Tag: McCarthy

Schumer plots debt ceiling course against McCarthy: ‘We’ll win’

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“Unfortunately, [McCarthy] let a group of very extreme people, he gave them the tools” to wield power, Schumer said in an interview. “The plan is to get our Republican colleagues in the House to understand they’re flirting with disaster and hurting the American people. And to let the American people understand that as well. And I think we’ll win.”
It’s something of a new, dual-track role for the New Yorker. For the last two years, Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed bipartisan Senate groups to work and usually avoided a top-down approach that could have disrupted aisle-crossing negotiations. Before that, Schumer spent four years as one of Trump’s chief antagonists, occasionally negotiating with the former president but mostly focusing on stopping him.
Today, Schumer is somewhere in between, haranguing the House GOP while keeping the door open for the bipartisan work his deal-seeking senators crave. And he’s preparing for a long face-off with McCarthy as Washington charts this year’s mid-year debt ceiling deadline like an approaching meteor.
Asked to respond to Schumer, McCarthy criticized the Democrat’s December drive to pass a year-end spending bill shaped in part by two retiring senators.
“When was the last time he did a budget? So, he wants somebody to lift the debt ceiling, but he won’t tell the American people where he’ll spend money?” McCarthy said of Schumer in a brief interview. (During the last Congress, Schumer’s Senate did pass budget bills to set up filibuster-proof party-line legislation on covid relief, taxes, climate and health care.)
At the moment, there’s little cooking in the Senate on the debt ceiling or otherwise, and Schumer is filling the vacuum with a fusillade of attacks on the GOP. Schumer greeted McCarthy’s chaotic speaker election with a snarky congratulations that the Californian’s “dream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people.”
Notably, however, he has since focused mostly on McCarthy’s more conservative members instead of the new speaker personally. He also hasn’t explicitly ruled out negotiations.
And those conservative members are front and center in the new GOP majority after McCarthy’s stumble-filled but ultimately successful bid for the speakership. One concession he made along the way: House Republicans would refuse to support raising the debt ceiling without a “budget agreement or commensurate fiscal reforms,” according to a slide shown during a closed-door conference meeting earlier this month.

Schumer and McCarthy have not yet held a one-on-one meeting. Aides are hopeful there will be one soon, but it is not yet scheduled.
“There’s a fine line between saying, ‘We disagree, and we have our issues,’ as opposed to saying, ‘They’re no good, they’re scum of the earth,’” said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), who added that he hopes both leaders treat their rhetoric carefully.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is staying away from the fray, saying he’ll leave things to McCarthy and Biden. And Schumer has declined to address the possibility of bringing a so-called clean debt ceiling increase to the floor, a move that could fail and shake financial markets.
Just the same, Democrats don’t want to open the door for a negotiation that unfolds in the unpredictable style that 2011’s debt ceiling talks did. They’re wary of what happened when Biden himself cut a deal with McConnell that resulted in both domestic and military spending cuts.
“There will be opportunities to work together, but not in the context of them threatening the global economy,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said of House Republicans.
Schumer, contra McConnell, is not encouraging Biden to get in a room with McCarthy. Instead, he said that if McCarthy wants to cut spending as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, Democrats need to see their plan to do so first — echoing the combative tone that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has long taken toward McCarthy.
“When you hear from Biden, they agree with us. [Republicans] have to show us their proposal. They have to show us their plan. Plain and simple. Hakeem Jeffries talked about it today. I believe the president will,” Schumer said. “Democrats are united: Show us the plan. That’s the first step.”
Well, Democrats are mostly united, at least. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) called it “unreasonable” to not negotiate and said he’s not going to tell the House what to do.
“Kevin McCarthy and I know each other. We’re trying to build relationships, because we have responsibility,” said Manchin, who met privately with McCarthy last week.
But Manchin has always done his own thing — and at times of crisis, the Senate Democratic caucus is often nearly lockstep behind Schumer.
“It’s pretty predictable. He wants to turn the heat up on Speaker McCarthy. And I would say it’s not particularly productive, but maybe it’s good political theater,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has sparred with Schumer for two decades. “I was visiting with some of the Texas congressional delegation at lunch [last week]. And they’ve sort of tuned it out.”
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), chair of the House Budget Committee, said Republicans want to get specific with fiscal changes “like the 2011 spending cap.” Even today, Republicans still praise aspects of the bipartisan 2011 deal, which created a failed deficit-reduction “supercommittee” and then imposed blunt spending cuts that both parties eventually eliminated.
Arrington suggested Republicans would seek a deal with Biden that could include things like a debt commission, a spending freeze or a 10-year spending deal with budget caps. In response to Democrats’ description of the GOP’s position as “extreme,” Arrington responded: “The American people will be the judge of what is extreme.”
But when it comes to the debt ceiling, Schatz said, “there’s not going to be negotiation. They’re gonna have to just realize that this thing is the biggest loser they’ve ever wrapped their arms around.”
That tack may seem to deviate from Schumer’s approach in the last Congress, but as majority leader, the New Yorkers relied on his own unofficial system for legislating. First, he tries to be bipartisan, and if that doesn’t work, he tries to pass things without Republicans.
And if he can’t do either of those, then it’s time to bring the fight to the Senate floor and the cameras.
“I’ve always had a hierarchy,” Schumer said. “We’ll try to work with them when we can, but when they’re as extreme as they are, we have an obligation to stand up.”
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 30, 2023
McCarthy optimistic about agreement with Biden on debt ceiling

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McCarthy has taken the opportunity to attempt to force government spending cuts; the U.S. needs to both lift the nation’s debt ceiling and “take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy told host Margaret Brennan on Sunday.
The Biden administration has argued Congress has the responsibility to pass a debt limit increase without conditions attached, noting that Congress did exactly that three times during former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
Asked about White House concerns that some Republicans are seeking cuts to Social Security and Medicare, McCarthy said, “Let’s take those off the table.”
Cuts to defense spending, however, are still in play, McCarthy suggested.
“I want to look at every dollar no matter where it’s being spent,” he said, when asked specifically about defense. “I want to eliminate waste wherever it is.”
McCarthy insisted the U.S. wouldn’t default on its debt — an unprecedented potential consequence of inaction that could wreak widespread damage on the nation’s credit and the global economy.
“But let’s take a pause,” McCarthy said. “We have hundreds of billions of dollars. This [default] won’t come to fruition until some time in June. So the responsible thing to do is sit down like two adults.”
The U.S. already hit its statutory limit on debt earlier this month, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has predicted “extraordinary measures” could prevent default until June. Some Republicans have argued they could mitigate the situation by having the federal government prioritize who it pays and when, but it’s not clear if that is feasible, given that so much of the system is automated.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 29, 2023
Musk wishes McCarthy happy birthday, and talks Twitter too

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Elon Musk, the former richest man in the world — and frequent sparring partner with Democrats on Twitter — met with Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries. | Cathleen Allison/AP Photo
Elon Musk stopped by the Capitol on Thursday, popping into House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office to wish him happy birthday — and to talk about Washington’s favorite social media platform.
The former richest man in the world — and frequent sparring partner with Democrats on Twitter — met with McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, tweeting that they talked about “ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.” It was apparently Musk’s first visit to the Capitol in the 118th Congress, but he managed to maneuver his way through the complex without answering any questions from reporters.
After a reporter tweeted out an initial Musk sighting, a gaggle of journalists descended on the speaker’s office around 4:30 p.m. About 30 minutes later, McCarthy emerged, telling reporters that Musk came by to wish him happy birthday (the California lawmaker’s birthday is in fact today) and that they had been friends for a long time.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023
McCarthy broaches Santos, Omar and other panel dramas in closed-door meeting

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McCarthy’s mention came after the California Republican touched on a topic popular with much of his party: booting Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both California Democrats, off the House Intelligence Committee. A select panel like Intelligence is different from most other House committees, in that the speaker has unilateral power to appoint the chair and control the membership.
But during Wednesday’s closed-door meeting, McCarthy also raised his vow to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which would require a full House vote that could occur as soon as next week. McCarthy didn’t wade into whether the GOP has the votes to do so yet, according to one of the Republicans who attended on Wednesday; two GOP members have publicly vowed to oppose removing Omar, and at least two other Republicans have told POLITICO they are undecided.
Meanwhile, McCarthy and his leadership team have said little about Santos as the headline-grabbing New Yorker’s personal scandals continue to mount. A handful of Santos’ GOP colleagues, mostly from his state’s delegation, have called for his resignation — a rare rebuke that demonstrates his political toxicity back home.
And Santos was in attendance for McCarthy’s remarks, leaving the weekly conference meeting as a flock of cameras and reporters chased after him. Conference members had little response to McCarthy’s mention of Santos, and the three Republicans who attended noted how briefly the topic was addressed.
Despite the calls for Santos to resign, there is a growing acceptance among House Republicans that the apparent serial fabricator will stick around for as long as possible given their party’s paper-thin majority. Many lawmakers in both parties privately acknowledge it is unlikely Santos would step down on his own accord.
While both parties have started preliminary discussions about a special election should Santos be forced to step aside — a risky prospect for Republicans in such battleground turf — lawmakers and campaign officials say they’re not expecting one this year, though the dynamics could well shift if the incumbent’s problems get even worse.
Although Santos could still face legal consequences for discrepancies in his campaign finance reports in particular, any probe of them would likely take years to result in any actions.
Jesús Rodriguez contributed to this report.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
Democratic leaders are skewering Kevin McCarthy over his debt ceiling position. Joe Manchin is meeting with him.

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Most congressional Democrats say there’s nothing to negotiate.

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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
McCarthy hands detractors critical posts to influence legislation

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Both Roy and Massie have a track record of holding up major spending legislation, emergency disaster aid and forcing votes on divisive amendments against the wishes of GOP leadership. Importantly, if Roy, Norman or Massie hang together they can effectively block legislation, including bills that McCarthy supports, from getting to the floor, as minority party members usually vote no on the 9-4 split panel.
That is likely to shift much of the GOP’s floor drama to the Rules Committee, which could now serve as a microcosm of the broader policy fights within the conference by requiring conservative buy-in before legislation can advance.
“Didn’t ask for it. But you can’t push for change [and] not saddle up if asked,” Roy, who helped negotiate a deal that helped flip several McCarthy “no” votes, said about his elevation to the committee.
McCarthy had pledged as part of negotiations over his speaker bid to elevate different factions within his conference, including the House Freedom Caucus, to plumb positions. Under the deal, members of the group were expected to get two seats while a third seat was expected to go to a conservative. Those same conservatives had also pushed for more amendment votes on bills that come to the floor. It could portend difficulty ahead for the Rules Committee, which will now need their backing to get legislation up for a vote.
Other members of the panel include Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a McCarthy ally, and GOP Reps. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) and Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), as well as first-term Reps. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) and Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.)
McCarthy, in announcing his picks, tried to draw a distinction with Democrats, who he accused of using committee positions to “reward their allies.”
“The Members on these committees will work to shift power back to the American people by providing oversight, transparency, and will stay laser-focused on getting ahead of our national threats,” McCarthy said in a statement.
But the decision is likely to draw scrutiny from Democrats, who are warning that McCarthy is enabling the conservatives in his caucus to potentially wreak havoc on his legislative agenda.

“He’s allowing the Freedom Caucus to pack the Rules Committee to give them the power of what comes to the floor and what it looks like,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told POLITICO in a recent interview.
“These are the same people who voted to overturn the last election, who cheered on the insurrection. To put a mask on this as if it’s somehow democracy in action — this is a power grab,” he added.
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 24, 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
Biden to meet with McCarthy over avoiding debt ceiling ‘calamity’

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But Biden’s remarks set off a back-and-forth later in the day that underscored the deep divide between the White House and House Republicans over how to approach the debt ceiling discussions.
McCarthy tweeted shortly afterward that he would accept a request to meet “and discuss a responsible debt ceiling increase to address irresponsible government spending.”
The White House responded in a statement issued later on Friday, where Jean-Pierre reiterated that “raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation; it is an obligation of this country and its leaders to avoid economic chaos.”
“We are going to have a clear debate on two different visions for the country — one that cuts Social Security, and one that protects it — and the President is happy to discuss that with the Speaker,” Jean-Pierre said.
The development comes a day after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the U.S. had reached its debt limit and would need to use special measures to avoid a default. Yellen has projected that Congress has until at least June to pass a debt ceiling increase.
Biden officials have insisted that Congress pass a clean debt ceiling increasing, arguing that it is one of the government’s basic duties and shouldn’t come with any conditions attached.
The U.S. has never defaulted on its debt. Failing to do so for the first time ever, Democrats and a wide swathe of economists have cautioned, would destroy the nation’s financial credibility, tank the stock market and throw the global economy into chaos.
But Republicans are signaling that they plan to force a showdown over the debt ceiling, in a bid to extract a host of deep spending cuts from the administration. McCarthy earlier this week urged Biden and Democratic congressional leaders to begin discussions on a potential deal.

On Friday, Biden also said that he would address what he called a “fundamental disagreement” over how to control spending as part of his State of the Union address. The White House has hammered Republicans repeatedly over their suggestions that the government cut funding for Medicare and Social Security as part of a debt ceiling deal.
“Their way to deal with cutting that debt is to cut social security, cut Medicaid,” Biden said. “These are the kind of debates that we’re going to have.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 21, 2023