Today’s edition of quick hits:
* No deal: “Congressional Democrats and the White House were stuck Friday over the scale of federal government spending in another round of coronavirus aid, with both sides indicating a stalemate had arrived. Democrats said the lowest figure they were willing to accept would be $2 trillion, down from their initial request of $3.4 trillion.”
* Florida: “As Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed this summer for schools to reopen, state leaders told school boards they would need Health Department approval if they wanted to keep classrooms closed. Then they instructed health directors not to give it.”
* This order is scheduled to take effect in 45 days: “President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday barring U.S. companies from doing business with ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok.”
* Following up on a story from yesterday: “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has tested negative for the coronavirus disease COVID-19 after an earlier test came back positive and scrapped a scheduled meeting with the president Thursday, the governor’s office said Thursday night.”
* Good move: “Twitter will start labeling the accounts of media outlets affiliated with the governments of countries on the U.N. Security Council, it announced Thursday.
* The post-USMCA goodwill didn’t last long: “President Donald Trump said he signed a proclamation Thursday to reimpose 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imports from Canada that had been suspended more than a year earlier.”
* On a related note, we didn’t have to wait long for a response: “On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s response via Twitter. ‘In response to the American tariffs announced today, Canada will impose countermeasures that will include dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs,’ he wrote. ‘We will always stand up for our aluminum workers. We did so in 2018 and we will stand up for them again now.’”
* Another misguided step on immigration: “What do you do if immigrants learn how to navigate the latest booby trap you’ve set for them? If you’re the Trump administration, you set that trap for someone else those immigrants must rely on — such as law enforcement or medical personnel, who submit evidence for certain visa applications.” * To borrow a John Lewis line, these kids got into good trouble: “At least two students say they have been suspended at North Paulding High School in Georgia for posting photos of crowded hallways that went viral on Twitter.” * “Thigh-land” is not how it’s pronounced: “Citizens of Thailand were surprised and bemused on Friday to discover their country’s name had become a social media meme after U.S. President Donald Trump mispronounced it.” Have a safe weekend.
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."
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