"The House passed bipartisan tax legislation Wednesday evening that would expand the Child Tax Credit and restore several business tax breaks — a rare feat in an otherwise bitterly divided Congress that has frequently suffered crippling dysfunction," Politico reports.
"The $78 billion tax package was sent to the Senate on a vote of 357 to 70, with strong support from both Republicans and Democrats. It awaits an uncertain future in the upper chamber, with some Senate Republicans calling for hearings and others eager to make changes in the bill."
Roll Call: "The package negotiated by House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., easily mustered the two-thirds majority needed to pass, despite GOP drama earlier in the week and previous criticism from Democrats."
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) cast doubt Wednesday on passing a bipartisan tax bill, saying it could make President Biden "look good" and improve Democrats' chances of holding the White House in the 2024 election, NBC News reports.
Said Grassley: "Passing a tax bill that makes the president look good — mailing out checks before the election — means he could be re-elected, and then we won't extend the 2017 tax cuts."
New York Times: "But the measure still faces a fraught path to enactment amid political divides over who should benefit the most. The effort, which faces resistance from Senate Republicans and some members of the House in both parties, is a test of whether a divided Congress with painfully thin margins can buck the dysfunction of the Republican-led House, set aside electoral politics and deliver legislation that would contain victories for both parties."
NBC News: "Welcome to the new House of Representatives under the thin Republican majority. It's becoming so inept at moving legislation through the normal process that it's starting to look like a more rowdy Senate, where the minority party can bless or block bills and the once-rare 60-vote threshold, or two-thirds in the House, has become the new normal."
"The House is expected to use the super-majority process again on Wednesday to pass a $78 billion tax bill, which faces GOP objections. And some Republicans say they'll have to use the same approach if they want to pass full-year government funding and a potential Senate immigration and Ukraine aid pact."
"New York Republican moderates and House GOP leaders reached an agreement to consider a bill addressing the state and local tax deduction within the next week after a group of Empire State lawmakers threatened to block legislative action over the issue," The Hill reports.
In a video obtained by Rolling Stone, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) declared on Tuesday: "Congress doesn't have to do anything to secure our southern border and fix it."
Said Nehls: "Why would I help Joe Biden approve his dismal 33% approval rating when he can fix the border and secure it on his own? He can secure it on his own through executive order."
While waving around a cigar outside of the Capitol, he went on to cite Donald Trump's slew of executive orders addressing immigration, many of which were ultimately found to be unconstitutional.
"Senate GOP leaders warned during a closed-door lunch Wednesday that the prospects of winning over at least half of the Republican Conference on the border security package are worsening," Punchbowl News reports.
"During his remarks, Minority Whip John Thune echoed Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's observations from last week that the politics surrounding the issue have changed, putting Republicans in an increasingly difficult position."
"No decision was reached on how to proceed, and proponents of the emerging agreement urged senators to hold their fire until the legislative text is released. Negotiators say they want to release it as soon as possible, but there are portions of the bill that are unfinished."
Kyrsten Sinema on Tuesday forcefully defended the border agreement she's reached with both parties, calling conservative attacks on the bill "misinformation" and explaining in detail how the deal would curb illegal crossings, Politico reports.
"When Mitch McConnell appointed James Lankford to lead bipartisan negotiations on immigration in the fall, it seemed a good bet to unite the fractious GOP: The Oklahoman is popular within the party, known as an even-keeled conservative," Politico reports.
"Now Lankford is watching his deal with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) run into a systematic conservative assault led by Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Donald Trump. At least he's keeping his sense of humor intact, quipping on Wednesday that whether he's still well-liked is up for debate these days: 'Used to be.'"
"It's not just his policy proposals on the line, but his reputation among Republicans. Lankford himself is becoming a target, facing criticism from Republicans back in Oklahoma and public — if indirect — skepticism of his deal-making acumen from many conservatives whom he's usually aligned with."
New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials do not set interest rates with presidential elections in mind. In fact, the central bank is independent of the White House and, as the Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell, has said repeatedly, the institution takes that independence seriously."
"But the growing likelihood that the Fed might begin to cut rates this year could provide an election-year assist to President Biden."
"The United States has attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah," the AP reports.
"National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday the U.S. believes the attack was planned, resourced and facilitated by the group."
Semafor: "The Israeli government had discussed internally a plan to allow some of Hamas' senior military leaders to take refuge in a third Middle East country as a step to accelerate an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and forge a new political leadership in the Palestinian territories."
"The initiative could include exiling top Hamas officials believed to have masterminded and executed the October 7th terrorist attack. The exile plan could form part of a package of steps to end the Gaza war that includes Hamas releasing all of its remaining hostages, the laying down of arms by its lower-rank fighters and commanders, and the establishment of a post-war Gaza leadership free of Hamas."
"Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked the State Department to conduct a review and present policy options on possible U.S. and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza," Axios reports.
"While U.S. officials say there has been no policy change, the fact the State Department is even considering such options signals a shift in thinking within the Biden administration on possible Palestinian statehood recognition, which is highly sensitive both internationally and domestically."
"The Messenger, a news website that pledged to shake up the media industry with a playbook borrowed from the doomed publishing start-ups of yesteryear, will be closing down," the New York Times reports.
"By closing less than a year after it launched, The Messenger will now be one of the biggest busts in the annals of online news. And its collapse is the most substantial blow in recent months to the news industry, which is reeling from an unrelenting series of cutbacks."
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) engaged in a bit of McCarthyism during Wednesday's Senate hearing on online child safety when he relentlessly pressed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on his ties to China, going so far as to wonder whether the Singapore citizen was "a member of the Chinese Communist Party," the Daily Beast reports.
"A judge dismissed a lawsuit Disney filed against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that alleged he retaliated against the company for publicly criticizing a controversial parental rights law in the state that the governor backed," CNBC reports.
"The judge ruled that Disney lacked legal standing to sue DeSantis."
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is rounding up support for a measure that says Donald Trump did not "engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," the Daily Mail reports.
Politico: Although it's not immediately clear what the legal implications of Gaetz's measure would be, the 14th Amendment also says any disqualification from running for office could be removed by a two-thirds vote of Congress — a threshold the measure is very unlikely to meet."
"The leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal Thursday to provide Ukraine with a new 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) support package despite Hungary's weeks of threats to veto the move," the AP reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his top commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, that he was firing him in a meeting on Monday — a disruptive military shake-up amid Ukraine's struggles on the battlefield and after months of friction between the president and the popular general, the Washington Post reports.
Daily Beast: "A Daily Beast investigation of his affiliations, influences, and public statements shows that Johnson's worldview was forged in a radical theological tradition—the leaders and adherents of which have disputed some of the country's most important constitutional principles, including amendments that freed the slaves and extended basic rights to all citizens."
"That may sound dramatic, but Johnson's connections to one particular strain of Christian fundamentalism elicit legitimate questions about the speaker's biblical and constitutional interpretations. Those questions are all the more pressing given how open leaders of this movement have been about using anti-democratic means to achieve their desired religious ends—and given Johnson's own prominent role in the GOP effort to overturn the 2020 election."
"While Johnson's legal endeavors to keep Donald Trump in office have been well documented, so, too, have his ties to that fundamentalist strain, known loosely as Christian dominionism."
Rolling Stone: "According to two sources who have discussed the topic with the ex-president since last year, Trump and people close to him intend to expand a Nixon-era memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that has effectively prohibited the department from prosecuting sitting presidents for decades. Some Trump advisers and others familiar with these discussions say they plan to have a thoroughly Trumpified OLC issue a new memo, which would advise that the department should prohibit the prosecution of presidents even after they leave office. (The existing Department of Justice memo is generally interpreted as applying to presidents only when they are in power.)"
"These ideas have been briefed to Trump by a handful of right-wing lawyers and longtime associates over the past several months, the two people with direct knowledge of the situation say."
David French: "One of the sobering realities of life is that we often don't understand our true hierarchy of values until they come into conflict. We might say, for example, that we believe that our political leaders should be men or women of high character who broadly agree with our policy positions. But do we believe that at the cost of actually losing a political race? Or is victory the necessity, and character and ideology the luxuries?"
"I don't regret my arguments against Trump. I'd make them again, and I will continue making them. I do ask myself how I missed the sheer extent of Republican anger. And I'm deeply, deeply grieved by the thought that I did anything in my life before Trump to contribute to that unrighteous rage. Animosity is the enemy of liberty and unity. Before Republicans can reject Trump or end Trumpism, they'll have to ease the anger that dominates far too many right-wing hearts."
President Biden said he has no issue with Donald Trump being on state ballots as opponents of the former president work across the country to disqualify him from public office under the 14th Amendment's "insurrectionist ban," CNN reports. Said Biden: "As far as I'm concerned, that's fine."
"Previously, Biden said Trump supported an insurrection on January 6, 2021, but that it was up to the court system to decide whether that should disqualify him from running for president."
"Two of Donald Trump's political action committees spent an astonishing $29 million in legal consulting and legal fees in the second half of last year, leaving only $5 million in his leadership PAC's coffers," Politico reports.
"The expenditures provide a stark illustration of how Trump's courtroom issues have not just defined his campaign but begun to overwhelm it."
Former Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-MO), who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after voters elected her dead husband to the seat, died at the age of 90, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
"James Biden will appear before House Republicans for a private interview next month as lawmakers seek to regain some momentum in their monthslong impeachment inquiry into his brother, President Joe Biden," the AP reports.
FBI Director Chris Wray says his agency disrupted a Chinese-backed effort to plant malware that could damage civilian infrastructure, the AP reports. He also warned that Beijing is positioning itself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the United States and China ever go to war.
President Biden will tap senior adviser John Podesta to replace outgoing U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry once Kerry steps down this spring, the Washington Post reports.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested without providing evidence that some pro-Palestinian protesters have connections to Russia and said the FBI should investigate them, CNN reports.
No comments:
Post a Comment