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The constitutional battle at the center of Trump's funding freeze: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

It was another wild day in Washington after President Donald Trump’s unexpected overnight move to pause federal aid spending. As Lawrence Hurley writes, it has sparked a constitutional battle that could end up at the Supreme Court. On immigration, Steve Kornacki digs into the poll numbers to show how Americans have shifted right on the issue since Trump’s first term. And Bridget Bowman breaks down a key early development in the 2026 battle for the Senate.

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— Adam Wollner

🚨 Breaking news: The Trump administration is set to offer all 2 million federal workers the chance to take "deferred resignations" with severance packages of roughly eight months of pay and benefits. Read more →

Trump's effort to withhold federal funding triggers constitutional showdown

By Lawrence Hurley

The Trump administration’s attempt to withhold federal funding is fueling a long-brewing legal battle over the core constitutional principle that Congress gets to decide how to spend taxpayer money.

And as with President Donald Trump’s early executive order on birthright citizenship, the fight is leading to immediate litigation that could quickly end up at the Supreme Court.

A lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups has already led a federal judge to put Trump’s plan on hold.

Trump’s Office of Management and Budget sparked the showdown with a memo Monday night that ordered an immediate block on spending related to federal aid and programs.

The administration said the aim is to evaluate the programs to ensure they are aligned with Trump’s agenda, even though such funding was approved by Congress and signed into law. In a new memo OMB issued Tuesday, the administration said the order did not constitute a funding freeze and is not subject to the Impoundment Control Act.

The Constitution specifically states that Congress has the job of imposing taxes and spending money, giving it what is colloquially known as “the power of the purse.” It is the principal authority Congress has in showdowns over the separation of powers with the president.

“It seems clear to me that the Trump administration is aching to get this issue to the Supreme Court,” said Sam Bagenstos, who was the OMB general counsel in the Biden administration. “The Trump administration clearly thinks they have a favorable court.”

How Americans’ views on immigration have shifted since Trump’s first term

By Steve Kornacki

Just like he did eight years ago, Donald Trump has come to the presidency with vows to take a hard line on immigration issues. But this time around, he’s doing it in a political atmosphere far more conducive to his posture.

Americans are now likelier to cite immigration as a top issue facing the country and are deeply supportive of efforts to deport immigrants who have committed crimes. While those attitudes do come with some nuance (opposition to policies that would separate families remains strong, for instance), the overall change is unmistakable.

For decades, the Gallup Poll has monitored public sentiment on immigration. Its most recent survey, taken last summer during the campaign, found that the share of Americans who want to curtail immigration has nearly doubled since Trump’s first term.

The 55% of Americans who said immigration levels should be decreased is the highest figure measured in any Gallup Poll in 24 years, since the immediate wake of the 9/11 attack in 2001.

And while a solid majority of Americans continues to believe immigration is a net positive, that view has also weakened in recent years.

Moreover, the country is now almost perfectly divided over whether those here illegally, whether they’ve committed crimes or not, should be subject to deportation.

That’s a 20-point net shift from 2019, when the first Trump administration’s detainment policies were the source of national controversy. The trend extends to other questions, too. The public still largely backs a path to citizenship for those here illegally, but opposition has doubled since Trump first took office, from 15% to 30%. And support for a significantly expanded border wall has reached majority status, a jump of 12 percentage points since Trump’s first term.

An Ipsos/Reuters poll released as Trump took office last week found that a plurality of Americans, 47%, now approve of his approach to immigration. It’s not exactly an overwhelming endorsement, but it’s better than he tended to fare in his first go-round. And given the rightward trajectory of public opinion on the subject, it may represent more of a floor than a ceiling.

➡️ Deportation rollout: Federal enforcement agencies are targeting three cities per week for large-scale immigration arrests, with Aurora, Colorado, to come next. Read more →

Gary Peters’ exit shakes up the fight for the Senate

By Bridget Bowman

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ decision not to run for re-election in Michigan means a crucial battleground state will now host an open race key to Senate control.

Here are three ways Peters’ retirement could shake up the fight for the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 edge:

Michigan was already a top GOP target, as one of two states (along with Georgia) that Senate Democrats are defending that Trump won last year. It could move to the very top of the target list now that it’s an open seat, since the Democratic candidate won’t have the advantages that come with incumbency.
Peters’ exit puts even more pressure on Democrats to hold on to Michigan, which they need to win to have any shot of flipping the Senate. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the chamber, and just one GOP senator (Maine’s Susan Collins) is up for re-election in a state Kamala Harris won last year.
Both parties could end up with crowded primaries (and this race could test just how much party leaders want to try coalescing around one candidate to avoid division). Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is among the potential candidates.

🗞️ Today’s top stories

👀 Confirmation battles: Several Senate Republicans have problems with Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, citing pro-union stances she has taken that clash with those of the business community. Read more →
👀 Confirmation battles, cont’d: The Senate voted 77-22 to confirm Sean Duffy as transportation secretary after it advanced his nomination 97-0 on Monday. Some Democrats said they voted against him to protest the Trump administration’s funding freeze. Read more →
📕 Resistance 2.0: As Trump floods the zone in his first week in office, Democrats are departing from their "resistance" strategy in his first term and trying to focus on pocketbook issues. Read more →
📝 On notice: Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. — the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee — sent a joint letter asking Trump to explain his recent firing of 18 inspectors general "immediately." Read more →
🗳️ If it’s Tuesday: The power of Trump’s endorsement will face the first tests of his second term in a pair of special primary elections in Florida tonight. Read more →
🛸 It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a …: The mysterious drones flying over New Jersey that caused alarm among residents last year were in large part authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, the White House said. Read more →