The Senate voted this afternoon to pass a Republican-written spending bill and avert a government shutdown. In a crucial earlier vote, Senator Chuck Schumer and eight other Democrats broke with their party and voted to advance the measure. The vote inflamed an intraparty feud about how to effectively resist President Trump.
The legislation, which would keep the government running through Sept. 30, would largely keep federal funds flowing at levels set during the Biden administration, save for an increase in military spending. It also cuts out so-called earmarks and effectively slashes Washington, D.C.’s city budget by roughly $1 billion over the next six months.
It does not contain the specific instructions to allocate money for programs that are usually included in spending bills. Democrats have warned the bill could essentially create slush funds for the Trump administration at a time when it is already disregarding spending directives set by Congress.
Schumer, the leader of Senate Democrats, had argued against the bill just two days ago. He defended his reversal on the basis that a shutdown would benefit Trump, and he said he was willing to take political hits to protect his members.
During the address, Trump veered from his prepared remarks to launch into a bitter spiel. He accused the department’s previous leadership of trying to destroy him, declared Joe Biden the head of a “crime” family and lashed out at lawyers and former prosecutors by name in a venue dedicated to the impartial administration of justice. “Scum,” Trump called his adversaries.
In other politics news:
Merz has billed the spending push as a response to Trump’s decision to pull back American security guarantees for Europe. In particular, the military spending could better equip Germany to push back against Russia’s advances in Ukraine.
In related news, Vladimir Putin insisted that Ukraine order some of its forces to surrender, a striking demand made hours after Trump said the U.S. had “very good and productive” discussions with the Russian leader about a potential cease-fire.
A.I. systems are getting better every day
Engineers and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley often talk about the imminent creation of artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is usually defined as something like “a general-purpose A.I. system that can do almost all cognitive tasks a human can do.”
Elsewhere in the world, many people scoff at the idea. But our tech columnist, Kevin Roose, believes we should take it seriously, and some insiders are alarmed. He offered three arguments for why the right time to begin preparing for A.G.I. is now.
More top news
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Tariffs: U.S. officials told Canada that there was no way it, or any other country in Trump’s cross hairs, could avoid a new round of tariffs on April 2.
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Middle East: Hamas said it was willing to free Edan Alexander, an American Israeli hostage, but Israel called the offer “psychological warfare.”
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Education: The University of Minnesota, which the Justice Department is scrutinizing for its handling of antisemitism, largely barred itself from making official statements on issues.
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Iraq: A senior Islamic State leader believed to be the head of the group in Iraq and Syria was killed in an airstrike, the prime minister said.
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Economy: Stocks rebounded today, but consumer sentiment has dropped 11 percent this month as Americans raised their expectations of inflation.
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Weather: Forecasters warned of wildfire outbreaks in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, with winds that could reach 90 miles per hour.
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New York City: For the first time in nearly two decades, the number of felony assaults in the subway system was greater than the number of robberies.
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Alaska: Star VII is the unofficial mascot of Anchorage and perhaps the nation’s most famous reindeer. Why someone sprayed him with air freshener and tried to steal him is a mystery.
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Lives Lived: Alan Simpson, the folksy, influential former senator who balanced conservative views with moderate stands on social issues, died at 93.
‘Ted Lasso’ has a new team
The heartwarming soccer comedy “Ted Lasso” will return for a fourth season, and Jason Sudeikis will reprise his role as the title character, Apple announced today.
But a big part of the show is changing. Sudeikis said on a podcast this morning that Ted would be coaching a women’s team. “It’s daunting, because we told the story we wanted to tell,” he said. “But there’s more there.”
A new F1 season begins
This weekend, Formula 1 is back. Check out The Athletic’s predictions for this year in the car racing league, which has captivated Europeans for decades and has recently caught on in the U.S. thanks to a Netflix show.
Happy Pi Day
If you love numbers, shapes and equations, today is a good day to celebrate. It’s March 14 — or, put another way, 3.14, the beginning digits of the mathematical constant pi — which means it’s the International Day of Mathematics.
One mathematician we spoke to said she was celebrating by giving tours of “Mathemalchemy,” a traveling art installation that has been described as “a mathematics fever dream.” It features an octopus that describes the movement of waves, an arch that highlights twin primes and roads in every direction that head to infinity. Check it out.
Have a calculating weekend.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. — Matthew
Brent Lewis was our photo editor today.
We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
