I’m still running ragged trying to support folks through redeterminations, but a slower news week is allowing me to resume our regularly-scheduled NNR (at least for now). Be forewarned, however, that a slow news week doesn’t mean a good one–most of this week’s news sucks. I recommend the application of ice cream.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be well into my seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a bill!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
We’re also back to original flavor Election Rejection this week, plus one story that just involves elections and is funny. Here’s what has happened:
- Election Rejection Mini-Roundup. The biggest election rejection story this week is likely that Oathkeepers who were convicted last month for their role in January 6 are starting to be sentenced, with some of the sentences as high as 18 years. That said, we also got a date for Trump’s criminal trial–it will be in March 2024–and the schadenfreude of DeSantis’s failed Twitter launch of his 2024 campaign.
The main news story on the Biden Rebuilding front this week is the debt ceiling dealing. Here’s what I have for you:
- Debt Ceiling Dealing. Well, the good news on the Biden front is that he finally has a deal on raising the debt ceiling, which will prevent a default ahead of the June 5 drop-dead date if Congress passes it. The bad news is, as his colleagues feared, he struck a deal that sucks–it flattens funding for many social programs, increases work requirements for SNAP and TANIF, and expedites gas mining in West Virginia. Now Congress gets to vote on it, and it seems very possible we’ll see further tweaks on the Congressional floor. I’ll keep folks posted on the final form next week.
Your New Normal:
- AG Impeachment. In this week’s “couldn’t happen to a nicer scumbag” news, the Texas House voted this week to impeach Texas AG Ken Paxton. Paxton ended up with 20 articles of impeachment, on account of his vast portfolio of sketchiness–apparently, he did everything from accepting bribes to tanking investigations to threatening the whistleblowers who wanted to disclose all the bribery and investigation tanking. He’s now suspended from his duties, and will face a Senate trial sometime in the next few months.
- Recent Health Access Ruins. The last ten or so days have been abjectly awful for reproductive health and gender-affirming care. Nebraska passed a twelve-week abortion ban bill that also bans gender-affirming care for minors and survived hundreds of hours of filibuster to pass. North Carolina managed to overcome a gubernatorial veto on its own twelve-week abortion ban and finalize it as law as well. Meanwhile, South Carolina passed a six-week abortion ban, also overcoming many hours of filibuster to pass and leaving Virginia the main point of access for the whole of the South. Finally, Florida restricted access to both gender-affirming care and bathrooms. The one bit of hope at the bottom of this week’s Pandora’s Box is Maine’s gender-affirming care bill, which would grant adolescents 16 and older the ability to access HRT without parental consent.
The Bad:
- Clean Water Waning. The Supreme Court meddled with the Clean Water Act this week, dramatically curtailing the reach of the law after over fifty years of enforcement. Those of you playing the home game may remember that this is an encore performance for this area of law, as they similarly limited the Clean Air Act last year. I probably speak for all of us when I say that it would be cool if the Supreme Court could stop overturning settled law that’s half a century old because the far-right is paying them to do it.
The Good:
- Recent Health Resilience. In direct counterpoint to much of the health news above, Minnesota has been going on a bicameral legal protections spree this session. In addition to abortion protections, which were codified this week, the state also, among other things, 1) legalized cannabis; 2) invested in transportation; 3) created a new child tax credit; 4) passed comprehensive gun safety reform; 5) expanded the school lunch program; 6) expanded voting rights; 7) banned conversion therapy; and 8) shielded providers of gender-affirming care from out-of-state litigation. And that’s not even a comprehensive list; it has truly been an impressive amount of well-targeted reform.
So that’s what I have for you this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this regal matriarch and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!
National News Roundup 