On March 6, President Trump signed a new Executive Order that Administration officials said they hope will end legal challenges over the matter by imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations. In addition, the nation's refu­gee program will be suspended for 120 days, and the United States will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama Administration. The new guidelines mark a dramatic departure from Trump's original ban, issued on January 27 and immediately met by massive protests and then ordered frozen by the courts. The new ban lays out a far more specific national security basis for the order, blocks the issuance only of new visas, and names just six of the seven countries included in the first executive order, omitting Iraq. The Executive Order will take effect at 12:01am on Thursday, March 16. The New York, Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington, and Maryland Attorneys General have filed a legal challenge seeking to temporarily block the new Executive Order in court. Read more...

Last week, it was reported that the Trump Administration is seeking a 14 percent cut to the Coast Guard ($1.3 billion), an 11 percent cut to FEMA ($370 million), and an 11 percent cut to the TSA ($500 million), according to draft budget documents from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The budget cuts would be used to pay for the Administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. It was also reported that the Administration is seeking a $6 billion cut (14 percent) to the budget of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including the total elimination of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and the Choice Neighborhoods Program.  A HUD spokesman said that the budget document "is still a work in progress" and it is unclear whether the proposed cuts will be included in President Trump's final budget proposal. However, Congress is ultimately responsible for writing the federal budget, and many Members will fight to protect many programs within these agencies. Read more...

On March 8, President Trump reportedly pushed his White House team to craft a plan for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending that would pressure states to streamline local permitting, favor renovation of existing roads and highways over new construction and prioritize projects that can quickly begin construction. Trump said that he was inclined to give states 90 days to start projects, and asked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to provide a recommendation. He also expressed interest in building new high-speed railroads, inquired about the possibility of auctioning the broadcast spectrum to wireless carriers, and asked for more details about the Hyperloop, a project envisioned by Tesla founder Elon Musk that would rapidly transport passengers in pods through low-pressure tubes. In the meeting, the President said he aimed to win approval for an infrastructure plan once Congress finishes deliberations on health care and a reform of tax laws and suggested that an infrastructure plan may be part of the tax-reform debate. Read more...

On March 8, the House passed, by a vote of 371-48, the $577.9 billion FY 2017 Defense Appropriations bill ( H.R. 1301), which would fund the Department of Defense for the remainder of the current fiscal year (i.e., through Sept. 30, 2017).  Currently the Pentagon, along with most of the rest of the federal government, is operating on a stopgap "Continuing Resolution" Congress passed in December , which expires on April 28. But Republican lawmakers have said that fiscal 2017 defense spending should be passed earlier to give the Pentagon budget certainty and allow Congress to turn its attention to upcoming issues. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy for H.R. 1301, stating that the " Administration supports House passage of H.R. 1301 [...] The bill funds critical national security needs."  Read more...