Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a key vote on a $13.5 billion disaster-recovery funding measure amid an escalating fallout over hurricane-battered Puerto Rico.
Details: The massive bill passed by the House in January would allocate funding to states like Florida and North Carolina, which were hit last year by hurricanes. Senate Republicans have also added funds for victims in the Midwest affected by flooding last month. But Democrats argue that the $600 million for nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico under the bill is insufficient, and that the island is in urgent need of more funds for disaster relief and to rebuild its water system.
A Connecticut woman says former Vice President Joe Biden touched her inappropriately at a political fundraiser for Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) in 2009, the Hartford Courant reports.
Details: Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide to Himes, told the Courant: "It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth." Lappos said she never filed a formal complaint because she didn't think anyone would believe her.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on Good Morning Britain Monday that she was "surprised" she wasn’t invited last year to the funeral of her former running mate John McCain, calling it an "unnecessary step" and "kind of a gut punch."
"I was kind of surprised to be publicly disinvited to the funeral. I think that was an unnecessary step. [The McCain family] didn't have to embarrass me and embarrass others ... other good people in our campaign back in 2008 who were very, very loyal to Senator McCain ... It's kind of a gut punch."
Flashback: McCain, who ultimately lost to Barack Obama in 2008, had said he regretted choosing Palin as his running mate over then-Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the New York Times reported before his passing last August. President Trump, who continues to berate the late Arizona senator 7 months after his death, was also on the list of those excluded from the funeral.
Former Vice President Joe Biden's spokesman Bill Russo said in a new statement Monday that some of the photos being circulated on the internet that allegedly depict Biden inappropriately touching women and children have been mischaracterized and photoshopped, calling them "smears and forgeries."
The big picture: The statement echoes in part what Stephanie Carter wrote Sunday about a photo that has gone viral this week of Biden placing his hands on her shoulders. Carter said that Biden was comforting her on the day her husband Ash Carter was being sworn in as secretary of defense, after he sensed that she was uncharacteristically nervous. Allegations of Biden's inappropriate behavior resurfaced last week after Nevada Democrat Lucy Flores alleged that Biden had smelled her hair and kissed her on her head during a campaign event in 2014.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) announced he is looking to take Sen. Tom Udall's (D-N.M.) Senate seat in 2020. Udall announced his retirement on March 25.
Why it matters: Luján is the fourth highest ranking member in the House, and was viewed as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's possible successor, reports CBS.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has ordered the immediate expansion of a program keeping asylum seekers in Mexico while they await their case decisions.
The big picture: The expansion would affect hundreds more asylum seekers every day, according to a press release on Monday. Last month, the border patrol had been encountering around 20,000 immigrants every week attempting to illegally cross the border — levels not seen for years. Detention centers are overcrowded, causing border officials to almost immediately release many family migrants.
A White House security adviser told the House Oversight Committee that 25 denials for security clearance applications were overridden by the Trump administration, reports the Washington Post.
Details: Tricia Newbold, who has been a White House security adviser for 18 years, said the security clearances were approved regardless of concerns over blackmail, foreign influences and other concerns, per the Post. Newbold is the highest ranking official at the White House to speak against the Trump administration's actions, per Politico.
President Trump tweeted Monday that without the citizenship question on the 2020 census, the "[r]eport would be meaningless and a waste of $Billions (ridiculous) that is costs to put together."
The request to ask about the citizenship of American residents on the census came from the Department of Justice in 2017. The DOJ said the data would help them better enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race or gender.
Background: Federal courts have blocked the Trump administration's request. The last time all households were asked the question was in 1950. The question has been asked on a long-form questionnaire from 1970 to 2000, but most households receive the short-form questionnaire that does not include the question, PolitiFact reports.
A paragraph that a 76-year-old white male candidate for the Democratic nomination doesn't want to see, from a front-page story in today's NY Times:
Biden has drawn attention in the past for his intimate touching of political allies, their family members and even supporters he has just met — gestures that are seen as excessive to the point of creepy by some but viewed as harmless by his defenders.
Pete Buttigieg has raised more than $7 million since launching a presidential exploratory committee in January, the potential candidate announced Monday morning.
Why it matters: Buttigieg started with low name recognition and earned more organic search interest than initial media visibility, but reached as high as 4th in a recent nationwide poll.
Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke is "a great skateboarder," but he can't compete with President Trump on crowd sizes, senior campaign adviser Lara Trump told Fox News' Steve Hilton on "The Next Revolution" Sunday.
What she's saying: "People are excited about him now, but what is he offering?" Trump's daughter-in-law said of O'Rourke. "I really don’t know what he’s running on or, quite frankly, other than socialism what are a lot of these Democrat candidates running on."
The American Civil Liberties Union plans to spend $30 million as part of a 2020 issues-based campaign seeking commitments from presidential candidates, the HuffPost reports.
Details: The campaign, dubbed "Rights for All," was launched on Sunday and will use the liberal-leaning group's thousands of members to target early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to pressure the candidates on issues concerning civil liberties. Its platform includes cutting the federal prison population in half, restoring voting rights to incarcerated people, providing a path to citizenship for immigrants without legal status and reducing immigration detention.
