Tag: House

House GOP passes its debt bill, upping pressure on Biden

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And it was a hard-fought victory, at that. The conference had been in talks over the bill for months, yet McCarthy was still negotiating with on-the-fence members shortly before the vote. Still, GOP lawmakers cheered the bill’s passage, hoping it will give them some leverage to force leading Democrats to back down from assertions they would not negotiate at all over the debt limit.
“I think everybody is focused on solving this problem and finally getting the president … to come to the table,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), adding that Republicans want to give McCarthy the “opportunity to go and negotiate with the president.”
Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.) were the Republicans who opposed the bill, along with all Democrats.
It’s still far from clear that the House GOP plan will change the calculus either at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue or across the Capitol with Senate Democrats. Both have stressed for months, along with their less influential House colleagues, that they want a “clean” debt ceiling increase, with no spending cuts attached.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted McCarthy ahead of the vote on Wednesday, accusing him of having “capitulated to the hard right once again” as he worked to lock down the votes to pass the debt plan.
“It’s a bill that might as well be called the Default On America Act. Because that’s exactly what it is — DOA, dead on arrival,” Schumer said.
The House Republican bill combines across-the-board spending cuts with other conservative proposals, including stricter rules for social safety net programs and energy production incentives. But after vowing for days that they wouldn’t open the bill for negotiations, worried it would create a tidal wave of demands, Republican leadership cut a middle-of-the-night deal to try to win over two critical holdout groups: Midwesterners and conservatives.
For Midwestern members, GOP leadership agreed to kill changes to incentives structures for renewable diesel, second generation biofuel, carbon dioxide sequestration and biodiesel. For conservatives, they beefed up the work requirements and sped up the implementation timeline. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who flipped to backing the bill on Wednesday, also said McCarthy committed to working on balancing the budget in a conversation with her.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) acknowledged that his conservative members weren’t sold on all the bill’s provisions but argued that passing the proposal was crucial to keeping Republicans at the table.
“It is not perfect. It’s a step in the right direction. We’ve got to be in the arena and stay on offense,” Perry said.
The next phase won’t get any easier for Republicans, though, who barely scraped by this time on a 217-215 vote. McCarthy eventually needs to cut a deal with Biden and Senate Democrats that somehow would also win over both the centrist and conservative factions of his conference.
”It’s gonna have to be a conservative package if it’s going to win the support of the Republican conference, but I don’t think it serves anyone’s interest by talking about red lines right now,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), the chair of the business-oriented Main Street Caucus.
Driving the debt-limit talks is still relatively new for House Republicans, who largely left it up to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to negotiate agreements on the debt ceiling during the first two years of the Biden administration. Those deals sparked fierce pushback not only from House Republicans but also Senate conservatives.
And Republican senators are warning they aren’t preparing to step into the breach again, at least not yet. Plus, it’s far from clear that a Senate GOP negotiated deal would even find favor in the more raucous House GOP conference.
The House bill “forces the administration to come to the table,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Wednesday. “The pressure really ought to be on the White House.”
Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.
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#House #GOP #passes #debt #bill #upping #pressure #Biden
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023
Montana transgender lawmaker barred by GOP from House floor

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She accused House Speaker Matt Regier of taking away the voices of her 11,000 constituents and attempting to drive “a nail in the coffin of democracy” by silencing her.
“If you use decorum to silence people who hold you accountable, then all you’re doing is using decorum as a tool of oppression,” Zephyr said.
Speaking in support of barring Zephyr from the floor for the remainder of the 90-day legislative session, House Majority Leader Sue Vinton accused her of placing lawmakers and staff at risk of harm for her actions during protests in the chamber on Monday.
“Freedom in this body involves obedience to all the rules of this body, including the rules of decorum,” Vinton said.
Vinton and other House Republicans cited a Monday protest that disrupted House proceedings and accused Zephyr of inciting it. Authorities arrested seven people in a confrontation that Republicans claim she had encouraged.
“This is an assault on our representative democracy, spirited debate, and the free expression of ideas cannot flourish in an atmosphere of turmoil and incivility,” Republican David Bedey said on the House floor.
“What is at stake is the expectation that any member of this body, whoever that might be, has a duty to strive to maintain decorum, so that the people’s work, that work of all Montanans, can be accomplished.”
The censure motion is the latest development in a standoff over remarks Zephyr made last week on the proposed ban.

The House Speaker had previously said he would not allow her to speak until she apologized, which Zephyr refused to do. Since, she has been forbidden from speaking on the House floor.
Conservative Republicans have repeatedly misgendered Zephyr since the remarks by using incorrect pronouns to describe her.
Much like events in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black lawmakers, were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and who has a voice in democracy in politically polarizing times.
Zephyr’s remarks last week, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday. Protesters later packed into the gallery at the Statehouse and brought House proceedings to a halt while chanting “Let her speak.” The scene galvanized both her supporters and and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.
Such a protest wasn’t allowed on Wednesday, when Republican leaders close the gallery to the public while the vote to censure Zephyr occurred.
Regier did not give a speech on the censure motion on Wednesday but earlier called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana” and pledged to ensure the chamber would “not be bullied.”
It’s under Regier’s leadership that the House has persisted in preventing Zephyr from speaking. He and other Republicans have said her “blood on your hands” remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse.
“There needs to be some consequences for what he has been doing,” said Rep. Joe Read, who frequently but not always used incorrect pronouns when referring to the Democrat.
He claimed Zephyr gave a signal to her supporters just before Monday’s session was disrupted. He declined to say what that was other than a “strange movement.”
“When she gave the signal for protestors to go into action, I would say that’s when decorum was incredibly broken,” Read added.
The events have showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of at least 21 right-wing lawmakers including Read that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday, saying in a statement that Zephyr’s decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery’s protesters amounted to “encouraging an insurrection.”
Although several protesters resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them on Monday, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protesters.
“It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”
There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.
Zephyr said the seven arrested were “defending democracy. In an earlier speech, she said the sequence of events that followed her remarks illustrated how they had struck a chord with those in power.
“They picked me in this moment because I said a thing that got through their shield for a second,” she told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Capitol steps near a banner that read “Democracy dies here.”
She has said she does not intend to apologize and argued that her “blood on your hands” remark accurately reflected the stakes of such bans for transgender kids.
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#Montana #transgender #lawmaker #barred #GOP #House #floor
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023
Madhya Pradesh: House of man accused of killing woman bulldozed

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday demolished the house a man who allegedly shot dead a 22-year-old woman in broad daylight in Dhar district. The accused, who has been identified as Deepak Kumar (22), is yet to be arrested.
As per the police, the accused had fired twice at the victim from a very close range, one on her head and the other on her chest. The police said the accused was a jilted lover of the victim, who was following her for the last two year.
“Deepak was following the woman for the last two years. On Wednesday, he found her alone on the road and opened fire on her. He is still on the run and police teams have been formed to nab him. An award of Rs 10,000 has also been announced for any information that might lead the police to Deepak,” Dhar district Superintendent of Police, Manoj Kumar Singh, said.

The incident occurred at around 11 a.m. when the victim, who was a resident of Basant Vihar, had gone to a temple along with her friend.
Later on Wednesday evening, the police carried out a bulldozer operation and demolished the house of the accused.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has question the law and order situation in Madhya Pradesh, besides demanding a compensation for the victim’s family.
“The woman had earlier lodged a case of molestation against the accused. It is a matter of great concern that the government could not save the woman’s life,” Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath said.

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#Madhya #Pradesh #House #man #accused #killing #woman #bulldozed
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 27, 2023
Nearly 200 House Democrats have signed onto a letter echoing President Joe Biden’s call for a clean debt ceiling hike.

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The letter comes as the House votes as soon as Wednesday on Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s opening debt limit offer, with spending concessions attached.

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#Nearly200 #House #Democrats #signed #letter #echoing #President #Joe #Bidens #call #clean #debt #ceiling #hike
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
Seven Shops, Residential House Gutted in Massive Fire Mishap

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SRINAGAR: At least seven shops and a residential house were gutted in a massive fire incident in Qalamabad village in Handwara area in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Reports said that a fire broke out in a residential house this afternoon. The raging flames soon after spread to a shopping complex in proximity near Jamia Masjid Qalamabad.
Responding to the exigency, Handwara Police and locals swung into action to douse off the flames. After hours of strenuous efforts, the blaze was controlled but not before it gutted at least seven shops and a double-storeyed residential house. Among the gutted shops included four of merchandise (Kiryana), two of hardware and one of a tailor. The residential house and the shopping complex are said to belong to one Ghulam Ahmad Najar.
The fire also caused minor damage to the attic portion of the Jamia Masjid Qalamabad.
Two civilians and a cop during the rescue operation suffered contusions and were administered with first aid at the site.
Chairman Jamia Masjid Qalamabad, Abdul Ghani Reshi while extending his gratitude to Handwara Police and local administration alongside Army’s 30 RR said that the timely action from them prevented the fire from spreading further. The mosque head however castigated the local unit of F&ES Department for failing to act on time, which according to him led to escalation of the blaze.
“We are highly thankful to Handwara Police, the local administration alongside Army’s 30 RR for their timely help and preventing the spread of fire”, he said adding “We however are highly agonized by the pathetic approach of the local F&ES Department unit which despite at a stone’s throw distance failed to perform its duty as otherwise expected.” (GNS)

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#Shops #Residential #House #Gutted #Massive #Fire #Mishap
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 26, 2023
Biden v. Trump: A race for the White House with actuarial tables in the background

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“It’s one of the great hesitations people have, and it’s not just chronological age, it’s the perceived age, the performance,” said Dave Carney, a longtime Republican consultant who hasn’t decided whom to support in 2024.
Both Biden and Trump battled questions of their physical and mental acuity while in office with each insisting that their performance underscored their capacity to handle the rigors of the job. The 2024 election, likewise, will provide a window through which to judge them.
But an actual full-on campaign won’t start for quite some time. Trump, who faces a crowded Republican primary field, has begun holding campaign events and the occasional rally. And Biden, who faces no real intra-party challenge, has begun raising money and will have one-off political events, but his aides have signaled he won’t begin barnstorming until next year.
When the campaign does actually begin in earnest, both sides pledge it will not be an exercise in tapioca, “Murder, She Wrote” reruns, and early bedtimes.
Despite an age gap of only three years, the chatter around age looms larger for Biden, who moves noticeably slower than a few years ago. Members of his inner circle know the toll the job takes on any president, and they have seen him grow more easily tired.
If elected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term, nearly a decade older than the U.S. male life expectancy. Poll after poll shows that voters — including Democrats who approve of the job he has done — are not sure they want him to run again, with most citing his age as their top concern.
But Biden’s allies and most Democrats believe he is very much still up for the job. Biden has received clean bills of health from his doctors, and his advisers believe the 2020 race made clear that voters have grown more comfortable with older people in positions of power, whether in politics or business. “His age is not a surprise,” one adviser said recently.
For Biden’s team, age can often be reframed as wisdom. They argue he has been a steady hand during difficult times. And they tout an enviable legislative scorecard — including wins on infrastructure, guns and climate change. They also believe that the threat posed by Trump to the nation’s democracy will turn out voters, even if some of them have reservations about Biden.

“I love what the president says himself. He has a line where he says, ‘Just watch me,’” said Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), one of the campaign co-chairs. “Just watching what has happened just in the first two years, and then knowing what his plan is, as we move forward, we know that he is more than capable.”
But aides acknowledge that Biden’s final campaign will be more rigorous than the one he ran in 2020. That year, candidates were sidelined for months by the pandemic, with Biden setting up shop in his Delaware home to host virtual events, allowing him to largely avoid unscripted moments and the gaffes for which he is famous. This time, Biden will need to hit the road, though some of the travel grind is offset by having Air Force One at his disposal.
Aides are mindful of the schedule’s toll on Biden. He has few early morning events, allowing him to sleep in and exercise before starting most days. Breaks are built into his schedule, and down days are often incorporated after travel.
“Whether it was in Kiev, barnstorming the country highlighting the manufacturing jobs he’s bringing back, averting international crises in the wee hours of the morning like he did in Bali, or putting Republicans on defense over Social Security in the State of the Union, the American people and the world see his qualified leadership,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, senior White House adviser, said in a statement. “And younger aides have to push themselves to keep up with that pace.”
White House aides also point out that other presidents took down days after foreign travel and that Biden has kept a busier travel schedule so far this year than Obama did in 2011, the equivalent year of his presidency.
Trump, meanwhile, has previously tried to make Biden’s age an issue, with his nickname of “Sleepy Joe” and unsubtle assertions that the incumbent has lost a step. He has circulated memes of the president losing his balance walking into Air Force One and has called Biden “cognitively impaired” in rally speeches.
But those charges didn’t work in 2020 and Trump himself faces questions about his own age and fitness for the job. More recently, Trump has tried to distinguish between age and mental acuity, saying in interviews that he has friends in their 80s and 90s, like 93-year-old Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, who are “100 percent.”
Trump kept up a more robust campaign schedule than Biden did in 2020. While Biden has worked and traveled — he journeyed to Ireland this month and is set for summits in Japan and Australia next month — Trump has been based at his resort in Palm Beach and has made frequent trips to early voting states. On Thursday, he heads to New Hampshire.
“President Trump continues to dominate in poll after poll, both in the primary and general elections. There is no other candidate in history who has the energy and stamina President Trump has, and he will out-work and out-pace Joe Biden to Save America,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Aides to Trump argue that the former president stays busy politicking from his clubs where he films policy videos, works the phones, and hosts fundraising events. And while he isn’t known to have the healthiest diet, Trump does keep active. In the morning he often zips around in his golf cart and plays nine holes before heading to his Mar-a-Lago office, where he’ll meet with advisers, lawmakers and candidates seeking his support, and he’s often out late into the evening socializing with club members and playing DJ for guests on the private patio.
As the campaign heats up, aides to Trump say he will keep a busy travel schedule and continue to criss-cross the country via his private plane to events and unannounced stops where he can show off his retail politics skills. They believe the campaign schedule alone will be an effective contrast with Biden — a chance to portray Trump as sharper than Biden in speeches and interviews.
“We really don’t have to say much,” said an adviser to Trump. “The contrast in energy and stamina will be demonstrated — and is being demonstrated right now — and that’s a contrast that will play itself out on the campaign trail.” Both Trump and his team have pointed to Biden’s presidential announcement, which came in the form of a short video instead of an event, as an example.
“Trump is older, too, but he doesn’t act as old as President Biden, he comes across as more vigorous and having more energy and that helps him avoid the same kinds of conversations,” said Carney. “And everyone else is going to talk about how we need a new generation, or some cliche along these lines for the rest of the campaign.”
Both Biden and Trump do face pressure from within their party to cede the way for younger lawmakers to take over. The president had framed himself as a bridge to the Democratic Party’s next generation. And GOP presidential hopefuls like Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, and Nikki Haley, 51, have framed their candidacies as a needed refresh for the party.
Haley has even proposed mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75. Trump then went even further, saying that anyone running for office should face not only a mental competency test but a physical test as well.
Biden’s entrance into the race all but ensures that conversations that may have otherwise been considered taboo or even downright ageist will now become a centerpiece of a presidential campaign. Indeed, we may already have passed that point. During an interview Monday with Newsmax, Trump even darkly predicted Biden would not make it to the general election.
“It was hard to believe four years ago, but he was in the basement … it seems to me somewhere along the line something will happen,” Trump said.
Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
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#Biden #Trump #race #White #House #actuarial #tables #background
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
Montana House cancels session after rally for trans lawmaker

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“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied.”
Under Regier’s leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have “blood on their hands.” He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologize before being allowed to participate in legislative discussions.
Zephyr’s remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday and seven arrests later that afternoon when protesters interrupted House proceedings after Zephyr was denied the right to speak on a bill. The scene at the Statehouse galvanized both those demanding she be allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.
Much like developments in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.
It has showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing lawmakers that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday. In a statement they said that Zephyr’s decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery’s protesters amounted to “encouraging an insurrection.”
It’s unclear if Regier and House leaders will follow the Freedom Caucus’s demand. Republican Rep. Casey Knudsen, the chair of the House Rules committee, said Monday’s cancellation gave leadership time to respond to Monday’s events. House Democratic Leader Kim Abbott said she saw leadership’s decision to cancel as giving lawmakers “some time to regroup.”
The House is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday afternoon, the chamber’s Republicans announced Tuesday.
Although several protesters resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them on Monday, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protesters.

“It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”
There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.
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#Montana #House #cancels #session #rally #trans #lawmaker
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
Fourth Sex Racket Busted In JK, Five Including House Owner Arrested: Police

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SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday said it had busted a sex racket in the Handwara area of the north Kashmir Kupwara district and arrested five persons, including a house owner and his wife.
In a statement, a spokesperson said that information was received from reliable sources about a racket of immoral activities operating from the house of an individual in Reshipora.
The statement reads, “Accordingly, a search party conducted a raid in the house of Shabir Ahmad War, S/o Ghulam Ahmad War of Reshipora, where a sex racket was busted. Five persons were arrested from the spot, including the house owner and his wife, one sex worker and two customers. Cash amounting to Rs 47,800 was also recovered from the spot.”
Those who have been arrested include Rayees Ah Lone, s/o Khazir Mohd Lone of Dangerpora, Rafiabad, Bilal Ahmad Sheikh, s/o Abdul Rehman Sheikh of Binner, Baramulla, a female sex worker (name withheld), Shabir Ahmad War (house owner) s/o Gh Ahmad War of Rishipora, and wife of the house owner (name withheld).
It added that a case FIR No. 37/2023 under relevant sections of the law has been registered at PS Kralgund, and an investigation has been initiated. (KNO)

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#Fourth #Sex #Racket #Busted #Including #House #Owner #Arrested #Police
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 25, 2023
Sex racket busted in Handwara, 5 including house owner arrested: Police

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Srinagar, Apr 25: Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday said it busted a sex racket in Handwara area of north Kashmir Kupwara district and arrested 5 persons including a house owner and his wife.
In a statement, issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), a spokesperson said that an information was received from reliable sources about a racket of immoral activities operating from the house of an individual in Reshipora.
The statement reads accordingly, a search party conducted a raid in the house of Shabir Ahmad War, S/o Ghulam Ahmad War of Reshipora, where a sex racket was busted.
It reads five persons were arrested from the spot, including the house owner and his wife, one sex worker and two customers. “Cash amounting to Rs 47,800 was was also recovered from the spot.”
Those who have been arrested include as Rayees Ah Lone, s/o Khazir Mohd Lone of Dangerpora, Rafiabad, Bilal Ahmad Sheikh, s/o Abdul Rehman Sheikh of Binner, Baramulla, a female sex worker (name withheld), Shabir Ahmad War (house owner) s/o Gh Ahmad War of Rishipora and wife of the house owner (name withheld).
It added a case FIR No. 37/2023 under relevant sections of law has been registered at PS Kralgund and investigation has been initiated—(KNO)
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#Sex #racket #busted #Handwara #including #house #owner #arrested #Police

( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

April 25, 2023
Debt-limit plan won’t be changed, House GOP leaders tell holdouts

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“We will pass it this week,” the Minnesota Republican vowed.
There’s no question it’s a fluid situation for GOP leaders; the conference is not exactly known for ideological harmony, and the margins they’re operating under are tight. Yet McCarthy and his team have been bullish about their ability to pass the massive debt measure this week, after months of internal deliberations with members about their expectations and concerns with the proposal.
And Republican leadership has a warning they hope will keep the conference in line: Failing to unite behind a debt plan will only empower President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

“We will pass it this week,” Emmer said of the Republicans’ debt limit proposal.
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Francis Chung/POLITICO
“Your choice is literally going to be, do you want to have a solution and avoid default? Or do you want to give Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer a blank check, with no fiscal reforms whatsoever?” Emmer said. “This is literally putting Republicans in charge of solving the debt ceiling.”
As for the GOP holdouts so far? Emmer argued that they would, ultimately, decide to back McCarthy’s goal of presenting a united front against Biden: “I think all those people understand this is a team effort.”
The list of possible GOP holdouts includes Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chip Roy
(R-Texas), according to people familiar with their thinking and public statements.
There are several sticking points in the plan — which would include across-the-board spending cuts and tightening access to government benefits for low-income people — that have rankled some in the GOP’s slim majority.
One member, granted anonymity to speak candidly and avoid endless whip phone calls, said they are currently a “no” vote because the plan doesn’t do enough to address debt reduction or immediately enact some of the stricter work requirements.

Meanwhile, vulnerable Republicans, especially those in districts Biden won in 2020, are dismissing those concerns posited by their more conservative colleagues. The elimination of certain tax breaks, in particular, is causing headaches for the GOP whip team. The plan would kill some clean-energy tax credits that were included in Democrats’ sprawling policy package last year, including financial incentives for biodiesel that Republicans in midwest states are now adamantly defending.
“The ethanol issue is real. It’s a tough vote for Midwest members,” said one House GOP lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. The lawmaker noted GOP leaders and Emmer’s whip team have been talking to a handful of members “all weekend” who’ve raised concerns about the ethanol-related measures.
Midwestern Republicans with ethanol plants in their districts are especially worried — including Rep. Brad Finstad (R-Minn.), according to three people who were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. Finstad has worked to beat back strong GOP primary and Democratic challenges since he won a special election in 2022. Looking soft on ethanol gives both sides ample ammunition against him.
One of the people familiar with conversations said Finstad has raised serious concerns about the ethanol-related provisions, “but not to the point he’s a no.” A spokesperson for Finstad did not respond to a request for comment.
Emmer, for his part, noted that Republicans are already “on record voting against many of these tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act,” as part of the GOP’s energy bill.
Senior Republicans say they expect to alleviate the ethanol concerns without changing any text, reminding members they‘ve already voted against the measures once. Other Republicans involved also say they’ve privately pointed out to concerned members that “this is a starting point and the odds are truly stacked against any of this stuff remaining throughout the process,” according to a second GOP House member.
But Republicans are quick to note that any lingering concern at this point threatens the legislation, and their negotiating stance, as they push for a final vote.
“We have a four-vote majority. I have concerns on everything,” the GOP lawmaker said.
If Republicans can successfully pass the debt measure this week, it’s a far cry from defusing the debt crisis altogether. McCarthy still needs to convince Biden and Democrats to come to the table — and both groups have already trashed the Republican proposal as a nonstarter. Any further negotiations that could actually earn Democratic support are sure to further rankle the House GOP.
But Republicans would still consider passing their own plan through the House a win, even if it’s just a first step.
McCarthy on Sunday stated confidently that they will be able to do it: “We will hold a vote this week and we will pass it,” he told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden’s reckless spending.”
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#Debtlimit #plan #wont #changed #House #GOP #leaders #holdouts
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 25, 2023