Today’s edition of quick hits:
* A shutdown is more likely than not: “The possibility of a government shutdown grew dramatically Thursday as House and Senate GOP leaders struggled to round up the votes to keep the government open past midnight Friday.”
* A bill to watch: “Taxpayers would no longer foot the bill for sexual harassment settlements involving members of Congress under new bipartisan legislation released Thursday. Coming in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the bill would require members to pay such settlements themselves as part of an effort to overhaul a byzantine, secretive system that has been in place on Capitol Hill for decades.”
* Guess what’s been happening in the TRMS offices today: “The House Intelligence Committee decided on Thursday to release the transcript of its meeting with the man who commissioned the infamous Trump-Russia dossier.”
* Censure: “Led by the Congressional Black Caucus, about 130 House Democrats are backing a resolution to censure President Trump over remarks he made at a meeting over the fate of DACA recipients — remarks in which he suggested that the United States’ immigration policy should consider more applicants from nations such as Norway, and fewer from what he reportedly termed ‘shithole’ countries.”
* CFPB: “Every quarter, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formally requests its operating funds from the Federal Reserve. Last quarter, former director Richard Cordray asked for $217.1 million. Cordray, an appointee of President Barack Obama, needed just $86.6 million the quarter before that. And Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s acting CFPB director, Mick Mulvaney, sent his first request to the Fed. He requested zero.”
* Someone should let the White House know: “Despite a handful of high-profile announcements, the recent cuts in corporate taxes haven’t yet had a meaningful impact on American companies’ plans to boost investment or raise workers’ pay, a CNBC survey of large companies found.” * A toxic brand: “Since the 2016 election, Trump’s company has found itself in an unfamiliar role: not selling the Trump brand, but trying to save it from condo owners and unhappy partners seeking to shed the president’s name.” * This is a good point: “Republicans have said bonus and raise announcements by companies like Walmart and Humana show that the GOP tax agenda is already boosting worker pay as advertised. But Republicans had not promised there would be a scattered series of bonus announcements less than a month after President Donald Trump signed the tax bill into law. They said the bill’s corporate tax benefits would trickle down to workers over the long term.” 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
