Friday, April 1, 2022
Deal on COVID money close, House passes insulin bill cap, Russia hands back control of Chernobyl, defense rests in Whitmer case, two killed in tornadoes and the LAPD was ready to arrest Will Smith.
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Good Friday morning and welcome to April. Here’s what is happening:
POLITICO: Key senators are nearing a deal on a roughly $10 billion package of coronavirus relief, setting Congress on a path to deliver funding Democrats had hoped to pass weeks ago.
But some in the majority party are deeply unhappy with the compromise being negotiated with Republicans, warning that leaving out global aid will have consequences. That spells possible trouble for the package’s fate in the House. And as they left for the weekend, Senate Democrats said the fight for international vaccine money is not over.
“We’re close. A few more things have got to be ironed out,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in an interview. “We’re trying to get global stuff in there, We’re working hard on it. That’s one of the things we’re trying to get done.”
The sum — the result of days of negotiations between senior senators of both parties — would leave out a major ask from the White House. It does not include $5 billion in global vaccine efforts, drawing sharp complaints from many Democrats about the nation’s preparedness to fight the pandemic abroad. Lawmakers are now talking about a figure closer to $1 billion in vaccine aid.
“In general, the two parties see where we are on Covid and spending and offsets, very differently,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). “I appreciate that Sen. Romney came out and said he wants some way to increase the international [funding]. Because to have zero international would be a huge mistake in the middle of a global humanitarian crisis.”
Trying to break a Senate filibuster will require at least 10 Republicans’ support, a vote that Schumer could call up next week — early hope for a test vote on Thursday dimmed by midday. Meanwhile, next week’s floor schedule will be dominated by confirming Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, heightening the potential urgency of a vote.
Key senators of both parties began dealmaking in earnest this week on a revised aid package, after an earlier version collapsed in the House over objections from several Democrats over how to pay for the aid. Schumer has negotiated closely with GOP Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Richard Burr (N.C.) and Lindsay Graham (S.C.). Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Coons are also part of the negotiations.
Lawmakers say they’re close on a $10 billion covid funding deal. The White House had repeatedly asked for more than $22 billion. On the chopping block: global aid. With @rachel_roubein.-NBC News: COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest levels since the U.S. began keeping records at the start of the pandemic.
-CNBC: CIA Director William Burns tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, a day after meeting with President Joe Biden.
-NJ.com: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has tested positive for COVID-19 but is ‘feeling well’ and showing no symptoms.
-The Associated Press: The House on Thursday passed a bill capping the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for insured patients, part of an election-year push by Democrats for price curbs on prescription drugs at a time of rising inflation.
Experts say the legislation, which passed 232-193, would provide significant relief for privately insured patients with skimpier plans and for Medicare enrollees facing rising out-of-pocket costs for their insulin. Some could save hundreds of dollars annually, and all insured patients would get the benefit of predictable monthly costs for insulin. The bill would not help the uninsured.
But the Affordable Insulin Now Act will serve as a political vehicle to rally Democrats and force Republicans who oppose it into uncomfortable votes ahead of the midterms. For the legislation to pass Congress, 10 Republican senators would have to vote in favor. Democrats acknowledge they don’t have an answer for how that’s going to happen.
“If 10 Republicans stand between the American people being able to get access to affordable insulin, that’s a good question for 10 Republicans to answer,” said Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., a cosponsor of the House bill. “Republicans get diabetes, too. Republicans die from diabetes.”
Public opinion polls have consistently shown support across party lines for congressional action to limit drug costs.
But Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., complained the legislation is only “a small piece of a larger package around government price controls for prescription drugs.” Critics say the bill would raise premiums and fails to target pharmaceutical middlemen seen as contributing to high list prices for insulin.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Democrats could have a deal on prescription drugs if they drop their bid to authorize Medicare to negotiate prices. “Do Democrats really want to help seniors, or would they rather have the campaign issue?” Grassley said.
The insulin bill, which would take effect in 2023, represents just one provision of a much broader prescription drug package in President Joe Biden’s social and climate legislation.
In addition to a similar $35 cap on insulin, the Biden bill would authorize Medicare to negotiate prices for a range of drugs, including insulin. It would penalize drugmakers who raise prices faster than inflation and overhaul the Medicare prescription drug benefit to limit out-of-pocket costs for enrollees.
Fox Business: The Biden administration will release 1 million barrels of oil each day for the next six months from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum reserve in an effort to combat soaring gasoline prices.
Biden formally announced the move at a White House event Thursday afternoon, saying that his plan would release around 180 million additional barrels from the reserve. That would leave the already-depleted SPR down to around 388 million barrels, the lowest level since March 1984.
The White House said ahead of the president's remarks that "This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up."
During his speech, Biden also called on Congress to force oil companies to pay fees for unused leases, accusing energy producers of "hoarding" wells on federal lands. He said that companies "sitting on unused leases and idle wells will either have to start producing or pay the price for their inaction."
The oil and gas industry insists that obtaining a lease is merely the first step in a process that includes permitting and investigating whether there is actually any fossil fuel below the ground to extract.
The White House pressure on oil companies over "unused" leases is being echoed by Democrats in Congress, who are pushing the companies' CEOs to testify next week.
Biden also announced Thursday that he would issue a directive to use the Defense Production Act "to secure America's supply chains for the critical materials that go into batteries for electric vehicles" as part of his plan to reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels.
The national average for gas on Wednesday was $4.23, a penny cheaper than the day before but 62 cents higher than the month before, according to AAA. This time last year, the average price for a gallon of gas was $2.86.
The president said that rising gas prices last year were caused by America's quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and blamed the surge in prices this year on Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
-The Associated Press: Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Thursday that the country’s natural gas must be paid for with rubles, a demand apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency but one that European leaders say they will not comply with because it violates the terms of contracts and sanctions.
The Associated Press: Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday, more than a month after taking it over.
Ukraine’s state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. But there was no independent confirmation of that.
The withdrawal took place amid growing indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover while regrouping, resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in the eastern part of the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian withdrawals from the north and center of the country were just a military tactic and that the forces are building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast.
“We know their intentions,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. “We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.”
“There will be battles ahead,” he added.
Meanwhile, a convoy of 45 buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. But Russian forces blocked the buses, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.
Twelve Ukrainian trucks were able to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol, but they were all seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.
The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.
A new round of talks was scheduled for Friday, five weeks into the war that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country.
-CBS News: President Biden said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be ‘self-isolated.’
-Yahoo News: The U.S. says there is ‘no evidence’ that Russia has pulled troops from positions around Ukraine's capital city.
-BBC News: The UK's Ministry of Defence says some Russian forces currently deployed in Georgia will be sent to reinforce troops in Ukraine.
Detroit Free Press: The defense in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap trial rested its case following the explosive testimony of a defendant who came off as a defiant hothead.
"He's a b-----," said 24-year-old Daniel Harris, referring to Big Dan, the undercover informant he grew to admire and trust.
Harris, who was mocking a former Wolverine Watchmen who quit the group and became an informant, would become the only defendant to take the stand in the historic domestic terrorism case that now goes to the jury.
There was talk this week of the other defendants possibly testifying, though for reasons unknown, they opted not to after Harris took the stand, and caught the prosecutor off guard with his slur about the informant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth paused momentarily when he heard the b-word, and asked Harris to elaborate.
"Nope," Harris responded.
Roth persisted, asking Harris to explain why he called the man a "b----."
"He got scared by memes," Harris explained.
Big Dan is a former Army sergeant who joined the Wolverine Watchmen in the spring of 2020, but quit after hearing members talk about killing police, according to his testimony. He told jurors that he expressed his concerns to a friend who was a cop, and then the FBI called him within a week and asked him to become an informant. He agreed.
The Associated Press: An inflation gauge that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4 percent in February compared with a year ago, with sharply higher prices for food, gasoline and other necessities squeezing Americans’ finances.
The figure reported Thursday by the Commerce Department was the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982. Excluding volatile prices for food and energy, so-called core inflation increased 5.4% in February from 12 months earlier.
Robust consumer demand has combined with shortages of many goods to fuel the sharpest price jumps in four decades. Measures of inflation will likely worsen in the coming months because Thursday’s report doesn’t reflect the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which occurred Feb. 24. The war has disrupted global oil markets and accelerated prices for wheat, nickel and other key commodities.
Squeezed by inflation, consumers increased their spending by just 0.2% in February, down from a much larger 2.7% gain in January. Adjusted for inflation, spending actually fell 0.4% last month. The decline partly reflected a shift away from heavy spending on goods to a focus on services, such as health care, travel and entertainment, which consumers had long avoided during the worst of the pandemic.
Spending on such services grew 0.6%, the most since July, while purchases of autos, furniture, clothes and other goods dropped 2.1%. Many economists had previously suggested that a shift away from goods purchases might loosen supply chain snarls and cool inflation. But prices are still rising rapidly for goods, including a 1.1% increase in February.
Americans’ overall incomes rose 0.5% in February, the highest gain since November and up from just 0.1% in January. Wages and salaries jumped 0.8%, the most in four months.
Businesses have been raising pay to attract and keep employees — a trend that is benefiting workers but also giving employers cause to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs. That cycle is helping fuel inflation.
Last month, food costs climbed 1.4%, the most in nearly two years. Energy costs spiked 3.7%, the biggest such increase since October.
POLITICO: A federal judge on Thursday struck down key provisions of a 2021 Florida election law and ruled the state must get court approval for the next 10 years before it enacts further changes in three areas.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in a blistering 288-page decision, said the law placed restrictions on voters that were unconstitutional and discriminated against minority citizens. Those included limits on drop boxes used for mail-in voting, on giving items to voters waiting in line and new requirements placed on voter registration groups.
The ruling comes less than six months before the state’s first major election since the new law was passed, with primaries scheduled for Aug. 23. It also comes amid a wave of restrictions put in place by Republicans in other states like Texas following the 2020 election.
Walker, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, framed Florida’s law as another in a long line of changes that were aimed at Democrats but wound up placing an illegal burden on minorities.
“At some point, when the Florida Legislature passes law after law disproportionately burdening Black voters, this court can no longer accept that the effect is incidental,” Walker wrote. “Based on the indisputable pattern set out above, this court finds that, in the past 20 years, Florida has repeatedly sought to make voting tougher for Black voters because of their propensity to favor Democratic candidates. In summation, Florida has a horrendous history of racial discrimination in voting.”
DeSantis, who is running for reelection this year, vowed to quickly appeal the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a majority of judges were appointed by GOP presidents.
“This is a judicial equivalent of just pounding the table,” DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday in West Palm Beach. He added that Walker did not have either the “facts” or the “law” on his side.
“I think it was performative partisanship,” he said.
Gothamist: A New York judge has struck down the recently redrawn congressional and legislative maps for the state, ordering the lawmakers to ‘submit bipartisanly supported maps’ by April 11th and setting up a likely battle in the state’s top court.
In an 18-page ruling, Acting State Supreme Court Judge Patrick F. McAllister said the maps, drawn every 10 years after the latest U.S. Census count, were unconstitutionally and politically drawn by the Democrat-controlled state Legislature. McAllister said the maps are "void and not usable."
If the ruling stands, it could force the state to push back its June 28th primary. As of Thursday, petitioning to get on the primary ballot was scheduled to wrap up during the first week of April, and the process has been based on the maps at the center of the court case.
The state Legislature started drawing the maps in January after the state-sanctioned Independent Redistricting Commission, created following a change in the state constitution in 2014, failed to agree upon a set of bipartisan maps. The hope among good government groups for the creation of the IRC was to take politics out of the map-making process and avoid partisan gerrymandering.
The ruling dealt a blow to Democratic lawmakers who sought to draw maps many good government groups said suited the party's political needs.
In a joint statement on Thursday night, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James said they "intend to appeal this decision."
A spokesman for Senate Democrats also said they will appeal the ruling and anticipate receiving a stay, which would temporarily block it from taking effect.
“This is one step in the process,” said Mike Murphy, the spokesman. “We always knew this case would be decided by the appellate courts. We are appealing this decision and expect this decision will be stayed as the appeal process proceeds.”
The Associated Press: Military bases with a high risk for sexual assault, harassment and other harmful behaviors often have leaders who don’t understand violence prevention, don’t make it a priority and focus more on their mission than on their people, a Pentagon review has concluded.
The review studied 20 bases in the United States and Europe, including 18 with some of the more severe problems identified in command climate surveys. It found that the failures were worse in a number of bases in Germany and Spain where key leaders and resources weren’t on site. The report was publicly released Thursday.
At Naval Station Rota in Spain, for example, the report said that the military mission requirements “were prioritized above and at the expense of the sailors’ well-being.” They said sailors reported bullying, mental health issues, sexual harassment and relationship problems, but often could not seek help due to their mission requirements.
In one location, officials said, they found that young enlisted men were taking steps to help their female peers stay safe by keeping them away from more senior leaders who were harassing them.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the report as part of his effort to strengthen sexual assault and harassment prevention across the forces, identify what programs work and ensure high-risk bases get attention quickly. Austin approved the report, and in a memo said it will help the department tailor improvements for bases where needs may vary.
“While we have made progress, we must do more to strengthen the integrated capabilities we have on the ground to prevent sexual assault, harassment, suicide, domestic abuse and other harmful behaviors,” he said.
The report comes nearly two years after Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén went missing from Fort Hood, Texas, and her remains were found two months later. Guillen was killed by a soldier, who her family says sexually harassed her, and who killed himself as police sought to arrest him.
Her death and a number of other crimes, murders and suicides led to heightened scrutiny on assaults and other violence in the military, and to a series of reviews. An independent panel appointed by Austin last year made more than 80 recommendations, including specific changes to improve accountability of leadership, command climate and culture, and victim care and support.
Officials said Austin’s goal is to find effective ways to prevent harmful behavior, which includes sexual assault and harassment, suicides and domestic violence. They said this latest report is designed to pinpoint which leadership and other failures contribute to higher instances of such behavior and which prevention programs and other changes actually work.
A Pentagon review has concluded that military bases with a high risk for sexual assault, harassment and other harmful behaviors often have leaders who don't understand or prioritize violence prevention and focus more on their mission than their people.-The Associated Press: The U.S. military needs to adjust its planning, training, targeting and use of weapons in order to better avoid widespread civilian deaths and damage, a new RAND report said Thursday.
ABC News: Two people were killed Thursday in the Florida Panhandle when their mobile home was toppled by a suspected tornado, one of nearly 30 that has wreaked havoc across seven South and Midwest states.
The deaths in Washington County, Florida, were the first fatalities reported from the outbreak of severe weather that began Tuesday night.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said two mobile homes were destroyed, and the two people killed were inside one of them, according to ABC affiliate station WMBB in Panama City. Two other people in the second mobile home that was destroyed were injured, the sheriff's office said.
The deadly episode came after the National Weather Service issued new tornado watch warnings early Thursday from coastal Apalachicola, Florida, to Valdosta, Georgia.
The band of severe weather continued to move east and north, prompting severe weather warnings up the East Coast, including a forecast of potentially damaging winds Thursday evening for New York City, Trenton, N.J., and parts of eastern Pennsylvania.
The severe weather front that swooped in from the Rocky Mountains generated at least 29 tornadoes in seven states on Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Funnel clouds reportedly touched down in Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Missouri.
-The Washington Post: Minor damage was reported Thursday night after a possible tornado touched down near Washington, D.C.
Variety: The LAPD was ready to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night, a producer says.
Oscars producer Will Packer has addressed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the ceremony on Sunday night.
In a preview clip of Packer’s upcoming interview onod Morning America” with T.J. Holmes, he revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department was on the scene on Sunday night and ready to arrest Smith if Rock wanted to press charges.
“They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment. They said, ‘We will go get him. We are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him,'” Packer said. “They were laying out the options. And as they were talking, Chris was — he was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine.’ And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’ The LAPD officers finished laying out what his options were and they said, ‘Would you like us to take any action?’ And he said no. He said no.”
In the clip, Packer also said he did not speak to Smith directly the night of the Oscars. As Variety reported on Sunday night, Rock declined to file a police report regarding the slap.
“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program. The incident involved one individual slapping another,” the LAPD statement said. “The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”
There has been much confusion surrounding the altercation as the Academy said in a statement on Wednesday that they asked Smith to leave the ceremony and he refused; however, sources have since refuted that claim to Variety. Also in the Wednesday statement, the Academy revealed that Smith now faces “suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted” as a result of the slap.
Smith issued an apology on Monday, particularly addressing Rock, which he had not done in his best actor speech the night before.
Oscars producer reveals LAPD was ready to arrest Will Smith -- until Chris Rock told officers to not take any actions against Smith. MORE: bit.ly/3IWVmfL-The Hill: The Oscars slap has led to dozens of FCC complaints.
-WHTM-TV: One police officer was killed and two others were injured in a shooting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Wednesday.
-NBC News: Claiming they can’t be held civilly liable for ‘silence,’ Brian Laundrie’s family asked a court Wednesday to toss out a lawsuit that accuses them of hindering the search for Gabby Petito.
-WYFF-TV: A 12-year-old was killed in a shooting at a South Carolina middle school Wednesday.
-KHOU-TV: Nearly 300 defendants were released from the Harris County Jail in Texas after a computer glitch prevented them from being processed into the system.
-KCNC-TV: A Colorado couple are facing charges in connection with the fentanyl death of their 1-year-old child.
-CBS News: The number of fentanyl-laced pills seized by law enforcement has increased nearly 50-fold between 2018 and 2021, according to a study published Thursday.
-WBBM-TV: A mother of four who grew up in a western suburb of Chicago was murdered in Mexico in a mass shooting.
-ABC News: The body of a Nevada teenager who was allegedly kidnapped from a Walmart parking lot over two weeks ago has been found, authorities said.
-The Real Deal: A Downtown Los Angeles business owner who faced up to 68 years in jail for charges related to a building fire that injured 11 firefighters will not spend time behind bars.
-WUSA-TV: Police in Washington, D.C. discovered five fetuses at the home of an anti-abortion activist Wednesday
-ABC News: Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to reverse Idaho's new abortion law.
-Axios: The DOJ sent a letter to state officials on Thursday advising them that blocking transgender and non-binary youth from receiving gender-affirming treatment could violate U.S. law.
-NBC News: A group of over a dozen students, parents, educators and advocates has filed a federal lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Board of Education over the new ‘Parental Rights in Education’ bill.
-The Hill: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the mother of a transgender child, penned an op-ed Thursday calling for federal protections for transgender children.
-The Associated Press: U.S. officials on Thursday adopted a rule aimed at reducing deaths and environmental damage from oil and gas pipeline ruptures.
-The Associated Press: The EPA said Thursday it will not regulate a drinking water contaminant that has been linked to brain damage in infants.
-The Associated Press: Federal officials have revoked the license of a Nevada-based gun manufacturer that was accused of illegally selling guns and went bankrupt but then rebranded itself.
-NBC News: Jared Kushner was interviewed by the January 6 committee for over six hours Thursday.
-Axios: Sen. Richard Blumenthal says he has ‘concerns’ about the sexual harassment allegations surrounding Eric Garcetti, publicly raising the possibility he could oppose President Biden’s nominee for ambassador to India.
-The Hill: Sen. Thom Tillis announced on Thursday that he will endorse state Sen. Chuck Edwards in his primary challenge against Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
Tillis: Cawthorn's opponent, GOP state Sen. Chuck Edwards, will "never embarrass Western North Carolina with a consistent pattern of juvenile behavior, outlandish statements, and untruthfulness."
