Congressional leaders released a $1.3 trillion government spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year and asked lawmakers to begin voting on it with only hours to read and analyze the 2,232-page text. With less than two days before government funding is set to expire, the measure includes funds for Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border -- but not the wall, combating opioid addiction, and building new roads, along with incentives to bolster reporting to a database for gun-buyer background checks. Congress may still have to pass a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating until the overall spending measure gets final approval. Without passage, the government would shut down -- for the third time this year -- because lawmakers couldn’t meet a deadline. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, a leading AIDS researcher, proponent of medication-assisted therapy for addiction, Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Co-Founder of the Institute for Human Virology, was appointed Wednesday to oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Facebook news, the social network’s 33-year-old CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, publicly addressed the crisis facing his company, five days after reports about the misuse of data from 50 million of its users -- many of whom have been deleting their accounts. In other news, JAY-Z’s six-part docu-series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story detailing the injustice surrounding Martin’s death, will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival next month. And national outrage is brewing over the shooting of another unarmed Black man. Police fired 20 bullets at 23-year-old Stephan Clark, killing him in his own backyard Sunday night in Sacramento, CA. Lastly, be sure to pick up the April edition of Vanity Fair. Lena Waithe -- the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing -- graces the cover, and in an interview offered this on diversity in Hollywood: “I am tired of white folks telling my stories. We gotta tell our shit. Can’t no one tell a Black story, particularly a queer story, the way I can, because I see the God in us.” We’re kicking off Thursday with this...
- CHC Chair Congresswoman Michelle Luján Grisham (D-NM) files a restrainingorder against former intern.
- Obama Foundation announces youth job corps.
- Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) wants hackers to target the State Department.
- Congressman Joaquín Castro (D-TX) intros legislation to promote best electoral processes and also wants answers from USCIS.
- Barack and Michelle Obama pen heartwarming words to Parkland students.
- The centrist group New Democratic Coalition adds CBC and CHC members.
- Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) wants a task force to review Census questions.
- Uber names new Deputy General Counsel.
- Ten emerging writers win a prestigious award. Meet them below.
- Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) pushes FCC Chair Ajit Pai on preserving Lifeline program for low-income Americans.
- Tribes say delays in a highly anticipated study on the Dakota Access Pipeline is not their fault but the Trump administration says otherwise.
- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) decries a bill that guts DC’s LGBT anti-discrimination laws.
- Whistleblowers warn of possible Broadcasting Board of Governors shake-up.
- UFW President Arturo Rodríguez and former Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx among new members of the Biden Institute Policy Advisory Board.
- Ford Motor Company loses two top recent hires.
- The Center for Public Integrity staffs up.
- Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks about her time in the WH at BET’s Leading Women Defined.
- Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) tops “worst bosses list” with Congressman Raúl Ruíz (D-CA) coming in second.
- Congress rejects Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' proposed cuts to key agency programs, including after-school initiatives for needy students.