Daily Briefing: Tensions erupt in the House
A push to punish a handful of the most conservative lawmakers in the House reignited. Also in the news: Why it matters that Pakistan has launched strikes on Iran and authorities are investigating a series of disappearances in relation to a cult.
🙋🏼♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Here's how to set a budget for 2024.
Here is the news to know Thursday.
Why some House Republicans want to punish conservative rebels
The House’s right flank has often drawn the ire of their fellow GOP lawmakers for their outsized leverage since Republicans took control of the lower chamber last year.
In the latest tensions in the House GOP, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, specifically called out the House Freedom Caucus during the meeting’s open mic session on Wednesday, saying the group should be punished.
The Freedom Caucus is a group made up of ultraconservative lawmakers who have often been a roadblock to spending agreements, foreign aid and other urgent legislation.
Miller's public call underscores that stress within the House GOP could intensify as conservatives air their grievances over the latest government spending battle. The Ohio lawmaker suggested removing them from their committee assignments or cutting off access to campaign fundraising.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, a rare window for bipartisan agreement on border security and foreign aid appears to be closing, as House Republicans insisted on a hardline GOP border package and balked at additional help for Ukraine.
Related: Congressional leaders to meet with President Joe Biden to discuss a broad all-encompassing national security package that includes changes to border and migrant policy.
Pakistan launches retaliatory airstrikes in Iran
Pakistan’s air force launched retaliatory airstrikes early Thursday in Iran allegedly targeting militant hideouts, an attack that killed at least nine people and further raised tensions between the neighboring nations. The tit-for-tat attacks Tuesday and Thursday appeared to target two Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border. The attacks also come as the Middle East remains unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran also staged airstrikes late Monday in Iraq and Syria over an Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing that killed over 90 people in early January. Read more
Two hostages were murdered after being featured in Hamas video, a kibbutz said.
Biden administration redesignated Houthis as a global terrorist group in wake of Red Sea attacks.
More news to know now
Why is Biden missing from the New Hampshire primary ballot?
A deep freeze will return to eastern half of the U.S. and heavy ice to the Pacific Northwest.
A federal report looks into why officers were at the scene of the Uvalde mass shooting for 77 minutes before finally confronting the shooter.
Florida Board of Education banned DEI on college campuses and removed sociology core courses.
For subscribers: Why Jim Harbaugh should stay with Michigan.
On today's The Excerpt podcast, the stakes are high in a SCOTUS fishing case. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.
What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.
Judge threatens to kick Trump out of E. Jean Carroll defamation trial
A federal judge threatened to remove former President Donald Trump from the courtroom Wednesday after a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll said he repeatedly made comments within earshot of the jury at his latest civil defamation trial. “You just can't control yourself in this circumstance, apparently,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said. Carroll, 80, has claimed Trump, 77, sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room almost 30 years ago. The trial in lower Manhattan will determine what, if any, damages Trump might owe Carroll after he publicly denied her allegations in 2019 when he was president. Read more
More than 2 million Americans will get cancer this year
Although U.S. cancer cases will eclipse 2 million for the first time this year, there is some good news: lower smoking rates, earlier detection and improved treatments have lowered death rates over the past three decades, a new report said. The American Cancer Society's annual report projected a slight increase from last year in cancer deaths. The findings said people are increasingly being diagnosed in middle age – younger than when diagnoses happened a generation ago – and they are likelier to survive longer. Read more
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Boeing 737 Max 9 grounding will remain as the FAA continues inspections.
King Charles III will undergo hospitalization for an enlarged prostate, the palace said.
Princess Kate was hospitalized for abdominal surgery and is postponing royal engagements.
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How an online cult is tied to 6 disappearances
When Cartisha Morgan’s daughter said she was going on a “spiritual journey,” Morgan was initially supportive. But troubling signs soon appeared, namely when Ma'Kayla Wickerson, 25, distanced herself and her 3-year-old daughter Malaiyah from the rest of her family. Police now say Ma'Kayla and Malaiyah have vanished, swallowed up with four other people by a "spiritual cult." Authorities are investigating the disappearances of four adults, who with two kids have been missing since August and are all suspected followers of Jamal Rashad, who leads The University of Cosmic Intelligence. Read more
Photo of the day: The deadliest cat in the world?
Utah's Hogle Zoo has a furry new resident: Gaia, a tiny, adorable but ferocious black-footed cat native to Africa. With a 60% hunting success rate, black-foot cats are considered to be one of the deadliest wild cats to exist. Don't fall for those eyes!
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.
Associated Press contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown, Pakistan, Iran, Israel-Hamas war, Trump trial, cancer
