Homeland Security Is ‘Disintegrating,’ Trump’s Budget Director Warns

Happy Thursday! President Trump flew to Las Vegas today, where he is scheduled to speak and participate in an event celebrating the tax cuts he signed into law last year, including the "no tax on tips" policy that he said was inspired by his conversation with a Las Vegas waitress during the 2024 campaign. Trump's effort to sell the tax cuts, and his economy more broadly, is complicated by lingering affordability concerns, including gas prices that jumped after he launched a war with Iran. "He absolutely has to talk about his plan to bring down high gasoline costs, or else he's lost his own message," GOP strategist Ron Bonjean told the Associated Press. "It won't be credible just to talk about no taxes on tips."

Here's what else we're watching.

DHS Is 'Disintegrating,' Trump's Budget Director Warns

In an appearance before a Senate panel Thursday to discuss President Trump's 2027 budget request, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought warned lawmakers that the two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security could threaten public safety as more employees quit their jobs.

"As of right now, the Department of Homeland Security is disintegrating because the secretary and I are having to figure out ways to temporarily fund people's paychecks so we don't have people quit and embark on new careers," Vought said, referring to the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin.

President Trump has ordered DHS to use funds intended for other purposes to pay virtually all employees, but some key workers, including those at the Transportation Security Administration, have yet to receive all of the pay they are owed, and there is no certainty that salaries will continue to be paid moving forward if Congress fails to provide dedicated funding.

Vought told the Senate Budget Committee that he is already seeing signs that more DHS employees are leaving the department. "[S]ome of the things that we were seeing the weekend that Secretary Mullin took office was incredibly concerning," he said. "We have to have a funding mechanism for the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security."

Asked by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham if Congress continuing to fail to fund DHS would "put America at risk," Vought said it would. Graham called on lawmakers to fix the problem immediately, saying, "What we're doing here is incredibly irresponsible, incredibly dangerous."

Questions about the power of the purse: Vought was chastised by lawmakers in both parties over the White House's refusal to spend certain congressionally appropriated funds.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told Vought that he has no legal right to hold back funds, including more than $810 million Congress provided to the Community Services Block Grant program, which the White House has frozen for review. "Congress has appropriated money, and you don't have the authority to impound it," Grassley said. "I want those quarterly allotments released."

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said that, according to the Government Accountability Office, Vought has illegally impounded congressionally approved funds at least seven times. The law is clear, Warner said, that "if Congress appropriates, you've got to deliver these funds."

Vought said some of the programs funded by Congress conflict with the administration's agenda. Reminding Vought that he is not a legislator, Warner called on the budget director to obey the will of Congress. "Director Vought, if Congress had appropriated money for housing on Mars, my belief is your job is to administer, not make that judgment."

Big deficit, no estimate: Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley noted that the White House had failed to provide a deficit projection for the president's budget request, even though it is required by law.

Vought said that "it's important not to confuse the country" about the budget numbers, given that there are efforts in Congress to pass a reconciliation bill that could affect any projections.

Merkley told Vought that, according to his analysis, the White House budget request, which seeks a massive increase in defense spending, would produce a deficit of about $2.2 trillion in fiscal year 2027. "I think perhaps the reason you didn't want to include deficit numbers is you didn't want to draw attention to [the fact] that we are in a situation where we are not in a major recession," Merkley said, "and yet we're continuing to drive this nation deeper and deeper into debt."

Merkley noted that if deficits continue at the same level for 20 years, the federal government will "basically [be] able to fund only Medicaid, Medicare, defense, and interest payments, which means no investments in health care, housing and education."

Vought said the budget request is "not intended to tell you where we would be from the deficit" and claimed that the Trump administration has made great strides in slowing the growth of the debt.

"Actually, the situation is you added $30 trillion last year to the debt over the next 30 years," Merkley replied. "So rather than reducing deficits and debt, you are increasing them."

RFK Jr. Touts MAHA Agenda, Defends Trump's Proposed Budget Cuts at HHS

At a pair of congressional hearings on Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to defend his tumultuous leadership of the department and the widely criticized changes he has made at the nation's health agencies.

Appearing before Congress for the first time since a fiery grilling in September, Kennedy testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in the morning before taking questions from the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee in the afternoon. He is slated to testify at five more congressional hearings over the coming week.

"Most of the questioning from members of Congress on Thursday fell predictably along party lines, with Republicans mostly praising Kennedy and Trump's leadership with regard to public health, including HHS' focus on nutrition and promises to target fraud and abuse within the agency," Brandy Zadrozny writes at MS Now. "Democrats, meanwhile, hammered Kennedy as a dangerous, self-aggrandizing conspiracy theorist, and criticized his stewardship, including the cutting of public service marketing during measles outbreaks in lieu of campaigns that promoted Kennedy himself."

Squaring off with Democrats in sometimes feisty exchanges, Kennedy tried to tout "MAHA wins" in areas including new dietary guidelines and prescription drug pricing while also championing President Trump's proposed cuts to the HHS budget. The president has requested a $15.8 billion cut to the HHS budget for fiscal 2027, a 12.5% reduction compared with this year. The proposed cuts would provide $5 billion less for the National Institutes of Health.

"The Administration continues to align the budget with the proposed reorganization [of the department]," Kennedy said in prepared remarks. "The structural reforms will reduce duplication, improve accountability, and maximize the impact of limited resources. By consolidating overlapping functions, strengthening prevention-focused programs, eliminating fraud and abuse, and targeting investments toward primary care, maternal and child health, mental health, substance use prevention and treatment, environmental health, and workforce development, HHS aims to slow long-term cost growth while improving health outcomes. These reforms are designed to ensure that federal health dollars are spent more efficiently."

'I'm not happy about the cuts': Trump administration officials and political allies have reportedly steered their health messaging away from Kennedy's divisive vaccine skepticism, seen as a risky subject ahead of the midterm elections, but Democrats challenged the secretary on that topic, too, as they challenged Kennedy's spending decisions.

Democratic Rep. Linda Sánchez of California confronted Kennedy about a rise in measles outbreaks and a decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to end a campaign promoting flu vaccination. "The anti-vaccine rhetoric you ran on and the anti-vaccine actions you have taken over the last year clearly correlates with the dramatic increases, again, in preventable diseases," she said. "As a mother, this horrifies me. Stopping the spread of communicable diseases is one of HHS's primary responsibilities."

As he clashed with Sánchez, Kennedy argued that the United States has done better in fighting measles that any other country, but did not address the rising numbers of measles cases since early 2025 - more than 2,200 last year and more than 1,700 already in 2026 - that could put the U.S. at risk of losing its status as having officially eliminated measles, which it has had since 2000.

Sánchez questioned Kennedy's priorities. "You suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you're spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk, shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock?" she said, referring to a wild promotional video that Kennedy and HHS released in February. (She failed to note that Kennedy, though shirtless for much of the video, famously was wearing jeans throughout, even as he took a dip in a bathtub and jumped into a pool.)

Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, asked whether proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children would undermine Kennedy's MAHA goals.

"Am I happy about the cuts? No, I'm not happy about the cuts," Kennedy replied. "Nobody wants to make the cuts. [OMB Director] Russ Vought doesn't want to make the cuts. President Trump doesn't. But we've got a $39 trillion debt, and that's costing every American child $6,600 a year."

A new nominee for the CDC: Trump on Thursday nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has gone without a permanent director since Kennedy fired Susan Monarez last August over vaccine policy differences. Schwartz is seen as an experienced public health leader who doesn't carry a record of opposing vaccines. "She is a STAR!" Trump wrote on social media. Schwartz needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Meanwhile, Trump's nomination of Casey Means as surgeon general has stalled after she wavered during questioning about recommending vaccines.

What's next: Kennedy has five hearings to go as he runs the congressional gantlet and the political world watches to see how well he can avoid messaging blowups as the Trump administration tries to promote health policy wins and steer clear of anti-vax controversy.

Quote of the Day

"National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity."

− Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who ruled Thursday that White House must halt aboveground construction of President Trump's $400 million ballroom until Congress provides authorization for the project.

The order allows work to continue below ground, where new national security infrastructure is reportedly being built. The Trump administration has claimed that all construction on the ballroom site is related to national security, but the judge ruled that only the bunker qualifies. On March 31, the judge ordered a halt to construction, to take effect tomorrow, April 17. The new order takes effect on April 23.

Trump criticized the ruling on his social media platform, slamming the "out of control Trump Hating, Washington, D.C. District Court Judge, who doesn't want to accept a $400 Million Dollar GIFT of one of the most beautiful Ballrooms anywhere in the World." The president claimed that the ballroom complex is "vital for National Security and Military Operations of the United States of America," and said that delaying its construction "severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House - including all future Presidents of the United States, and their families."

Fiscal News Roundup

• Trump Bets His Tax Cuts Will Please Las Vegas Voters on His Swing West – Associated Press
• Trump Announces 10-Day Ceasefire Between Israel and Lebanon – Axios
• House Effort to End Trump's War With Iran Fails by One Vote – NBC News
• US Military Will Target Iran-Linked Ships Worldwide, Broadening Scope Beyond Blockade – Associated Press
• White House Shrugs Off Shaky Economy as War Exceeds Trump's Timeline – New York Times
• Tax Refund Splurge for Many Americans Is Paying Down Debt – Bloomberg
• Senate Republicans 'Syncing' Immigration Funding Plan With House GOP – Politico
• Trump Officially Taps Erica Schwartz to Lead CDC, Avoiding Vaccine Skeptics – Washington Post
• GOP, Democrats Blast Vought for Holding Back Cash: 'You Don't Have the Authority to Impound' – Politico
• RFK Jr. Defends Health Agenda, Clashes With Democrats in House Hearing – Washington Post
• Amid Quarrel With Pope, Trump Strips Miami Charity of Funding to House Migrant Kids – Miami Herald
• A Depleted Space Force Races to Prepare for Trump's Spending Spree – Politico
• New York City's Super-Rich Cry Foul Over Proposed Tax on Second Homes – Financial Times
• Trump's 250-Foot Arch Receives Early Design Approval as Public Pans It – Washington Post

Views and Analysis

• Trump Wants a Tax Day Victory Lap in Las Vegas. The City's Economy Isn't Cooperating – Megan Messerly, Politico
• Trump Has No Plan to Cut the $39 Trillion National Debt, but He Does Want to Cut Child Care. His Budget Director Is Scrambling to Clarify – Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune
• Rumors of the Dollar's Demise Look Much Exaggerated – Neil Irwin, Axios
• Why Some Countries Have Reduced Their Treasury Holdings – Joseph Brusuelas, RSM
• Now It's Republicans Blaming American Companies for Inflation – Carmen Paun, Rachel Shin and Kelsey Tamborrino, Politico
• On Tax Day, Mamdani Taxed the Rich – Whitney Curry Wimbish, American Prospect
• The Pitt Reveals Why Healthcare Desperately Needs a New Front Door – Jeremy Morgan, Fortune
• Artemis Was a State Failure and a Human Triumph – Timothy Lavin, Bloomberg
• '$20 Billion in 20 Minutes': The Man Turning Donald Trump Into a Global Deal Machine – James Fontanella-Khan, Financial Times
• TMZ Turns Its Pitiless Lens on Politicians – Paula Mejía, New Yorker