Today’s edition of quick hits.
* On the Hill: “Yet another effort to assert Congress’ war powers amid the U.S. conflict with Iran failed in the Senate today, with Republicans blocking a Democratic measure to rein in Trump’s control over the war. The 47-52 vote largely fell along party lines. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., supported the motion along with every Democrat except for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who joined Republicans in opposing it. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W. Va., did not vote.”
* Stay tuned: “Two senior Pakistani officials said the U.S. and Iran will likely meet again next week for a second round of peace talks. Pakistan, again, will most likely be the venue, they said.”
* On a related note: “The U.S. has not formally agreed to extend the ceasefire with Iran due to expire on April 22, a senior U.S. official told MS NOW, though there is continued engagement between the two countries to reach a deal.”
* A new day in Budapest: “Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar used landmark appearances on state-controlled media outlets on Wednesday to reaffirm his intention to suspend their broadcasts as soon as he’s sworn in. … During an interview on the state-controlled M1 television network, Magyar labeled the broadcaster a ‘factory of lies’ and promised to ‘immediately suspend the false news service that is operating here.’”
* Insert obligatory “imagine if this were Hunter Biden” comment here: “Donald Trump’s son Eric, who oversees the family business empire, will accompany the U.S. president on his trip next month to China, a spokeswoman for the family organization told Reuters on Tuesday.”
* The response to an ignored subpoena: “Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said Tuesday that Democrats will move to hold former Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt for failing to appear for a deposition as part of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe.”
Recommended
* Probably the best possible outcome given the circumstances: “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which had been set to shut down in May, will keep publishing after all. A nonprofit journalism organization has stepped up to acquire the newspaper, which has survived for more than two centuries.”
* One of the year’s few interesting legislative disputes: “The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan aviation safety bill, setting up a showdown with the Senate, where leaders have declared that key provisions fall short of what is necessary to prevent aircraft from midair collisions.”
* A federal jury in New York deliberated for four days before reaching its decision: “A jury has found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states.”
* With Republican Rep. Clay Fuller of Georgia taking the oath of office on Tuesday afternoon, the House GOP conference is back to 217 members, giving the party a two-vote buffer.
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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