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Day 1108: "This is a dangerous moment."
Today in one sentence: The House passed a bipartisan tax package that pairs a temporary expansion of the child tax credit with a trio of business tax breaks; Biden signed an executive order to impose new sanctions on four Israeli settlers involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank; the U.S. carried out airstrikes against a drone ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen; and Trump’s lawsuit over the dossier that alleged he engaged in “perverted sexual acts” and paid bribes to Russian officials was dismissed by a British High Court judge.
1/ The House passed a bipartisan tax package that pairs a temporary expansion of the child tax credit with a trio of business tax breaks. The bill includes $33 billion to expand the child tax credit for three years. The bill is estimated to benefit roughly 16 million children in low-income families in the first year, and lift half a million children out of poverty. The legislation would also revive some expired parts of the 2017 Republican tax cuts for businesses, including deductions for research and development, interest expenses, and investments in equipment. The vote was 357 to 70, with 188 Democrats and 169 Republicans voting in favor and 23 Democrats and 47 Republicans opposed. The bill will next go to the Senate, where Republicans can block the bill with a filibuster. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ Biden signed an executive order to impose new sanctions on four Israeli settlers involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. At least eight Palestinians, including a child, have been killed, and 115 more have been injured in the nearly 500 attacks by Israeli settlers since Oct. 7. The first round of sanctions block the four from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. The order notes that the violence by settlers undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives, “including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.” (Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The U.S. carried out airstrikes against a drone ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. U.S. officials also confirmed that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets inside Iraq and Syria in response to drone and rocket attacks on U.S. forces in the region. “This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.” (CNN / CBS News / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump’s lawsuit over the dossier that alleged he engaged in “perverted sexual acts” and paid bribes to Russian officials was dismissed by a British High Court judge. Judge Karen Steyn said “there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,” because Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse – without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction – since he was first made aware of the dossier” in January 2017. Last year, Trump sued ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his consultancy, Orbis Business Intelligence, saying he suffered “significant damage and distress” from the publication of the Steele Dossier. Steyn, however, said she wouldn’t determine the accuracy of the dossier itself. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / Washington Post)
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 and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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