Today’s edition of quick hits.
* With just hours to go on the Hill: “The Senate barreled on Friday toward a late-night vote on whether to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, with the outcome still uncertain as a handful of Republicans weighed whether to back President Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon.”
* A stunning move from Marco Rubio’s State Department: “The State Department ordered a sweeping freeze Friday on new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance, making exceptions for emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt. The order threatened a quick halt to many of the billions of dollars in U.S.-funded projects globally to support health, education, development, job training, anti-corruption, security assistance and other efforts.”
* FEMA’s precarious future: “President Donald Trump, on a tour of two states reeling in recent months from hurricanes and wildfires, pledged on Friday to upend how the country has responded for decades to natural disasters, saying that he wants to eliminate FEMA and threatening to withhold federal assistance to California unless it passes a new voter ID law.”
* What’s the possible justification for this? “The Trump administration is moving to abolish a Pentagon office responsible for promoting civilian safety in battlefield operations, suggesting that incoming Defense Department leaders may attempt to loosen restrictions on U.S. military operations worldwide.”
* A welcome reversal: “Veterans Affairs officials issued guidance Thursday exempting more than 300,000 department health care posts from the White House’s federal hiring freeze, labeling them as essential to public health and department operations.”
* This bill will definitely be derailed in the Senate: “The House on Thursday passed legislation that could subject certain doctors to criminal penalties if they perform abortions, Republicans’ first attempt to restrict reproductive rights since the party has secured its governing trifecta under President Trump. The 217-to-204 vote was almost entirely along party lines, save for one anti-abortion Democrat, Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, who voted with Republicans in favor of the bill. Another, Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, voted present.” * Huh? “Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday he believes aliens have underwater bases on Earth.” * Noted without comment: “Mississippi state Sen. Bradford Blackmon, a Democrat, introduced a bill this week that would seemingly ban men from masturbating or engaging in other sexual acts when they have no ‘intent to fertilize an embryo.’ The bill, titled the ‘Contraception Begins at Erection Act,’ would make it unlawful for ‘a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.’” 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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