US Midterm Election Watch: Senate Opens Bitter Debate on Stiffening Voting Rules Ahead of 2026 Elections (New York Times)

Under pressure from President Trump, the House and the far right, Senate Republicans opened debate on Tuesday on legislation they call the 'SAVE America Act,' which would require voters to show approved photo identification to vote in federal elections and proof of citizenship to register. It is expected to be a prolonged and bitter election-year debate, with the potential to disenfranchise millions of voters.

Senate Republicans say the measure is needed to prevent noncitizens from voting, though it is already illegal for them to do so and there is no evidence of widespread cases of such voter fraud.

Democrats say the real intent of the bill is to make it difficult for Americans to vote, in a bid to boost Republican candidates who are currently facing big losses. And even though the measure appears likely to die for lack of support, Democrats argue, a prolonged debate would allow the G.O.P. to focus on the potential for election fraud to lay the groundwork for challenges to the November election results.

They warn that the Trump administration intends to purge voter rolls of registered voters and not inform those who may be affected, complicating their ability to vote on Election Day.

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President Trump threatened to campaign against any lawmaker who votes against the voter ID bill, escalating what had been a steady barrage of warnings against any effort to stymie the politically divisive legislation. “Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” he wrote in a social media post, in which he pledged that he would never endorse anyone who voted against it.

The Senate is expected to spend days, and potentially weeks, debating the bill in a bid to pacify conservatives and corner Democrats who oppose the new election restrictions. The debate is expected to include some late-night and weekend sessions, according to Politico. 

Iran Latest

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Now He Wants to De-Escalate: Trump Calls for Halt to Energy Facility Attacks as Prices Soar (Bloomberg)

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US President Trump called on Israel and Iran to stop attacks on energy facilities as the war in the Middle East escalated, with damage to key oil and gas infrastructure triggering a fresh surge in prices.

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Iran followed through on a threat to strike major facilities around the region in response to Israel’s assault on the giant South Pars gas field, which Tehran shares with Qatar. That widened the scale of the conflict as it nears the end of its third week, with no sign of a ceasefire.

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Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City — home to the world’s largest export plant for liquefied natural gas — suffered “extensive damage” after an Iranian missile strike sparked a fire. The United Arab Emirates shut a major gas facility due to falling debris from missiles.

Trump said in a social media post that neither the US nor Qatar was involved in the Israeli operation targeting the South Pars field, calling on the Islamic Republic to act with restraint.

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“NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL,” Trump said on Truth Social late Wednesday. If Iran continues its strikes on Qatar’s LNG assets, the US “will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”

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Brent crude rose more than 10% to as high as $119 a barrel on Thursday, bringing its advance since the start of the war to more than 67%, and European natural gas rose as much as 35%.

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Price Pinch: US Suspends Oil Shipping Rules to Ease Gas Price Pressures (New York Times)
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The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would temporarily relax a maritime law that restricts the way oil is shipped within the United States, as it seeks to stem the rise in fuel prices resulting from the war in the Middle East.
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Relaxing the law, known as the Jones Act, could reduce the cost of transporting fuel and agricultural products by ship between American ports, but analysts and some shipping executives expect the move to have only a marginal impact on gasoline prices.

The introduction of cheaper foreign vessels is expected to shave only pennies off the cost of gasoline, which has jumped 29 percent to an average of $3.84 per gallon, from $2.98 on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel started their attacks on Iran, according to AAA.

Energy Impact: Weeks of War Are Reshaping the Global Gas Market for Years to Come (Bloomberg)

Aid Disruption: U.N. Says Attacks on Iran Set to Drive Hunger to Record Levels (New York Times)
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The United Nations food agency said the US-Israeli war on Iran threatened to drive up the number of people suffering from acute hunger by tens of millions worldwide, potentially reaching record levels.

Disruption of shipping lanes since the start of the war on Feb. 28 is already delaying deliveries of lifesaving food aid. Shipping costs have risen 18 percent. And higher oil prices are driving up the agency’s operating costs, Carl Skau, the World Food Program’s deputy executive director and operations chief, told reporters.

Today in the Oval Office

Trump’s Friendship With Japan’s Leader Faces Test Over Iran (New York Times)
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President Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan have built a close relationship over the past few months, bonding over baseball and heaping praise on each other even as they spar over issues like trade.
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That friendship is about to undergo a major test today as Takaichi visits the White House for the first time.
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Spurned by European allies, Trump is expected to use the summit meeting to urge Japan to dispatch minesweepers and maritime forces to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as the war in the Mideast enters its third week.

He has already piled on the pressure, suggesting that Japan owes the United States for years of defense aid and that Japan must act because of its heavy reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
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The demands have put Takaichi, a hard-line conservative who last fall became the first woman to lead Japan as prime minister, in a difficult position.

She is constrained not just by Japan’s pacifist constitution, but also by overwhelming public opposition: Only 9% of Japanese endorse the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to a recent poll by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Now Takaichi faces the delicate task of finding a way to signal support for Trump without getting entangled in the war. She must do so in the high-pressure forum of the White House, over lunch and dinner with a president who seems increasingly impatient and aggrieved.

War Fallout: Japan’s Farms and Buses Struggle to Find Fuel Due to War Disruption (Bloomberg)

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Japan’s cities and villages are starting to experience fuel shortages affecting everything from public transport to farming, as disruptions from the Iran war seep deeper into daily life.

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The import-dependent nation relies on the Middle East for nearly all of its oil, and has been hit particularly hard by the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Major refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co. this week started cutting supply to customers, and the nation’s gasoline prices  surged 18% in the past week to the highest level in records dating back 36 years.

What I'm Reading

Fact Check: Trump Promised the ‘World’s Lowest’ Drug Prices. The Numbers Say Otherwise (New York Times)
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President Trump and top federal health officials have repeatedly claimed that their new website, TrumpRx, offers Americans the world’s lowest prices on prescription drugs.
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“I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest,” Mr. Trump said during his State of the Union address last month.
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That is not true, according to a review by The New York Times and the German news organizations Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR.
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The drugs listed on TrumpRx can cost American patients up to hundreds or thousands of dollars, while a patient walking into a German pharmacy pays next to nothing. The German health system foots the bill, and records show that, more often than not, it pays less than what the Trump administration negotiated for Americans.

Ukraine Latest: Zelenskiy and UK's Starmer Urge Continuing Support for Ukraine Against Russia as Iran War Steals Focus (Associated Press)
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called Russia and Iran “brothers in hatred” on Tuesday as he sought support from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed momentum from US-brokered talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Zelenskiy urged Ukraine’s allies not to forget about his country, and suggested that the US and others should make use of Ukraine’s anti-drone technology during a Middle East war that has also revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue and could soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defense systems, which are needed in the Middle East.

Federal Reserve Outlook: Fed Holds Rates Steady, Powell Vows to Stay Amid DOJ Probe (Bloomberg)

Tech Rallies: Silicon Valley Musters Behind-the-Scenes Support for Anthropic (New York Times)
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In carefully worded statements, back-channel discussions and a series of court filings, several other tech companies — even Anthropic’s closest rivals — are encouraging the Pentagon to back away from designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” which would prohibit it from doing business with government entities.
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This new willingness to push back, industry insiders said, comes from longstanding industry principles coupled with a heavy dose of self-interest. More than ever, the fortunes of tech companies overlap. Big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google are investors in Anthropic and regularly do business with it.

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🔊 New Episode Alert: Today's Daily Read Podcast just dropped, featuring an AI-powered breakdown of today’s biggest headlines. We go beyond the scroll with key takeaways, smart context, and the “why it matters” behind each story—so you can stay ahead in less time. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Manhattan Tech Surge: Meta to Open NYC Retail Flagship on Fifth Avenue (Bloomberg)

Meta is opening its first flagship store in Manhattan, expanding its push into physical retail with a space along one of the world’s priciest shopping corridors.

Facebook’s parent company opened its first flagship store, branded Meta Lab, in Los Angeles last year. The space allows visitors to try Meta’s artificial intelligence glasses and virtual reality headsets.

On the Stage in NYC: Cats: The Jellicle Ball Hits Broadway in a Dazzling Ballroom Reimagining (Broadway World)

Cats: The Jellicle Ball hits Broadway this week in NYC, reintroducing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beloved musical in a dazzling new incarnation shaped by the energy and artistry of New York’s ballroom culture.

When CATS: The Jellicle Ball premiered at Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) in 2024, it became the must-see theater event of the summer, with three extensions and rapturous responses from audiences and critics alike.

Now the acclaimed revival has arrived at the Broadhurst Theatre, where previews began March 18, ahead of its official opening night on April 7.

With iconic songs, fierce choreography, and a cast that blends Broadway talent with ballroom icons, it has already been hailed as “a lightning strike that sets joy free” (The New York Times), “a sexy celebration of love and resilience” (New York Daily News), and “the most exhilarating fun that can be had in the theater” (The Washington Post).

Grab your tickets here. 

Best of Late Night

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On the celebration of St. Patrick's Day at the White House: 

“At the White House Tuesday, the prime minister of Ireland visited Donald Trump. The Irish prime minister has a standing appointment to get together with the president of the United States once a year, just like Melania.” 
-- Jimmy Kimmel

“Prime Minister Martin brought a bowl of shamrocks to the president, which is the customary gift — and also the closest Trump’s gotten to a salad that isn’t in a taco shell in quite some time.”
-- Jimmy Kimmel

On recent polls finding that half of Americans believe that Trump attacked Iran to distract from the Epstein files:

"Trump was like, 'Nope, fake news. I attacked Venezuela to distract from the Epstein files.'"
-- Jimmy Fallon

And from The Daily Show: Freedom of speech is under attack, but thanks to the Trump administration, now you can say anything you want about the president for just $50 a month! Fork over your cash and rest easy knowing that Free Speech Plus has your back. Subscribe today! Click the photo below to watch. 
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