Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Yemen: “U.S. fighter jets struck Iranian-backed Houthi rebel sites for the sixth time Friday, taking out anti-ship missile launchers in Yemen that were prepared to fire, according to two U.S. officials.”
* Shutdown averted: “President Joe Biden on Friday signed a short-term spending bill that keeps the federal government operating until early March. The bill averts what would’ve been a partial government shutdown starting Saturday. It does not address additional aid for Ukraine, which remains in limbo as key legislators continue to negotiate a border security measure that would go in tandem with more support for Kyiv.”
* The White House takes student-debt relief seriously, Part XXVII: “In a new wave of student loan forgiveness, the Biden administration is canceling $5 billion in debt for 74,000 borrowers, many of whom worked in public sector jobs for more than a decade.”
* An update on a bill we discussed a few days ago: “The House Ways and Means Committee voted 40-3 on Friday to approve a bipartisan tax package that includes an expansion of the child tax credit and a series of breaks for businesses, sending it to the full chamber with momentum.”
* That’s an astonishing number of threats: “Capitol Police investigated more threats against members of Congress and staff in 2023 than the previous year, a stark reminder of the potential dangers that members face while the agents tasked with vetting those threats are understaffed.”
* At the GOP’s insistence, this will be behind closed doors: “Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, has agreed to sit for a deposition on Feb. 28 in the House impeachment inquiry into his father, relenting after Republicans threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing an earlier subpoena to testify privately.”
* The latest fallout from the 2020 elections: “Washington, D.C., bar investigators have filed disciplinary charges against three lawyers who aided Donald Trump ally Sidney Powell’s campaign to mount discredited legal challenges to the 2020 election results. Filings made public Friday accused attorneys Juli Haller, Lawrence Joseph and Brandon Johnson of making knowingly false representations to courts about a slew of lawsuits they filed in the weeks after the 2020 election.”
* Good news on Sen. Grassley’s condition: “Sen. Chuck Grassley, the oldest and longest-serving senator, has been released from the hospital after treatment for an infection, his office announced Thursday. ‘Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has been discharged from the hospital and expects to be back to work next week,’ an unsigned statement from his office said.”
Have a safe weekend.
