©  Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Associated Press file

IT'S NOT ALWAYS PRETTY, but Republicans in Congress are gaining momentum as they seek to implement President Trump’s agenda.

Trump scored budget and Cabinet victories Thursday, after weeks of GOP handwringing, wavering and speculation about whether Republicans would align to give the president what he wants even if they disagreed.

• The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, despite several GOP centrists expressing concern about his past anti-vaccine advocacy and hostility toward the medical establishment.

All Republicans voted to confirm Kennedy except for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures,” said McConnell, who had polio as a child.

“In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” he added.

McConnell was also the lone Republican to vote against Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard was confirmed on Wednesday.

• Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a party-line vote. Patel, who has vowed to overhaul the FBI, is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate next week.

• After weeks of wrangling, conservative hardliners in the House struck a deal with GOP leadership on a budget resolution just hours ahead of a crucial vote. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) predicted the resolution would pass unanimously out of committee. Johnson has been under enormous pressure to unite the disparate conservative factions around a package of tax cuts and spending cuts that can pass the House despite the GOP’s ultra-thin majority.

The Senate passed its own resolution on Wednesday. Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cast the Senate resolution as a back-up plan if House Republicans can't get their act together.

• A federal judge gave the green light to the Trump administration’s buyout offers to all government employees.

The White House celebrated the 75,000 who accepted the deal, even though it fell short of their projected 100,000 to 200,000.

“That’s going to save millions of dollars for the American taxpayers," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "That’s exactly what we wanted."

It’s not all smooth sailing for Trump.

• The GOP’s budget drama is by no means over. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and other top Republican senators said they would only vote for a permanent extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, complicating the way forward in the House.

•  A federal judge blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care.

• Republican senators are warning that two of Trump’s nominees for national security positions who have championed radical views will face intense scrutiny, according to The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.

• The State Department is placing a $400 million contract to build armored electric vehicles on hold amid questions about a conflict of interest with Tesla owner Elon Musk, who was the apparent recipient of the contract. The deal originated under the Biden administration.

• Unions are suing Musk's Department of Government Efficiency over plans for "large-scale" government layoffs. 

• A federal judge extended a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave. Current and former employees at USAID are suing Musk, arguing that he should have been confirmed by the Senate to implement his proposed cuts.

• The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Trump administration for access to migrants detained at Guantánamo Bay.

COMING UP: Trump and India's prime minister are holding a joint press conference at the White House at 5:10 p.m. EST.