Trump 2nd term live updates: Trump defends tariffs, declines to comment on Ukraine aid

Senate Republicans pitched Elon Musk on a plan that would make the funding cuts implemented by DOGE permanent during a closed-door lunch Wednesday afternoon, multiple senators in the room said.

"I think an awful lot of the discussion in there was, OK, you're exposing this, the waste, fraud and abuse -- if we can eliminate it would represent some significant savings to the federal budget. How do we implement those?" Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said.

Senators told Musk they want President Donald Trump to send them a package of proposed cuts that they could then pass into law with 51 votes. The package, called a rescission package, would be a way of codifying the DOGE cuts, lowering congressionally approved spending levels to be in line with what DOGE is hoping to achieve.

This new proposal comes as some of DOGE's efforts to cut spending have sputtered out in the courts.

"It's time for the White House now to go on offense. We're losing altitude here," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

Trump would have to initiate this process by sending Congress a proposal of what he'd like it to slash from the budget. This proposal, senators say, would be reflective of the wasteful spending that DOGE has identified.

Once Trump's proposal arrived on Capitol Hill, senators would have to act within a 45-day window to move on the bill. With Republicans who are largely supportive of Musk's efforts controlling both chambers of Congress, it's possible such a package could get the necessary traction to pass.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray, Allison Pecorin, John Parkinson and Jay O'Brien

A federal judge issued a nationwide order blocking the National Institutes of Health from making cuts to funding that scientists warned could catastrophically harm medical research and treatments in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued a nationwide preliminary injunction this afternoon that prohibits the Trump administration from attempting to drastically lower some of the funding that universities and research institutions receive from medical and scientific grants.

"As made clear by the declarations in support of a preliminary injunction against the implementation of the Rate Change Notice, the risk of harm to research institutions and beyond is immediate, devastating, and irreparable," Kelley, a Biden appointee, wrote about the attempt to cap indirect costs at 15%.

Kelley noted that the attempt to cut funding not only violated federal law and the regulations governing research funding but said the change would also significantly harm patients by halting clinical trials, slowing research, and shuttering medical facilities.

A group of 22 attorneys general and five medical associations filed a lawsuit last month challenging the rate change, and Kelley had already issued a temporary order blocking the rate change from taking effect.

-ABC News' Peter Charalambous

The Trump administration revised and then deleted its public list of more than 400 federal buildings that were listed for sale or closure on Tuesday, confusing federal workers in Washington and across the country about the status of their offices.

The webpage now states that its list on "non-core" government properties is "coming soon."

A General Services Administration spokesperson did not directly answer questions about why the list was taken down, how the list was generated and if any buildings were posted by mistake in a statement to ABC News Wednesday afternoon.

"We anticipate the list will be republished in the near future after we evaluate this initial input and determine how we can make it easier for stakeholders to understand the nuances of the assets listed," the spokesperson said in a statement. "As we stated in our press release, 'GSA will continuously review and update the list of non-core assets.'"

At least one agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, told employees it was "not aware" that its buildings would be listed and that it "didn't submit or approve any of our current office locations being on this list," according to an email obtained by ABC News.

-ABC News' Ben Siegel, Will Steakin and Kelsey Walsh

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to confirm that Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump's envoy for hostages, met with Hamas officials in Doha in past weeks, telling reporters that negotiations are ongoing.

Leavitt was asked about the United States' long-standing position of not negotiating with terrorists and why the administration is now directly talking with Hamas. Axios reported that Boehler was in Doha to discuss with Hamas releasing the remaining American hostages and the possibility of a broader deal to end the war.

"Well, when it comes to the negotiations that you're referring to, first of all, the special envoy who's engaged in those negotiations does have the authority to talk to anyone. Israel was consulted on this matter. And look, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what's in the best interest of the American people is something that the president has proven is what he believes is good-faith effort to do what's right for the American people," Leavitt said.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh