Washington, DC

1. Dems’ limited ICE options
2. Trump health plan omission
3. US lawmakers in Denmark
4. Trump-Machado meeting
5. Caracas eases oil investment
6. Powell supporters rally

PDB: US, Taiwan agree to trade deal

Trump attends rural health roundtable … US reports on industrial production … WSJ: Trump to announce plan to make tech giants pay for power plants

We’ll be off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday but back in your inbox on Tuesday.

Democrats face no-win decision on ICE

Democrats are very angry at President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, viewing it as out of control and inciting violence. Their problem is there’s not much they can do about it, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. A shutdown would do little to curtail ICE, which got a windfall from the GOP’s tax cuts law; a bipartisan deal is a long shot; and Democrats don’t have the votes to reprogram money. “It’s going to be quite a fight. Because what they are doing is so unacceptable that I think there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be reluctant to fund it at all,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who is preparing for potential ICE action in his state. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., is working on a bipartisan deal, but some Democrats see stopgap funding as the only pragmatic option.

Trump swerves on health care subsidies

Trump’s new health care plan has a gaping hole: It doesn’t mention the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that lapsed at the end of 2025. A White House official indicated to reporters that the administration is not closing the door on an extension; rather, the official said, “the president thinks that that is far too narrow a view on what is ailing our health care system, and that’s why he is putting something out that is much broader.” Still, the snub does little to help GOP lawmakers resuscitate the policy before Democrats wield it against them on the campaign trail. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., met with Trump on Thursday afternoon and urged him to support extending those expired subsidies. Trump’s plan calls on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation expanding health savings accounts for Affordable Care Act enrollees, among other things.

— Eleanor Mueller and Burgess Everett

Lawmakers show support for Greenland

European troops and US members of Congress are making a show of solidarity with Greenland, after a high-stakes meeting failed to resolve the impasse over Trump’s designs on the Danish territory. A group including Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is in Denmark to talk up US relations with the NATO ally; Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, will give a speech at the University of Copenhagen later this morning, during which she’ll say Trump’s rhetoric “undermines the NATO Alliance at a time when our adversaries seek to benefit from division.” Meanwhile, European countries have sent small military contingents to Greenland and NATO troops are planning to be there on a “more permanent” basis, per the Financial Times. New polling shows Trump’s push to control Greenland is deeply unpopular with the American public.

Machado meeting fails to sway Trump

María Corina Machado’s meeting with Trump is unlikely to sway the US president in her favor, even after the Venezuelan opposition leader said she “presented” him with her Nobel Peace prize. Trump (who plans to keep the medal) says he’s been working well with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez — he told Semafor earlier this week that he’d spoken by phone with Rodríguez, describing her as “a terrific person.” And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “at this moment in time,” Trump is standing by his assessment that Machado does not have the support to rule Venezuela. Still, the White House maintains that elections will eventually be held there — though there’s still no timeline for that plan.

— Shelby Talcott

Venezuela eases oil investment laws

Rodríguez said she would reform Venezuela’s hydrocarbon laws to ease foreign investment, in a bid to boost the country’s moribund oil industry. Since ousting former leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump has pushed international oil companies to invest in Venezuela, predicting that its oil industry would be “up and running” within 18 months. However, experts have warned that conditions there — including the risk of further violence — may discourage investments, suggesting that it could be years before new projects become productive. Nonetheless, some firms see an opportunity: Emirati oil giant ADNOC is considering investing in gas projects in the country, which holds some of the world’s largest reserves, Bloomberg reported.

Policymakers rally behind Powell

Policymakers aren’t taking any chances when it comes to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, continuing to rally behind him even as the Trump administration appears to back off. The president has “no plans” to fire Powell, he told Reuters, despite a Justice Department criminal investigation. Still, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned eroded central bank independence could cause inflation to “come roaring back”; Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson called Powell “very effective”; and Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid described “differing views” as “a strength.” On Capitol Hill, top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee urged Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to schedule a hearing on the Powell probe and even consider subpoenas. Meanwhile, the president’s hunt for his next chair continues: Trump still plans to make an announcement “over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

— Eleanor Mueller

Debatable: Venezuela elections

Trump’s meeting with Machado inflamed the debate in Washington over how quickly to move to hold elections in Venezuela. Some Republicans are calling for moving swiftly, seeing interim President Delcy Rodríguez as simply a continuation of Maduro’s regime. “Yesterday would have been a good day [to hold elections],” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant, though he didn’t fault the Trump administration for taking its time. Others caution that quick elections will not necessarily be a solution. “Trying to pressure the regime into holding a presidential election soon won’t get us closer to that objective; rather, it risks repeating the same mistakes that led to the 2024 electoral fiasco,” said Francisco Rodríguez of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy, joins Mixed Signals for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, tech regulation, and why she’s been rattling the patience of some European governments. Max and Ben press her on confronting Europe over X, the Digital Services Act, and online speech — including accusations that she’s carrying water for Elon Musk and the far right. Rogers traces her worldview back to the early internet, Gawker comment sections, and First Amendment litigation, and explains why she sees today’s speech rules as potentially dangerous.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Top GOP lobbyist Jeff Miller will host two fundraisers for House and Senate Republicans in February, with each expected to raise about $10 million.

Playbook: Kentucky governor and possible 2028 presidential contender Andy Beshear doesn’t feel he’s completely deficient in what younger generations call “rizz,” saying he has “maybe a little aura.”

Axios: Some advisers to President Trump are discussing “recalibrating” the White House’s approach to immigration enforcement after private GOP polling showed waning support for the policies.

WaPo: From the investigation into Jerome Powell to his efforts to acquire Greenland, the past week has underscored how Trump operates “unencumbered by tradition, optics or concerns about the separation of powers.”

White House

• President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to use US troops to quell protests in Minnesota after an ICE officer killed a woman in Minneapolis.
• Trump was advised by officials and Middle East allies that striking Iran was “unlikely to make the government fall and could spark a wider conflict.” — WSJ
• Trump told Reuters that “we shouldn’t even have an election,” referring to the midterms, though press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters later he was kidding.