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

Vice President J.D. Vance visited the border on Wednesday and was joined by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Vance touted Trump's efforts to secure the southern border during his first 45 days in office.

He was pressed on the Trump administration designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations and whether that gave the United States a "green light" to go into Mexico to strike them there.

"I'm not going to make any announcements about any invasions of Mexico here today," the vice president said. "The president has a megaphone, and of course, he'll speak to those these issues as he feels necessary."

Vance was asked by a reporter about whether there was any serious conversation about the U.S. invading Mexico, referring to his comment, and Vance responded, "No."

Vance was also asked about Trump's hopes for a border wall and said the president still hopes to see an entire border wall by the end of his term, but he also suggested there are "so many great artificial intelligence enabled technologies" that could help with border crossing detection.

The vice president didn't elaborate on those technologies.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh

Members of the House Freedom Caucus met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters after the meeting that they were working to get a budget resolution passed soon.

"To all the people who said you could never pass that reconciliation bill with only Republican votes, wait until next week," he teased.

The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general by a party-line vote of 52-46.

Blanche served as President Donald Trump's attorney during his Manhattan criminal trial involving a hush money case, in which he was convicted last year on 34 counts.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

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