breaking overnight. a milestone for president trump's agenda. the house narrowly passing a budget plan to slash spending and taxes. what's next for the legislation

amid growing bipartisan backlash over elon musk's own cost-cutting efforts. the u.s. and ukraine reportedly on the verge of a major minerals deal. officials saying kiev will turn over revenue from some of its resources like graphite and lithium. we're live with how the agreement came together. terror on tarmac. a southwest flight narrowly dodging another plane while landing in chicago. we'll hear from flyers about the latest near miss. a jolt for tesla. a major selloff erasing the post-election pop. what's driving down the stock. and dancing toward the jailhouse rock. how much time a missouri woman is facing after pleading guilty in a plot to sell elvis presley's graceland. and lakers' star luka doncic shows what the mavs are missing in his first game against his old team. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera.

we begin with breaking news. president trump's agenda clearing a major hurdle in congress. speaker mike johnson's budget blueprint narrowly passed in the house. the budget will now go to the senate where reconciliation will begin. the house resolution includes over $4 trillion in tax cuts and $1 trillion in spending cuts. republicans cknowledged that some of those cucuts will come from medicaid. >> medicaid is, is hugely problematic, because it has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse. everybody knows that. the estimate is $50 billion a year in fraud alone. in medicaid. >> nbc's alice barr joins me now from d.c. good morning, alice. voters have not been shy about letting lawmakers know they are not happy about spending cuts. >> reporter: good morning, francis, that's frances, that's right. republican sources tell nbc news that gop leaders are suggesting

that lawmakers move their town halls online or that they vet the attendees. they want to avoidcenes that could wind up going viral. one gop aide said leaders are urging them to stop holding the events all together. you're seeing some of the heated scenes right now. republicans have been hesitant to criticize the department of government efficiency, but some have started to voice concerns about the methods used by elon musk. >> look, i think they need to be more targeted. and ey need to be more thoughtful. i think, so things are happening a little bit too fast and furiously. i think, and that's why we've had some of these unintended consequences. >> just a little bit of humanity and dignity is what many of the alaskans are asking for. and i don't think that's asking for too much. >> reporter: musk fueled more confusion when he said federal workers had one more chance to

e-mail examples of the work they're doing or they'll be terminated. garrett haake asks the president about that threat. >> do you see it as voluntary, like opm has said or mandatory? >> it's somewhat voluntary, but if you don't answer you get fired. what if is, is, do people exist? >> reporter: president trump has made it clear he sees elon mus as the person in charge. but an official named amy gleason has the title of acting doge administrator. the agency that was turned into doge, 21 members just resigned, and they posted online that they refuse to use their technical expertise to compromise core government services, jeopardize sensitive data or dismantle critical public services. musk responded by calling them political holdovers who refuse to return to the office, saying

they would have been fired had they not resigned. frances? >> alice, thank you. and many of the fired federal workers staged a sit-in on capitol hill where they urged senators to reverse the job cuts. >> i think it's really cruel to fire people for poor performance when they've only had great feedback. >> i have cried every day. i think that that's normal. we're just witnessing like entire industries going down, and what are the senators going to do about it? >> the yoffs are felt far beyond the nation's capital. news outlets news outlets

ay hostile words were exchange between president trump and zelenskyy last week. >> reporter: the financial times says it has seen the latest draft, and the ukrainians have agreed to a deal after the u.s. dropped more controversial elements. mainly that ukraine compensate the united states for $500 billion. the version of the deal does not mention any security guarantees. the deal reportedly lays out a framework for joint investment in rare earth mining, it will be funneled into a shared fund. for reference, ukraine has most of the critical rare earth minerals required for things such a as advanced electronics d materials. and these are things that are fast becoming as geopolitically

important as oil. many things remain unresolved. mainly security guarantees for ukraine, which was discussed by president trump and president macron. macron is pushing for a peacekeeping force in ukraine. trump said this is something he had spoken with president putin about specifically and that the russian president was okay ith it. that said, the kremlin reiterated its position that any western troops of any kind in ukraine is a red line for moscow. u.s. officials have told nbc news that the russians have offered the u.s. a similar deal to the ukrainian one. >> matt bodner, thank you. thtrump administration says it will create a registry for all undocumented immigrants in the u.s. everyone over 14 must register,

give fingerprints and provide an address. those who don't register could face fines or jail. it's not clear how many undocumented immigrants could come forward. meanwhile, president trump announced a plan to sell green cards to wealthy investors for $5 million each. the so-called gold cards will replace the eb 5 visa for foreign investors. the president suggested selling millions of them to reduce the deficit. he claimed the plan would not need congressional approval. it's day two in the hate crime trial of an illinois landlord. i allegedly killed a 6-year-old boy in 2023. according to prosecutors, the suspect attacked the boy's mother and stabbed him 26 times. police say the family was targeted due to their islamic faith, and as a response to the israel-hamas war. an oklahoma inmate is off death row and awaiting a new

trial this morning. richard glossup maintained his innocence for about 30 years after he was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his boss in 1997. now the supreme court is stepping in granting a new trial. . >> reporter: an investigation after yet another stunningly close call. the video captured on an airport webcam showed flight 2504 nearly touching down the same moment a private jet crosses the runway. >> it was surreal. these passengers were on board the flight from omaha.

what went through your mind? >> shock. we were so oblivious to what was happening. because the pilot was so calm and acted like that was an every day thing. >> reporter: the flex jet private jet entered the runway without authorization. flexion jet says it adheres to the highest safety standards. southwest says its crew followed safety procedures, circled the airport and landed safely. it's the latest in a string of accidents and mishaps. and most recently an emergency landing after a cabin full of haze over atlanta. >> the circumstances have been quite different in each one of these accidents or incidents. so it's too early to draw a common thread through all of them. >> reporter: all of it rattling travelers nationwide. from a consumer confidence standpoint, are we nearing a tipping point? >> no, i don't think we're

nearing a tipping point, but aviation is incredibly safe, and hopefully this is not the beginning of some long-term tripped. >> reporter: expert tell us that these close calls fall into different categories. and while the latest incident is still being investigated, one expert tells us it could be considered a class a incident, which is the most serious kind. it's also worth noting the class a close calls are extremely rare and actually have been declining in recent years. back to you. >> erin, thank you. staying in the air, this time with a disturbing story from on board a qatar airways flight. a married couple says they were forced to sit next to a dead woman's body for four hours on a flight from australia to qatar. the woman collapsed and died mid flight. the crew then placed the body in an empty seat next to them for the rest of the flight. in a statement, qatar airways offered condolences to the family of the deceased and an apology to passengers.

another round of snow and rain is moving across the midwest this morning. angigie lassman is tracking tha system for us. so what's happening when, angie, good morning. >> we have a little bit of snow, a little bit of rain as you mentioned. it's not going to leave us with kind of really horrible conditions across this region for the next couple days, but we have aouple systems that could leave you with a wet commute. snow focussed across michigan and wisconsin. and the rain from pennsylvania to missouri. this system moves into the northeast tomorrow. that's where the rain and the snow go for folks there. that will be out of here. but we will still deal with light snow across northern new england for tomorrow. then here comes the next system. again, a quick mover, but we'll deal with a couple inches. when it's all said and done, when it comes to the snowfall across this region. otherwise, dense fog advisories for the south. taking it a little extra slow is going to go a long way this morning.

and a potential for another warm one for a lot rock, 72 with mo sunny skies. and that's a look at your forecastst. > mcdonald's fans loving it. . mcdonald's fans loving it. mg diet got me shredded. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters. jordan's sore nose let out a fiery sneeze, so dad grabbed puffs plus lotion to soothe her with ease. puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed.

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shares, let's turn to karen gilchrist. good morning, karen. >> good morning, frances. yes, a wild ride for tesla shares with the stock shedding 8% on tuesday and 25% since the start of the year. that's wiped off $100 billion off ceo elon musk's net worth. though he does still remain the richest person in the world. now this all follows a reuters report saying a long-awaited update to the company's semi-automated driving system in china disappointed users. this adds to a growing sense of unease from investors who are concerned about the company's performance and musk's pre occupation with his government duties, including his involvement in the department of government efficiency. it also follows sales that missed expectations in the fourth quarter announced in january, and certainly adds to this sense of trepidation from investors. now good news for breakfast

lovers. mcdonald's says it will not be adding a surcharge for egg products, and this coincides with the 50th anniversary of the egg mcmuffin and a promotion to offer consumers a $1 egg mcmuffin sandwich from march the 2nd for users who purchase through the app. and this follows a move by companies such as denny's and waffle house to increase the price of egg products. so mcdonald's trying to show consumers that it won't be doing that. back to you. >> a lot of people will be snatching that up. still to come, find out why colin jost went dumpster diving. and the dinosaur from our imagination is getting a re-imagining. more on barney's big screen return. re on barney's big scree return. was her irritated skin. so we switched to tide free & gentle. it cleans better and doesn't leave behind irritating residues. and it's gentle on her skin. tide free & gentle liquid is epa safer choice certified.

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making movies a lot of work. you're going to need some more help. >> hmm, good point.

would you like to help us, barney? >> hi, everyone. >> barney! >> i'd be delighted to help you make your movie. >> barney the dinosaur is going hollywood. but what hits theaters might not be as wholesomas what we grew up with. multiple sources report that ayo edebiri is to be involved. it's described as kind of a surreal, adult take on the children's tv icon. edebiri is in talks to star in the project. if you know some of her other movies, there is some darker comedic fun side to it. i'm sure that's going to be the case. i want to know if they're going to change the lyrics to make it angsty. >> there has to be something to

entice millennials. >> reporter: on a recent episode, of jeopardy, colin jost recalled the time his wife lost her ring in the trash leading him to dig through 12 dumpsters of trash only for johansson to realize it was in her pocket the whole time. i can picture this after she's watching him dig through the trash and she feels, oh, what do i do? >> and i'm hearing the dialog in my mind, way they're going back and forth. up next, all shook up over a plot to steal graceland. new details on the plea deal. and thousands of dolphins make a splash off the california coast. a splash off the califora coast. g. tell me you're joking. uh, it's a little early for jokes, but here it goes. this muffin goes on vacation— what's happening? you said “joking” three times, that's why i'm here. uh, anyway, so this muffin— well i was just excited about my new car. -new car? oh, you don't need a joke, you need a jake.

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doncic faced his old team for the first time since becoming a laker. there were strong performances from kyrie irving and klay thompson, but luka's lakers never trailed last night. lebron james led with 27 points in the 107-99 victory. and a revolutionary new device is letting some experience nba games like never before. the portland trail blazers is using the tech to help fans feel every play. here's steve patterson. >> reporter: it's a big night for hank vogel. the 11-year-old is ready to watch a nba game with his family. hank is visually impaired, but thanks to his hometown team all the action is right at his fingertips. this haptic tablet relays action

by sound and touch. and when his team hits a big three, the celebration is electric. >> to actually be in the arena, and, like, experience it with everybody else. i feel like i was a regular person. i don't quite know how to explain it. >> we're doing a translation of the game from a very visual format to a tactile format that's accessible. >> reporter: jared and his team of engineers designed the one-court tablet. users can follow every movement of the ball. >> you can shift your hands and start to follow it. >> reporter: the goal, expanding the tech to other sports. >> here comes lebron! >> reporter: an automated audio feed narrates the action. >> shot, score. >> how hard was that vibration? >> just like, ah! oh, okay. that's what happened. >> reporter: give me the hank

review. what do you think? >> i definitely experienced the game way better than i would have, because i can kind of have a sense of what's going on. >> reporter: so no blazer fan misses out on a big moment. >> to see him be able to enjoy it in a different way is incredible. >> reporter: steve patterson, nbc news, portland. >> great experience. thanks so much for tipping off your morning with "early today." glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. have a great wednesday. we'll see you back here early thursday morning. for no your newsw, c

breaking overnight. house republicans pass their trump-backed budget blueprint, including cuts to medicaid, even as some gop lawmakers raise concerns over the white house's

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