By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday and learned about something new — budget rescissions, an obscure legislative tool that could bring legal heft to his federal budget slashing effort and enshrine the cuts into law.

Musk joined a lunch meeting with Republican senators just hours after the Supreme Court issued a setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze some $2 billion in foreign aid funds as part of its sweeping shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development. As he opened the private session, Musk led with a message urging Congress to act.

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Over plates of fried catfish, senators explained how the White House could put the billions of dollars of savings he has amassed into what’s called a budget rescissions package, and send it to Congress for a vote to rescind the funding. Musk seemed thrilled, they said.

“He was so happy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is among those championing the effort. “He didn’t know.”

Later, Musk met with House Republicans at dinnertime in the Capitol basement.

“You know, there’s a lot of room — a lot of opportunity — to improve expenditures in the government,” Musk said after the closed-door session. “And then we’re making good progress.”

The proposal from senators to consider the budget rescission tool introduced a potential next phase of his Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts and comes at an important time. The Trump administration is fighting in court — and in the court of public opinion — over the budget cuts tearing through the federal government.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are eager to show voters that DOGE’s actions are more than headlines of job losses and disruptions, but real savings as Musk’s team roots out waste, fraud and abuse to help reduce the nation’s staggering $2 trillion annual deficit.

It also comes as the courts are looking skeptically at the legality of the Trump administration’s actions and as lawmakers’ town halls are being overrun by protesters pushing for answers as tens of thousands of federal workers are being fired.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune half-joked that he was a little worried after Musk gave out his cellphone number for senators to call with any concerns.

“I thought, OK, his phone’s going to start blowing up,” Thune said on Fox News. “He might want to change his number.”

Senators said Musk aide Katie Miller would be setting up a direct line they can also call with any questions or problems about the cuts.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said senators seemed to be asking for “just better communication, wanting to know what’s going to happen next.”

But Hawley said, “I don’t know that anyone at the White House knows what’s going to happen next.” He said Musk’s team seems to “just kind of go from one thing to the next.”

It was Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who introduced the idea of using budget rescissions during the lunch meeting.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., gestures as he leaves after Senate Republicans met with Elon Musk, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

“I love what Elon is doing. I love the cutting into waste. I love finding all the crazy crap that we’re spending overseas,” Paul said afterward.

“But to make it real, to make it go beyond the moment of the day, it needs to come back in the form of a rescission package,” he said.

The libertarian-leaning senator has long stood as among the most persistent budget hawks in the Senate, one who routinely votes against federal spending bills. He said he’s planning to oppose the federal funding package that’s expected next week, which is needed to prevent a federal government shutdown when money expires March 14.

Paul said he explained to Musk that after the morning Supreme Court ruling, the administration should drop its plans to claw back federal funds through what’s called impoundments. The courts do not seem inclined to accept the legal arguments being presented challenging the Nixon-era Impoundment Control Act.

Instead, Paul said, “My message to Elon was, let’s get over the impoundment idea and let’s send it back as a rescission.”

Senators said it was unclear how big the rescission packages could be — Paul suggested several packages of at least $100 billion in federal cuts — or how soon they might push ahead with any voting if the White House sends them to Capitol Hill.

Musk has previously told lawmakers he envisions DOGE can save some $1 trillion in the federal government this year alone.

Thune and other GOP leaders did not immediately make any comments on the rescission plans.

The idea was only mentioned briefly at the meeting with House Republicans, who said Musk mainly provided examples of specific problems he was finding.

Musk also told House Republicans he was not responsible for the firings of Department of Veterans Affairs workers or others, and said those decisions are being made by the specific agencies.

“Elon doesn’t fire people,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said afterward. “It’s the agencies.”

While a rescission package can be approved in the Senate by a simple majority vote with an expedited process that would enable the Republican majority to maneuver around a potential filibuster by Democrats, it may be easier said then done.

Senators on the Appropriations Committee are likely to pan the idea of spending cuts that would essentially go against legislation they had already approved to fund the government, as would those who may want to preserve federal funding for certain home-state industries or programs that are important to constituents.

Even with a GOP majority, it could be difficult to keep all Republicans unified on a vote, especially if all Democrats are opposed.

Graham, the Budget chairman, sees the process as a way “for the White House to go on offense.”

“We’re losing altitude,” he said. “We need to get back in the game, on offense, and the way you can regain altitude is to take the work product — get away from the personalities and the drama — take the work product and vote on it.”

Absent from the lunch meeting with Musk was much discussion about the federal workers who are now out of work after the DOGE cuts.

“Any time there’s a transition, it’s difficult,” Paul said.

The senator said several people spoke up to make sure “we’re not just getting rid of people that we actually need, and that we are not overdoing it.”

Still, Paul said: “We do need a smaller government. We do need less federal workers.”

Associated Press reporter Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mortgage rates have been mostly declining in recent weeks, helping encourage prospective home shoppers just as the spring homebuying season gets going.

But the same factors that have pulled mortgage rates to their lowest level since December — signs that the U.S. economy is slowing and uncertainty over the potential fallout from the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports — are clouding the outlook for where mortgage rates will go from here.

“We do not anticipate significant relief from high mortgage rates in the near future because of inflation remaining stubbornly high, which will not be helped by the tariffs that the Trump administration appears committed to rolling out,” said Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. has declined six weeks in a row from 7.04% in mid-January to 6.76% last week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. A year earlier, it averaged 6.94%.

The average rate is now at its lowest level since Dec. 19, when it was 6.72%. It briefly fell to a 2-year low last September, but remains more than double the 2.65% record low the average rate hit a little over four years ago.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including bond market investors’ expectations for future inflation, global demand for U.S. Treasurys and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions.

The recent decline in mortgage rates echoes moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans.

The yield, which was at 4.79% in mid-January, has been mostly easing since then, reflecting worries about the economy’s growth and the potential impact from the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on several of the country’s biggest trading partners.

While one could say the bond market jitters have ultimately benefited home shoppers by leading to lower mortgage rates, the trajectory for rates from here is far from certain.

Tariffs can drive inflation higher, which could translate into higher yields on the 10-year Treasury note, pushing up mortgage rates. That’s because bond investors demand higher returns as long as inflation remains elevated.

And then there’s the Fed, which has signaled a more cautious approach as it gauges where inflation is headed and what policies the Trump administration will pursue.

So far, the steady decline in mortgage rates this year hasn’t been enough to drive home sales higher. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in January as rising mortgage rates and prices froze out many would-be homebuyers despite a wider selection of properties on the market.

Pending home sales, a bellwether for future completed sales, point to potentially further sales declines in coming months. They slid to an all-time low in January.

Still, last week, mortgage applications jumped 20.4% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And a measure of home loan refinancing applications surged 37%, the MBA said.

While a pickup in mortgage applications is typical for this time of year, the sharp increase is a signal that mortgage rates have fallen enough to spur some buyers off the fence.

The pullback in rates comes at a good time for home shoppers. The inventory of homes on the market has risen sharply from a year ago and prices are rising more slowly nationally and declining in many metropolitan areas, such as Austin, Dallas and Tampa, Florida.

Still, more attractive mortgage rates may not be enough to motivate home shoppers if the economy and labor market worsen.

“Inflation is still a problem, but now the economy is starting to show signs of weakness,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. “What that means to the housing market is that those two factors make buyers more reluctant to jump into the market.”

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — To President Donald Trump, “tariff” is more than “the most beautiful word in the dictionary,” something he says often.

Tariffs, in Trump’s view, are also a cure for a number of the nation’s ills and the tool to reach new heights.

Most economists see taxes paid on imports as capable of addressing unfair trade practices, but they’re skeptical of the quasi-miraculous properties that Trump claims they possess.

As the Republican president has touched off a trade war with America’s trading partners, he has offered an array of reasons to justify the steep tariffs he’s imposing or considering on goods coming from Mexico, Canada, China and beyond, despite warnings from experts that adding taxes to imported goods leads to higher prices for U.S. businesses and consumers.

A look at Trump’s assortment of justifications for the tariffs he’s imposing:

To balance trade and spur U.S. manufacturing

Trump, in his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, said his threats of tariffs had spurred more U.S. manufacturing in the auto industry.

“Plants are opening up all over the place,” Trump said.

In comments directed at manufacturers, the president added: “If you don’t make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases a rather large one.”

Trump, however, is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing. The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the Big 3 automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, the White House press secretary said.

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To stop illegal immigration and human trafficking

Stopping illegal immigration has been one of Trump’s top priorities, and he’s used it as part of the rationale behind steep tariffs he’s imposing on America’s border nations, Canada and Mexico.

Trump last month gave both countries a temporary reprieve from his tariff threats after they took steps to appease his concerns about border security, including Canada’s move to list Mexican cartels as terrorist groups and Mexico’s announcement it would send 10,000 troops from its National Guard to its northern border.

On Sunday, Trump posted on his social media network: “ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS LAST MONTH WERE THE LOWEST EVER RECORDED. THANK YOU!!!”

The next day, Trump announced he was imposing the tariffs anyway and said there was “no room left” for those countries to avoid the taxes.

To stop the flow of fentanyl

Trump has also cited the illicit flow of fentanyl into America as a reason for his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, though a much smaller amount comes across America’s northern border than its southern border.

U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.

Trump, in a post on his Truth social media network on Wednesday, said that when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked what could be done about the tariffs, “I told him that many people have died from Fentanyl that came through the Borders of Canada and Mexico, and nothing has convinced me that it has stopped.”

President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Trump’s order imposing tariffs on China says that country’s government provides a “safe haven” for criminal organizations to “launder the revenues from the production, shipment, and sale of illicit synthetic opioids.”

To balance the budget

Last month, when Trump spoke at an investment summit in Miami, he said tariffs will help balance the federal budget.

“We’re trying to balance the budget immediately, and because of the tariff income, which is really go- — it’s — it’s already turned out to be amazing, actually,” Trump said. “It’s really meant more for bringing countries and companies into our country, but it’s — the numbers are rather staggering, because we’re the big piggy bank that everybody wants to be.”

To impose ‘fairness’

“I’ve decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff,” Trump said last month as he signed a proclamation laying out his plan for reciprocal tariffs. “It’s fair to all. No other country can complain.”

To retaliate against other countries

In his address to Congress, Trump explained his push for reciprocal tariffs on all countries, which he said will start April 2, as a tit for tat.

“Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal back and forth,” Trump said. “Whatever they tax us, we will tax them.”

To bolster national security

Trump signed executive orders in February and March instructing the Commerce Department to consider whether tariffs on imported copper, lumber and timber were needed to protect national security.

The order Trump signed in February said copper plays a vital role in U.S. defense, infrastructure and emerging technologies, and it ordered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate “actions to mitigate such threats, including potential tariffs.”

Wooden products are used by the construction industry and the military, and they depend upon a strong lumber industry in the U.S. to meet those needs, according to the order Trump signed in March.

To make child care more affordable

Last year, as Trump campaigned again for the presidency, he frequently proselytized his tariff plans and in one appearance suggested tariffs could help solve rising child care costs.

In response to a question about how he’d tackle child care costs so more women could join the workforce, Trump brought up his plan to hike taxes on imports and said, “We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in.”

To make America rich

Trump has several times said the revenue collected from tariffs will make the country wealthy.

In his speech to Congress, Trump said: “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again.”

To protect the soul of the country

Also during his Tuesday address before Congress, Trump spotlighted an Alabama steelworker who attended the speech.

“Stories like Jeff’s remind us that tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs,” Trump said. “They’re about protecting the soul of our country.”

Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

Felicia Reilly’s final wish was for a full police funeral “with the honor of loyalty of her family in blue,” her family wrote to St. Paul’s police chief shortly before she died.

Reilly had to retire as a St. Paul police officer after she was brutally assaulted in 2010 when she responded to a 911 call. Reilly sustained a brain injury and suffered debilitating headaches and pain, and ultimately lost the ability to walk. She died at home on Saturday at age 67 with her husband, Matt Reilly, by her side.

Felicia Reilly in February 2010. (Courtesy of the Reilly family)

“Felicia has spent the last 15 years in terrible pain,” Matt Reilly said. “She told me with tears in her eyes this pain never stops.”

Hundreds of officers are expected to attend Reilly’s funeral in St. Paul on Monday. A line-of-duty death funeral “is appropriate given how she was assaulted and what led to her tragic death,” St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry wrote in an email to department employees Tuesday.

The family says the public is also invited to Reilly’s funeral.

“Mom was all about the people,” said one of her daughters, Theresa Paulson.

Mayor Melvin Carter said Reilly’s “service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

“After suffering life-changing injuries in the line of duty 15 years ago, her resilience and dedication continue to inspire us all,” he said in a statement.

She’d been in ‘peak physical condition’

Reilly entered the St. Paul Police Department academy in 1996 as a 39-year-old married mother of five. She had wanted to be an officer, but went to school for nursing before later pursuing a degree in law enforcement.

She’d been “in peak physical condition,” said Matthew Reilly II, Felicia’s oldest son. “Standing 5’4” and at one point described as a muscular cherub by the Pioneer Press, Mom took her physical fitness seriously. While she preferred to de-escalate and talk through issues, for a police officer this is not always an option, and because some of the suspects she encountered would underestimate her, she knew she had to be prepared to hold her own.”

Felicia Reilly is shown in a January 1997 photo surrounded by her children, from left, Ben, 14, Matt, 17, Zachary, 7, Marianne, 13, and Theresa, 14. Reilly was among 40 new officers who graduated from the St. Paul Police Academy on Jan. 9, 1997. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

She was a hard-working officer “who never believed in being bored,” said Paulson, who was previously a 911 dispatcher and used to dispatch for her mother and other officers. During middle-of-the-night shifts, when Reilly wasn’t responding to calls, Paulson would ask, “What are you up to, Mom?”

“She said, ‘I’m baby-sitting a stop sign to make sure it doesn’t move,’” joked Paulson, referring to Reilly enforcing traffic rules.

During Reilly’s dinner breaks, she’d eat leftovers from home in her squad car, calling it her “mobile office.”

“They were putting four young adult children through college and still had a teenager at home,” so they needed to be frugal, Paulson said.

She was protecting elderly couple

In March 2010, Reilly responded to a 911 hang-up call at Thomas Jerard Swenson’s parents’ home. His parents told Reilly he was trying to hurt them and they were afraid, Paulson wrote in the letter to Henry requesting a police funeral on behalf of her mother and her family.

Swenson came out of the home and she went to detain him, but “he swung at her” with “such force to knock her to the ground” and then kicked her in the back of the head several times, wrote Paulson, who is now an attorney.

Reilly “went through her entire tool belt,” Paulson said, describing how her mother used her expandable baton to strike Swenson, Tased him to no effect and pulled her handgun. He ran and “she made the split-second decision not to shoot him in the back because my mom is honest and has integrity, and that’s what she wanted to be known for — always making the right choice.”

She “fought harder and longer than most would,” son Matthew Reilly said.

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If Reilly had waited for backup to arrive, “she would not have been protecting the elderly couple and would have been accused of cowardice — a label that would never be used to describe my mother,” Paulson wrote.

A jury found Swenson guilty of first-degree assault and he was sentenced to 8½ years in prison. While the prosecution was making the point in court about how severely injured the assault left Reilly, the city was questioning whether she qualified for workers’ compensation, said Matt Reilly in 2016. He retired from his job as a St. Louis Park police investigator to take care of his wife.

She settled her workers’ comp claim with the city when they were on the brink of bankruptcy over her medical bills, Matt Reilly said previously.

She worried she’d been forgotten

Former St. Paul police officer Felicia Reilly laughs as she is given a gift by Assistant Chief Kathy Wuorinen during a ceremony recognizing and honoring Reilly for her years of service at the St. Paul Police Federation office in St. Paul on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Reilly’s brain injury caused “a progressive degradation of her health and motor function,” son Matthew Reilly said.

Her daily headaches averaged a level seven on a pain scale of 10. None of the treatments she received fully made her headaches go away.

She was a clarinet player, but could no longer play because the sound hurt her head and her brain injury caused double vision in both eyes. She mostly stayed home, other than going to church and the grocery store.

On her worst days, she “used to say she wished she hadn’t survived the assault because if you die on duty, you are treated like a hero, but if you are simply hurt too bad to continue working, you are treated like an embarrassment, best left forgotten or used as a cautionary tale,” said son Matthew Reilly.

Reilly was worried she’d been forgotten, but the outpouring of support from the city and the community since her death has made it clear that wasn’t the case, her son said. They planned to have her funeral at a smaller venue and have since moved it to a larger space.

No new charges

Chief Henry wrote in the department email this week: “Unfortunately, we can’t go back and prevent this tragedy. We have also learned that there is no way for us to amend and upgrade the charges the person responsible for the attack on Felicia was already convicted of.

“What we can do is honor her and the sacrifice she made, in the line of duty, for our city and all of us,” he continued. “Many of you didn’t even work here in 2010 when this vicious assault took place, but we are all here now which gives us the opportunity to show our respect and appreciation for her and her family’s struggle.”

Because Swenson was convicted of first-degree assault and the double jeopardy clause in the U.S. Constitution says no person can be tried twice for the same crime, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said it cannot pursue additional charges against him.

Reilly’s family can apply to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to request that her death is formally recognized as occurring in the line of duty, which DPS then reviews to determine if it meets guidelines the Legislature has defined in state law, according to a DPS spokesman.

‘Fought to live’

Before Reilly was assaulted, she loved sewing and making clothes for her kids and grandkids. She used to go camping and fishing.

Felicia and Matt Reilly were married for 47 years. “There was never a better mom, friend or wife in the world,” he said.

When she could still communicate, she told her husband “that one of her saddest facts was that only one grandchild knew her before she got hurt,” Matt Reilly said.

Her traumatic brain injury progressed and “took a terrible turn for the worst” in September 2023, which led to numerous hospitalizations, according to her husband.

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“She fought to live because she wanted to live,” Paulson said.

But with the “tremendous unrelenting pain” she was experiencing, they “knew it was time” and she started home hospice care, Matt Reilly said.

“Most of all she loved and loves Jesus,” Matt Reilly wrote shortly before she died. When he’d see her wincing or in distress, he’d put on worship music and she’d “lay still with a peaceful look on her face.”

Funeral for Felicia Reilly

Visitation will begin 9 a.m. Monday at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church, 1669 Arcade St. in St. Paul, with the funeral service at 11 a.m.

Interment will be at Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville.