Happy Tuesday! Reddit is preparing to go public, seeking a $6.4 billion valuation. But the heads of the social media network—which gave rise to r/wallstreetbets, the seedbed of meme stocks—are a little worried their users could wreck the IPO.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• President Joe Biden unveiled a $7.3 trillion fiscal year 2025 budget proposal on Monday, building on the economic message laid out in his State of the Union address last week. The document—more of a policy vision board than a spending blueprint—included a plan to introduce a new mortgage tax credit and Medicare’s $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cost cap to the commercial insurance market. The budget also aims to shore up Medicare and Social Security finances and cut low- and middle-income tax rates over the next decade. To fund these initiatives, the budget document proposed tax increases for corporations and higher-income households, plus a new 25 percent minimum tax on people worth $100 million or more.
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge announced on Monday she’d be stepping down from her post effective next week in order to spend more time with her 92-year-old mother. The secretary is only the second cabinet member to resign since Biden took office—the first was Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, who stepped down last year to head the National Hockey League Players’ Association. 
• Peter Navarro, a White House trade policy adviser in the Trump administration involved in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, was ordered to report to prison on Monday to serve a four-month sentence for failing to comply with subpoenas from the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Navarro’s lawyers are challenging the order in an effort to keep their client out of prison while they appeal the case. 
• One of the key witnesses cooperating with investigators in special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against former President Donald Trump publicly identified himself in a Monday night interview with CNN. Brian Butler, previously known in public legal filings only as “Trump Employee 5,” discussed his role in unwittingly moving the classified documents at the heart of the case. “I think the American people have the right to know the facts,” Butler said, “that this is not a witch hunt.”
• Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa plans to run for Senate Republican Conference Chair, Politico reported on Monday, challenging Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas for the third-ranking leadership position in the conference. Ernst currently serves as Republican Policy Committee chair, and yesterday Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia announced that she will run for Ernst’s old job.

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The Gig Is Up 

So ubiquitous is the gig economy in American life that, for many of us, the “taxi” has gone the way of the “tissue.” Just as a “Kleenex” is now the thing we blow our noses into, we now take an “Uber” when we want to go somewhere. And anyone who’s ever ridden in an Uber likely knows that for many drivers, that job may be but one of their many streams of income—one among a series of “gigs.” 

A new Biden administration rule that changes the criteria for determining who is considered an independent contractor under the Federal Labor Standards Act went into effect Monday, potentially redefining “gig work” as we know it. Advocates of the new rule say it will expand the benefits of full employment—federal minimum wage, unemployment insurance, overtime, and Social Security benefits—to millions of independent contractors, particularly those who are “misclassified” as such. Opponents, however, worry the change will have a chilling effect on hiring contractors, undermining the independent contracting model and forcing genuine contract workers out of the market.

Though estimates for how many people engage in contract-based and independent work can vary widely, workforce surveys suggest that …

As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 1,514-word story on the Biden administration’s new rule affecting gig work in the United States is available in the members-only version of TMD.

Worth Your Time

• Writing for the Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch examined the striking data behind the racial realignment in American politics. “Data from America’s gold-standard national election surveys show Democrats’ advantage among Black, Latino, and Asian voters at its lowest since 1960,” he wrote. “Part of this is due to fading memories and weakening ties. Black Americans who lived through the civil rights era still support the party at very high levels, but younger generations are wavering. There’s also the weakening correlation between income and voter choice in U.S. politics. The image of the GOP as the party of wealthy country club elites is dimming, opening the door to working- and middle-class voters of all ethnicities. More ominous for the Democrats is a less widely understood dynamic: many of America’s non-white voters have long held much more conservative views than their voting patterns would suggest. The migration we’re seeing today is not so much natural Democrats becoming disillusioned but natural Republicans realizing they’ve been voting for the wrong party.”

Presented Without Comment 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, after meeting with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago: “He will not give a penny into the Ukraine-Russia war and therefore the war will end.” 

Also Presented Without Comment

KMBC News: Effigy of Biden Hit at Johnson County Republican Party Fundraising Event

Toeing the Company Line

• It’s Tuesday, which means Dispatch Live (🔒) returns tonight! This week’s edition will start at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. ET and feature Steve, Jonah, and Declan talking about the Dispatch’s recent editorial about the 2024 election. Keep an eye out for an email later today with information on how to tune in.
• Alex fact-checked an anecdote included in GOP Sen. Katie Britt’s State of the Union rebuttal and assessed some misleading allegations of voter fraud in a Texas primary.
• In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics team reported on President Joe Biden’s burst of campaigning following the State of the Union address, Kevin argued (🔒) that business groups are getting the labor supply “problem” wrong, and Nick questioned (🔒) what it is that former President Donald Trump actually fights for.
• On the podcasts: Michael moderated a debate (🔒) between Emily Zanotti and Elizabeth Nolan Brown about surrogacy on The Skiff, and Sarah and David analyzed a dissent from denial from Justice Clarence Thomas on bias response teams at a Virginia university on the latest Advisory Opinions.
• On the site today: Stirewalt chronicles how Republicans are playing catch up on mail-in voting, and Eric Edelman, Reuel Marc Gerecht, and Ray Takeyh predict what will happen when Iran gets its long-sought nuclear weapon.