Stevenson’s army, March 8

– NYT & others say Nordstream attack likely by pro-Ukraine group. Die Ziet has more:

New reporting in German media Tuesday indicates that Berlin’s investigation revealed “traces [that] lead in the direction of Ukraine,” identifying a team of six commandos — five men and one woman — that carried out the attack using a yacht rented from a Poland-based company. “Investigators found traces of explosives on the table in the cabin” of the vessel, per a translation of the Zeit Online report. “The group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor.”

– Only 15% in US view China favorably, poll says.

– FP argues that Commerce has supplanted USTR as the real source of US trade policy.

– Legistorm reports: Almost two in five House offices didn’t touch their 2022 MRA increases.

– The Senate Intelligence Committee today held an open session with the IC leaders and released their unclassified threat assessment.

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on March 7, 2023

An unprecedented increase to the Members’ Representational Allowance gave the average House personal office an extra $314,000 in funds last year. But nearly two out of five offices didn’t use a single dollar of that increase, according to a LegiStorm analysis of the House’s latest spending data.

The average personal office disclosed spending 84.0% of its 2022 funds. On average, Democrats spent an extra 4.4% more of their budgets than Republicans – a difference of about $95,000 more per office.

2022’s 21% MRA increase was meant to help the House attract and retain staff talent.

To begin tapping into the MRA increase, each personal office needed to spend at least 82.65% of its 2022 budget. Only 62% did so. The remaining 38% of the House disclosed spending that would have been sustainable without any increase. It’s common for offices to report expenses after the year’s end, so the number of 2022 “underspenders” is likely to shrink somewhat.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) had the House’s highest spending. His office used more than 98.7% of its budget, including 85.1% on staffer pay. The average office spent 67.3% of its total budget on staffer pay.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).