A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 708: "A cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt."
Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s plans to end a Trump-era immigration policy used to quickly expel millions of asylum seekers at the southern border; the Jan. 6 Committee released its final report and concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 presidential election; the House passed a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government through next fall and avert a shutdown; millions of Americans will lose Medicaid coverage starting in April; and Texas bused about 130 migrants to Harris’ residence in Washington on Christmas Eve in 18 degree weather.
1/ The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s plans to end a Trump-era immigration policy used to quickly expel millions of asylum seekers at the southern border. In November, a federal judge ruled that Title 42 was unlawful, and scheduled the policy to expire on Dec. 21. The Supreme Court, however, paused that ruling, and said the policy would remain in place while a legal challenge by 19 Republican state attorneys general played out. Title 42 has been used to expel about 2.5 million migrants since being implemented in March 2020. (Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
2/ The Jan. 6 Committee released its final report and concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 presidential election, failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, and recommended that he be barred from holding office again. “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the 814-page report reads. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” The release of the full report comes three days after the committee referred Trump to the Justice Department for potential prosecution for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., obstruction of an act of Congress, and another federal crime. Over the course of its 18-month investigation, the panel interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and reviewed more than one million pages of documents, which were obtained after issuing more than 100 subpoenas. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that the committee “did not produce a single shred of evidence.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / CNBC / CNN)
3/ The House passed a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government through next fall and avert a shutdown. Overall, the legislation provides $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, $858 billion in defense funding, and nearly $45 billion in assistance to Ukraine. It also overhauls federal election law to try to prevent another Jan. 6. Biden is expected to sign the measure in the coming days. (New York Times / USA Today / Politico / CNBC / NBC News)
4/ Millions of Americans will lose Medicaid coverage starting in April after the omnibus spending bill changed the healthcare program’s enrollment rules. An estimated 1 in 5 people currently in the program will lose Medicaid coverage – about 15 million to 18 million people. When the Trump administration first declared the coronavirus pandemic a public health emergency, it barred states from kicking people off Medicaid, and states agreed to pause beneficiaries’ eligibility verifications under the 2020 Covid-19 relief bill. As a result, enrollment in Medicaid swelled by 20 million, to nearly 84 million people. The new spending bill would allow states to kick people off Medicaid starting April 1. The federal government will also wind down the enhanced funding given to states for the added enrollees over the next year. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Texas bused about 130 migrants to Harris’ residence in Washington on Christmas Eve in 18 degree weather – the coldest Christmas Eve on record for Washington. The three buses, which included babies and young children, were chartered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Since April, Abbott’s office has bused more than 15,000 people to Washington, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The White House accused Abbott of having “abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any Federal or local authorities,” calling it “a cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt.” (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / CNN)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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