Good morning! We’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is NASA says an asteroid might hit Earth. The good news is it won’t happen until 2032, so we’ve got time for a few more elections (phew!). The bad news is chances are going up (from 1.0% to 1.5%). The good news is this thing won’t make us the next dinosaurs. The bad news is, at up to 295 ft. wide, this thing is still big enough to level an entire city. Any volunteers? Boise? Cleveland? Timbuktu?

WHITE HOUSE

⚖️ Trump challenges idea of ‘independent’ agencies

This shouldn’t be a shock. But it turns out that the guy famous for firing people on TV… doesn’t mind firing people. In the first month of his return to office, President Trump and his appointees have shown thousands of federal employees the door. About 77,000 took the golden parachute for eight months of severance. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) told agency heads to start firing newer employees still in their probationary periods. That one could hit up to 220,000 people.

More than 300 were sacked at the Department of Energy. The CDC lost 700. The IRS? 7,000. Even parks aren't immune — about 1,000 are out at the National Park Service. No corner of the federal government has been spared. Even Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth has ordered the military to prep for big budget cuts. But not every firing was created equal.

Federal courts have blocked Trump from firing labor regulators, intelligence personnel, and watchdogs. Many of these cases rest on the same foundation: a 1935 Supreme Court case called Humphreys Executor, which limits the president's ability to fire the leaders of so-called independent agencies.

• Most federal agencies exist under standard federal departments like Defense, Treasury, and Labor. Independent agencies exist outside of that structure.

• This includes things like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).

• Many are run by boards. Others, like the OSC, are run by Biden appointees that Trump wants to send packing.

Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has notified Congress that it "intends to urge the Supreme Court" to overturn the 1935 decision. The DOJ says the ruling prevents the president "from adequately supervising” the executive branch. To that point, Trump signed an executive order aimed directly at this issue.

• It says independent agencies "must be supervised and controlled" by the elected president to be "truly accountable to the American people."

• It then demands all major actions of “so-called” independent agencies be approved by the White House going forward.

Trump’s case leans on the “unitary executive” theory that says, in effect, the president has ultimate power over the executive branch. Opponents lambast this view as fringe. It endangers careful safeguards put in place by Congress, they say. But proponents point to the Constitution. Article II introduces the presidency with this line: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” They say there are no carveouts for independent agencies.

• The coming onslaught of cases challenging Trump’s orders will, indirectly, put this theory to the test. Whether the conservative Supreme Court goes for it is another story.

• But Chief Justice John Roberts was, in a related 2020 case, sympathetic to the Trump view. He noted some independent agency heads wield vast power but have “no boss, peers, or voters to report to.”

In other news, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to stop weighing DEI practices when evaluating potential federal contractors.

GOVERNMENT

💰️ As usual, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is all over the news. The acting head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) quit after DOGE requested server access. Elon Musk is facing conflict of interest claims now that DOGE is digging into the stock-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk, by the way, is not officially running DOGE. Who is? No one can seem to name a specific person in charge. But, per the White House, DOGE workers are "onboarding as political appointees at every respective agency." The DOGE site claims to have saved taxpayers $55 billion (though some dispute that number). And they’re now looking into sending taxpayers a “DOGE Dividend” check using part of the savings.

📺️ The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will spend up to $200 million on a new ad campaign warning those in the U.S. illegally that "we will find you and deport you." The hyper-targeted, two-year, international campaign will include TV, radio, and digital ads. In the first ad shared so far, DHS Sec. Kristi Noem says "Criminals are not welcome in the United States." The number of known illegal crossings on the southern border has fallen to an average of 132 per day, down from a 2023 average of 1,800.

📮 The United States Postal Service needs a new chief. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who's led the independent agency since 2020, wrote a letter asking the USPS Board of Governors to begin looking for his replacement. That person will be chosen by the 11-member board, which is itself appointed by the president. Congress has taken aim at the USPS lately for hemorrhaging money despite raising rates and still pretty much sucking.

POLITICS

🏛️ Treasury reopens as remaining Trump Cabinet picks dwindle to four

Senate confirmation votes on Trump’s nominees are moving right along. Ex-finance CEO Howard Lutnick took over Wednesday as secretary of Commerce after a party-line vote. His firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, was once based near the top of the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees on 9/11. Lutnick will oversee everything from the Census Bureau to the Patent and Trademark Office to the National Weather Service.

• Another former finance exec (and ex-senator), Kelly Loeffler, is the new head of the Small Business Administration.

Elsewhere, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent reopened the Treasury Department's main entrance for the first time since March 2020. He called it a symbolic gesture that says, "We are open for business again."

Over in Congress, Senate and House Republicans are duking it out behind the scenes on how best to proceed with Trump’s legislative agenda. The Senate wants to split things up into two bills. The first would focus on the border, defense, and energy, while the second would focus on taxes and the budget. President Trump seems to prefer the House method of one, big all-or-nothing bill.

• Regardless, Senate Republicans are moving forward with their idea. As Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) noted, the president likes “optionality.”

TRIVIA

Congress is considering a bipartisan bill to boost the U.S. shipbuilding sector and the major labor unions are on board. It's been on the decline in the U.S. for decades, but the maritime industry has always been important. It's so important, in fact, that one of the five U.S. service academies is dedicated to it. Which U.S. service academy trains students for careers in the maritime shipping and transportation industries?

Hint: It’s neither the Naval Academy nor the Coast Guard Academy.

BRIEFS

● President Trump signed an executive order on IVF. It notes that up to "one in seven couples" has trouble conceiving and demands a list of policy proposals to aggressively reduce the cost of IVF (insert your own “price of eggs” joke). But Democrats are calling it a "PR stunt” that changes nothing.

● Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy accused President Trump of parroting Russian disinformation as Trump slammed his counterpart as a "dictator without elections." Meanwhile, U.S. and Russian diplomats began peace talks this week in Saudi Arabia.

● Pope Francis has pneumonia in both lungs. Rumors that the 88-year-old had died swirled after his hospitalization last Friday. The Vatican is notoriously tight-lipped on papal health, leading many to question the little information that does get released.

● Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day G20 meeting for foreign ministers from the world's largest economies. He said the meeting in South Africa doesn’t line up with his job "to advance America's national interests," not to "coddle anti-Americanism."

● The Make America Healthy Again movement is starting with food stamps. Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins and Health Sec. RFK, Jr., want to ban junk food from the food stamps Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).

● Kentucky Fried Chicken no longer. Following just about everybody, KFC is moving its headquarters to Plano, Texas. Parent company Yum Brands cited "greater collaboration among its brands" as the reason for the move.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Founded in 1943, the United States Merchant Marine Academy is located on the North Shore of Long Island about nine miles east of Yankee Stadium. As with West Point or any other service academy, you'll need a congressional recommendation to get in. But most grads fulfill their service obligation by working in the civilian maritime industry instead of joining the military.