Good morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to the Daily Punch, brought to you by Punch Bull News. It's Tuesday, February 18th, 2025. Let's get into the mix. Here are your Washington headlines of the day.

Number one, Trump's pick for number three at the Pentagon is a new flashpoint.

Number two, House Dems find a new attack line against Republicans' Medicaid cuts.

And number three, the latest in the Ad Wars.

Happy Tuesday, everybody.

Hope you had a nice long weekend.

We are back here in Washington where things are going to get busy very fast.

The Senate comes in tonight to confirm Howard Lutnik as the new commerce secretary.

Senators will also take a procedure of vote that will allow Senate

Majority Leader John Thune to file cloture on Cash Patel's nomination as FBI director,

and then it's going to be decision time for Thune and Senate GOP leaders on whether to bring up

Senator Lindsey Graham's skinny budget resolution covering defense, border, security, and

energy policy. We're told this is likely to happen, but there may be no official word until after

the GOP leadership huddles prior to this evening's votes. All right, let's get into the number one

story leading the top of Punchable News AM.

And it's a look at President Donald Trump's nomination of Elbridge Colby to serve as the

Pentagon's policy chief. It's emerging as the next big fight in the Republican Party's internal

clash over U.S. foreign policy. Now, we all saw those divisions on full display

over the past week in Europe, where J.D. Vance, the Vice President and Defense Secretary Pete

Hegeseth trampled on decades of GOP orthodoxy on national security. But the GOB Hawks are looking

to reassert themselves by using Colby's nomination to strike back,

ensuring the confirmation process will be yet another proxy battle over the party's direction on foreign policy.

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