Washington, DC

1. Warsh’s challenge
2. Trump signs retirement EO
3. FISA deadline dilemma
4. House’s DHS quagmire
5. Schiff’s war powers play
6. Hegseth, Caine grilled
7. Gallego speaks
8. House probes Chinese AI

PDB: Trump threatens troop withdrawal over Merz feud

US releases inflation data … Apple reports earnings … Oil soars above $120 a barrel

Warsh heads for Fed pressure cooker

President Donald Trump’s Federal Reserve chair pick is finally on the fast track — to face even harsher White House pressure than Jerome Powell, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller reports. The Senate Banking Committee advanced Kevin Warsh’s nomination along party lines yesterday, setting him up for confirmation before Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. Like Powell, Warsh will helm a central bank that’s taking a wait-and-see approach to inflationary shocks like the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs, even as the president tries to pressure its members to cut rates. After all, Trump sought assurances that Warsh, if selected, would support lower interest rates. “I’m sure the president’s going to get annoyed with him if he doesn’t move as quickly on easing interest rates,” said retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Part of Warsh’s challenge, he added, “may be just managing expectations back in the White House.”

Trump to sign retirement order

Trump will sign an executive order today that seeks to expand access to retirement plans for workers whose employers don’t provide one, two White House officials told Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller. The administration will integrate its push with the so-called Saver’s Match, a 2022 requirement that the federal government match retirement-plan contributions from workers making less than $35,000 with up to $1,000 starting next year. Semafor first reported officials were exploring the idea, which Trump later confirmed during his State of the Union address. Today’s order will specifically direct the Treasury Department to launch a new website, TrumpIRA.gov, that workers can use to filter private-sector retirement plans by factors like cost, minimum contribution, and minimum balance, so they can enroll in one that allows them to collect the match if eligible.

Surveillance dilemma: Punt or shutdown

The House passed a three-year extension of expiring surveillance powers, but Congress is still racing to keep the program online because of disagreement between the two chambers. The Senate is trying to pass a 45-day clean extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Senate Majority Leader John Thune notified House leaders that the lower chamber’s version can’t pass because it includes a ban on a central digital currency. Any Senate bill will require agreement from all 100 senators in order to pass before tonight’s deadline. Asked if he could allow an extension, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a FISA critic, said he’s working to ensure “we’re on a path to real reform.” With the powers set to lapse, the House would likely accept a short-term extension. House GOP leadership added language allowing them to take it up quickly on a two-thirds majority.

— Burgess Everett and Nicholas Wu

The House GOP’s DHS quagmire

The House cleared a party-line budget blueprint to fund immigration and border enforcement through the remainder of Trump’s term. But the slog to get there risked the rest of the GOP’s legislative agenda, after a revolt from farm-district lawmakers and conservative hardliners. House Republican leaders must now decide whether to put up a Senate-passed DHS funding bill to reopen most of the agency, or to try to pass a different funding bill, as Johnson has hinted. And as the shutdown continues, some Republicans are wondering whether Trump should get more involved. “The only way we’re going to get [DHS] open is if the president gets on the phone with the House,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said this week. But Johnson told reporters last night he’d informed Trump of the situation. “Everybody understands what we’re doing. We’re all one team.”

— Nicholas Wu and Burgess Everett

Schiff tests GOP ahead of Iran deadline

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., will force a vote on his Iran war powers resolution today, with a twist — if it advances, it would be on track to get a final vote after the 60th day of the Iran war, which hits at midnight. Republicans are talking a lot about their concerns with an unauthorized war after more than 60 days, and Schiff says this is their first chance to act. “They acknowledge that under the War Powers Act that when 60 days comes, that the president, if he does not have authorization from Congress, has to terminate the conflict. That 60 days is here,” Schiff told Semafor. “This is their opportunity.” Most Republicans are expected to still oppose the Democratic resolution’s immediate cessation of the conflict. Only one Republican, Rand Paul, has voted against Trump’s war so far, but GOP war fatigue is growing.

— Burgess Everett

Hegseth, Caine face more questions on war

Top Pentagon officials will sit for a second day of questioning on Capitol Hill, today appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee as lawmakers stare down tomorrow’s 60-day deadline for the war. Expect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine to face pointed questions about the war’s justification, the strategy going forward, and the price tag; officials estimate the US military operations in Iran have cost $25 billion and are weighing a subsequent funding request they plan to send to Congress. There’s no clear off-ramp, given Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal and has vowed to continue the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper will brief Trump today on military options, including possible new combat operations to break the deadlock, Axios reported. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is recalling one of its aircraft carriers from the region, according to The Washington Post.

View / Gallego has put himself in the barrel

Ruben Gallego’s friends told him to “lay low,” as he put it, “and this will pass over.” He didn’t agree. The Arizona Democrat was right about one thing: This month’s sexual assault allegations against Eric Swalwell, Gallego’s onetime “best friend,” didn’t just destroy the Californian’s political career. They also subjected Gallego to the first stress test of the party’s invisible 2028 presidential primary. He responded by holding a 35-minute clear-the-air presser and spoke at length with me recently about the ad hoc war room he developed as the Swalwell crisis grew. He told me he’d never gotten so intoxicated that he did something he couldn’t remember. And he acknowledged a “reputation” for late nights and drinking, “before having kids,” that he now felt was being used against him. But Gallego didn’t tell me whether the Swalwell episode makes him less likely to run for president.

House probes Airbnb over Chinese AI

Two House committees are probing Airbnb and Anysphere, maker of AI coding platform Cursor, over their use of Chinese AI models, Semafor’s Rachyl Jones scooped. The Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee and House select committee on China jointly sent letters to the company CEOs, requesting information on their use of AI models made by Chinese companies, the decisions behind their choice of model, and communications with Chinese model providers. They also ask employees related to these decisions to attend an in-person briefing on the matter. The letters were signed by the committees’ Republican chairs, John Moolenaar of Michigan and Andrew Garbarino of New York. Their concerns revolve around the national security risks of sharing wide swaths of data and information with AI companies in China, which often provide cheaper, open-source tools compared with their American counterparts.

Blindspot: TPUSA and Cuba

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Three people were indicted on federal charges in the assault of Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez at an ICE protest earlier this month, Fox News reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: Cuban farmers are struggling under the US energy blockade. 

Verizon had spent years losing ground to its rivals. Dan Schulman came out of retirement last October to change that. On this week’s episode of The CEO Signal, presented by PwC, Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson ask him why he said yes to the CEO job after turning it down twice, and how he plans to lead Verizon back to growth.

Leadership is about defining reality while inspiring hope, Schulman says, as he explains why he laid off thousands of employees but also felt a responsibility to invest in equipping them with AI skills. And the martial arts practitioner shares how he’s working to drive urgency and a competitive culture: “If somebody’s going to punch me, I’m going to punch back.”