According to the Yale Budget Lab, Republicans’ proposed cuts to social safety net programs combined with the Trump tax cuts they are intended to pay for “would actively transfer money from low-income people to high-income earners,” the Washington Post reports.

“A simmering dispute between the Department of Government Efficiency and an independent agency dedicated to promoting peace broke into an open standoff involving the police on Monday, as Elon Musk’s government cutters marched into the agency’s headquarters and evicted its officials,” the New York Times reports.

“The dramatic scene played out in Washington on Monday afternoon as Mr. Musk’s team was rebuffed from the U.S. Institute of Peace, an agency that President Trump has ordered dismantled, then entered it with law enforcement officers. Agency officials say that because the institute is a congressionally chartered nonprofit that is not part of the executive branch, Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk do not have the authority to gut its operations.”

“The Trump administration is set to cut more than 20 percent of the staff at the taxpayer help branch of the IRS, eliminating jobs designed to help people struggling with their finances, identity theft or other tax issues,” the Washington Post reports.

CNN: “As DOGE has set up shop inside the IRS over the past month, the agency has fired thousands of workers and auditors and set out to shutter more than 110 taxpayer assistance offices across the country. Widespread layoffs are in the works, with plans to cut nearly 20% of all IRS employees by May 15.”

“The barnstorming, which has played out at multiple agencies, has thrown the IRS into turmoil at the height of tax season. While the business of processing returns and issuing refunds has been ongoing, sources say these DOGE actions could undermine the long-term operations of the IRS, which handles nearly all accounts receivable for the federal government.”

“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to back the House-passed government funding measure effectively puts an end to a shutdown fight that exposed bitter partisan disputes over federal spending,” Punchbowl News reports.

“But the intra-party disputes among Hill Democrats are just getting started. The Democratic base — where most of the money and campaign support comes from — is furious, berating Schumer for helping President Donald Trump and Republicans pass a funding package that most Democrats loathe…”

Playbook: “One of the most surprising developments of the last 12 hours is that late last night, House Democratic leadership — repeat: not backbenchers — felt compelled to release a fiery statement that does not give Senate Dems who support the CR much of any room for cover.”

“President Donald Trump indicated to GOP senators during a White House meeting Thursday that he supports using an accounting method that would treat trillions of dollars in tax cuts in a massive GOP package as costing nothing,” Politico reports.

“House and Senate Republicans are split on the controversial accounting tactic, though Speaker Mike Johnson is increasingly open to using it. The move would make it easier for GOP lawmakers to make the math work on their costly plan.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that he would support the CR to keep the government funded through Sept. 30, Punchbowl News reports.

Said Schumer: “While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. I will vote to keep the government open, and not shut it down.”

Schumer’s statement indicates Democrats will vote to end the filibuster and allow the House-passed CR to get through the Senate.

Wall Street Journal: Democrats clear way for GOP bill, ending threat of shutdown.

“President Donald Trump and key Senate Republicans are still grasping for a solution to the US closing in on the debt ceiling following a White House meeting Thursday,” Bloomberg reports.

“The senators, including Majority Leader John Thune and Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, discussed whether to increase the debt ceiling in the tax-and-spending package that Republicans intend to pass this year. Most analysts believe the US will default on a payment obligation sometime this summer without a debt ceiling increase.”

“Senate Democrats are holding firm against the House GOP-passed government funding bill, inching the country closer to a shutdown with existing funding set to expire in less than 36 hours,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Democratic leaders have yet to send GOP leaders an offer that would allow a vote on a short-term CR in exchange for helping Republicans overcome a filibuster. This would also unlock a time agreement permitting the Senate to pass the funding bill before the Friday midnight deadline. Under the current timeline, the Senate wouldn’t be able to vote on final passage until Sunday.”

“Senate Democrats are huddling for another lunch meeting where they’re expected to continue weighing their messaging and floor strategies.”

“Washington Democrats finally have a first point of leverage against President Donald Trump – but it comes with a dilemma that could leave them looking even more hapless than they have so far in his second term,” CNN reports.

“The pressure point arises over a temporary government funding bill that could provide cover for the president’s anti-government purge and as Democratic voters pine for their lawmakers to show some fight.”

For members: Schumer’s Tough Talk Is Likely Just Posturing

“It’s the accounting maneuver that could break the Senate, upend the federal budget process and explode the national debt,” Politico reports.

“Adopting the ‘current policy baseline,’ as it’s called, could be the only way for the GOP to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent and avoid painful cuts to federal programs, as well as pile on new income tax exemptions for tips, overtime and Social Security…”

“If lawmakers adopt the change, it would essentially make it appear as though extending current tax rates, set to expire at the end of the year, would cost nothing rather than the roughly $4 trillion over 10 years that nonpartisan scorekeepers estimate.”

“Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has repeatedly posted error-filled data that inflated its success at saving taxpayer money. But after a series of news reports called out those mistakes, the group changed its tactics,” the New York Times reports.

“It began making its new mistakes harder to find, leaving its already secretive activities even less transparent than before.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “said on Wednesday that Democrats would refuse to back a stopgap bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, significantly raising the chances of a government shutdown at the end of the week,” the New York Times reports.

Said Schumer: “Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 C.R. that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”

“A federal judge in Maryland suggested Wednesday that he might direct that thousands of fired federal workers get their jobs back, at least temporarily, after hearing arguments that their layoffs were unlawful,” NBC News reports.

“The U.S. debt and deficit problem worsened during President Donald Trump’s first month in office, as the budget shortfall for February passed the $1 trillion mark even though the fiscal year is not yet at the halfway point,” CNBC reports.