Daily Update | March 23, 2018
Kate Berry // 3/23/18 //
The House passed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Thursday, which will head to the Senate before Friday’s shutdown deadline. Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster will resign as National Security Adviser and be replaced by John Bolton. President Trump announced $60 billion of annual tariffs on Chinese imports as partial punishment for alleged unfair business practices, including co-opting American technology. The House Judiciary Committee reportedly will subpoena the Department of Justice to obtain documents related to the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. John Dowd, President Trump’s lawyer primarily responsible for responding to special counsel Mueller’s investigation, resigned on Thursday.
IMMIGRATION
The omnibus budget bill passed by the House on Thursday includes several provisions relevant to immigration agencies (crImmigration).
- The bill does not address the status of Dreamers (Politico).
CIVIL RIGHTS
The omnibus spending bill passed by the House on Thursday does not include a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prevents 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates (Religion Clause).
Citigroup announced new policies to restrict access to guns by some of its consumers, including barring the purchase of guns by those under 21 or who have not passed a background check (NYT).
The omnibus spending bill includes an amendment to the Stored Communications Act, called the Cloud Act, that would moot the issue in United States v. Microsoft, currently before the Supreme Court (Reuters).
Many Republicans are against President Trump’s proposal of the death penalty for certain drug dealers (WaPo).
DEMOCRACY
The winner-take-all method used by states to select presidential electors may be legally vulnerable under the 14th Amendment and Voting Rights Act (Verdict).
The omnibus spending bill includes $380 million for election security (Election Academy).
- States are already expressing support for the provision (The Hill).
The denial of voting rights to certain groups of Americans violates international law, argues an amicus brief filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
A revised version of a bill for election cyber protections was introduced on Thursday (The Hill).
House Energy and Commerce Committee members called for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify regarding the Cambridge Analytica controversy (The Hill).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
President Trump announced $60 billion of annual tariffs on Chinese imports as partial punishment for alleged unfair business practices, including co-opting American technology (WSJ, NYT, WaPo, Politico).
- China promised to respond in-kind (WSJ).
- News of the new tariffs resulted in a downturn in the stock market (NYT, WSJ, WaPo, LA Times).
- The tariffs could strain Xi Jinping’s power (NYT).
- The collateral damage could be significant, argues Daniel Ikenson at Cato at Liberty.
Certain allies, including the European Union, are exempted from the aluminum and steel tariffs, set to go into effect on Friday (NYT, WSJ, Politico, The Hill).
Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster will resign as National Security Adviser and be replaced by John Bolton (NYT, WaPo, WSJ).
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to find a political solution to the war in Yemen (Reuters, The Hill).
- Meanwhile, the State Department announced $1 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia (The Hill).
The U.S. military needs a better system for ex ante estimates of civilian casualties, argue Larry Lewis and Ryan Goodman at Just Security.
Rex Tillerson officially departed the State Department, referring to Washington, DC as a “mean-spirited town” and encouraging staff to be kind to each other (WaPo).
- “Don’t be like Trump” was the takeaway, according to Aaron Blake at The Washington Post.
The CIA provided some background into nominee Gina Haspel’s life (WSJ).
The House Judiciary Committee reportedly will subpoena the Department of Justice to obtain documents related to the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server (The Hill).
RULE OF LAW
President Trump seems to believe that public officials serve him, rather than the general public, argues Ian Bassin at The Washington Post.
Summer Zervos’s defamation lawsuit against President Trump illustrates that no one is above the law, writes Justin Florence at Time.
REGULATION
A tentative agenda was released for the FTC and FCC’s March 23 joint policy forum (Consumer Finance Monitor).
The CFPB released its seventh annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report, which does not provide insight into the CFPB’s rulemaking plans (Consumer Finance Monitor).
AT&T and the Department of Justice faced off in federal court over the impact to consumers of the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger (WSJ, The Hill).
CHECKS & BALANCES
The House passed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Thursday, which will head to the Senate before Friday’s shutdown deadline (LA Times, NYT, WaPo, WSJ, Politico).
- Breakdowns of the bill’s contents available here, here, and here.
- An initial vote in the Senate is scheduled for 1am Saturday (The Hill).
Senate Republicans have proposed limiting debate time on President Trump’s nominees, a move which would increase the pace at which nominees are approved (The Hill).
REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
The alleged “hush money” payments to silence claims of affairs with President Trump may present the greatest legal threats to him (American Prospect).
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
President Trump told White House reporters that he would like to testify before special counsel Robert Mueller (The Hill).
John Dowd, President Trump’s lawyer primarily responsible for responding to special counsel Mueller’s investigation, resigned on Thursday (NYT, WSJ, WaPo, LA Times, Politico).
- The resignation may indicate further weakening of President Trump’s legal team (WaPo).
- An exploration of the resignation consequences for Mueller’s investigation here.
The House Intelligence Committee released findings and recommendations from its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election (Lawfare, WSJ).
- The study finds no collusion between Russia and President Trump and recommends close attention to leaks (Politico).
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office Russian Interference