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Budget blueprint, Trump's 'gold' visa and a deadly unknown disease

 
Today's NATIONAL story

House passes framework for big tax and spending cuts

What happened
The House last night passed a budget framework designed to cut $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending and allow up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years, plus raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), joined all Democrats in opposing the bill, which passed 217-215.

Who said what
The narrow approval of the budget blueprint, after a "night of drama and arm-twisting" by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Donald Trump, was a "sign that the Republican-controlled Congress might be able to deliver major legislation despite slim majorities in the House and Senate," The Wall Street Journal said. But it "teed up a bitter fight within the GOP over which federal programs to slash to partially finance a huge tax cut that would provide its biggest benefits to rich Americans," The New York Times said.

More moderate House Republicans fretted that the parameters of the bill "will force the GOP to slash Medicaid benefits, a political third rail in toss-up districts," while fiscal "hard-liners say budget cuts don't go far enough," The Washington Post said. "It's insane," Massie said. "We’re going to increase the deficit with this. Why would I vote for that?"

"Even as they press ahead, Republicans are running into a familiar problem: Slashing federal spending" on things like health care, food stamps and student loans is broadly unpopular and would be "harmful to their constituents back home," The Associated Press said. The budget fight was also "unfolding amid emerging backlash" to Elon Musk's DOGE Service "tearing through federal agencies" and firing thousands of workers, prompting "angry voters" to "confront lawmakers at town hall meetings."

What next?
Republicans still face a "long and cumbersome" process before they can cut taxes and spending, the AP said. Senate Republicans plan to enact Trump's agenda in two filibuster-proof bills, "under the assumption that House Republicans would falter," the Post said. Johnson views the Senate's "two-step approach" as a "backup plan."

 
 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

Trump proposes 'gold card' visas for rich immigrants

What happened
President Donald Trump said yesterday that the U.S. would soon start selling $5 million "gold card" visas that offer permanent residency and a "road to citizenship for people, and essentially people of wealth or people of great talent." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the "Trump gold card" would replace EB-5 visas for foreign investors within two weeks. Separately, the Trump administration announced a new federal registry for all unauthorized immigrants 14 and older.

Who said what
The new "gold card" is "somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication," Trump said. The "wealthy" people who pay for the visa will be "spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people." He predicted that rich immigrants — "possibly" including "Russian oligarchs" — and companies hiring high-skill workers could buy a million of the visas. 

The new registry program would fine unregistered immigrants up to $5,000 and jail them for up to six months, criminalizing what was previously a civil offense, The Wall Street Journal said. The program relies on "obscure provisions of immigration law that have proved impractical to enforce in the past." Those "registration laws" also "have a very, very bad history" when "fully enforced," New York University law professor Nancy Morawetz told The Washington Post, including aiding the detention of Japanese Americans in World War II and Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

What next?
Congress created the EB-5 program in the 1990s to "channel foreign investment into economically marginalized areas and create local jobs," the Journal said. It "isn't clear" how Trump could "legally end or significantly alter an existing green-card program without the involvement of Congress." The new immigrant registry proposal was similarly on "shaky legal ground," the Post said.

 
 
Today's Global Health Story

Mystery illness in Congo rapidly kills dozens

What happened
At least 53 people have died in two clusters of an unknown illness in the Democratic Republican of Congo, the World Health Organization said yesterday. The outbreak, in Equateur province, was traced back to three children under age 5 in one village who had eaten a dead bat. The children, like a significant portion of the other fatalities, had symptoms similar to a hemorrhagic fever — nosebleeds, diarrhea, fever and vomiting blood — and died within 48 hours.

Who said what
The WHO said that with 431 cases as of Feb. 16 and a fatality rate of 12.3%, the outbreak posed a "significant public health threat." All 18 samples sent to Kinshasa for testing came back negative for common hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola and Marburg, the WHO said, and the "exact cause remains unknown." The short interval between the onset of symptoms and death is "really worrying," Serge Ngalebato, medical director of the regional Bikoro Hospital, told The Associated Press.

What next?
A "genuinely new illness" sometimes emerges, as with Covid-19, "but it is very rare," Michael Head, a global health researcher at Britain's University of Southampton, told The Washington Post. The spread of "hemorrhagic fever–like symptoms" in a country with poor public health infrastructure is "concerning," but usually it turns out to be "a bug" that "we know about." A flu-like disease that killed dozens in southwestern Congo in December was later determined to have been caused by malaria.

 
 

It's not all bad

Eating walnuts at breakfast boosts brain performance, according to a study by the University of Reading in England. Adults who ate about two ounces of walnuts with muesli and yogurt in the morning had faster reaction times and better memory throughout the day. Brain scans showed improved neural efficiency, while blood tests indicated positive changes in glucose and fatty acids. Scientists posit that the nut's mix of omega-3s, protein and polyphenols enhances cognitive function.

 
 
Under the radar

Scientists have uncovered new information about the Earth's core: It may not be completely solid. Instead, it may be more malleable than expected and has even changed shape in recent years. 

The Earth is made up of different layers. The outermost layer is the crust, where we stand. The next is the mantle, which makes up most of Earth's volume and is composed of dense semi-solid rock. Then there's the outer core, made of liquid metal, and the inner core, a solid ball of metal — at least, that's what we thought.

New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience found that the core's shape has evolved in the past 20 years. Scientists say the change is happening where the solid inner core meets the molten outer core. The outer core is "widely known to be turbulent, but its turbulence had not been observed to disrupt its neighbor, the inner core, on a human timescale" — until now, said John Vidale, an earth science professor at the University of Southern California and the principal investigator of the study. 

These findings came after researchers studied seismic waveform data from repeating earthquakes. "As I was analyzing multiple decades' worth of seismograms, one dataset of seismic waves curiously stood out from the rest," said Vidale. "Later on, I'd realize I was staring at evidence that the inner core is not solid." Furthermore, the data showed that the inner core had been moving around and not behaving like a solid ball of metal. 

 
 
On this day

February 26, 1919

Congress established the Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. The park spans more than 1.2 million acres and welcomed over 4.7 million visitors in 2023. The Grand Canyon is one of 63 national parks in the U.S.; the most recent, New River Gorge National Park, was established in 2020.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Pope Francis "remained in critical condition" and an "anxious mood hung over St. Peter's Square" as the faithful gathered for a "vigil at the Vatican," The New York Times says on Wednesday's front page. "Some Native Americans fear being wrongly stopped by ICE," USA Today says. Private militia founder "Erik Prince pitched to deport 12 million" immigrants, the Detroit Free Press says. Deported migrants experienced "strip searches, isolation in Guantánamo prison," The Washington Post says. "Ukraine reaches minerals pact with Trump," The Wall Street Journal says, while "Russia's withering economy is a tricky place to do deals."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Pain for fame

Podiatrists are warning TikTok creators against participating in a viral trend of dropping heavy household items on your feet. In these video challenges, people release objects like toasters, air fryers, glass jugs and vacuums, then rate the pain level. This could cause nerve, bone and joint damage and a "lifetime of pain and disability," Dr. Benjamin Bullen said to The Independent. British TikToker Reece Brierley participated in the trend but is now advising against it, calling it "pretty stupid."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images; Yuri Gripas / Abaca / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Michel Lunanga / AFP via Getty Images; Christoph Burgstedt / Getty Images