Signal and the Noise

A poster of the Signal group chat of Trump Administration officials discussing an upcoming strike against Houthi positions.
A poster of the Signal group chat of Trump Administration officials discussing an upcoming strike against Houthi positions is seen during a House Democratic press conference. Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA via AP

Today’s notice: Republicans hope someone investigates Signal-gate, just not them. Cuts to the Department of Education’s legal offices have thrown thousands of cases into chaos. And some Democrats think they’ve found the answer to their prayers in Erza Klein.

A Signal of More to Come

Day 3 of Signal-gate made it clear there will at least be a Day 4, with telling divides developing among Republicans.

Just about every lawmaker has seen the full, largely unredacted messages at this point. Already there are reports of other possible security vulnerabilities with Trump administration officials. And there’s bipartisan appetite to see some governmental investigation into how The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the thread, what was sent and whether any of this should have been put in writing at all.

But congressional Republicans don’t sound like they want to be at the helm of that probe.

The chair of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, working with his Democratic counterpart Sen. Jack Reed, is calling for an expedited inspector general investigation (or acting inspector general investigation, since Donald Trump fired the Pentagon’s IG in his early days). Sen. Joni Ernst said she’s looking to see the National Security Council investigation, NOTUS’ John T. Seward reports. And Democrats are calling for hearings, secure briefings and firings.

But back to Republicans: We’ve noticed a divide with how they’ve been reacting to this possible security breach. Those most closely aligned with the White House messaging — that this was a one-off, “nothing-burger,” as Sen. Markwayne Mullin put it — are focused on how Goldberg accidentally got added to the chat. Those more open to an investigation, however, have a much larger concern about the Signal of it all.

“The question is, if it was classified information, why were you not using a classified conduit to send it?” Sen. Thom Tillis said.

At least one Republican already had his answer. “To me, the bottom line is: Is Signal secure enough to discuss the type of detailed information that we all know was discussed? And I think the answer to that for me is, no,” Sen. Kevin Cramer said.

Read the story.

Reconciling Our Differences

Republican leaders are eyeing the week of April 7 — before lawmakers leave for a two-week Easter recess — to adopt a final budget framework for the reconciliation bill, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

But lawmakers still have the major hurdle of whether the reconciliation bill will address the debt limit, these sources said, especially after the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday that the government could be unable as soon as August to pay its bills if the debt ceiling is not raised.

Another open question is where Republicans can find $880 billion in cuts within the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democrats have pointed out that Medicaid is functionally the only program within the committee’s jurisdiction that tackles such a dollar amount. But some vulnerable Republicans have signaled they won’t tolerate Medicaid cuts.

Meanwhile, many conservatives have said they won’t go along with reconciliation without those cuts.

“I know we’re pretty firm in the House. There can’t be a lot of revisions to it. At all,” Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told NOTUS.

—Daniella Diaz, Reese Gorman and Ursula Perano

Front Page

The Thing About Those Education Department Cuts…

In the Department of Education’s haste to terminate more than 200 attorneys and close over half of its regional offices that investigate civil rights cases, there was little to no coordination facilitating the transfer of thousands of cases to the attorneys and offices that remain, NOTUS’ Violet Jira and Emily Kennard report.

Civil rights attorneys impacted by the cuts told NOTUS that documents essential to the progress of outstanding cases — interviews, notes and other information — may have been lost in the rush to place employees on leave.

When the reduction in force was announced, education officials said employees would have more than a week to “roll over” their responsibilities to those that would presumably pick up where they left off. But Education Department attorneys told NOTUS they were locked out of agency systems within a day, unable to do something as basic as send an outgoing email.

“Call it a transfer or not, the meaningful quality is that these cases are dead. There’s not going to be a functional transfer,” a National Center for Youth Law lawyer who has sued the Department of Education said.

—Violet Jira | Read the story.

The DOGE’ing of HHS

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services kicked off an effort to cut billions of dollars from state health agencies and roughly 100 universities, saying the funds were simply leftover from COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts.

But a quick look at what’s listed among the cuts reveals there’s far more to them than that.

NOTUS identified several other areas where funding is set to be stripped as part of the sweeping cuts. HHS is pulling money for pandemic prevention research, mental health support, substance abuse prevention and grants to cancer research centers. DOGE is touting on its website the savings from each of the 1,285 HHS grant terminations made this week — even if some of the cuts don’t even save the government a full dollar.

Read the story.

Quotable: ‘Abundance’ Discourse Hits the Hill

“It’s one perspective and it’s an important one, but it’s not a silver bullet.”

That’s what Rep. Ro. Khanna, a California Democrat, had to say about a book that’s been drumming up a lot of attention among members of his party, NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal reports. “Abundance, written by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, is being embraced by Democrats across the country as a possible answer to the party’s woes.

At its core, the book is critical of the red tape that prevents Democrats from delivering — in a timely manner — on the infrastructure projects they often bill as answers to major social issues. While many Democrats are touting the book, some groups are concerned that reducing environmental regulations would be a step backward for conservation.

Read the story.

Not Us

We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.

Be Social

Forget personality quizzes, we want to know: Which Houthi PC Small Group Chat member are you?

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