Johnson's spending holdouts  —  Presented by IN TODAY'S EDITION:  — Johnson, White House hammer holdouts  — Thune taps a debt-limit whisperer  — More tax complications on GOP agenda  —  EAT LIKE A LAWMAKER — POLITICO Magazine is out this morning with a rundown of where Republicans …

Ontario suspending 25% surcharge on provincially generated electricity purchased by U.S. states  —  Move comes after Trump threatened Ontario ‘will pay a financial price’ for levy  —  Ontario is suspending its promise to add a 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to some U.S. states …

White House prepares high-profile purchase of Tesla auto  —  Trump aides were arranging to bring a Tesla to the White House on Tuesday.  —  The White House announced a plan Tuesday to promote President Donald Trump's potential purchase of a Tesla, the car produced by Elon Musk …

What Really Happened With the DDoS Attacks That Took Down X  —  Elon Musk said a “massive cyberattack” disrupted X on Monday and pointed to “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” as the source of the attack.  Security experts say that's not how it works.

Marco Rubio Personally Signed Off to Detain Mahmoud Khalil on ‘Foreign Policy Grounds,’ Sources Confirm  —  Marco Rubio personally signed off on the arrest of Palestinian Columbia University student protest negotiator Mahmoud Khalil, using a narrow, little-used authority given to the secretary of state …

Ukraine willing to accept 30-day ceasefire with Russia as U.S. lifts freeze on aid and intelligence  —  Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — The U.S. and Ukraine said Kyiv would accept a 30-day ceasefire with Russia after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with Washington pledging to immediately lift …

US to Require Some Canadian Visitors to Register With DHS Agency  —  President Donald Trump's administration is preparing a new travel rule that could force Canadians planning to stay in the country for more than 30 days to register their information with the US government and submit to fingerprinting.

How the US economy went from booming to a recession scare in only 20 days  —  New York CNN —  Just 20 days ago, the US stock market was sitting at all-time highs.  The US economy appeared to be growing at a solid pace.  And a recession was nowhere in sight.  —  Now, the R-word is seemingly everywhere.

Department of Education staff told offices will be closed Wednesday  —  Washington — Staff at the Department of Education received a notice Tuesday instructing them to leave the building by 6 p.m. local time and informing them that all department offices in Washington, D.C. …

Remembering Kevin Drum  —  My friend and colleague, who died this month, was not only a pioneer blogger but also a journalist who should have won the Pulitzer Prize.  —  One day in early 2004, I called my senior editor at the Washington Monthly, Josh Marshall, with a proposition …

USDA halts more than $100M in funding for University of Maine System programs  —  The move temporarily pauses USDA funding for Maine's university system after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off the state over Maine's decision to allow transgender athletes to compete in sports.

His Daughter Was America's First Measles Death in a Decade  —  A visit with a family in mourning  —  Peter greeted me in the mostly empty gravel parking lot of a Mennonite church on the outskirts of Seminole, a small city in West Texas surrounded by cotton and peanut fields.

Elon Musk Has Wanted the Government Shutdown  —  Sources tell WIRED that Elon Musk has wanted a government shutdown in part because it would potentially make it easier to eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.  —  As President Donald Trump has been trying …

Trump's Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers  —  from the first-they-came-for-the-lawyers dept  —  When a president uses executive power to not just blacklist but effectively destroy a major law firm, solely for representing political opponents, it means he's given …

131. Five Questions About the Khalil Case  —  The government's arrest and detention of a pro-Palestinian Columbia student (and green card holder) raises difficult questions about both technical immigration statutes and the First Amendment.  —  Welcome back to “One First,” an (increasingly frequent) …

‘Big one to eliminate’: Elon Musk spotlights cost of federal entitlements amid fear of cuts to programs  —  Elon Musk on Monday highlighted the cost of federal spending on entitlement programs, the latest sign of the tech billionaire and presidential adviser's focus to downsize …

National Poll: At 50 Days, Trump's Honeymoon Fades as Economy Becomes Key Vulnerability  —  Home Polls National Poll: At 50 Days, Trump's Honeymoon Fades as Economy Becomes Key Vulnerability  —  Voters Sour on Both Political Parties, With Democrats Facing Greater Backlash

Trump's CDC Pick Is Pushing Vaccine-Autism ‘Lie,’ Senator Says  — Murray says Weldon repeated ‘debunked claims’ in meeting  — Weldon's CDC confirmation hearing is later this week  —  Dave Weldon, President Donald Trump's pick to run the country's top public health agency …

Vance to visit India for second foreign trip as VP  —  His first trip to Munich shook allies.  —  Vice President JD Vance will travel to India later this month alongside Second Lady Usha Vance, according to three sources familiar with the plans.  —  It marks Vance's second foreign trip …

Washington Post Columnist Resigns After Paper Spiked Criticism of Jeff Bezos  —  Ruth Marcus, a longtime columnist at The Post, said its publisher refused to run her critique of the new focus for the paper's opinion section.  —  Ruth Marcus, a columnist and editor for The Washington Post's opinion section …

Trump administration slashes division in charge of 26,000 U.S. artworks  —  The fate of holdings dating to before the Civil War is uncertain after the dismissal of most workers in the General Services Administration's fine arts and preservation units.  —  Just now

GOP will observe “DeTrans Awareness Day” with multiple events Wednesday  —  Rep. Dan Crenshaw and the Dept. of Education are leading the charge.  —  The Handbasket is 100% subscriber-funded.  If you want to support independent media during these dark times for democracy, become a paid subscriber today.