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Good morning, everyone. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It's Wednesday, January 29th, and here's what's driving the day.

A federal judge has halted President Donald Trump's sweeping freeze on federal aid programs, blocking the administration's directive just minutes before yesterday's 5 p.m. deadline when they were

due to take effect. Now, this is just temporary. The judge's order expires Monday, February 3rd at 5 p.m.

But will allow time for litigation to take place. And even as that plays out in court, this will

continue to be the main focus in the political arena for the near future as congressional

Democrats dig in, reporting a massive influx of complaints and fear from constituents,

and warning of the tangible and severe consequences of the freeze in the lives of ordinary Americans.

But while Democrats look to press the issue, top Republicans are standing by their man, at least for the time being, and that in itself is a stunning change, seeing as the federal freeze represents a

frontal assault on the legislative branch's core constitutional power to raise and spend funds,

the power of the purse that has been zealously protected by generations of congressional

leaders from both parties. During a fireside chat with reporters yesterday at the House GOP retreat near Miami,

Speaker Mike Johnson said he fully supports Trump's freeze and claims that the move is within his executive authority.

One other thing to watch from Johnson today, the speaker reiterated that he plans to have a blueprint for the mammoth budget reconciliation resolution by the end of the GOP retreat today. But perhaps the biggest media

event of the day comes to us from Capitol Hill, where at 10 a.m. the Senate Finance Committee

will hold a hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Z-Seek's confirmation as Donald Trump's

Secretary of Health and Human Services. Join me now to discuss that is Politico Health Care reporter Daniel.

Good morning, Daniel.

Good morning.

So let's get straight to it.

On the surface, this is quite the scene that we're looking at today, the sort of black sheep

slash sion of one of the most famous democratic political dynasties in American history,

...