Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The bill now heads to the Senate: “Congress moved Thursday toward renewing a critical intelligence program despite a morning of confusion prompted by President Donald Trump’s tweets, in which he appeared to support significant changes that his administration had worked for months to rebuff.”
* In case you missed Rachel’s segment on this last night: “One year after U.S. intelligence agencies detailed the scale and scope of Russian efforts to undermine the 2016 presidential election, the United States still lacks ‘a coherent, comprehensive and coordinated approach’ to countering potential future threats from the Kremlin or elsewhere, a new Democratic congressional report finds.”
* It’s going to take some time before the Interior Department returns to normal: “The Interior Department has adopted a new screening process for the discretionary grants it makes to outside groups, instructing staff to ensure those awards ‘promote the priorities’ of the Trump administration.”
* USA Today has been doing excellent work on this beat: “President Trump’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers’ behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.”
* An unnecessary step backwards: “The federal government has ended a national registry designed to provide information to the public about evidence-based mental health and substance use interventions and programs.”
* Maybe those Obama folks knew what they were talking about: “In a notable back flip, the Trump administration has decided that maybe the Obama administration was right in its efforts to change the way doctors and hospitals are paid under Medicare.” * Another topic on which he’s behind: “Trump says he wishes the U.S. would use hydropower. (We do. A lot.)” * I’m glad Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) made the effort to obtain the information: “Early last year as an Obamacare repeal bill was flailing in the House, top Trump administration officials showed select House conservatives a secret road map of how they planned to gut the health law using executive authority.” 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
