-222.

In an unprecedented move, the House Republican leadership had engineered a way to quietly kill the bipartisan plan from two new moms — Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado. Their plan has widespread support from a majority of House colleagues. Some 218 lawmakers backed the new moms, signing on to a so-called “discharge petition” to force their proposal onto the House floor for consideration.

But Johnson, like GOP leaders before him, rails against proxy voting, as President Trump pushes people back to work in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic work from home trend.

? Read more about proxy voting

Melania Trump helps recognize diverse group of women for courage

Courage is rooted in love, the first lady said as she helped recognize eight women from around the world with the 2025 International Women of Courage Award.

At a ceremony at the State Department, which created the award, Trump said the “exceptional assembly of brave women” shows their love by refusing to be defined by fear or hardship.

Trump sought parallels with them, saying that, in her own life, she has “harnessed the power of love” as a source of strength during challenging times.

The eight women receiving awards hail from Burkina Faso, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Romania, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Israel.

The honorees include Amit Soussana, who was taken hostage by Hamas after the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Soussana was released after 55 days.

Group of Democratic senators introduce legislation to repeal Trump’s executive order on elections

They call the recent executive order unconstitutional and say millions of voters could be disenfranchised.

The “Defending America’s Future Elections Act” was filed Tuesday and is likely to face opposition as Republicans maintain majorities in both the House and Senate.

Trump’s March 25 order called for several election-related changes, including a documentary proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration and revised voluntary standards for voting machines to prohibit the use of barcodes on ballots. Lawsuits challenging the order have been filed.

Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who sponsored the bill, calls Trump’s order an “illegal and unconstitutional power grab.” Ten other senators co-sponsored the legislation.

They note that proving citizenship would be difficult for millions of Americans who don’t have easy access to their birth certificates or who haven’t obtained U.S. passports.

RFK Jr. posts video of FDA, NIH director being sworn in as thousands lose their jobs

It was just hours after thousands of his employees began receiving emailed notices or were told to turn in their badges at HHS offices around the country.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted the videos on social media celebrating the swearing in of his two latest hires: Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH director, and Martin Makary, the FDA commissioner.

“The revolution begins today!” Kennedy wrote.

HHS hasn’t provided additional details or comments about Tuesday’s mass firings.

Princeton University says the Trump administration has halted dozens of research grants

The Ivy League school received notifications Monday and Tuesday that grants were being suspended by agencies including the Department of Energy, NASA and the Defense Department, according to a campus message from President Christopher Eisgruber.

The rationale wasn’t fully clear, but Princeton will comply with the law, Eisgruber said.

“We are committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we will cooperate with the government in combating antisemitism,” he wrote.

Princeton is the latest Ivy League school to have its federal funding come under scrutiny from the Trump administration amid investigations into campus antisemitism. Columbia University last week agreed to several demands from the administration after the government cut $400 million and threatened to slash billions more.

A federal task force on antisemitism announced Monday that Harvard was facing a “comprehensive review” of almost $9 billion in federal grants and contracts.

Democratic senator is putting holds on VA nominees to protest Trump’s plans to cut its workforce

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego announced Tuesday he’ll block the confirmation of top leaders at the Veterans Affairs Department, raising the stakes in Democrats’ bid to get the Trump administration to back off plans to cut jobs from the sprawling agency that serves millions of military veterans.

Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran, made the announcement just hours before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs was scheduled to hear testimony from three nominees for the VA who are military veterans themselves. His move was a significant escalation in the Democrats’ efforts to counter Trump’s plans to slash federal agencies and a sharply partisan move on a committee that’s often seen cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.

“Talking to veterans, people that I served with as well as seeing some of what’s happening in Arizona, I decided that whatever tool I have to fix the situation, I’m going to use it,” Gallego told The Associated Press. “And this is one of the few tools I have at this point.”

? Read more about the Veterans Affairs Department

President Trump’s first foreign trip will come next month

The White House says Trump will head to Saudi Arabia in May. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered no further details on the trip.

With a TikTok ban looming, Trump signals a deal will come before April 5 deadline

Trump has signaled he’s confident his administration can broker an agreement with ByteDance, the social media app’s China-based parent company.

Speaking with reporters on Air Force One late Sunday, Trump said “there’s tremendous interest in Tiktok.” He added that he would “like to see TikTok remain alive.” The president’s comments came less than one week before an April deadline requiring ByteDance to divest or face a ban in the United States.

“We have a lot of potential buyers,” Trump said.

Trump also said the administration is “dealing with China” who “also want it because they may have something to do with it.” Last week, Trump said he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if that country’s government approves a sale of TikTok’s operations in the U.S.

? Read more about the upcoming TikTok ban

White House says Maryland resident mistakenly deported was an MS-13 member

The White House is asserting that the man with protected legal status who was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison was a member of the MS-13 gang and alleged he’d been involved in human trafficking.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, acknowledged an “administrative error” in efforts to remove Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the U.S.

“The administration maintains the position that this individual, who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt told reporters at a Tuesday briefing.

Leavitt claimed “credible intelligence” showed he was involved in human trafficking and that he was a leader of the notorious MS-13 gang.

“Foreign terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of America anymore,” Leavitt said.

In a complaint, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers disputed the government’s claims.

“Although he has been accused of general ‘gang affiliation,’ the U.S. government has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation,” the complaint stated.

? Read more about the deportation

A Senate vote to reverse Trump’s tariffs on Canada is testing Republican support

With Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” of tariff implementation fast approaching, Senate Democrats are putting Republican support for some of those plans to the test by forcing a vote to nullify the emergency declaration that underpins the tariffs on Canada.

Republicans have watched with some unease as the president’s attempts to remake global trade have sent the stock market downward, but they have so far stood by Trump’s on-again-off-again threats to levy taxes on imported goods.

Even as the resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia offered them a potential off-ramp to the tariffs levied on Canadian imports, Republican leaders were trying to keep senators in line by focusing on fentanyl that comes into the U.S. over its northern border. It was yet another example of how Trump is not only reorienting global economics, but upending his party’s longtime support for ideas like free trade.

? Read more about the Senate vote on tariffs

Trump’s Joint chiefs nominee downplays concerns of military involvement in domestic law enforcement

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, pressed retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine on whether he would follow orders from the president to use the military in domestic matters like law enforcement.

Duckworth accused Trump of engaging in “threat inflation” of domestic protests to justify military involvement on issues like protests, immigration or free speech.

“I think there’s strong systems in place, legal systems in place, that prevent any missteps there,” said Caine.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, asked Caine whether he would push back on an order by Trump “to use the military in a way that was unconstitutional.” She argued that Trump had made such orders during his first term and promised to do so during his reelection campaign.

“I will senator. I don’t expect that to happen, but I will,” Caine said.

Sen. Cory Booker passes the 17-hour mark in his speech to protest Trump’s actions

Booker, who’s 55, started speaking Monday evening and hasn’t left the Senate floor since. As it rolled into Tuesday afternoon, Booker’s performance is currently the sixth longest in Senate history.

The record for the longest individual speech belongs to of South Carolina, who filibustered for against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Only one other sitting senators has spoken for longer than Booker. In 2013, Sen. , a Republican of Texas, held the floor for 21 hours and 19 minutes to contest the Affordable Care Act.

Among hardest-hit in HHS layoffs is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The agency is losing more than 1,000 employees.

NIOSH is based in Cincinnati but also has people in Pittsburgh; Spokane and Morgantown, West Virginia.

Micah Niemeier-Walsh, vice president of the union local representing NIOSH employees in Cincinnati, said the union had heard reports that around 850 of the center’s employees are receiving notices, including the center’s director.

The cuts are hitting mining safety research, work on developing personal protective technology, a firefighter cancer registry, and a lab that’s key in the certification of respirators for industry. Niemeier-Walsh called the cuts “a very pointed attack on workers in this country.”

Who is Cory Booker, the Democrat from New Jersey holding the Senate floor?

Booker, 55, was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to northern New Jersey when he was a boy. He’s spoken about growing up in a Black family in a predominantly white neighborhood and how his parents faced opposition when they tried to buy a house.

He played football in college at Stanford University before attending Yale Law School and then worked as an attorney in nonprofits, giving legal aid to poorer families. Elected to the Newark City Council and then as mayor of the state’s biggest city, he served there until 2013.

His time in office coincided with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the city’s public schools, a boon that burnished his status as a Democratic rising star at the time.

Booker also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020.

? Read more about Sen. Cory Booker

Trump says he spoke with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

In a Tuesday post on his social media platform, Trump said the pair discussed U.S. military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, as well as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and “possible solutions” to the conflict, as well as “military preparedness.”

US sanctions people and firms in UAE, China and Iran for helping to procure drone parts

The Tuesday sanctions were against a network of six firms and two people based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and China who are allegedly responsible for procuring drone components on behalf of Iranian drone manufacturers.

They mark the second round of sanctions targeting Iranian weapons proliferators since President Trump signed an executive order in February imposing a “restoring maximum pressure” campaign on Iran meant to deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Treasury will continue to target Iranian drones “missiles, and conventional weapons that often end up in the hands of destabilizing actors, including terrorist proxies.”

Mexican president: ‘What they’re going to announce on April 2 isn’t against Mexico’

After previously saying Mexico would seek “preferential treatment” with Trump and his tariffs, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shifted her tone Tuesday to note the tariffs set to go into effect on Wednesday weren’t targeting Mexico.

“What they’re going to announce on April 2 isn’t against Mexico, it’s not against Canada. It’s a policy of the United States to the entire world,” Sheinbaum said in her morning news briefing.

That said, if tariffs go into effect, Mexico would be dealt a particularly hard blow, as much of its economy is intertwined with the U.S., especially the auto sector.

While other leaders have butted heads with Trump, Sheinbaum has assumed a less confrontational approach, following through on U.S. demands in the hope that doing so will offset the bulk of American populist’s threats.

Speaker Johnson says tariffs may be ‘rocky’ at first

“You have to trust the president’s instincts on the economy,” Johnson said.

He said he expects the tariffs to go forward as Trump promised.

“We’ll see how it all develops,” he said. “It may be rocky in the beginning. But I think that this will make sense for Americans and help all Americans.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he and Trump have talked about a third term

“There’s a constitutional path. You have to amend the constitution to do this, and that’s a high bar,” said Johnson, a lawyer who specialized in constitutional issues.

“I think he recognizes the constitutional limitations,” he said.

The Republican speaker says Trump has joked with him about the idea. He said he takes the president “at his word.”

Florida Republicans face off against well-funded Democrats in US House special elections

Tuesday’s special elections for two Florida congressional seats in heavily pro-Trump districts have become an unexpected source of concern for national Republicans as Democrats have poured millions in fundraising into the races.

Both seats opened when Trump chose their representatives for jobs in his second administration. Matt Gaetz was briefly nominated to be Trump’s attorney general before withdrawing, while Mike Waltz became national security adviser.

Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, running for Waltz’s seat, and state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, running to replace Gaetz, are widely expected to hold the seats in their reliably conservative districts, which would give Republicans a 220 to 213 advantage over Democrats in the U.S. House.

But both have been outraised by their Democratic counterparts, and Republicans in Florida and Washington have begun trying to distance themselves from any potential underperformance.

? Read more about Florida’s special elections

Hundreds of HHS employees wait in line wrapping around building to find out if their job is gone

As a biting spring wind whipped around them, staffers waited for as long as an hour outside the health department’s Washington offices to get scanned into the building.

As many as 10,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs Tuesday and some are finding out as they try to enter the building that they no longer have jobs. Laid off staffers are being asked to immediately turn in their badges and cellphones at the door.

One staffer waiting in line loudly joked: “Is this an April Fool’s joke?”

Caine says uniformed guard shouldn’t have been in Houthi attack Signal chat

During retired Lt. Gen. John Caine’s confirmation hearing for joint chiefs chairman, Sen. Jack Reed asked him whether top uniformed military leaders should have participated in a controversial Signal chat in which U.S. officials discussed battle plans.

“From what I understand of that chat, it was a partisan political chat and so the joint force should not have been represented in there,” Caine said.

Caine declined to comment on whether senior U.S. officials, including the vice president, defense secretary, secretary of state and national security advisor, should have discussed battle plans on an unclassified, commercial application.

“What I will say is we should always preserve the element of surprise,” Caine said. He noted that the Senate Armed Services Committee had requested an inquiry into the matter.

Joint chiefs chairman nominee for the first time publicly denies he had ever worn a MAGA hat

President Trump has told a story about retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine saying he wore one of the hats when the two met some years ago.

When asked about the story during the Senate Armed Services hearing on his confirmation, Caine said, “For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission. And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

He added that he thinks Trump must have been “talking about somebody else.”

Trump administration sued over decision to rescind billions in health funding

A coalition of state attorneys general sued the administration Tuesday over its decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.

Officials from 23 states filed the suit in federal court in Rhode Island. They include New York Attorney General Letitia James, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as well as attorneys general California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin and New York , as well as the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit argues the “sudden and reckless cuts violate federal law, jeopardize public health, and will have devastating consequences for communities nationwide.”

The lawsuit asks the court to immediately stop the Trump administration from rescinding the money, which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related efforts such as testing and vaccination. The money also went to addiction and mental health programs.

Federal health officials announced the decision to claw back the money a week ago.

Sen. Cory Booker’s floor speech stretches into its 15th hour

The New Jersey senator has been speaking through the night to protest President Trump’s agenda.

Booker’s speech is now among the longest marathon-speaking performances in Senate history. Only eight others have held the Senate floor for longer.

Booker is visibly exhausted as he continues his speech.

National Institutes of Health layoffs arrive on the new director’s first day on the job

The Tuesday layoffs, coming on new director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s first day, are part of a larger effort by the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reduce the size of the Health and Human Services department by about 25%.

At the NIH, the cuts included at least four directors of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers who were put on administrative leave, and nearly entire communications staffs were terminated, according to an agency senior leader, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.

An email viewed by The Associated Press shows some senior-level employees of the Bethesda, Maryland, campus who were placed on leave were offered a possible transfer to the Indian Health Service in locations including Alaska and given until end of Wednesday to respond.

— Lauran Neegaard

Trump’s pick for Joint Chiefs chairman strikes humble, apolitical tone in Senate hearing

President Trump’s nominee to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told senators Tuesday he understands he’s an unknown and unconventional nominee — but the nation is facing unconventional and unprecedented threats, and he’s ready to serve in its defense.

“I realize for many Americans I am an unknown leader,” Caine said in his opening remarks. He spoke of serving under presidents of both parties and of his wide span of experience, which also included service in the National Guard, the private sector and the CIA.

Advocacy organizations file lawsuit to block Trump executive order to overhaul US elections

The complaint filed Tuesday in federal district court in Washington is the third major legal challenge to the order in two days after national Democrats and a pair of nonprofits filed two other lawsuits Monday.

The suit brought by the Brennan Center for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union and others argues Trump’s call for a proof-of-citizenship requirement to register to vote violates the U.S. Constitution.

Other legal experts have raised similar concerns, since the Constitution’s so-called “Elections Clause” gives states and Congress the power to regulate federal elections.

Republicans have argued a proof-of-citizenship requirement will help secure elections against illegal noncitizen voting, which research shows is rare. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

US-Canada-Mexico joint World Cup goes from unity to acrimony thanks to tariffs and ’51st state’ talk

Seven years ago, when a joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico was awarded the 2026 World Cup, rifts created by tariffs — yes, back then, too! — and a proposed border wall were glossed over because of the neighbors’ longstanding political and economic alliances.

“The unity of the three nations? was the overriding theme articulated by Carlos Cordeiro, then-president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. “A powerful message,” he called it.

Well, here we are now, with the soccer showcase arriving in North America in about 15 months, and Trump back in office — inciting trade wars between the neighbors, not to mention across the globe, by levying tariffs that come, then go, then return, with more promised, including what the Republican calls “ reciprocal tariffs ” starting Wednesday.

? Read more about tariffs and the US-Canada-Mexico joint World Cup

The ‘big six’ GOP leaders from Treasury and Congress to meet on tax cuts

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to meet with congressional Republicans again Tuesday afternoon as they edge closer to agreement on a budget framework for Trump’s tax breaks.

Senate GOP Leader John Thune is hoping to launch votes on the package this week. But differences remain, particularly over GOP spending cuts.

Wall Street falls early with Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on trade partners now a day away

Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.5% before the bell Tuesday morning, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%. Nasdaq futures also headed 0.5% lower.

Gold rose to over $3,170.00 per ounce early Tuesday before falling back slightly. Gold is hitting all-time highs as investors seek a save place to park their money with markets destabilized by Trump’s tariff threats.

On Wednesday, the United States is set to begin what Trump calls “ reciprocal ” tariffs. Yet little is known about exactly who will be targeted and what the tariff scheme will be.

? Read more about the financial markets

Europe says it holds a lot of trade cards on the eve of Trump’s tariff ‘Liberation Day’

A top European Union official warned the U.S. on Tuesday that the world’s biggest trade bloc “holds a lot of cards” when it comes to dealing with the Trump administration’s new tariffs and has a good plan to retaliate if forced to.

Trump has promised to roll out from other countries Wednesday. He says they will free the U.S. from reliance on foreign goods.

He’s vowed to impose to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products, dubbing April 2 “Liberation Day.”

“Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

? Read more about the European Union’s response to tariffs

Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court at stake in race that’s drawn powerful political interests

The race, which will be decided Tuesday, broke records for spending and has become a proxy battle for the nation’s political fights, pitting a candidate backed by President Trump against a Democratic-aligned challenger.

Republicans including Trump and the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, lined up behind Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats like former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power and abortion rights and to oppose voter ID.

The first major election in the country since November is seen as a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has torn through federal agencies and laid off thousands of workers. Musk traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Schimel and personally hand out $1 million checks to two voters.

? Read more about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker carries an all-night speech to protest Trump’s agenda

Booker took to the Senate floor Monday evening saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” He was still on the floor Tuesday morning more than 12 hours later.

“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said at the start of his speech. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”

Booker railed against cuts to Social Security offices and spoke to concerns that broader cuts to the social safety net could be coming, though Republican lawmakers say the program won’t be touched.

? Read more about Sen. Cory Booker’s speech

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