The News Caravan

Tag: GOP

  • GOP goes all-out to avoid another Senate primary mess

    [ad_1]

    u s senate 03342

    All told, the NRSC under Daines has now endorsed four candidates, including Rep. Jim Banks in Indiana. It’s a strategy not seen since the GOP took the Senate from Democrats in 2014 after poor showings in 2010 and 2012. Even then, the party focused on ousting unelectable candidates, rather than officially boosting its preferred picks as Daines is this year.

    “It’s been a great decision on his part. Clearly, we need quality candidates to win, we learned that in ‘22, 2010, 2012. Steve’s doing a great job getting us the most electable nominees, because that’s the way you win in November,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview.

    Those tactics come at the expense of Senate hopefuls like Rep. Alex Mooney in West Virginia, Jim Marchant in Nevada and potential candidate Rep. Matt Rosendale in Montana — contenders who enjoy more support from the party’s conservative ranks. Leadership’s heavy hand is stirring consternation within that sizable wing of the party.

    Yet many in the GOP see it as a bet worth making. Because if Republicans don’t get it right this time, when they have one of their best maps in years, they may not have another chance to flip the Senate until 2028.

    “You can play to win or you can play not to piss people off — you can’t do both,” said Josh Holmes, an adviser to McConnell.

    The party brass’ most urgent task is keeping Rosendale out of a race against Sheehy in Montana, where the GOP fears that Rosendale would win a primary but suffer another general election loss to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Rosendale has told colleagues he plans to run and has attacked Sheehy for being backed by McConnell. Sheehy, meanwhile, already has endorsements from Gov. Greg Gianforte and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) — as well as nine senators, including Daines.

    “After last cycle, there’s evidence that we’ve got to get the electable candidates on the field,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday afternoon. He’s backing Sheehy as well: “It would be nice if we could clear the field there.”

    Daines has also endorsed Trump’s presidential campaign to help preempt any disruptions to the intraparty playing field. And GOP leaders are intent on recruiting Dave McCormick for another run in Pennsylvania; Trump backed Mehmet Oz over McCormick in the 2022 primary. Oz won the primary but lost the general election.

    Already, Mooney is making hay of Justice’s strong Washington backing as the governor leads the primary handily in recent polls — even as his coal empire faces legal scrutiny. Mooney’s campaign manager, John Findlay, said that “Jim Justice is one of the all-time worst recruits by the GOP establishment.”

    In response, Justice’s campaign manager Roman Stauffer said the governor is achieving widespread buy-in from supporters in D.C. and West Virginia because they know he “is the strongest candidate to win the U.S. Senate race.”

    But not every senator in the conference is eager to see the NRSC pick favorites in crowded fields.

    “I wish they weren’t, but I’m not in charge,” said one Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly about party strategy. “Not everybody agrees” on which candidates are the most electable, this senator added.

    And Democrats say the aggressive GOP efforts will backfire come next November, dividing the GOP well into the summer of next year.

    “Across the Senate map, Republicans are brawling in vicious primaries and putting forward flawed candidates with disqualifying baggage. That’s a toxic combination that will lead their campaigns to defeat in 2024,” said David Bergstein, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

    In Wisconsin, the NRSC launched a concerted effort to woo Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a telegenic military veteran, by commissioning polling and publicly touting his strengths as a candidate. But the congressmember ultimately passed on a run against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, sending recruiters back to the drawing board just as polarizing former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke began to taunt them with a potential bid of his own.

    He tweeted a Democratic poll of a possible Wisconsin Senate primary field that showed him leading by 20 points.

    Now, GOP recruiters are refocusing efforts on candidates with the resources to block Clarke and tie up Baldwin, who just reported raising $3.2 million last quarter. Eric Hovde, a wealthy businessman who lost a primary bid for the seat in 2012, is still seriously considering another run but does not have a timeline for a decision, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

    “We will continue working to recruit candidates who can win both a primary and a general election,” Daines said.

    In Nevada, the NRSC eagerly recruited Brown, a decorated Army veteran who survived an IED attack in Afghanistan, to take on Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen. Their interest in him became more urgent once other candidates moved toward running.

    One less establishment-friendly potential candidate, Jeffrey Gunter, had a controversial tenure as Trump’s ambassador to Iceland. And Marchant, a former state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully for Nevada Secretary of State, is already in the race. A prominent member of a group of Trump supporters who baselessly deny the validity of the 2020 election, Marchant is readying for a primary brawl.

    “Jim Marchant has never lost a primary, outspent every time. Sam Brown has never won a primary despite his attempts in multiple states,” said Rory McShane, a spokesperson for Marchant’s campaign.

    It’s not yet clear how the party will handle Ohio, where Secretary of State Frank LaRose is looking at joining a field including state Sen. Matt Dolan and businessman Bernie Moreno. That state could be a free-for-all exception to the GOP’s approach, as it looks for a candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

    There are more headaches in Arizona, where Kari Lake could mount another statewide bid. And in Michigan’s open seat, Republicans have yet to secure a top-tier candidate, although they hope to land NYSE vice chair John Tuttle as former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers also mulls a bid.

    Even with some questions still unanswered, there’s still a new sense of normalcy in the party’s upper ranks. Senate Republicans’ top super PAC is back on the same page with the campaign arm after a high-profile break in strategy last year.

    “Aggressively recruiting quality candidates is the only way Republicans will retake the Senate majority. Every one of these top-tier races will be very tough, and sub-par candidates only help Democrats,” said Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law.

    Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.



    [ad_2]
    #GOP #allout #avoid #Senate #primary #mess
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Tracking Kevin McCarthy’s promises to GOP critics as debt ceiling fight looms

    Tracking Kevin McCarthy’s promises to GOP critics as debt ceiling fight looms

    [ad_1]

    mccarthy hp

    It was one of House conservatives’ biggest demands: more representation on key committees and in senior roles. They got both, and they’re still bragging about it.

    At a House Freedom Caucus fundraiser in Tennessee last month, the conservative group’s chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) boasted to donors about what it extracted from McCarthy. That included gaining the Homeland Security Committee gavel for a group member after securing Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) eventual chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee (he first served as the top Republican on the House Oversight panel).

    Jordan’s position, Perry claimed at the event, was based on “leverage, too.” In reality, though, that position had long been expected given Jordan and McCarthy’s increasingly close relationship.

    Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), a member of the Freedom Caucus who was present at the event, now chairs the homeland security panel after the protracted speakership battle.

    “Now we knew we were going to have a dog in the fight … we also knew the competition,” Perry said of the homeland chairmanship race – apparently referring to Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) — according to an audio recording obtained by POLITICO.

    “And one of the conversations was: If that other person becomes the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, then you will not be speaker.”

    While the GOP Steering Committee mostly decides panel chairs, the process is heavily influenced by the speaker. (Green’s position, as well as other competitive chair positions, were decided by the Steering panel after McCarthy’s election on the floor.) Green’s allies have argued that his win was more than just a tradeoff, saying it was a win-win given his resume and vision for the panel. A Crenshaw aide, responding to Perry’s words, called the apparent deal the “worst kept secret in Washington.”

    Additionally, two of the GOP’s most conservative members — Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — were placed on the lower-profile but powerful Rules Committee. It was perhaps the most decentralizing move McCarthy made; the Rules panel decides exactly the way legislation comes to the House floor, empowering Roy and Massie to block certain bills or push for changes.

    Conservatives gained more representation on other key committees, too. Two of the 20 holdout members landed on the Financial Services panel and two others got seats on Appropriations. And even Freedom Caucus members who were supportive of McCarthy landed on other top panels, like Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), who received a spot on Energy and Commerce.

    [ad_2]
    #Tracking #Kevin #McCarthys #promises #GOP #critics #debt #ceiling #fight #looms
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Senate GOP leaders watch debt limit collide with their coveted farm bill

    Senate GOP leaders watch debt limit collide with their coveted farm bill

    [ad_1]

    senate republicans 25664

    “They’re related for sure,” Thune said of the debt limit talks and farm bill. “For better or worse, pretty much everything that we’re going to do subsequent to the debt limit discussion depends on how all that plays out.”

    Fresh in Senate GOP leaders’ minds: The 2011 sequestration fight, which resulted in steep spending cuts to farm safety net programs popular among Republicans. One Senate GOP aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal discussions, warned that any “across-the-board cuts [included in legislation to raise the debt limit], may effectively reduce the investments we are able to make in the farm safety net, trade, research, and other priorities.” The person added that “debt ceiling negotiators need to use a scalpel, not an ax.”

    Thune and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the No. 4 Republican in the upper chamber, are now among the handful of GOP leaders navigating the debt talks with the White House and the upcoming budget negotiations while trying to protect key farm bill funding. Ernst acknowledged the three legislative efforts are becoming increasingly entangled. As a result, the farm bill timeline could slip.

    “We anticipate it’s going to take a while to get the farm bill done. Sooner is better than later, but it could take a little bit longer,” Ernst said.

    GOP senators are largely supportive of their House colleagues’ demand for cuts to nutrition spending, which ballooned during the pandemic. But they’re less enthusiastic about the idea of slashing key farm safety net programs they’ve long tried to protect.

    Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that he expects Senate Republican leaders will likely need to step in to protect certain pots of farm bill funding from House GOP cuts given “the importance of agriculture to our entire economy.”

    While Senate GOP leaders haven’t drawn any redlines, Thune has noted the importance of the farm bill to the rural voters his party relies on. “I think the [House Republican] leadership … understands even though on their right they’ve been getting a lot of pressure to cut, cut, cut in different areas, there are also a lot of members from agricultural states who need a farm bill,” said Thune. That includes his own state, South Dakota, where agriculture is the largest industry.

    And, he pointed out, “If you look at our map in 2024, we got a lot of rural state Republicans who are up.”

    Up to this point, McConnell and Senate Republicans have deferred to House Republicans in the debt limit negotiations with the White House, even as the U.S. inches closer to the June 1 date when the nation could hit its debt limit, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. But McConnell will be attending a White House meeting Tuesday with Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which members of both parties are hoping could help begin to break the logjam.

    Democrats, meanwhile, are warning that House Republicans’ proposals to slash spending as part of the debt limit deal threaten the viability of the traditionally bipartisan farm bill on Capitol Hill. Democrats are particularly incensed by the GOP push to expand work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the nation’s leading anti-hunger program for low-income Americans, which accounts for approximately 80 percent of farm bill funding.

    Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who is also a member of Democratic Senate leadership, has warned the proposed spending cuts in the House GOP debt legislation would also hit key parts of the farm bill — including critical risk management programs for crop farmers that are still being impacted by the 2011 spending cuts.

    “If the Republicans want to tank a farm bill that’s up to them,” Stabenow said in an interview. “This is the most important rural economic development and farmer safety net in our country.”

    [ad_2]
    #Senate #GOP #leaders #watch #debt #limit #collide #coveted #farm #bill
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Rand Paul riles his GOP colleagues again — this time over TikTok

    Rand Paul riles his GOP colleagues again — this time over TikTok

    [ad_1]

    As the outspoken Kentuckian sees it, Republicans could “continuously lose elections for a generation” if they alienate young people by trying to ban an app that claims it has 150 million users in the U.S. Paul added in an interview that his GOP colleagues may not have “thought that through,” connecting it to what he described as his bigger worries about the constitutional and other legal ramifications of government-mandated TikTok limits.

    “We are in a political world,” Paul said. “We shouldn’t be completely oblivious to the fact that a lot of young people are on there and it is, frankly, their freedom of speech.”

    While Paul is only one voice in Congress’ broader debate over banning TikTok, some fellow Republicans see merit in his political concerns, on top of the legal questions that legislative restrictions might raise. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) favors the proposal with the biggest momentum in the Senate right now, a plan from Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) to give the executive branch new powers to ban technologies from places like China that could eventually apply to TikTok.

    But Cramer acknowledged that “Rand’s probably right that we get blamed” by young voters if apps ultimately get restricted or banned.

    “This is why you have to go out and make a case, too,” he said. “There are political ramifications for sure, but there are also serious, I believe, national security ramifications and cultural ramifications to [doing] nothing.”

    Republican backers of a TikTok ban openly scoff at Paul’s case. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who got into a heated floor debate with Paul in March after the Kentuckian blocked his bill to swiftly ban TikTok, shot back that Paul’s argument about turning off young voters was “ridiculous” and “so silly I don’t think it’s worth responding to.”

    “Listen, if we can’t win younger voters because we’re not on TikTok, we got serious problems in this party,” Hawley said.

    Recent polling suggests that young people take a nuanced view of TikTok, controlled by Chinese company ByteDance. A narrow majority of 51 percent of Gen-Z and millennial voters in a March NPR-PBS Newshour-Marist poll opposed a federal ban, while 48 percent supported it.

    That’s a much narrower divide than among the general public where the poll found just 36 percent of people opposed a ban, compared to the 57 percent who supported one.

    “I’ve got my own focus group of teenagers at home,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who recently introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at limiting young people’s social media use. “A lot of teenagers know that their addiction to screens is not healthy. I think there are actually a lot of teenagers out there looking for help.”

    Lawmakers have taken tentative steps toward curbing the app’s influence as they continue to debate the feasibility and legality of a ban. TikTok was blocked from federal devices as part of a government funding bill last year, and the Biden administration has pushed the app’s owners to sell it to American owners or face an outright blockade.

    Over in the House, the Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill in March along party lines that would effectively ban the social media app. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has voiced support for a ban on the app, while Hakeem Jeffries has backed efforts to find consensus on “appropriate measures” to address “real national security concerns” with TikTok.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also suggested last week that the bipartisan Warner-Thune legislation would be considered for inclusion as part of new China competitiveness legislation he’s pursuing.

    Still, Republicans aren’t alone in their anxiety and uncertainty about how restrictions or a ban would play politically. Some Democrats have also expressed fears of a youth backlash if Congress tried to ax the app.

    Most Republicans, importantly, said they were unsure if Paul was right about a ban’s effect on young voters but that any political pain would be worth it to combat what they call the clear national security threat of ByteDance’s ties to China.

    “The consideration ought to be: Does this represent a risk to national security?” Thune, the chamber’s second senior-most Republican, said in an interview. “The political implications of it, to me, shouldn’t be the primary consideration.”

    For Warner’s GOP counterpart on the Senate intelligence committee, it’s not a close call.

    “What’s more important: Our national security and the threat that [TikTok] poses to our national security, especially in the long term and the ability to manipulate society?” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who’s introduced bipartisan legislation to ban the app. “You have to weigh that against what you might think the electoral consequences are.”

    So despite their awareness that Paul may be correctly predicting their future if they try to ban TikTok, senior Republicans see a greater risk in TikTok’s potential harm to young children and all users whose personal data might be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party via the app’s parent company.

    “Believe it or not, sometimes in politics, you have to try to do the right thing,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said. “Regardless of the political price that you pay.”

    [ad_2]
    #Rand #Paul #riles #GOP #colleagues #time #TikTok
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Senate Democrats will excoriate the House GOP debt bill during a Budget Committee hearing on Thursday morning. 

    Senate Democrats will excoriate the House GOP debt bill during a Budget Committee hearing on Thursday morning. 

    [ad_1]

    20230309 senate dems 5 francis 4
    The Senate Budget Committee will meet Thursday morning to hear from several witnesses on Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s opening debt limit bid.

    [ad_2]
    #Senate #Democrats #excoriate #House #GOP #debt #bill #Budget #Committee #hearing #Thursday #morning
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Top Senate GOP recruit privately casts doubt on power of Trump endorsement

    Top Senate GOP recruit privately casts doubt on power of Trump endorsement

    [ad_1]

    “There is another 20 percent that care about who he endorses but that’s not going to be the decision maker. And then there’s probably another 60 percent of the party that doesn’t care who he endorses,” said LaRose, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by POLITICO.

    LaRose said he suspects that, should he enter the race, he would earn Trump’s support. But he didn’t think that “begging for it” would prove useful.

    “There’s also this game some play where they hire a bunch of former Trump people and then they think, ‘Oh, if I hire this person, I’ll get their endorsement.’ The president is generally smarter than that, he’s not going to fall for that,” LaRose said at a Cuyahoga Valley Republicans event in late April. “He’s going to endorse the candidate who has the best chance of beating Sherrod Brown.”

    LaRose is considering entering the Republican primary to take on Brown in the 2024 Senate election in Ohio. Brown is seeking his fourth term but is widely seen as one of the more vulnerable Democrats up this cycle. Moderate Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno for the GOP’s have already announced they are seeking the nomination.

    Trump hasn’t endorsed in the contest. But he did publicly encourage Moreno, whose daughter is married to former Trump White House official and freshman Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), to get in the race.

    The recording offers rare insight into how top Republicans running for office privately think about Trump and that sway he has in the party. It also provides a window into how political courtship can work. In his private remarks, LaRose said he believed Miller, who he called a personal friend, is trying to help his father-in-law win Trump’s support.

    “Max has been making trips down to Mar-a-lago saying hey Mr. Trump, President Trump, can you endorse my father in law? Notice that [Trump] didn’t endorse him but he said nice things about him,” LaRose said in the recording.

    “Knowing how this goes,” he continued, “I can even picture it in my mind they’re sitting in the president’s office in Mar-a-Lago and he says, ‘You know, I’m not ready to endorse yet, you got a lot more time, you don’t have strong name ID, you haven’t any raised money yet, I’ll just say some nice things about your father in law on Twitter or Truth Social or whatever and then let’s talk about an endorsement six months from now.’”

    LaRose declined to comment. A person close to LaRose, who was granted anonymity to speak about the secretary’s comments, said he “simply said what we already know.”

    “Endorsements are great, but you won’t unseat a 48-year incumbent politician with a list of endorsements. We need a candidate who can win, and we need to wage a contest of ideas and vision that not only unites the entire Republican party but also a majority of Ohioans. If he runs, that’s what he’ll offer,” the person said.

    A person close to Moreno, who was also granted anonymity, disputed LaRose’s characterization of Miller lobbying Trump and noted that Moreno has built his own relationship with Trump.

    Few, if any, GOP candidates would openly downplay the significance of Trump’s endorsement. At the GOP event, he said that the 2022 midterms proved that the Trump endorsement doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did.

    “Here’s an example, there is a new U.S. senator from Alabama — we can agree it’s a pretty conservative state. She won the primary in ‘22 and didn’t have the Trump endorsement. She was the better candidate,” LaRose said. “The guy Trump endorsed came out to be a dud of a candidate and so Katie Britt won the primary and got elected as U.S. senator from Alabama. So it’s entirely possible even back in ‘22 that the best candidate regardless of the endorsement is the one that wins.” Trump eventually endorsed Britt before her Senate primary runoff.

    LaRose himself was endorsed by Trump in his 2022 race for Ohio secretary of state. It was notable then, because in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill and attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results, LaRose criticized lawmakers who shared conspiracy theories about voting and said it was “irresponsible to fearmonger about elections administration.”

    “And certainly, if you have the largest megaphone in the world, you should think very carefully before you say something that would cause people to lose faith in elections,” he went on to say.

    LaRose, for his part, has not endorsed Trump’s current presidential campaign. Neither he nor Dolan have said whom they would support. So far, Moreno is the only candidate who has endorsed Trump.

    Trump has conveyed to aides he is less concerned with putting his stamp of approval on other candidates when he is running for president himself. He has been working the phones and meeting with state leaders in an effort to earn endorsements of his own.

    [ad_2]
    #Top #Senate #GOP #recruit #privately #casts #doubt #power #Trump #endorsement
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Senate Dems plan hearings to pick apart GOP debt deal

    Senate Dems plan hearings to pick apart GOP debt deal

    [ad_1]

    chuck schumer 45513

    The Senate Budget Committee hearing on Thursday will feature Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics and leaders of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

    Republicans and Democrats remain at loggerheads over debt ceiling negotiations, just as entrenched as they were before the House passed its GOP debt ceiling and spending cuts package. House Republicans were certain that their starting bid to rollback federal spending in exchange for lifting the debt limit would force President Joe Biden to the negotiating table. But last week’s action on the House GOP package has yet to move the needle much.

    Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that Republicans are “demanding hostage negotiations” while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told “This Week” that Biden is “running out the clock” on the debt limit.

    Now the House is out of town, leaving the Senate to weigh in on the GOP proposal and how Biden should handle it. And Treasury Department officials are expected to update the public soon on the “X date,” before which Congress will need to pass a debt limit lift to avoid default, in the coming days. That will ramp up the pressure, but it’s not yet clear what will get leaders to budge.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said last week that Biden not getting in a room with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to negotiate on the debt limit “signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change.” The West Virginia Democrat said “we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis” and called on Biden to “negotiate now.”

    Most other Democrats aren’t going that far. They are talking about talks, but have so far drawn a distinction between talks on spending and negotiations on the debt limit.

    “[Biden] will sit down with Speaker McCarthy to talk about these issues in the framework of the budget and the appropriations process,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told “Fox News Sunday.” But not the president should not negotiate over the debt limit, Van Hollen said.

    And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Sunday that Biden can “start negotiating tomorrow” on possible spending cuts but stressed that those talks can only move forward if Republicans commit to raising the debt limit.

    “I’m willing to look at any other proposals. There’s a lot of waste within government. Let’s go after it. But don’t go to war against the working class of this country, lower-income people,” Sanders said.

    Republicans maintain that what they view as government overspending and the nation’s growing debt are inextricably linked and that conversations about each cannot be separated.

    “As we’re addressing the debt limit, we also have to address the problem that got us here,” Scalise said on “This Week.”

    The House majority leader also challenged Senate Democrats to put forth their own legislation.

    “If they’ve got a better idea, I want to see that bill and tell them to pass it through the Senate,” Scalise said.

    [ad_2]
    #Senate #Dems #plan #hearings #pick #GOP #debt #deal
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Days after House GOP bill is approved, debt ceiling deadlock continues

    Days after House GOP bill is approved, debt ceiling deadlock continues

    [ad_1]

    congress senate 38154

    House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark called on Republicans to “be the grown-ups in the room,” in addressing the debt ceiling.

    “The American people are looking at us and saying, this shouldn’t be a partisan drama playing out that we are going to foot the bill for,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “Avoid a default crisis that is manufactured by the GOP. And then we can go and talk about investments.”

    But Republicans are continuing to blame President Joe Biden, who has called on Congress to pass a clean debt limit increase, saying he will not negotiate with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the issue, citing historical precedent.

    “Happy to meet with McCarthy,” Biden said at the end of a brief press conference at the White House on Wednesday. “But not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s not negotiable.”

    House Majority Leader Steve Scalise called on Biden to come to the table Sunday.

    “The White House ultimately needs to get into this negotiation. The president has been in hiding for two months, Martha,” Scalise told host Martha Raddatz during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s not acceptable to Americans. They expect the president to sit in a room with Speaker McCarthy and start negotiating.”

    Biden, Scalise said, is “trying to run out the clock and create a debt crisis.”

    “We passed a bill to address the problem. It’s time now for the president to get in this game, get off the sidelines and let’s start negotiating and figuring this out. Not in June when we get to the midnight hour, but today.”

    Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Biden is willing to negotiate with McCarthy — just not over the debt limit.

    “What he said is that he’s not going to negotiate with people who are threatening to literally blow up our economy, right, put more people out of work, drive up costs, in order to get their way,” Van Hollen said on “Fox News Sunday.”

    “He will sit down with Speaker McCarthy to talk about these issues in the framework of the budget and the appropriations process,” Van Hollen added.

    If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling the U.S. government could default on its debt in coming months, according to financial analysts, an event that could plunge the country into economic crisis, as well as harm the nation’s credibility internationally.

    But Biden knows “that we can’t default,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

    One option he sees as a way forward: a sit-down between Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

    “He’s saying we can discuss that, we can negotiate but first pay your bills. And I think that — I think Senator McConnell understands this, and I think the President will sit down with Senator McConnell,” Khanna said.

    [ad_2]
    #Days #House #GOP #bill #approved #debt #ceiling #deadlock #continues
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • House majority whip rejects idea that GOP debt bill is doomed

    House majority whip rejects idea that GOP debt bill is doomed

    [ad_1]

    congress transgender athletes 97472

    The measure, which passed the House by a vote of 217-215, is widely perceived as having no chance of passing the Senate, where Democrats have a slim majority.

    Emmer didn’t explain why he thought Senate Democrats other than Manchin might come to embrace the legislation.

    If no agreement is reached, the nation would bump up against its debt ceiling, which is now projected to happen in July, and default on its debts. President Joe Biden has said he is willing to negotiate over the nation’s budget, but wants the debt limit raised independently of those talks, without any conditions, as occurred during the Trump administration. Most Capitol Hill Democrats have said the same thing.

    Emmer said no negotiations are needed: The Senate could simply approve the House GOP bill and Biden could sign it.

    “Our recommendation is: We passed it through the House; take it up in the Senate and pass it,” Emmer said.

    As he tried to redirect the narrative on the legislation, Emmer also rejected the idea that the bill was built on spending cuts, referring instead to “spending reforms.”

    “I take a little issue, Dana, with the cuts language that the media likes to use all the time,” the Minnesota Republican told host Dana Bash. “This is a transformational bill. It would limit spending.”

    Speaking later on the same CNN program, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he didn’t see much hope that the debt crisis would be resolved quickly or easily.

    “I’m really concerned about the debt limit when we approach it,” Kinzinger said.

    [ad_2]
    #House #majority #whip #rejects #idea #GOP #debt #bill #doomed
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Democratic mayor becomes unlikely GOP ally in battle over Southern border

    Democratic mayor becomes unlikely GOP ally in battle over Southern border

    [ad_1]

    “This administration has been asleep at the wheel on border security, and it has had a tremendous, negative impact on New York City,” Lawler said in a statement to POLITICO. “I would be more than happy to work in a bipartisan way with the mayor to force President Biden to secure our borders and reform the immigration system.”

    Since spring 2022, more than 57,000 migrants — largely from Latin America — arrived in New York after crossing the southern border. Some were sent from conservative states like Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott chartered as many as eight buses a day to carry migrants to Manhattan. Others arrived on their own.

    The influx has strained the resources of one of the biggest cities in the world.

    Services tied to housing, feeding, educating and providing health care to the newcomers are projected to cost $2.9 billion next year alone, an amount that exceeds the New York City Fire Department’s entire operating budget. So far, Adams has mostly failed to get the White House to respond to his pleas for additional funds, easing of work requirements and better coordination at the border to resettle asylum seekers around the U.S.

    Adams’ new rhetoric, which drew praise from the conservative editorial page of the New York Post and mirrored remarks by Fox News contributor Sean Duffy, was even more eyebrow-raising given the moderate Democrat is a national surrogate for Biden.

    The mayor’s comments came just days before the president announced his reelection bid and at a time when Republicans are gearing up to use voter discontent around immigration in their fight for the White House, the Senate and a larger majority in the House.

    This is the second time in less than a year that Adams’ message on a highly contentious political issue has overlapped with Republican talking points. In 2022, he joined GOP calls for reforms to New York’s bail laws and only changed his tune as the midterms neared and it became clear his party would take a beating over crime at the ballot box.

    Though Adams’ words on immigration could now hurt fellow Democrats running for national office, particularly in New York’s swing congressional districts where Lawler is facing a competitive race, Adams may be thinking more about protecting his own reelection bid in 2025.

    One mayoral adviser, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s internal mood, noted most New Yorkers would rather see investments in schools, libraries and other city services than billions more spent to help the newcomers. Indeed, a February poll by Quinnipiac University found that 63 percent of voters — including 53 percent of Democrats — don’t think New York City can accommodate the sanctuary-seekers.

    Spokespeople for Adams strongly rejected criticism that he’s parroting Republican talking points, saying he’s done more to care for tens of thousands of migrants than any other Democrat in the country.

    “To personally show his support for asylum seekers, Mayor Adams has organized haircuts for migrants, book donations for kids, and clothing drives, as well as slept besides migrants at a humanitarian relief center while spending hours hearing their personal stories,” mayoral press secretary Fabien Levy said in a statement.

    “Anyone falsely accusing Mayor Adams of using Republican rhetoric should stop criticizing the one person doing more than anyone else in this city for migrants and start pushing for more aid from Washington, DC and Albany,” Levy said.

    But his language around the issue — saying the migrant crisis has “destroyed” the city, directly blaming Biden for the situation and saying it has prevented New York’s economic comeback — is still jarring to many members of his party.

    “It’s extremely disappointing and dangerous to hear anyone feed into anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly the highest-ranking elected city official of one of the most diverse cities that is fueled by the contributions of the immigrant community,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez, a first-term Democrat from Illinois who says her progressive stance is key to stemming GOP gains in the Latino community.

    “At the federal level, we need to utilize executive authority to ensure cities like Chicago and New York have the support they need to continue providing shelter with maximal flexibility,” she said.

    Added Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a leading critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ immigration policies: “We should tone down the rhetoric and focus on solutions.”

    Both Republican and Democratic strategists say Adams’ decision to amplify the right’s messaging around immigration could be a gift to the GOP.

    “I think echoing Republican attacks when Biden is going to need every single resource from Democrats to back him up is not what good Democrats do,” said Bill Neidhardt, a progressive political consultant.

    Republican strategist Bob Heckman said it’s surprising that other Democratic mayors of places like Chicago, D.C. and Denver, which have also faced an influx of migrants, aren’t speaking out like Adams.

    “If you are the mayor of a city who’s receiving the huge influx of migrants that are pouring across the southern border, it’s hard not to talk like that,” Heckman said. “The administration needs to get serious about it. They can’t just ignore it and run on, ‘We can’t let Donald Trump get reelected.’”

    A spokesperson for Biden declined to respond directly to Adams’ criticism but pointed to the president’s announcement in January about new border enforcement actions when he said “extreme Republicans” have always tried to use immigration to score political points but don’t help solve the problem.

    One of those so-called extreme Republicans, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas who has advocated for conservative immigration measures, wasn’t quite ready to embrace the New York mayor.

    “Eric Adams is right to blame the Biden Administration for the border crisis, but this is the same guy who campaigned on his city’s sanctuary status and extended childcare, colleague classes and other taxpayer-funded programs to illegal migrants,” Roy said in a statement.

    “Texas has been bearing the brunt of this crisis for over two years — now New York is getting a taste of their own medicine.”

    [ad_2]
    #Democratic #mayor #GOP #ally #battle #Southern #border
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )