Good morning, and welcome to the last day of February. In today’s edition:

• 📝 The House passed a budget resolution with GOP priorities
• 💰 MrBeast’s fundraise
• 🌡️ Human body temps are falling

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.42-minute read (1,176 words).

Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here for free.

"No person becomes rich unless they enrich others."

–Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

It’s almost spring, and we’re cleaning out the closet. Get up to 50% off select products listed on The DONUT Shop for a limited time.

But get ‘em before they’re gone – once supplies run out, that’s it. We’re talking t-shirts softer than your baby nephew’s cheeks, beanies way more stylish than anything seen in It Ends With Us, and cozy af sweatshirts perfect for movie nights with your beau (or just running from the house to the car in this freezing cold).

Explore our selection now before supplies run out.

House Republicans approved a budget proposal this week in a 217-215 vote, with one Republican joining all Democrats in opposition to the proposed spending and tax cuts included in the bill.

The plan doesn’t detail specific policy changes, but rather directs congressional committees in charge of spending to make certain cuts consistent with Trump’s policy agenda.

• Overall, it calls for up to $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, with over half of that figure coming from the Energy and Commerce Committee (which controls spending for energy, technology, healthcare, and more).
• These spending cuts are paired with up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, via an extension of expiring tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017.
• The resolution also seeks $300 billion in additional spending for border security and the military.

The arguments: Republicans who support the House budget say steep reductions in federal spending cover much of the costs of their proposed tax cuts – which in turn will promote economic growth and create more taxable income and wealth for Americans.

Many Democratic lawmakers and groups have pushed back against the proposed spending and tax cuts, portraying them as a plan to cut benefits for the working and middle classes to enact tax breaks for richer Americans.

The numbers: The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the new House bill will add $2.8+ trillion to federal deficits over the next decade ($3.4+ trillion including interest).

Looking ahead…The House budget resolution now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to make several changes before sending the bill back to the House for final approval. But the process doesn’t end there.

Once both chambers of Congress are on the same page, lawmakers still have to negotiate hundreds of details on taxes, health care, energy, and food stamps before they can get a bill to President Trump’s desk.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support the recently approved House budget resolution seeking to enact spending cuts combined with tax cuts?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

Your bed should be your sanctuary. A place so cozy, that you never want to leave. One that provides the comfort and rest you need to face life’s challenges. And Tuft & Needle delivers options for every budget to do just that.

• From luxury mattresses featuring innovative T&N Adaptive® foam and responsive comfort to bedding that keeps you cool yet cozy.
• All products are responsibly crafted with no harmful chemicals and feature a 100-night sleep trial.

Save 20% on T&N sitewide with code 20OFFSLEEP.

YouTube behemoth MrBeast is on a mission to raise a dollar for every one of his subscribers hundreds of millions of dollars in a deal that would value his company, MrBeast LLC, at ~$5 billion, per a new Bloomberg report.

The YouTube star, real name Jimmy Donaldson, is the site’s most popular creator with 368+ million subscribers. He’s known for videos featuring extravagant contests for prizes like briefcases full of money, free shopping trips worth tens of thousands of dollars, and college scholarships.

The money boomerang

While Donaldson has built a career on giving away money, some of it has managed to come back to him. In 2022, he revealed he turned down a $1 billion offer to take over his companies and the MrBeast content empire, which included a piddly ~115 million subscribers on his main channel at the time.

Why raise money now? Donaldson is reportedly planning to use the funds to expand his packaged goods and media businesses. 

• MrBeast LLC owns part or all of various ventures, including Feastables, a brand of chocolate bars, and Lunchly, a lunch kit marketed as a healthier alternative to Lunchables.
• The company is reportedly profitable, bringing in $400+ million in sales last year, per sources.

🛒📲 Zoom out: Influencer-centric brands are becoming all the rage. Other notable examples include Kim Kardashian’s Skims ($4B+ valuation), Prime by Logan Paul x KSI ($3.2B), and W by Jake Paul (~$150M+).

It seems defense doesn’t just happen on the field.

The NFL, MLB, NCAA, and NASCAR have come out in support of the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act, a recently introduced bipartisan bill that gives state and local law enforcement the authority to disable drones above large sporting events.

Background: The airspace around stadiums or venues seating 30,000+ people is subject to temporary flight restrictions one hour before and one hour after an event. Flying drones in the area during that period is already a violation of federal law.

However, only on-site federal law enforcement officials have the authority and equipment necessary to disable drones, and they usually only attend major events such as the World Series, Super Bowl, and CFP – leaving thousands of other games unattended. State and local officials are more likely to be present during those matchups.

These days, crowds aren’t the only things buzzing. The number of “threats, incidents, and incursions by unauthorized drones” during NFL games rose from 67 during the 2018 season to 2,845 during the 2023 season, per NFL security chief Cathy Lanier. Multiple games have also been delayed by unauthorized drones, including an AFC Championship.

🚁 The overarching concern: Pranksters or hobbyists have mostly been responsible for the drone-related issues thus far. But league officials are growing concerned about the potential for malicious actors to enact harm, ESPN reports.

+Note: Want to read more stories like this? Sign up free for Press Sports, our witty sister newsletter dedicated to making readers the smartest sports fans in any room.

The 97th Academy Awards happen Sunday, and it's neck-and-neck for which film will dominate. According to Kalshi prediction market:

• Anora leads with a 33% chance of winning the most Oscars
• The Brutalist trails slightly at 29%
• A tie between them stands at 33%

Think you know who'll triumph? On Kalshi – the first CFTC-regulated prediction market – you can turn your Oscar predictions into potential profits. Beyond Hollywood, trade on countless real-world events while earning 3.75% APY on your cash and positions.

Sign up now and get a bonus $20 after trading $100+ with code DONUT20.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US markets closed down yesterday (S&P: -1.6%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -2.8%). | 🤖 Nvidia shares tumbled 8% following quarterly earnings; market cap drops below $3 trillion. | 🏡 Pending home sales fell 4.6% from December-January to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking the metric in 2001.
• 📝 President Trump said his proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will go into effect March 4 (Tuesday); China tariffs will be doubled to 20% and will also go into effect on that date.
• 🛢️ Trump admin says it will revoke a Biden-era license allowing a joint venture between Chevron and Venezuela's state-run oil company to export oil to the US despite sanctions. | ⚖️ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped at least four enforcement lawsuits; cases involved Capital One, a Rocket Mortgage affiliate, and others.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Live It Up

• 📈 Warner Bros. Discovery added 6.4 million streaming subscribers in Q4; brings total to ~117 million; company forecasts 150 million by end of 2026. | 📵 Meta apologized for an error that led to some users’ Instagram Reels feeds being flooded with videos of people getting killed or maimed.
• 🙏 Legendary actor Gene Hackman, 95, and wife, classicial pianist Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found dead in their Santa Fe home; one of the couple’s German Shepherds was also found deceased.
• 🏆 It’s Oscars weekend: See a preview of this year’s show + award predictions based solely on math.

*From our partners: 🙌🥦 Real food, real simple… Super Greens from Live It Up was voted best-tasting out of 39 competitor green powders by Verywell Health. Made with 20+ all-natural superfoods, and just $1.33/serving with free shipping. Save 10% on Super Greens with code DONUT10.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚀 Gayle King and Katy Perry will join an all-female crew of six on Blue Origin’s next space mission.
• 🧠🌋 A man’s brain was turned to glass due to an extremely hot ash cloud from the Mount Vesuvius volcanic eruption in 79 AD, per new research. | 🇨🇩🦠 A fast-spreading mystery illness linked to bats has killed dozens of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with nearly half dying within 48 hours of symptoms appearing, the WHO announced yesterday.
• 🤖 OpenAI released GPT-4.5, a new version of its flagship large language model.

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with Going

• 🙏🇮🇳 The Maha Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest spiritual gathering, concluded after 6+ weeks and ~400 million visitors to the Indian city of Prayagraj.
• 🇮🇱 Israel’s military released the first findings from its internal investigations into the military and intelligence failure of Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, 2023. | 🇷🇴🇺🇸 Romanian prosecutors allowed influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who face local rape and human trafficking charges, to leave the country for the US; reports claim the move followed pressure from the Trump administration.
• ✈️ The US government is taking steps to hire more air-traffic controllers and will spend billions of dollars upgrading the nation’s aviation system, per Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

*From our partners: ✈️🏖️ Stop overpaying for flights...Going helps you save money on flights and have more budget for vacation fun. They find the best deals on flights and notify you once they become available. Save 25% on Going Premium & Elite with code DONUT25.

Janet Marlow has toured the world as a 10-string guitarist, but her preferred audience members come with four legs.

The musician has spent the past 30 years working to perfect music specifically tailored to pets, based on the science of animal hearing.

Eye Ear of the tiger: Animals can hear far higher frequencies than humans. While we max out around 20,000 Hz – a very high-pitched sound in our ears – dogs are able to hear up to 45,000 Hz, and cats up to 64,000 Hz.

Armed with this knowledge, Marlow set out to compose music with calming instruments that play smooth, steady frequencies, eliminating the variances in music that typically spook or overstimulate pets. Her company, Pet Acoustics, offers Bluetooth speakers loaded with a variety of tunes for different pet species.

Science says…A 2022 study found dogs exposed to Marlow’s music exhibited a calmer physiological and behavioral state compared to traditional classical music, or none at all.

☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the annual Nature inFocus Photography competition, which attracted a record-breaking 14,180 entries from 42 countries.

🤔 Did You Know? The average human body temperature has gradually declined over the past century and a half, in a trend attributed to real physiological changes rather than measurement errors or biases, per a 2020 study. The “standard” of 98.6°F was first made famous in 1868 – but newer research places the modern-day average at 97.9°F.

📰 Worth a Read: The ‘Spy Sheikh’ Taking the AI World by Storm

🖱️ Clickbait: Nebraskan struggles to change daughter’s name from hospital’s computer-generated ‘Unakite Thirteen Hotel’

🧠 Fourteen-year-old Aaryan Shukla has rightfully earned his nickname “The Human Calculator.” The teenager recently claimed six Guinness World Records in a single day with his impressive mental math skills.

🎨 From a greenhouse, to an enchanted library, to a sailing seascape, one UK bus stop has been transformed over-and-over again for 20+ years. Meet the woman behind the vision.

🐾🏆 Purina is hiring for an extremely important leadership position: Chief Snuggle Officer. Unfortunately, if you can read this, you're already out of the running – the petcare brand will choose one adorable puppy and cat for the gig, which pays $25,000/year.

🚗 Learn: How an internal combustion engine works.

🍿 Explore: TikTok, but for movie trailers.

🖱️ Just because: How far can you scroll? More distance = more awards.

💼✨ Work smarter, not harder: The Assist serves up savvy tips to supercharge your grind – all with the same quirky flair you adore from The DONUT. Sign up free.*

🌸🐝 Free giveaway: Don’t forget to enter for a chance to win up to $1,100 in prizes in this year’s Spring Splurge Giveaway. Enter today (it’s free).*

*A message from our partners.

Our weekly news quiz is live. How well did you pay attention this week? Let’s find out.

Below are three lists of ingredients. Your job is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Chicken thighs
• Black beans
• Corn
• Onion
• Garlic
• Salt & pepper
• Cumin
• Sala Roja
• Shredded cheese
• Corn tortillas, cut
• Lettuce
• Green onion
• Sour cream

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Olive oil
• Yellow onion
• Plum tomatoes
• Eggs
• Salt & pepper

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Brownie mix
• Egg
• Vegetable oil
• Water
• Shredded coconut
• Pecans
• Dark chocolate chips
• Butterscotch chips
• Sweetened condensed milk

☝️ Recipe #1: Chicken enchilada casserole

✌️ Recipe #2: Tuscan scrambled eggs

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Hello Dolly brownies