USA TODAY is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general amid tense negotiations between the Justice Department and Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. It said the senators are upset about a plan to shield the Trump family from tax audits and want the Justice Department to eliminate President Donald J Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund. President Trump suggested postponing Blanche's confirmation until next year, after Cornyn and Tillis leave the Senate. Cornyn tweeted that concerns about the tax lawsuit settlement provisions are not limited to him and Tillis, a sentiment echoed by retiring Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who told USA TODAY that other Republican senators agree but are "afraid to say the first word."
USA TODAY also reported that the Senate's Republican-led education committee approved a bipartisan bill to block the transfer of key divisions within the Education Department to other agencies. Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Tim Kaine led the effort to protect offices overseeing special education, Native American education, K-12, and postsecondary education. Kaine told USA TODAY the bill, while unlikely to pass standalone, sends a strong message to parents of students with disabilities and congressional appropriators, providing leverage in ongoing spending negotiations.
In an exclusive interview, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told USA TODAY that the surveillance of foodborne illness is "working better than it’s ever worked," despite thousands of people becoming ill from outbreaks of explosive diarrhea.
The newspaper also noted that President Trump announced a $22.5 billion renovation for Dulles International Airport and that activists are staging a tree sit-in in Lochiel, Arizona, to halt Trump's border wall construction.