The Daily Brief - Mar. 11, 2026
The latest on Iran, inflation, the SAVE Act, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Read below to catch up on all the news you might’ve missed.
Iran School
American military investigators have reached the preliminary conclusion that the United States is responsible for a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school for girls, according to a New York Times report. The Times did not identify the officials with whom it had spoken.
The school, in the city of Minab, was attacked on the first day of the war. Iran says that 175 people were killed and that most were children. Satellite images show that the school was adjacent to a naval base controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and investigators say it was formerly part of the base. Both the base and the school were struck.
The Defense Department’s inquiry into the strike is ongoing, but it believes the school was attacked because the US Defense Intelligence Agency sent outdated targeting information to US Central Command. That view contradicts President Trump’s remark on Saturday that the Iranian government inadvertently hit the school with “very inaccurate” munitions.
After Trump spoke, video footage emerged that appeared to show a Tomahawk cruise missile striking the area of the school. On Monday, Trump reiterated his belief that Iran was responsible and said that “numerous other nations have Tomahawks.” In fact, only the United States, Britain, and Australia are known to use them.
In the same Monday appearance, Trump said he would accept the results of the investigation: “I will certainly — whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with.” When asked on Tuesday about the Times report on the military’s preliminary findings, Trump answered, “I don’t know about that.”
Strait of Hormuz
Three ships in the Strait of Hormuz have been struck by projectiles in the past two days, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported on Wednesday. The organization did not identify the vessels.
The navy of Thailand later said that a Thai-flagged container ship had been attacked in the strait. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, part of Iran’s military, admitted it had attacked that ship as well as a Liberian-flagged vessel. The status of the ships and their crews was not clear; the Thai Ministry of Transport said that three Thai sailors remained unaccounted for.
About 20% of the world’s crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, but maritime traffic has come to a near-standstill since the war began, reducing global oil supply by some 20 million barrels per day. The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil in response to the shortage. The price of a gallon of gasoline in the US has risen by an average of about 60 cents since the war began.
Iran has laid at least a dozen mines in the strait. US Central Command said that it had destroyed a number of Iranian ships, including 16 mine-layers. It has also advised people on land adjacent to the strait to avoid its ports.
US Impact of Iran War
The FBI warned California police departments in late February that Iran might attempt to attack the West Coast with drones, according to memos reviewed by ABC News.
“We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran,” the FBI alert reads. The FBI did not have any further information about the nature of the possible attacks.
Seven American service members have been killed in the Middle East since the war began, and about 140 have been wounded, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Most of the injuries were minor and 108 of the wounded have returned to duty.
As of Monday, the war had killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, more than 400 people in Lebanon, and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries.
SAVE Act Vote
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is prepared to bring the SAVE Act up for a vote in the Senate next week, but he says he isn’t going to change the filibuster rules to get it to pass.
President Trump says he won’t sign any other legislation until the SAVE Act is passed. He has advocated for making Democrats use the talking filibuster in the Senate, instead of the procedural filibuster in place now.
What does that mean?
The filibuster is a rule that says the minority party can block legislative votes from happening in the Senate by just continuing to debate (or talk) indefinitely. Under the talking filibuster rules, at least one person from that party must stand on the floor 24/7, speaking without interruption. They can switch off among members, but they can’t stop. During that time all work in the Senate comes to a halt.
It takes 60 votes to bypass a filibuster. Until that happens, the nonstop talking could go on for days, weeks, even months.
In the 1970s a new rule was introduced, akin to a procedural filibuster, that has the effect of forcing 60 people to agree to bypass debate to bring a bill to the floor for a vote, instead of making people stand there and talk indefinitely.
Senate Majority Leader Thune does not want to force the Senate to use the talking filibuster, because it means nothing else can get done, and it also gives Democrats unfettered access to the cameras on CSPAN to say whatever they want for as long as they want. President Trump wants Thune to force the talking filibuster anyway.
The only other way to get around the filibuster with less than 60 votes is to change the procedural rules to allow legislation to move forward with a simple majority — 51 votes. That is known as the “nuclear option” and Thune has said he won’t do it. If he were to do that, any party with the majority in the future could get legislation passed with just 51 votes. Many Republicans are wary of changing that precedent because when Democrats are in the majority, they’ll have little power to stop them.
Trump today pushed Thune to find a way to get the SAVE Act passed, saying, “He’s got to be a leader.”
But Thune says his hands are tied. “We don’t have the votes… It is just a function of math, and there isn’t anything I can do about that.”
For now, if he brings up the bill for a vote, the Democrats will block it.
Penn Antisemitism Probe
The University of Pennsylvania is challenging a subpoena from the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission that seeks information about Jewish faculty, students, and campus groups. Issued in July 2025, the subpoena is part of the Trump administration’s investigation into antisemitism at Penn. At a hearing on Tuesday, a federal judge heard the university’s objections to the subpoena, which would require the school to turn over lists of the names of Jewish people on campus.
Penn has described the request as unconstitutional and “disconcerting.” Students and faculty expressed concern, with a co-president of the school’s Jewish Law Students Association calling it “disturbing,” and adding, “We know very well the history of governments assembling lists of Jews does not end well.” Penn argues the subpoena makes students and faculty unsafe, and also threatens people’s First Amendment right of free association.
However, at the hearing the judge seemed receptive to the Trump administration’s argument that the university’s refusal to provide the documents would complicate its efforts to investigate campus antisemitism, which is focused on the possibility of workplace discrimination. Federal district judge Gerald J. Pappert emphasized that the only question he needed to decide was whether the government has a potentially valid claim for workplace discrimination, and if the documents sought by the subpoena were relevant to that investigation.
“Penn is an employer; the people the EEOC are concerned about are employees,” the judge said. “Since when does the employer have the right to step in and dictate the terms of the investigation?” Pappert also asked whether Penn’s arguments effectively asked him to rule on “whether the Trump White House was filled with antisemitic extremists.”
Penn is among several universities that the Trump administration has targeted for investigations related to antisemitism.
DOGE Whistleblower
A former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and shared it with a private employer, according to a whistleblower claim reported by The Washington Post. The Inspector General of the SSA is currently investigating the potential breach at the agency.
According to the complaint, which was filed anonymously, a former DOGE software engineer who worked at the SSA told several co-workers he took two highly restricted databases that included social security numbers, birthdates, citizenship, parents’ names, race and ethnicity information, and birthplaces for more than 500 million Americans, living and dead. He reportedly said he had at least one of the databases downloaded onto a thumb drive, and said he planned to “sanitize” the data before using it at his next job, which was at a private employer.
He asked colleagues for help downloading the information, but at least one refused to help him. The engineer also said he expected that President Trump would pardon him if his actions came to light and he faced legal repercussions. The complaint doesn’t indicate whether the engineer successfully shared the stolen data with his private employer.
So far, both the whistleblower and the engineer have not been publicly named. Congress has been notified about the complaint.
Inflation
Inflation stayed within expected levels in February, according to newly released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The consumer price index rose .3% in February, which put the 12-month inflation rate at 2.4%, which was in line with expectations.
The number landed above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for inflation, but hasn’t worsened. Prices rose modestly for services and shelter, while there were declines in prices for things like used cars and auto insurance. Food and energy prices continue to change frequently, with food prices up 3.1% from a year ago.
The report only covers February, so it didn’t account for the changes in energy prices — especially surging oil costs — due to the war between the US and Iran.
Please go to the talking filibuster so that Dems can read the Epstein files having to do with Trump endlessly…
We are now asking for a terror strike. God help us.