D.C. Briefly
John Oliver plans to air a series of President Donald Trump-mocking public service announcements — in which a cowboy explains basic concepts to the president — on Fox News host Sean Hannity's show this week, in hopes Trump will see them. If you're not familiar with the Catheter Cowboy ads, Oliver introduced them on "Last Week Tonight" in February last year. They're parodies of actual ads in which a cowboy hawks pain-free catheters to Medicare patients. Oliver is hoping that Catheter Cowboy can inform the president of facts such as "Frederick Douglass is dead," and "other people exist."
The president renewed a threat to make tighter control of the southern border a condition of the sweeping trade deal that his administration is renegotiating with Mexico and Canada, saying, "our Country cannot accept what is happening." "Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S.," Trump wrote on Twitter. "We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement."
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., says that she will no longer accept donations from corporate political action committees, a shift in her public position from just a few weeks ago. With Harris' new stance, announced during a radio interview, she joins a handful of other Democratic senators who are also considered possible 2020 presidential candidates in pledging not to take PAC money.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said that the burning of biomass, such as trees, for energy in many cases will be considered "carbon neutral" by the EPA. "Today's announcement grants America's foresters much-needed certainty and clarity with respect to the carbon neutrality of forest biomass," Pruitt said at an event with forest industry leaders in Georgia. But the consideration of biomass as carbon neutral is contentious among scientists, who fear that forests, once cleared so that their wood can be used for energy, may not grow back as planned.
Senate lawmakers have postponed the confirmation hearing for Ronny Jackson, Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, after top Republicans and Democrats raised concerns about his qualifications and oversight of the White House medical staff, White House and other administration officials were told Monday. The development came just two days before Jackson, the White House physician, was to testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs and further jeopardized what was looking to be a difficult confirmation process. In addition to Jackson's lack of management experience, the former combat surgeon had come under fire for his glowing appraisal of Trump's health after his physical in January. news services
