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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Joe Biden speaks directly to the press on one of the first occasions of his presidency, and drops a couple big lines, including support for quote “reforming” the filibuster and an admission that Andrew Cuomo could be on the way out.

Meanwhile, other Democrats continue to embarrass themselves, as new reports allege that Dianne Feinstein’s husband is trying to nepotism his way into an ambassadorship under Biden, though the 87-year-old California Senator insists she’ll keep her seat either way.

And lastly, the GOP continues its assault on voting rights around the country, leaning heavily on bogus allegations of voter fraud, despite widespread evidence that it just doesn’t happen.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Joe Biden sat down with ABC’s George Stephanopolous on Tuesday night for one of the first major interviews of his presidency, and delivered a couple key quotes that could have big ramifications for his party’s future.

First, Biden indicated that he supports changing the Senate filibuster rule, a big hangup that has plagued the Democratic party’s ability to enact his agenda.

Still, Biden, a long time Senator, did not say he wants to completely abolish the filibuster, instead saying that the Senate should go back to the talking filibuster, where a Senator who wanted to delay a vote had to stand and speak for as long as possible.

Even this change has Mitch McConnell scared, as he vowed to take a quote “scorched earth” endquote strategy if Democrats touch the filibuster.

That wasn’t all from Biden on Tuesday night though. He also weighed in on the allegations against New York Governor and Democratic rising star Andrew Cuomo, saying that the governor should resign if the investigation into his conduct finds that the multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault against him are true.

Biden added quote “I think he'll probably end up being prosecuted, too." endquote.

Doesn’t look good for old Andy’s long-term prospects as a Democratic leader there! Biden plans to follow this one-on-one with a full news conference on Thursday.

Dems Hope Nepotism Can Solve Feinstein Problem

Meanwhile, 87-year-old senator Dianne Feinstein still has no plans to retire, even as her husband tries to glad-hand his way into an overseas posting as one of Joe Biden’s ambassadors.

Pressure has mounted for Feinstein to retire for years in the hope that a younger and ideally more progressive Senator could take one of California’s two safely-blue seats.

The reason is pretty simple: Feinstein is clearly not as sharp as she once was, which the party has pretty openly hinted at.

She was asked to step down from her ranking position on the Judiciary committee after putting on an insipid, pandering performance during the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings.

The party is also eager to replace Feinstein with a black woman, as the Senate has precisely zero members who fit that demographic now that Kamala Harris is sitting in the VP’s office.

The New York Times reports that the Democrats are hoping Biden will solve that problem for them by handing Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum, a wealthy investor and long time friend of the president.

The hope is that if Blum takes an overseas vanity post, he’ll take Feinstein with him and away from the Senate. But in comments to reporters this week, Feinstein insisted she would serve out the rest of her term, which lasts until 2025. But hey, maybe in this case a little nepotism will go a long way.

GOP Leans Into Voter Fraud

The GOP is once again putting out an absolute onslaught of bills aimed at stripping the right to vote from millions of Americans.

Their reasoning is very simple: when more people vote, the Republicans lose. To stop that happening, they’re trying to weaponize any skewed advantage they can get in the courts and legislatures to make sure that fewer people exercise their right.

In Texas alone, NBC News reports that there are more than two dozen restrictive voting bills currently going through the GOP-controlled legislature. Many of them take aim at the spooky specter of so-called voter fraud, which is a scare tactic designed to make people think the Democrats steal elections.

In reality, the Houston Chronical reports that Texas’s Attorney General’s office spent a combined 22,000 hours looking for voter fraud in the 2020 election and found just 16 cases of a false address being registered. There are 17 million voters in Texas.

Some of the more insidious bills specifically target voters Republicans know they can’t win over. One strategy they’re using is to try to limit the hours polling places can be open for early voting or standardize the hours across the state, which data shows would help turnout in smaller, rural communities and hurt it in the busy urban areas. That’s a pretty obvious one right there.

It’s worth noting that this is going on all over the country. Republicans have tried ploys like this in Georgia, Florida, and all over the South -- wherever they’ve got control of a state, voting rights are going to suffer.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A new U.S. intelligence report finds that, surprise! Both Russia and Iran tried to influence the 2020 election, but China, remarkably, did not. We’ll see how various interests in D.C.’s foreign policy blob try to weaponize this information.

Moderna announced that it will begin testing its vaccine on children under the age of 12, enlisting over 6,000 volunteers in the U.S. and Canada, which could give crucially missing data on how effective and safe the vaccine is in young children.

In Texas, Pete Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation made a crucial judgement to pause one of the state’s most notoriously racist highway expansion projects, which would have displaced over 1,000 predominantly minority households and subjected thousands of others to increased pollution and potential flooding.

The Washington Post reports that House Democrats are expected to re-introduce a Medicare For All bill into the House today, renewing their push despite the ambivalence of the Biden administration. More than 100 representatives are expected to put their names on the Bill.

MAR 17, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn