German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Biden met at the White House Friday to discuss the allies' support for Ukraine against the ongoing Russian assault.
Why it matters: It was Scholz's first visit to the White House since the invasion began and comes shortly after Biden reaffirmed U.S. commitment to Ukraine on the war's one-year mark.
A skin lesion removed from President Biden's chest last month was cancerous, the White House announced Friday.
Driving the news: All cancerous tissue was successfully removed during the president’s routine physical on Feb. 16 and the president does not need further treatment, physician Kevin O’Connor said in a letter.
Black Democratic leaders in Congress are concerned that President Biden's desire to look strong on crime could undermine efforts to make the criminal justice system fairer to people of color.
Why it matters: Biden's decision not to veto a Republican-backed resolution blocking changes to D.C.'s criminal code surprised leading Black Democrats, who cited two concerns:
It could overturn a criminal reform plan by the D.C. Council, which overrode Mayor Muriel Bowser's veto to approve softer penalties for some violent crimes. Democratic presidents and members of Congress typically have emphasized support for allowing D.C. to govern itself.
It raised concerns in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) that proposals for housing, education and mental health assistance in high-crime communities will be overrun by more "lock 'em up" policies like those that defined criminal justice in the 1990s. Many Black Democrats argue that such policies disproportionately affected people of color.
Another concern to some in the caucus: They didn't get a heads-up on the move by Biden, a fellow Democrat.
"That's news to me," Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting delegate, said Thursday when Axios told her of Biden's move. "I am very disappointed."
Biden announced his decision with a tweet: "I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings."
Driving the news: House Republicans are championing a tough approach to rising crime to try to paint Democrats as weak on the issue in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
The GOP-led House's rejection of the D.C. law drew support from several Democrats. It symbolized Republicans' efforts to make Democrats — particularly those from politically divided districts who could be vulnerable in 2024 — vote against issues their party typically supports.
GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told Axios: "For the past two years, far left Democrats' 'defund the police' movement and soft-on-crime policies have created a violent crime crisis in America, and nowhere is that crisis more evident than our nation's capital."
Nearly all members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against the GOP resolution, citing data indicating that harsh penalties do not significantly reduce violent crime.
Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.), a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, was the only CBC member who backed the GOP resolution.
A look back: During the 2020 presidential campaign, some progressives criticized Biden for his role as a U.S. senator in helping to write the 1994 Crime Bill that encouraged harsher sentences and prison-building.
Back then, most of the Congressional Black Caucus supported the bill, a reflection of how crack cocaine was ravaging many communities.
What's next: The CBC on Thursday asked Attorney General Merrick Garland for an update on an executive order Biden issued in May 2022 aimed at reforming policing.
CBC Chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) wrote: "While the CBC commends the Biden administration's executive order, which represents the most substantial federal action on police reform since George Floyd's murder in 2020, we are concerned about the status of the order's implementation."
The caucus wants to know the progress of a law enforcement accountability database and grants aimed at making policing safer.
CBC leaders met with Biden recently to discuss a strategy to address police violence, a major concern among Black voters who backed Biden in 2020.
What we're watching: The GOP resolution rejecting the D.C. law now moves to the Senate, which Democrats control.
Horsford told Axios: "We need to make sure the Senate understands the full effect of taking away representation from the residents of D.C."
Under the guise of banning "critical race theory," a growing number of U.S. states now limit public schools from having certain books with content or lessons relating to race or racism.
The big picture: Following former President Trump's 2020 loss, conservative activists launched a coordinated campaign against critical race theory by falsely claiming the graduate-school-level concept was widely taught in grade schools.
Former President Trump is convinced his attacks on Ron DeSantis are chipping away at the Florida governor's support and confidence, sources and friends familiar with Trump's thinking say.
So Trump is planning to amp up the attacks and name-calling in the coming weeks.
President Biden has grown so close to his volunteer muse, Jon Meacham, that he tried to bring the presidential historian into the White House.
Driving the news: Meacham is preparing to dive into the life of President Dwight Eisenhower for his next book. So a government gig doesn't appear to be in the cards — but the overture reflects their warm relationship.
President Biden’s nominee for an open seat on the Federal Communications Commission, Gigi Sohn, appears stalled in committee and is in danger of failing to reach the full Senate floor for a vote, according to Democratic Senate officials.
Why it matters: If her nomination falters, the FCC will remain deadlocked with two Republican and two Democratic commissioners — hindering the Biden administration’s effort to implement key parts of the president’s agenda.
Two American men were arrested in Kansas City Thursday on suspicion of illegally exporting aviation technology to Russia, prosecutors announced.
Driving the news: Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, and Douglas Edward Robertson, 55, were arrested in an investigation involving the Department of Justice's KleptoCapture task force, an interagency group dedicated to enforcing sanctions in response to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
The House Ethics Committee extended its investigation into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thurday over allegations that she violated congressional rules by accepting "impermissible gifts" at the 2021 Met Gala.
The big picture: TheOffice of Congressional Ethics (OCE) released an 18-page report that states the board found "substantial reason to believe that she accepted impermissible gifts." Ocasio-Cortez denies violating House rules and her office told NBC News they're confident the matter would be dismissed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday ordered freight train operator Norfolk Southern to test for toxic pollutants that could have been released as a result of the company's decision to burn vinyl chloride from cargo on its derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio.
Why it matters: Norfolk Southern had at the time said that burning the cargo was necessary to prevent the threat of explosions from the hazardous materials in the train, but has since faced heightened scrutiny over the move and its possible impacts on the surrounding community and environment.
A group closely aligned with House Republican leadership is spending over $2 million to accuse President Biden of being the one who truly wants to cut Medicare, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's some of the earliest spending of the 2024 election cycle and signals that Republicans plan to go on offense, rather than just defend against Biden's claims that the GOP wants to slice into Medicare and Social Security.
President Biden's refusal to veto a resolution blocking changes to D.C.'s criminal code has provided welcome cover to vulnerable Senate Democrats — while handing the House GOP an inaugural legislative win that few were expecting.
Why it matters: House Republicans had two top priorities when they took the gavel in January — blitzing the Biden administration with investigations and exacting deep spending cuts through negotiations over the debt ceiling.
