Today’s edition of quick hits.
* On Capitol Hill: “Just days after labeling the Senate deal to end the record-breaking shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security a ‘crap sandwich,’ Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., now appears ready to swallow it whole.”
* In Iran: “President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran on Wednesday released a letter addressed to the American people that said the ‘path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before’ and suggested the possibility of diplomatic engagement.”
* On a related note: “The spokesman of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baghaei, denied in a statement on Wednesday evening that his country had requested a cease-fire from the United States, as President Trump claimed earlier in the day. He called the claim ‘false and baseless.’”
* Artemis II: “For the first time since 1972, NASA is sending astronauts to the moon. (But not to land there.) The mission, Artemis II, is scheduled to launch on Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. A giant rocket will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the crew of four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — will embark on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth.”
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* In Iraq: “An American journalist was kidnapped in Iraq on Tuesday by suspected Iranian-backed militants, according to the State Department and the country’s Interior Ministry. The journalist was identified in the hours after her kidnapping came to light as freelancer Shelly Kittleson, with Al-Monitor, one of the publications she works for, calling for her ‘safe and immediate release.’”
* The future of the CFPB: “The Trump administration is seeking a federal court’s approval to fire more than half of the remaining staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a step back from the White House’s prior attempts to eliminate at least 90 percent of the bureau’s staff and shutter the agency.”
* This is an issue I’ve been following for many years: “A federal judge in [Texas] dismissed a lawsuit on Tuesday that sought to allow churches to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and other conservatives who have worked to eliminate the decades-old law barring nonprofits from supporting political office seekers.”
* In Arizona: “Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) on Friday vetoed a bill to rename Phoenix’s State Route 202, or Loop 202, after conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated late last year.”
See you tomorrow.
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."
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