Buyout proposal for fed workers 'blindsided' Trump advisors

⏰ Tick Tock

36 days to the final day of the 2025 Utah Legislature. (3/7/2025)
194 days to the 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025)
278 days until Election Day (11/4/2025)
642 days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)

👀 Here's what you need to know for Thursday morning:

White House considers dozens of new ways to seize spending power

"The White House is considering challenging the constitutionality of a 50-year-old law limiting the president’s control over federal spending, easing the firing of civil servants, curbing pay and reining in independent agencies, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News."

"The ideas, detailed in a slide presentation labeled 'confidential,' outline the ways President Donald Trump’s administration could try to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and its workforce — though it’s unclear whether the president has the legal authority to carry out the suggested actions." [Bloomberg]

• Another judge is preparing to block Trump's spending freeze, despite White House cleanup. [Politico]

Buyout proposal for federal workers "blindsided" Trump advisors

"Billionaire Elon Musk’s influence over a traditionally nonpartisan agency that oversees the federal workforce culminated in the government’s stunning proposal Tuesday offering employees an inducement to resign, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal talks."

"The proposal, emailed late in the day to many of the nation’s 2.3 million federal workers, blindsided some advisers to President Donald Trump, including officials in the budget office and agencies that typically would be consulted in advance of such monumental changes to personnel and spending policies, the people said." [Washington Post]

Trump plans to build massive detention camp at Guantánamo Bay

"President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the construction of a detention camp with 30,000 beds at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, outlining plans for a site outside U.S. territory where immigrants caught in his expanding deportation campaign could be sent." [Washington Post]

All passengers feared dead after commercial jet and Army helicopter collide

• Live updates from NBC News.

Utah Headlines

A GOP lawmaker wants to protect drug discounts. An Elon Musk-funded org is fighting his bill. [Tribune]

Despite opposition, bill banning collective bargaining for public unions advances after tight vote. [Utah News Dispatch]

Should Utah remove fluoride from its water? House committee overwhelmingly says "yes." [Tribune]

Utah lawmaker wants to ask voters to set higher bar for ballot initiatives that raise taxes. [Utah News Dispatch]

Emotional lawmaker describes Utah's fentanyl crisis as enforcement bill advances. [KSL]

Tiered water rates, sprinkler head bans considered in Utah legislature. [Fox 13]

Utah House committee green lights 2 school safety bills. [KSL]

Uranium transport to Utah across the Navajo Nation will resume after agreement struck with tribe. [Tribune]

Should Sundance stay in Utah? State leaders, locals rally for independent film festival. [KUTV]

Briefly...

Google reclassifies U.S. as "sensitive country" alongside China, Russia after Trump's "Gulf of America" comments. [CNBC]

30-second ad slots for Super Bowl reported to be selling for $8M-plus. [Guardian]

Reading scores fall to new low on NAEP, fueled by declines for struggling students. [Education Week]

Coffee prices surge to record highs above $3.60 per lb. [Reuters]

Egg prices could break more records in 2025. [Food Dive]