Jury finds New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin – live | US news

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration was hopeful that Congress will be able to pass a stopgap funding bill by Friday’s deadline, despite objections from lawmakers like Marsha Blackburn, the Republican senator from Tennessee who is holding out on the bill because she wrongly believes that the administration is trying to set aside money to hand out crack pipes.

“We are engaged with a range of Democrats and Republicans and we are hopeful that we will be able to sign this,” Psaki said.

Psaki continued: “I would note that one of senator Blackburn’s primary concerns is in relation to the funding of crack pipes, which is not an issue. So what is happening here is the potential to hold up the funding of the government and important programs around an issue that is not an issue. We have been clear that we are not funding crack pipes.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki commented on Congress and lawmakers’ failed efforts to come to an agreement on an economics sanctions bill for Russia.

“Our view remains that a bipartisan effort would be the best effort moving forward,” Psaki said. “Our view continues to be that the crippling sanctions package that we designed is meant to be the deterrent.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has taken to the podium for the press briefing to field questions on Ukraine. Follow along on our live blog here for more updates.

Psaki began the briefing by announcing that the FCC has voted to crackdown on exclusivity agreements between landlords and internet providers known as sweetheart deals that locks tenants and office buildings into just one internet option, which possibly traps tenants into paying more for lower quality service.

In the middle of Joe Biden and his remarks on Ukraine, media tents outside the White House experienced a massive power outage:

Meanwhile, over at Capitol Hill, lawmakers have failed to reach consensus on a bill on economic sanctions against Russia.

Joe Biden is addressing the nation now about Ukraine and the threat of a Russian invasion.

Follow our live blog for more updates:

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has sounded off on the impending government funding deadline:

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have come through on their threat to not show up to the banking committee meeting on the Federal Reserve confirmations:

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has lost her libel lawsuit against the New York Times when a jury rejected today her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that left six dead and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords severely wounded, the Associated Press is reporting.

A judge had ruled yesterday that if the jury sided with Palin, he would set aside its verdict.

In an editorial about gun control, the Times blamed overheated political rhetoric after a man opened fire on a Congressional baseball team practice in Washington, wounding congressman Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana. The shooter had a history of anti-GOP activity.

The editorial likened the shooting to the 2011 shooting in Arizona that left six dead and Giffords severely wounded, and said Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence at the time by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.

In a correction, the Times said it had “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting” and that it had “incorrectly described” the map; a tweet read, “We got an important fact wrong.”

Joe Biden is expected to make some comments in about an hour on the situation in Ukraine, and the threat of a Russian invasion. Make sure to follow along on our live blog dedicated to the unfolding situation for live updates:

In his address to the National Association of Counties, Joe Biden talked about Build Back Better, the rising costs of healthcare and prescription drugs, as well as his Moonshot Initiative to reduce the death rate by cancer by 50 percent in the next 25 years.

“We’re on the verge of some significant breakthroughs in healthcare,” he said. “But should it be based upon what you can afford to pay? If Congress acts we can take care of things with the stroke of a pen tomorrow.”

Elizabeth Warren, the progressive Democratic senator from Massachusetts, has issued a statement about her vote to confirm Robert Califf as the new head of the Food and Drug Administration:

Her counterpart Ed Markey, the other Democratic senator from Massachusetts, voted against the confirmation.

Joe Biden delivered some remarks to the National Association of Counties just now, touting the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure law to local officials from across the country – the National Association of Counties represents county governments in the US.

“Not only has infrastructure week finally arrived, you can look forward to infrastructure decade,” he said. “Just 92 days after I signed the law, it’s already making a tangible difference. We announced billions in funding allocations to put people to work in good-paying jobs, cleaning up rivers in Ohio, chemical plants in Florida and dozens of other sites, bolstering the energy grid with stronger transmission lines and towers and modernizing bridges.”

Biden continued: “This is only the beginning: hundreds of billions in new investments are on their way. Now it’s time for the counties to get ready.”