Today’s edition of quick hits.
* This wasn’t an easy lift, but it’s done: “The Senate voted on Thursday to pass a $1.7 trillion government funding bill, sending it to the House to avoid a holiday shutdown. The vote was 68-29 on sweeping legislation that will keep the government funded through next fall and overhaul election laws in an attempt to prevent another Jan. 6.”
* Heartening economic news: “Shrugging off rampant inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday in a healthy upgrade from its earlier estimate of third-quarter growth.”
* Be safe out there: “What forecasters described as a ‘once-in-a-generation storm’ sent temperatures plunging across the middle of the United States on Thursday, prompting blizzard warnings and disrupting thousands of flights during one of the busiest travel weeks since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. At least three people in Kansas were killed in vehicle crashes that appeared to be related to the storm, officials said.”
* This wasn’t a good idea: “Outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has agreed to dismantle a makeshift border wall that triggered a lawsuit by the federal government and rankled environmentalists.”
* Great story: “The idea of a daring wartime trip by Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington had percolated for some time before the surprise visit was revealed just hours ahead of the Ukrainian president’s arrival.” * He sure does lose in court a lot: “A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied former President Donald Trump’s request to block the New York attorney general’s office from seeking materials from his private trust. Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the attorney general’s office ‘raises four reasons — all of which are likely correct — why Plaintiff has no substantial likelihood of success on the merits.’” * Noted without comment: “On Wednesday, lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems shared some of the strongest evidence yet that some [Fox News] employees knew what they broadcast about the claims was false.” See you tomorrow.
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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