Tag: GOP

GOP national sales tax talk backfires, as Dems see political gold

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Various forms of the legislation, dubbed the “FairTax Act,” have been around for decades and attracted little serious attention from Republican leaders. But a spokesperson for Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, one of the 21 GOP holdouts who initially blocked McCarthy’s speakership bid and is a co-sponsor of the legislation, said McCarthy promised that the legislation would go through the committee process.
Forcing the discussion of the unpopular tax puts the GOP in a political bind that seems doomed to repeat itself for the House’s slim majority. McCarthy must walk a tightrope between appeasing the renegade factions of his caucus and disassociating the party from policy proposals that could hurt Republicans at the ballot box.
The newly anointed chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), said he’s committed to having a committee hearing on the legislation in which members can have an open and transparent debate.
Supporters of the legislation argue that it would create a fairer, more transparent tax system. It would eliminate federal income, payroll and estate taxes and replace them with a 23 percent — or depending on the way you calculate it, 30 percent — national sales tax.
But many Republican members of Ways and Means are so far treating the legislation like it’s radioactive.
“I have no opinion yet,” said Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) when asked about the bill.
“Let me withhold that for now,” said Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, who is one of the 10 new GOP members to join the committee this Congress.
Others were more blunt.

“There’s never going to be a vote for it,” said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), a policy wonk on the committee who proceeded to give his view of how FairTax is technically flawed. Schweikert said a more effective version of the idea would involve taxing goods at each point that value is added to them in the supply chain, rather than all at once at the point of sale.
Sensing the political peril of the legislation, longtime tax critics from The Wall Street Journal editorial board to Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform have launched their own offensive against the legislation.
“The Fair Tax isn’t happening and won’t survive regular order, despite assertions from Democrats like Chuck Schumer and President Biden,” ATR said in an email blast. “In fact, House co-sponsorship of the Fair Tax Act is at a 20-year low. Support has been dwindling for the past decade, dropping by two-thirds since 2013.”
But the chief sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), issued his own broadside disputing what he called the “myths” surrounding the bill.
Taking on one of the biggest criticisms — that a national sales tax would hit lower-income folks as well as retirees particularly hard, while the rich would benefit disproportionately — Carter’s release said: “The FairTax is the only progressive tax reform bill currently pending before Congress.”
“Each household will receive a monthly prebate based on federal poverty levels and household size that will allow families to purchase necessary goods, such as food, shelter, and medicine, essentially tax-free. This is similar to our current individual exemption and refundable tax credit system.”
Democrats aren’t wasting time debating the fine points.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a Wednesday press conference, depicted the legislation as part of an extreme Republican agenda that would also target Social Security and other entitlement benefits.
“I believe it would cause the next Great Depression if we would impose it. Thank God there are firewalls in Leader Jeffries and Democrats in the House.” Schumer said of the national sales tax, contending that data shows the tax would raise the cost of a household by $125,000, the cost of a car by $10,000 and the average grocery bill by $3,500 a year.
A hearing on the FairTax bill wouldn’t be unprecedented. The Ways and Means Committee held one in 2011 when former Republican Rep. Dave Camp chaired the panel. It mostly faded from sight after that.
Camp, who is now at PwC, cited some pressing questions he thinks the legislation raises.
“Will it fill the revenue? Is it regressive? And what happens to state income tax?” he said in an interview this week.
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#GOP #national #sales #tax #talk #backfires #Dems #political #gold
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 29, 2023
Trump hits the trail again, eager to show he’s still the GOP King Kong

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For months Trump has been tucked away at his resort in Palm Beach, where he has hosted parties, sent out missives on his social media site Truth Social, played golf, and plotted out his next steps.
When he re-emerged on Saturday, flying to New Hampshire on his rehabbed Trump-branded 757 plane, he was determined to showcase himself as a candidate who still has the star power that catapulted him to the White House in 2016, and could once again elbow out a full field of Republican challengers.
“They said ‘he’s not doing rallies, he is not campaigning. Maybe he’s lost his step,’” Trump said at a meeting of the New Hampshire Republican Party. “I’m more angry now, and I’m more committed now than I ever was.”
Unlike 2020, when he ran unopposed as president, Trump is expected to have a field of Republican challengers to deal with this time around, beyond Haley. In anticipation of a crowded field, Trump’s campaign has compiled research on different potential candidates, according to an adviser. But Trump himself brushed off concerns that he is in danger of not securing the nomination. “I don’t think we have competition this time either, to be honest,” he said.
At the New Hampshire GOP meeting, Trump announced outgoing New Hampshire GOP Chair Stephen Stepanek would help oversee his campaign in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
And later in the day, at an appearance at the South Carolina statehouse, Trump is expected to announce endorsements from close ally and occasional golf buddy Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster — a notable display of political muscle in Haley’s home state.
But Republican activists in New Hampshire are plainly divided. As Stepanek rejoins the Trump campaign, outgoing Vice Chair Pamela Tucker was recruiting volunteers for Ron to the Rescue, a super PAC formed after the midterms to boost Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if he runs for president.
“We’re not never-Trumpers. We’re people who supported Trump. We love Trump. But we also know, more importantly, that we need to win. And Ron DeSantis has proven it time and time again now he can win elections,” Tucker said in an interview.

Matt Mayberry, a former congressional candidate and past New Hampshire GOP vice chair who supported Trump and has appeared at rallies with him in the state, said he isn’t taking sides yet in the still-forming primary.
“Let them all come,” he said.
Walter Stapleton, a GOP state representative from Claremont, sat toward the back of the auditorium wearing a Trump hat. But he said he, too, was undecided as to whom he’s backing in 2024.
“We have to put a candidate there that can win and maybe draw some of the independents and some of the voters from the other side of the aisle. I think DeSantis is the runner for that,” Stapleton said. “But I’m always willing to see if Trump will change his tack … and come across more balanced and more reasonable.”
During his speech in New Hampshire, Trump doled out red meat to a friendly crowd. The crowd roared with applause when he said that, if elected, he would “eliminate federal funding for any school that pushes critical race theory or left-wing gender ideology,” and support “direct election of school principals by the parents.”
His speech in New Hampshire echoed policy prescriptions he has released over the past several weeks in the form of video addresses, on issues such as education and protecting Social Security and Medicare. His team has seen those pronouncements as a way to maneuver back onto the political stage without having to organize the signature rallies that defined Trump’s prior bids.
Saturday, however, was about preparing for life back on the trail. The day comes as Trump has dipped in recent polling from New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Despite those surveys, Trump — the only declared candidate — consistently leads in national polls against a field of potential challengers, including DeSantis, his former vice president Mike Pence, and former members of his cabinet, including Mike Pompeo and Haley.
Trump was joined Saturday by some familiar faces from his White House days, including social media guru Dan Scavino, political director Brian Jack, and Jason Miller, as well as his campaign’s new top lieutenants, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. The campaign has grown in recent months with a series of new hires and the establishment of a campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, not far from Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago.
Along with staff from the Trump-allied Save America PAC, there are around 40 people working on Trump’s campaign, according to multiple advisers.
There is a push for the campaign to be scrappier than it was in 2020, when a massive operation worked out of a slick office building in Arlington, Virginia. And that ethos, according to an adviser, extends to how Trump will approach fundraising with a focus on small-dollar donations over big donor events.
The Trump campaign will still be working with longtime adviser Brad Parscale’s Nucleus to send out emails, and fellow GOP operative Gary Coby continues to handle digital communications for the campaign, such as text messaging. But the campaign is also working with an entirely new vendor in 2020 — Campaign Inbox — to help with digital fundraising.
Both Trump and his team seemed eager on Saturday to get back to the hustle and bustle of his time in the White House, and there were signals he has kept his same habits. Following Trump on the plane on Saturday were his assistants — Natalie Harp, the young OAN-anchor turned aide, and Walt Nauta, who carried a giant stack of newspapers on board for Trump to read through on the flight. Margo Martin, a former White House press aide who has worked for Trump in Florida since his 2020 loss, watched from the tarmac as Trump boarded the plane with a wave.
“We need a President who is ready to hit the ground running on day one, and boy am I hitting the ground running,” Trump said later in the day.
Lisa Kashinsky contributed reporting from New Hampshire.
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#Trump #hits #trail #eager #show #hes #GOP #King #Kong
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 29, 2023
House GOP passes bill to curb Biden’s use of oil reserve

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The bill would prohibit non-emergency releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve unless the government approves a corresponding increase in domestic oil and gas production on federal lands.
The extensive floor time spent on the SPR bill — the second such measure passed by the House this month — showcased the GOP plans to target Biden’s broader efforts to wean the economy off the fossil fuels that drive climate change, which Republicans say is leaving the country vulnerable to supply shortages.
Republicans’ decision to open up the vote to free-wheeling debate through a “modified open rule” prompted Democrats to submit dozens of amendments aiming to curtail a GOP drilling push.
The House passed legislation two weeks ago that would ban sales from the reserve to China. Lawmakers adopted an amendment Thursday as part of H.R. 21 that would extend the ban to Russia, Iran and North Korea. Both of those efforts drew significant Democratic support.
Republicans cast the new bill in national security terms, accusing Biden of recklessly making politically timed releases ahead of the midterm election. They contend he has depleted the emergency reserve, which was created in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo.
“If there’s a hurricane that hits the Gulf [and] disrupts the oil markets, you’ve got oil there to make sure you can continue to flow oil to your refineries to keep the supply going. It’s not there to mask bad policies,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise
(R-La.) said on the House floor Thursday during debate on the bill.
Biden has proposed a plan for replenishing the stockpile after ordering the biggest crude oil releases by far in the history of the reserve — it has fallen by 266 million barrels from 638 million barrels since he took office. Its current level of 372 million barrels is its lowest level since 1983.
But he’s far from the first president to draw down supply — Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all released barrels from the reserve. And Congress in recent years turned to the reserve as a way to pay for unrelated priorities, with lawmakers of both parties approving sales to pay for needs such as funding the government.

Democrats said the GOP’s latest proposal would hamstring presidents from using the reserve in the event of an emergency that could drive up gas prices during a future oil shortage, arguing Biden appropriately and effectively used the SPR to tame high prices that worsened after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Treasury Department has estimated that the Biden administration’s releases reduced gasoline prices by up to 40 cents per gallon.
“We know as prices went up, we should use every tool in our arsenal to bring them down,” Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a floor speech Friday. “That’s what President Biden did. He decided to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide more supply and bring down prices and it succeeded in doing that. Why would the Republicans want to deny the president, not just President Biden, but any president that opportunity?”
The GOP bill, though, would provide an exception “in the case of a severe energy supply interruption,” caused by hurricanes or other natural disasters, which Republicans argued are the scenarios that should prompt SPR withdrawals.
House Republicans are next expected to devote time to moving their broader energy agenda centered on easing permitting rules to expand energy production and mining of critical minerals.
“This is a direct approach on a specific issue with the SPR,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said in an interview. “Americans probably have heard more about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this week than they ever knew or cared to know. But we are going to be looking at much broader energy bills where we will not just focus on onshore and offshore oil and gas production, but also the other component that goes with renewable energy and with electrification and decarbonization and that’s mining.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023
‘I have no enemies, at least’: Where Santos really stands in the House GOP

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“To my knowledge, hardly any of the New York members speak with him,” said first-term Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), the first GOP member to call for Santos to resign. “There’s really nothing to speak about. He’s a totally untrustworthy individual who has broken the public’s trust … He’s become an embarrassment. He’s become a joke.”
Santos himself demurred when POLITICO asked about his standing in the conference: “I’m not gonna say they’re all my friends … I have no enemies at least,” he said, adding he has “confidantes” but noting it is “too soon” in his term for “special relationships.” He quipped that he’s in more of a “relationship” with the political press.
His status as a man on an island could prove politically risky, particularly if the consequences of his apparent fabrications continue to pile up and prompt more resignation calls. For the moment, Santos’ biggest ally may be the speaker who needs his vote in a slim majority, even though Kevin McCarthy’s famous freshman has done little but cause PR problems.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) agreed, when asked, that most House Republicans are keeping their distance from Santos.
“A number one thing in this town is, people don’t like being criticized for what they do. They really don’t like answering questions about what somebody else has done,” Armstrong said. “If nothing but out of political expedience, people are gonna avoid him.”
Santos tends to flash a smile as he bounces around the Capitol halls, often encircled by an aggressive barrage of news cameras and persistent press questions. This week he took the practice of catering to the spotlight rather literally,laying out Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ Donuts for the reporters waiting outside his office.
Few of his colleagues expect that glare to dim quickly. Asked whether Santos’ seat on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee would cast a brighter light on a typically wonky panel, Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) laughed and replied: “The Science Committee in recent times has a reputation for being a rather calm, focused, some people almost would say sedate existence. We’re gonna get livened up.”
Lucas projected little concern about Santos becoming a distraction to his committee, observing that “every member has strengths, every member has weaknesses” and adding that he would have to “figure out, in this particular case, what those are, and work with it.”

But other Republicans are less copacetic about the Santos Show that’s taking shape this Congress. Those who saw his ascension as a blatant manipulation of the party apparatus, from the National Republican Congressional Committee to the staffers on his campaign payroll, are particularly alarmed that he’s managing to hang on despite lacking major allies.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a former NRCC chair, said that “I don’t know what he told” the campaign arm, but “if he deceived them, he deceived our conference. … You always have to be sensitive to who are going to be your candidates.”
Two Republicans close to Santos’ team say they, too, were completely in the dark about his fabrications, recalling that he often mentioned stories unprompted that later proved inaccurate, such as his claims to have played volleyball for Baruch College.
“This was not an inside job. We were all duped here,” said one of the Republicans close to Santos’ team, before referring to a famed con woman who inspired a Netflix TV series: “We got Anna Delvey’d.”
Santos’ campaign had assembled its own opposition file to review the candidate’s vulnerabilities, according to these two Republicans, both of whom were briefed on its contents. They said the file included parking tickets, details about his ex-wife and questions about his education — but that Santos was quick to explain away the questions about his schooling, attributing them at times to recording errors based on multiple names he had used and to his frequent moves.
At one frenetic point in the campaign, according to the two Republicans, Santos declared to a room of aides that he needed a moment to collect himself because he had just learned that his cancer had returned — he’s asserted a brain tumor occasionally in the past but avoided follow-up questions about it. His team immediately pulled back their demand to express support, underscoring what both Republicans close to his team referred to as a genuinely high level of kindness between the candidate and his staff.
But the issue of his cancer faded from the conversation on the trail almost as quickly as it materialized.
One of the Republicans close to his team said that some donors have urged Santos to stay in office amid the GOP’s thin margins and the reality that his district would be tough for another Republican to win.
Santos’ office did not respond to a request for comment about his health claims or questions about the internal opposition file.
Weeks before the first reports brought Santos’ misrepresentations to light, the House GOP was already catching on to his future pariah status. After then-Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) finished giving GOP members-elect a Capitol tour in November, Davis remarked in an interview that Santos would trigger the next Congress’ first special election.
Now that Santos is a full-fledged House GOP conference member, fellow Republican lawmakers are tied to his falsehoods as they push for accountability and transparency in their pending oversight of the Biden administration. And they’re not certain whether he has any path to redemption inside the party.
“I don’t know the answer to that question,” one House Republican said, speaking candidly about Santos’ standing on condition of anonymity. “I think it’s just going to depend on what [the] Ethics [committee] and [the Justice Department] find.”
Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), themselves at odds during McCarthy’s speakership battle, have stuck up for Santos in public by arguing that he should receive committee assignments. The Floridian, who got a taste of ostracism during a federal sex trafficking probe that ensnared him before he was cleared last year, told CNN earlier this month that Santos shouldn’t be “subject to shunning” by his colleagues.
Asked why he would defend Santos, Gaetz spoke on principle, saying that his colleague “represents 700,000-plus people … if they voted for him and sent him here, they don’t deserve to have their representative ignored on substance.”
That doesn’t quite mean Santos is considered a friend. When that question came up, Gaetz cheekily replied: “We take all sinners on my row.”
Santos, for his part, brushed off the calls for him to resign, arguing that “everybody’s entitled to their opinion and to their prerogative, but at the end of the day, we’re all working here in this body.” But even if he can finish his term, his time in office may be limited to two years: He’d face an incredibly steep climb to reelection, with the Nassau County GOP and New York Conservative Party already pushing for his departure.
So for the time being, Washington might find him next seeking relationships across the aisle. Santos also said in an interview that he “can’t wait to start talking to Democrats.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023
Dems mobilize to defend Omar in face of GOP defections

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“She will be the first to tell you that we both disagree on a lot of things. I love Israel, and I will defend it wholeheartedly. She’s deeply troubled by the Israeli government. But that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be a voice on the Foreign Affairs Committee, even if it is painful for me,” said Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips — a Jewish Democrat who in the past spoke out against some of her remarks, for which she later apologized.
Asked about whether his Democratic colleagues would come to the same conclusion: “I think some are struggling, but I ultimately believe yes.”
Taking Omar off panels only requires a simple majority vote, but even that could prove difficult for a House GOP with a historically slim margin — and a second public defector emerging Tuesday, as Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) joined Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) in declaring that she wouldn’t vote for yanking Omar.
Democrats are privately lobbying other Republican members of the Foreign Affairs panel to oppose Omar’s removal. Centrist Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Omar’s expected counterpart on a Foreign Affairs subpanel, are seen as top prospects, according to several Democrats familiar with the situation. Smith declined to comment, citing his focus on a health issue.
Another panel member, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), was still undecided, he told POLITICO. And Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) was also undecided, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
If just two more Republicans promise to vote against booting Omar, it will mark a humiliating defeat for GOP leaders on a priority they’ve broadcasted for years — further rattling a conference that’s still trying to counter the narrative that it’s too divided to accomplish much over the next two years.
Powerful Democratic blocs like the Progressive Caucus, where Omar serves in leadership, and the Congressional Black Caucus are expected to rally behind the Minnesotan, a high-profile liberal who’s the regular subject of intense vitriol and even death threats. Omar had been evacuated to a secure location along with congressional leaders during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“It’s ridiculous,” Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said in a brief interview. “We support Rep. Omar. She’s an effective legislator who deserves to maintain her seat and we’re gonna continue to represent her and other members who are being used as political pawns in the Republican payback.”

The furor over Omar’s comments on Israel began just weeks after she came to Congress four years ago. Several of her fellow Democrats were enraged by tweets that appeared to lean into antisemitic tropes, implying that lawmakers’ support for Israel was driven by campaign donations from pro-Israel groups. Those tweets were deleted, and Omar apologized. (Phillips was one of several members who had a one-on-one conversation with her about the tweets, and he said they both made it a point to continue their relationship.)
She also drew conservative backlash later in 2019 for comments about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Omar has said her comments were taken out of context by Republican critics. Two years later, Omar caused another public rift within her party with comments that appeared to equate the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban while discussing war crimes — remarks she also quickly sought to clarify.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), one of several Jewish Democrats previously critical of Omar for the Hamas comparison, said: “There’s no reason to remove Congresswoman Omar from her committees except revenge. … We removed Congressman [Paul] Gosar and [Marjorie] Taylor Greene because they threatened violence against other members, including death. That is not anything that Congresswoman Omar did.”
Asked if she thought all Democrats would be united behind Omar, Wasserman Schultz said, “Of course, but we’re just going to take this one step at a time.”
Democrats are emphasizing the differences between Omar’s situation and the two Republicans removed from committees in 2021 by separate, bipartisan House votes. Nearly a dozen Republicans agreed to remove Greene (R-Ga.) from her committee posts for incendiary rhetoric against her fellow members of Congress, and two Republicans voted to remove Gosar (R-Ariz.) from his committees over a violent social media post in which he threatened prominent Democrats.
Neither of the two Republicans who voted to remove Gosar remain in Congress.
“I think there’s a big difference between policy disagreements and inciting and encouraging violence against members of Congress,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), who sits on Foreign Affairs with Omar and fiercely disputed GOP claims that Democrats started the precedent of removing members from committees.
“As a Jewish member of Congress, I take this very seriously,” Jacobs added.
Phillips, for his part, added that it is a particularly tough decision for some members given the rise in harmful rhetoric: “Antisemitism is rearing its ugly head. I don’t think she’s antisemitic, I think she’s made some mistakes. … I believe that she’s learned from it, and I mean that sincerely.”
Democrats plan to name their own Foreign Affairs members in the coming days — an assignment Omar has said she expected Democratic leaders to grant by the end of this week. And given the GOP’s slim margins in the lower chamber, Democrats are betting they may be able to flip enough Republicans to sink any vote on stripping Omar’s committee assignments.
While some Republicans still haven’t said how they’ll vote, key moderates like Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) are signaling that the vote is a result of Democratic moves from the last Congress.
“I’ll listen to the debate and review comments she’s made. But, the Dems should not be surprised by this. Pelosi set a new standard on how the majority treats the minority. … Now the new minority will have to live by [the] same standard,” Bacon said in a statement.
Omar is not the only Democrat who will be stripped of a committee; Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both Californians, will also lose their spots on the House Intelligence Committee. The three members appeared on TV together Monday night, where they were dubbed the “McCarthy Three” by MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. But Omar will be the only one whose committee membership will face a floor vote, as McCarthy has the power to remove Intelligence panel members on his own.
McCarthy on Tuesday rejected Schiff and Swalwell’s appointments to the House Intelligence Committee, claiming that both had put national security at risk. However, he demurred when asked earlier Tuesday if he had the votes to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The trio said in a joint statement Tuesday evening it was “disappointing but not surprising that Kevin McCarthy has capitulated to the right wing of his caucus, undermining the integrity of the Congress, and harming our national security in the process.”
The optics of singling out Omar — a woman of color and one of Congress’ first Muslim women members, who’s set to be the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs subpanel overseeing Africa — are likely to be a major part of Democrats’ messaging next week.
Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
McCarthy taps GOP members to investigate Covid policies

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The lawmakers “will also finally get answers to the Covid origins and the federal government’s … research that contributed to the pandemic,” McCarthy said in a statement announcing the appointments.
Greene, who emerged as an ally for the California Republican during his speakership fight but still holds a megaphone with the party’s right flank, is among the Republicans getting a seat on the subcommittee. It’s the latest high-profile boost for Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments by Democrats and about a dozen Republicans due to her incendiary rhetoric.
But Republican leadership pledged to reinstate her to committees if they won the majority. McCarthy has handed her other plum positions, including a seat on the Oversight Committee and Homeland Security Committee. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) who is leading the Oversight Committee, which will house the select subcommittee, has also pledged to conduct investigations into the coronavirus and pandemic-era aid disbursed as part of several coronavirus relief bills that totaled trillions of dollars.
Other Republicans on the committee will include Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), John Joyce (R-Pa.) Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) and Rich McCormick (R-Ga).
Democrats still need to name their own members to the subcommittee.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
McCarthy names GOP members to run sweeping investigative panel

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As part of the inner-conference haggling, conference heads also added language that gives the panel authority to get access to information shared with the Intelligence Committee and review “ongoing criminal investigations,” a prospect that’s likely to spark push back from the Justice Department.
“As long as we keep it tight and know what we’re doing before we go in, which is where Jim Jordan comes into play — nobody’s better at this — we’ll be okay,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), one of the newly named members of the panel, told POLITICO on Tuesday.
The panel’s newly named members represent the at times at-odds groups McCarthy has to balance within his conference. While putting Jordan in the driver’s seat and naming other allies to the panel could help McCarthy try to keep it in check, he also has to keep detractors like Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) happy to quell any rebellion before it begins. The swath of members also reflect that suspicion of political motives within the Justice Department and the FBI is far from fringe within the House GOP.
It’s expected to be on the front lines of skirmishes with the Biden administration, particularly the Justice Department, as Republicans on the panel will be empowered to try to examine everything from Jan. 6-related investigations to the search last year of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Republicans have signaled they could expand their investigative scope to include agencies and issues like the Department of Education and big tech.
Some of McCarthy’s close allies snagged spots on the panel. Jordan was long expected to lead the group, and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Mike Johnson (R-La.), two members of the GOP leadership team, are also getting seats on the subcommittee, as well as Armstrong, a McCarthy backer who helped nominate him for speaker during a closed-door meeting last year. Stefanik and Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) are also both members of the Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Elise Stefanik talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the House Chamber on Jan. 6, 2023.
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Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
Only two of McCarthy’s defectors-turned-supporters are getting a seat: Roy and Bishop. Bishop was an early advocate within the conference for a select committee, while Roy helped negotiate the deal that helped secure McCarthy the speaker’s gavel.
Other GOP members of the committee will include Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Greg Steube (R-Fla.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.). Hageman defeated former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the two Republicans on the Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee.
Democrats still need to recommend their own members to the panel. As part of the resolution that greenlit it, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) automatically gets a seat, due to his perch as top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Additionally, the resolution laid out that McCarthy would name 13 members beyond Jordan and Nadler, including no more than five in consultation with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Beyond Jordan, McCarthy’s list Tuesday night included 11 GOP members, filling most of the panel’s 13 available slots amid intense interest within his conference. But two aides familiar with the plan said McCarthy intends to pass a second resolution expanding the size of the panel, to account for the greater number of Republicans appointees. Democrats would get a proportional increase as well, the aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The panel, which the House approved earlier this month along a party-line vote, is already a lightning rod for Democratic criticism, the Biden administration and their allies, who view it as a vehicle for Republicans to use their new majority to enact political revenge.
“Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy claim to be investigating the weaponization of the federal government when, in fact, this new select subcommittee is the weapon itself. It is specifically designed to inject extremist politics into our justice system and shield the MAGA movement from the legal consequences of their actions,” Nadler said in a recent statement about the panel.
But Republicans have defended the decision to set up the panel as necessary to conduct oversight over the FBI and the Justice Department, two of the party’s biggest targets in recent years. They’ve also pointed to an inspector general’s report that found the FBI misused its surveillance powers to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser.
McCarthy argued that Democrats used their past two years of unified control of Washington to “target political opponents.”
“The government has a responsibility to serve the American people, not go after them,” he added.
Olivia Beavers and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
New GOP senator irks colleagues with Judiciary committee push

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“This is something the Missouri senators need to work out,” Blackburn said in an interview.
“I’m the only Republican woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee and I don’t intend to come off the committee,” she added.
Blackburn joined the panel after the GOP drew heat for having no female members during the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. As for Schmitt, Blackburn said: “He needs to understand that these are decisions for the leader, for the committee on committees,” referring to a panel that handles committee apportionment and is run by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
Senate Republicans will vote Wednesday on a waiver that would allow Schmitt to be on the Judiciary Committee, a necessary step since Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley already serves on the panel. But based on the current committee makeup, approving a waiver would threaten Tillis or Blackburn’s seat at the table on Judiciary and have a cascading effect, scrambling committee rosters across the board.
The topic came up at the Senate GOP lunch, where Tillis and Blackburn made clear that they have no interest in leaving the panel. Crapo encouraged senators to vote against the waiver, according to an attendee and a senior GOP aide. Tillis declined to comment on his conversation with Schmitt.
“Senator Schmitt and his team are continuing to have productive conversations as committee assignments are being worked out, and he will continue to fight for Missourians in the committees that he’s selected to serve on,” said William O’Grady, Schmitt’s press secretary.
Three weeks into the new Congress, the Senate has yet to officially organize its committees after Democrats increased their majority to 51-49 in the November election.
Under the GOP conference rules, a senator needs to request a waiver if a senator from his or her home state already sits on the panel, though the conference has previously voted to waive that rule on certain occasions. The Senate Judiciary Committee has had members from the same state serve on the panel before, including Texas GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and former Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

The Senate Judiciary Committee is home to some of the most contentious fights in Congress, overseeing Supreme Court confirmations and holding jurisdiction over tough political issues like immigration and abortion. It’s a particularly coveted panel for future presidential hopefuls, as its work attracts a media spotlight.
Schmitt argues he should be on the panel as a lawyer and former attorney general. Tillis and Blackburn are not attorneys, but the panel has a long history of elevating members outside the legal profession. Former chairs Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) do not have law degrees.
“As a former attorney general, it’s right in his wheelhouse,” Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said of Schmitt. “Unfortunately because we’re in the minority and we’re losing the seat it creates a problem.”
Alexander Burns contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
Senate GOP to McCarthy: Debt fight is all yours

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“What matters is really what the House can create,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a frequent cross-aisle negotiator. “They’re in a position, they have the gavels. We have to see what sort of strategy they think works to a successful outcome.”
After two years of bipartisan progress on issues Washington once only dreamed of tackling, from gun safety to infrastructure, the current dynamic means the Senate Republican minority is effectively handing the keys to McCarthy to cut a deal with Biden. Senate Democrats had hoped to clear a clean debt ceiling bill early this year to demonstrate to the House they could get a filibuster-proof majority well ahead of the impending spring deadline, but their Republican colleagues say that’s not happening right now.
That’s in part because Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his lieutenants spent much of their political capital in December, aggressively moving to pass a government funding bill that had McCarthy complaining loudly and often. Many GOP senators feared that kicking the spending measure to this year could risk a shutdown.
And now some Republicans doubt McConnell could muster the nine votes needed to break a filibuster on a debt limit increase, even if he wanted to. On Monday, all McConnell would say was: “We won’t default.”
“I don’t think he could get it, personally, right now. I think he squeezed all that he could to get the omnibus done, as well as it went,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), referring to the spending bills passed late last year.
Cramer added: “I don’t want to say hard feelings, but people feel the cost of that. And I don’t think they’re going to be ready to take another bullet, if you will.”
With the government funded until the end of September, many Republicans believe it’s McCarthy’s turn to make the tough calls during the new era of split government. Take Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who’s about as amenable to lifting the debt ceiling as any Republican you’ll find in the Capitol.
At the moment, she said, her “preference would be for the president to sit down with Speaker McCarthy, listen to one another and work out an agreement.” She said she did not know whether a so-called clean debt ceiling increase could even pass the Senate.

McCarthy’s challenge isn’t just to pass a bill lifting the debt ceiling, it’s to assuage his conservatives who are eager for draconian fiscal cuts in return — while eventually reaching an agreement with some House Democratic support to show momentum in the Senate. Those competing agendas could be difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile by the time the Treasury Department is finished using what are known as extraordinary measures to maximize the country’s remaining borrowing authority.
“If it’s purely a party-line vote there [in the House], it probably won’t get 60 votes here,” Tillis said, outlining the at-odds nature of the House and Senate imperatives. “And so that’s why we’ve got to look and see what they can put down that would actually garner at least some number of Democrat votes.”
Of course, it’s still early in what could be a long and bruising fight. Back in 2021, as the only bulwark against unified Democratic control in the last Congress, Senate Republicans took a hard line on the debt ceiling only to bend when the deadline neared. A handful of them voted for a two-month debt ceiling patch in the fall, then again to neutralize a filibuster for a larger debt ceiling increase.
It was a difficult moment within the GOP; McConnell relied on his leadership team, moderates and retiring GOP senators to push those through.
Some senators who supported that approach are now gone, however. And others aren’t in a mood to fold.
“We need to have a serious discussion about our long-term debt,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who supported both the debt ceiling solutions two years ago. “It’s early. I know the drumbeats have already started. But, you know, it’ll be at least June before we do it. The irresponsible position is to say ‘we’re not going to negotiate.’”
Yet that’s Democrats’ opening salvo, with several of the party’s senators reiterating their long-running stance that the debt ceiling is not negotiable. They believe negotiating on broader fiscal concessions in 2011 was a tactical mistake that led to a U.S. credit downgrade and emboldened a hardline GOP approach during the Obama administration.
Furthermore, those dug-in Senate Democrats see a GOP that only cares about the debt ceiling when a Democratic president is in office, citing the ballooning debt and deficit under former President Donald Trump.
“While President Trump was in office and Republicans had the House and Senate, Democrats voted to raise the debt ceiling,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor on Monday. “Both parties should work together to ensure we can continue to pay our debt on time, and we Democrats are ready to move quickly in order to make that happen.”
Ultimately, the Senate GOP may be in a position to break the impasse and help find a solution that can satisfy all parties: Senate Democrats, House Republicans and the president. By virtue of the design of the Senate and its legislative filibuster, its Republicans are more used to bipartisan cooperation than some of their House counterparts.
But it may be months before any bailout like that occurs. For now, it’s the McCarthy and Biden show.
“In the end it’s going to have to be something that House Republicans and the president agree on. Let’s see what they can figure out,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). “That’s the best strategy, for us.”
Caitlin Emma contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 24, 2023
Borrow the opposition playbook? House GOP weighs the ultimate ‘tit for tat’

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“They’ve almost changed the rules,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told POLITICO. “[Are] we going to continue that pattern? Look, we want to get as much information as we can get, and they’ve written a new playbook, so we’ll have to talk about it as a committee and as a conference.”
Republican leaders are already navigating intra-party tensions over which tactics to embrace. They are under fierce pressure from their right flank and the party’s base to go scorched-earth against the Biden administration — with some already agitating for impeachments. But centrists and institutional-minded Republicans, fresh off the sting of a disappointing midterm, are warning that carbon-copying Democrats isn’t the way to go.
“I think mostly what the Democrats did as precedent is weaken Congress … I don’t think they did a very good job,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), who is joining the Oversight Committee. “If we get into a tit for tat — I don’t think that will serve Republicans, Congress or the American people well.”
In some ways, it’s a challenge Congress faces every time the House changes hands. Lawmakers intensely rely on precedent, taking inspiration from their predecessors regardless of party or even if they previously railed against it. To Hill veterans, it’s almost a cliche: when one Congress deploys an oversight tactic, it becomes part of the toolbox for every subsequent Congress — particularly if it is tested and approved by federal courts in D.C.
“Turnabout is fair play, and they were warned this at the time — on everything from kicking members off committees … two impeachment efforts, everything else,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said about the possibility that Republicans use Democrats’ tactics against them.
Democrats acknowledge that they approached, and even expanded, the outer limits of Congress’ investigative powers. But they say investigating an attempt by Trump and his allies to derail the transfer of presidential power, and the violent attack on the Capitol that followed, called for them to push the boundaries.
Doug Letter, the top lawyer for the House under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and an architect of the legal battles to empower the Jan. 6 select committee, defended the panel’s investigative tactics that lawmakers had previously used only sparingly.
“It’s hard to think of a whole lot of congressional investigations that are going to be like the January 6th one, that are going to need that kind of stuff,” Letter said in an interview, pointing specifically to the panel’s voluminous subpoenas for phone records from third-party carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile.

But he also said that he anticipated Republicans would seek to deploy their own battery of oversight tools, some likely aided by the battles Letter himself won on behalf of the Democratic House.
“We obviously live in a democracy,” Letter said. “Those are the people in power.”
In court filings, Letter emphasized Congress’ broad ability to conduct investigations into matters of national significance. He frequently defended the panel against dozens of lawsuits brought by figures like former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the Republican National Committee and Trump himself.
Time and again, judges agreed that the panel was operating properly on matters of grave national significance.
That included last year, when then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) unsuccessfully argued in an amicus brief for Trump ally Steve Bannon that the committee shouldn’t be granted certain powers as he had not appointed any members to it — a result of McCarthy’s decision to boycott the panel after Pelosi tossed some of his original picks.
Republicans’ tactical options aren’t limited to those the Jan. 6 committee deployed: Democrats booted Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from committees for incendiary rhetoric aimed at colleagues. (Both Greene and Gosar will sit on the Oversight panel this Congress.) Democrats also subpoenaed and won a legal fight to obtain Trump’s tax returns.
A House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, predicted Republicans will use some tactics against them but warned the “flip side is true as well.”
“Republicans set the playbook, and Trump set the playbook, for how to defend against some of this, get it in court and tie it up. … That sword cuts both ways from them. I’ve been around the Hill long enough to know what goes around comes around,” the aide added.
So far, Republicans have embraced two plays Democrats used: First, McCarthy is vowing to prevent Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from getting Intelligence Committee seats, something he can do unilaterally as speaker due to the nature of that panel. He’s also promised to keep Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from getting a Foreign Affairs Committee seat, which will likely spark a House floor showdown.
Secondly, Republicans green-lit a sprawling select subcommittee that will probe the “weaponization” of the federal government, including current federal investigations, the Justice Department, the FBI and the intelligence community. The controversial panel, a demand by some of McCarthy’s hardline detractors during the 15-ballot speakership fight, will be under the stewardship of Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
McCarthy, for now, says Democrats will get to pick their members for that panel. Under the rules for the “weaponization” panel, Jordan and New York Rep. Jerry Nadler — the top Democrat on Judiciary — automatically get seats. Then of the 13 additional members McCarthy names, five are in consultation with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
“The other side will get to name their members on the committee. It won’t be handpicked by me and denying the Democrats their voice,” McCarthy has told reporters.
Another area to watch will be how Republicans use their subpoena power, both in compelling witnesses and obtaining records from third parties.
Comer noted that he thought Democrats have “set a lot of precedents,” pointing to both their use of subpoenas and their use of contempt of Congress.
Both Bannon and former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro faced federal charges for defying subpoenas from the Jan. 6 select committee. DOJ declined to prosecute two others held in contempt by the House: Meadows and Trump social media adviser Dan Scavino.
While Democrats focused on phone records, Comer has his own target: bank records, which he noted it’s “very likely” he will need to subpoena. He’s already re-upped his request to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for so-called suspicious activity reports tied to the president’s son, Hunter, and a network of associates. The financial reports, filed routinely by banks, often don’t indicate wrongdoing but can be a basis for further investigation.
“We want specific [financial] transactions,” Comer said. “I don’t want this thing to keep growing and growing and they never end.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 23, 2023