Today’s edition of quick hits:
* This time, it was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) who prevented passage: “For the second time in less than a week, the House on Tuesday failed to pass the Senate-approved $19 billion bill providing disaster aid funding to parts of the United States hit by hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires after a Republican lawmaker objected.”
* SCOTUS: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Indiana’s law requiring abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains, but left lower court rulings intact that invalidated a broader measure that would prevent a woman from having an abortion based on a fetus’s gender, race or genetic disorder.”
* In related news: “The last remaining abortion clinic in Missouri says it expects to be shut down this week, which would effectively end legal abortion in the state. Unless a court intervenes, the closing would make Missouri the only state in the country without an abortion clinic, according to Planned Parenthood.”
* Hmm: “Kushner Cos., the real estate firm owned by the family of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has received about $800 million in federally backed debt to buy apartments in Maryland and Virginia — the company’s biggest purchase in a decade.”
* Isn’t he already in enough trouble? “Rep. Duncan Hunter of California acknowledged taking a photo with a dead combatant during his time as a Marine as he defended a Navy SEAL charged with multiple war crimes, including killing a teenage fighter.”
* Another step backwards: “The Trump administration announced Friday that it will kill a Forest Service program that trains disadvantaged young people for wildland fire fighting and other jobs in rural communities, laying off 1,100 employees — believed to be the largest number of federal job cuts in a decade.”
* This isn’t a healthy development: “The anti-vaccine movement, which swelled with discredited theories that blamed vaccines for autism and other ills, has morphed and grown into a libertarian political rebellion that is drawing in state Republican officials who distrust government medical mandates.”
* The inaugural committee, back in the news: “Real estate mogul Franklin Haney contributed $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee and all he’s got to show for the money is the glare of a federal investigation.” * The Jeffrey Epstein scandal: “Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, already under federal investigation for a secret immunity deal he gave to a suspected sex trafficker of underage girls, may have to face some of those victims — who are now adult women — in a federal courtroom.” * This is part of Scott Walker’s Foxconn controversy: “Newly released emails show that Environmental Protection Agency scientists raised strong objections to a 2018 decision by Scott Pruitt, who was head of the agency at the time, to exempt most of southeastern Wisconsin from federal limits on smog.” * Three years ago today, then-candidate Trump published this to Twitter: “Does President Obama ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he’s in Japan?” I’m going to hope this wasn’t a topic of conversation during the Republican’s recent four-day trip. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
