Some in the president’s orbit, seeing his standing buoyed by Democrats’ strong showing in last year’s midterms, saw no reason to rush his reelection declaration, pointing to a lack of intraparty challengers and a chaotic Republican primary field. But others have pushed for an announcement sooner than later, to begin fundraising for an expensive campaign — and to silence the constant questions about Biden’s 2024 intentions.
Advisers had originally looked at an April launch date — noting that President Barack Obama picked that month to announce his own re-election — but then toyed with moving it up following Biden’s State of the Union address in February. Recent discussions in Biden world slid the launch to later in the spring or summer but April 25, the anniversary of Biden’s 2019 announcement, long stood as an informal target.
Making the announcement in a low-key video message with fundraising solicitation would echo how the Obama-Biden ticket unveiled its bid in 2011.
The White House declined to comment Thursday. Some Biden advisers cautioned that nothing would be official until the president himself said it, and there are members of his inner circle who have harbored doubts that he would run again.
The Washington Post first reported on the possible timing of the announcement.
Biden does not expect to face a serious primary challenge, though some in the Democratic party have voiced concerns about his age. If he wins again, Biden would be 82 when he takes the oath of office for a second time. He would be 86 when he leaves the White House.
Advisers to the president have long telegraphed that the president, were he to run, would not ramp up a barnstorming general election campaign until next year. Instead, he would likely follow the example of several other sitting presidents by using a Rose Garden strategy in 2023, mixed with official and political events and travel to tout his administration’s accomplishments.
But officially launching the campaign would allow Biden to begin fundraising ahead of next year’s general election, which could feature a rematch with the man he beat in 2020, former President Donald Trump.
Biden, who captured the presidency in his third bid for the White House, is famously indecisive, a habit exacerbated by decades in the über-deliberative Senate. He publicly took his time mulling a decision against running in 2016 and to launch his run in 2020. He missed two self-imposed deadlines before choosing Vice President Kamala Harris as a running-mate.
Biden’s team is bullish on the president’s legislative record — which includes massive infrastructure, climate change and health care plans — forming the backbone of his reelection campaign, as well as job growth and his stewardship of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
High inflation, a fragile economy and Biden’s middling approval numbers are vulnerabilities, aides concede. And his age looms as an issue and could put more of a focus on Harris in this next campaign.
Trump’s possible return stands as a primary motivation to run again, as Biden has declared his predecessor an existential threat to the republic. The president would campaign this time against a backdrop of divided government, with the Republican-controlled House promising to impede his agenda and investigate his administration and family.
Aides have not said when Biden would hold his first campaign-style event. His schedule next week includes hosting the president of South Korea for a state visit and appearing at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He and his team also may meet with prominent Democratic donors in Washington.
Eugene Daniels, Eli Stokols and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
#Biden #prepares #launch #reelection #bid #week
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The party’s list of potential demands — which includes an across-the-board cut to discretionary spending and stricter work requirements on programs like food stamps — is likely to change as House Republicans hash out a formal bill over the coming weeks. One big flashpoint: They’re proposing to raise the debt limit for just one year, triggering another battle over the federal purse in the middle of the 2024 presidential primaries.
The Republican lawmaker close to the talks, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity, called leadership’s forthcoming proposal “just an opening salvo” and said there’s no specific whip count of support underway yet.
But McCarthy and members of his leadership team are hard at work behind the scenes. That includes two months of rank-and-file “listening sessions” with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) — six to 10 members at a time — and broader talks led by McCarthy and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) among various factions within the conference, designed to solicit ideas.
“Certainly leadership wouldn’t put this on paper … without having spoken to a number of people,” Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) said, estimating that he had been in no less than 10 of those meetings in the last few months.
“This is a culmination of all the conversations from leadership, from speaker from majority leader from the whip, talking to so many people over the last … 85 days about what they’d like to see in a debt limit deal. And that’s why you’re seeing this,” he added.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for McCarthy. The California Republican must avoid a misstep that would weaken his speakership — which any single frustrated member could force a vote to terminate. And unlike other GOP agenda items, which satisfy the party base despite their slim chances of becoming law, any debt-ceiling moves are bound to draw internal criticism while possibly exacting economic consequences.
McCarthy is slated to deliver a speech Monday at the New York Stock Exchange that’s expected to focus on the debt limit. The flurry of new activity comes as the nation’s borrowing power to pay its bills is set to run out as soon as this summer.
Privately, Democrats close to party leadership said the entire GOP list is a nonstarter. President Joe Biden’s party continues to insist it will accept nothing other than a clean debt limit lift.
In addition, McCarthy will have to contend with several cooks in his own financial kitchen. No less than four factions within his conference are already floating their own ideas as they try to shape McCarthy’s initial bid.
The more centrist Main Street Caucus, in a letter to McCarthy on Thursday, reiterated its support for the California Republican, while outlining its own debt priorities. Those include clawing back unspent coronavirus relief cash, reversing Biden’s student loan relief moves and forming a commission that would propose ways to shore up Medicare and Social Security without cutting benefits.
“This letter outlines those proposals that have garnered the most support from our caucus, and we have every confidence they can secure 218 votes in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Main Street Chair Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Vice Chair Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) wrote. Some of their ideas are also included in GOP leadership’s draft proposal.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus has also presented its own ideas to members in Zoom meetings over the recess.
Meanwhile, Hern has not only put out a debt “playbook” for the Republican Study Committee, but is now pushing for a specific timeline. He added that while leadership had to be wary of “deal killers,” Republicans are well-positioned to be able to hold a vote by the end of this month.
To bolster his push to hold a debt vote quickly, Hern is delaying the release of his group’s balanced budget proposal, which he had previously vowed would be out by April 15, until May.
The Republican Study Committee moves are in addition to those by the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, which sparked grumbles from across the conference when it publicly outlined its thinking on the debt ceiling — though its chair, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), stressed that the group wasn’t making “demands.”
Republicans involved in the talks said their members understand the need to coalesce behind a single debt measure. Their goal: Convince Democrats that they’re serious about slashing spending.
“We need to get to 218 votes, get it passed with the most conservative 218 votes in the conference and get it sent to the Senate — and then let the president and the Democrats in the Senate tell the American people why they didn’t want to change the direction of the spending that’s caused the inflation that we’re seeing today,” Hern said.
The GOP’s list, which is widely circulating on K Street, does not include not everything that will go into the debt limit bill, according to a half dozen people close to Republican leadership.
While the party hasn’t formally decided how much in across-the-board spending cuts to support, Republicans are clear that they plan to pare back large chunks of discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels. The GOP’s proposal includes a 1 percent uptick each year after that, though some Republicans have called for more stringent spending cuts.
Others in the GOP conference are agitating for caps on defense spending, too, creating another likely conflict with colleagues who don’t want to trim the Pentagon.
What’s not included in the emerging GOP proposal: A conservative push to claw back $80 billion for tax enforcement that was included in Democrats’ tax, climate and health bill last year. Also left out are border policies pushed by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and others on the right.
Caitlin Emma, Meredith Lee Hill and Olivia Beavers contributed.
[ad_2]
#McCarthy #prepares #opening #debtlimit #bid #full #potential #pitfalls
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“The team itself has felt like he has had a free ride without scrutiny for a number of years,” said Bryan Lanza, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and remains close to Trump’s team. “Just because he’s aggressive and willing to fight doesn’t make him MAGA. MAGA is the policies and there is a tremendous amount of sunlight between Trump policies and DeSantis policies. The more and more that gets highlighted the more DeSantis is going to get exposed as just another member of the establishment and compared to Jeb Bush.”
The preparations are the latest sign of a bruising primary fight to come, one that could make the 2016 primary fireworks look tame in comparison. It’s a high-risk, high-reward play. The child pornography charges, for one, mirror those used by Republican Senators against then Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. And in the case of DeSantis, his contemporaries have insisted that the plea deals he signed were not unordinary.
“To make any allegation that he was soft on any kind of case, especially child pornography, is just ludicrous. It defies the logic of what I saw in the office or what my office would let happen,” Ronald Henry, a retired assistant U.S. Attorney who served as supervisor to DeSantis when he was special assistant U.S. Attorney, told POLITICO. “He wasn’t a lone wolf on his own making deals without the entire weight of the U.S. Attorney’s office overseeing what he was doing.”
Already, Trump has seen several notable defections from his camp, with former allies citing the ex-president’s “childish” antics.
“Trump was a good policy guy and I’d put him up there with Ronald Reagan on policy, but presidentially he was a disaster the way he acted, the calling people names,” said former congressman Tom Marino, who co-chaired Trump’s 2015 campaign in Pennsylvania but is now supporting DeSantis. “He’s just not a nice person…If he thinks he had trouble getting elected before, there are more and more people out there across the country who said I was for him the first time, the second time, but what’s going on and his problems I don’t think I can support him.”
Trump hasn’t waited to get started on what is expected to be a major anti-DeSantis broadside. He’s made digs at the Florida governor’s backpedaling on raising the retirement age and privatizing Social Security and Medicare, has floated unsavory questions about DeSantis’ time as a teacher in Georgia, and has considered different nicknames for the governor including “Ron Establishment” and “Tiny D,” which he told reporters he likes. For now he is settling on “Ron DeSanctimonious,” or, for short, “DeSanctus.” Trump denied he was ever considering another oft-mentioned nickname — “Meatball Ron” — and told reporters it is “too crude.”
“I’m a very loyal person,” Trump told a small group of reporters on his way to Iowa on Monday. “There’s no hostility but I think it’s a strange thing he was out of politics, he was dead…I don’t think it’s nasty. I’m a very loyal person so I don’t understand disloyalty but you do see it in politics.”
Trump even released a video on Tuesday praising past Florida governors and claiming the state was “doing fantastically” before DeSantis. “Sunshine and ocean are very alluring, it’s not too hard to work with those factors.”
The Trump campaign’s goal is to capitalize on the months before DeSantis announces by rolling out new attacklines on the Florida governor and painting him as the handpicked establishment favorite, not the heir apparent to the MAGA throne.
DeSantis himself has brushed off Trump’s attacks as mere noise.
A spokesperson for DeSantis declined to comment.
“DeSantis doesn’t need to promote himself,” Marino said. “He’s a leader. He doesn’t call people names. He doesn’t make fun of women. That’s an easy one. I truly meant Trump was a genius on policy and he really blew it. I told him about it. He knows it all.”
In public remarks, DeSantis has drawn a contrast with Trump without naming him by emphasizing his overwhelming win in 2022, noting that he doesn’t rely on polls — a favorite tool of Trump’s — to dictate decisions, and that his administration is leak free.
But the rivalry that has been simmering for months could start to boil over as the two men criss-cross the country, hob nob with donors in the wealthy enclaves of Palm Beach, and start to unveil key campaign support.
On Friday, DeSantis made two stops in Iowa as part of a tour for his book, “The Courage to be Free,” and visited Nevada on Saturday. Trump visited Iowa on Monday for a roundtable on education policy.
As DeSantis spoke to Iowans, Trump went after the Florida governor on Truth Social, taking aim at his “very small crowds,” his support for ending an ethanol mandate, and his votes on Social Security and Medicare.
DeSantis did not mention 2024 during his speech in Iowa, but his decision to visit the state that holds the first contest in the Republican nominating calendar indicated he is doing more than flirting with a run. DeSantis is not expected to make a presidential announcement until Florida’s legislative session ends in May.
DeSantis’ Iowa visit came as a new aligned group, Never Back Down PAC, launched on Thursday. That group is being led by Ken Cuccinelli, one of Trump’s former administration officials. And in a potential sign of defections to come, Marino and another former Trump booster, Lou Barletta from Pennsylvania, also announced they plan to support the committee.
Some Trump allies acknowledge DeSantis has been able to attract deep-pocketed donors and some establishment Republicans who are eager to move on from the constant chaos of Trump. They say it could be challenging for him to bring together that cohort and some of the populist, right-wing voters who have been a part of the ex-president’s base in the past.
Trump’s team has tried to drive a wedge between the two by highlighting DeSantis’ voting record in Congress on support for military involvement overseas and entitlement cuts. They’re also keen to go after DeSantis’ response to Covid, although it is unclear how potent of an attack line that will be to voters who saw thousands flock to the Sunshine State during the pandemic.
But they also plan to highlight what’s described as the “personality factor.” Trump allies say the Florida governor can be awkward and mechanical in public, and note he has largely avoided the press. To contrast that, Trump’s team organized a trip to East Palestine, Ohio to bring attention to the train derailment there and interact with residents affected by the crash. They have given local and national media opportunities to ask Trump questions, and have scheduled unannounced stops in places like McDonald’s where he can interact with the public.
Trump’s team also sees an inherent advantage within their ranks. The top lieutenants for Trump’s campaign and aligned PAC, including Susie Wiles, Jason Miller, Taylor Budowich, Justin Caporale, and Tony Fabrizio, all of whom have past experience working for DeSantis.
One of Trump’s aides noted that it was a reflection of DeSantis’ high staff turnover, although Trump himself has cycled through dozens of top aides over the years, often in very messy and public ways — a fact DeSantis has referenced. Indeed, some of Trump’s top administration officials like Haley, Pence, and Pompeo, have announced a presidential run or are actively considering it.
“You look at my administration, part of the reason we’re able to do well, they’re not leaking to the media, we don’t have palace intrigue, we don’t have any drama. It’s just execution every single day, and we end up beating the left every single day for four years,” DeSantis said in Des Moines.
When asked by POLITICO at the recent CPAC gathering what that might say about his own leadership, Trump described his former cabinet officials as “ambitious” and said he was “proud” of their accomplishments working under him. “The more the merrier,” he added of them entering the campaign.
Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report from Davenport, Iowa.
[ad_2]
#Trump #prepares #extensive #opposition #file #Ron #DeSanctimonious
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“He has denied meeting and document requests, skirted congressional oversight attempts, and refused to answer any of the serious questions we have asked,” Sanders said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Mr. Schultz has given us no choice, but to subpoena him.”
The Senate HELP Committee, which Sanders leads, will vote on the subpoena March 8.
It will also vote on whether to authorize an investigation into “major corporations’ labor law violations,” according to the statement from Sanders’ office.
The votes will be followed by a hearing on union organizing that will include testimony from several labor leaders, among them AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler.
Starbucks last month declined to have Schultz testify for a hearing scheduled March 9. Sanders and committee Democrats asked him to speak about the company’s compliance with federal labor law and its treatment of pro-union workers.
Starbucks offered its chief public affairs officer and executive vice president, AJ Jones, in lieu of Schultz, citing the CEO’s planned departure from the helm of the coffee chain.
[ad_2]
#Sanders #prepares #subpoena #Starbucks #CEO #face #questions #labor #practices
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
In December, lawmakers appropriated $858 billion in national defense funding — $45 billion more than Biden sought. That included $817 billion for the Pentagon, and billions more for nuclear weapons development through the Energy Department and other national security programs.
At the time, it was the most the U.S. had ever spent on the Defense Department, reflecting the Pentagon’s efforts to simultaneously counter the threat from Russia, keep pace with China’s growing technological advantage, modernize aging arsenals and fight inflation.
But the outlook for Biden’s Pentagon budget is increasingly uncertain now that Republicans have taken over the House, where a partisan fight is brewing over the nation’s debt limit. With just four months to go until the Treasury Department could run out of ways to stave off a default, Republican lawmakers have demanded deep spending cuts — including potentially defense — in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
Republicans have yet to rally around a specific set of conditions to raise the debt limit, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has voiced support for capping spending at fiscal 2022 levels. If the Pentagon is not spared from those cuts, reverting to last year’s budget levels would amount to a nearly $75 billion cut across the board — roughly 10 percent.
There are deep divisions within the Republican Party on the issue of potential defense cuts. Many hawkish members have sought to quash any talk of reducing the Pentagon’s budget, instead looking to make cuts to non-military programs. Defense boosters are actually eyeing another increase this year of up to 5 percent to mitigate the effects of inflation and meet threats from Moscow and Beijing.
But a small but vocal faction of budget hardliners in the GOP conference is hellbent on cutting defense spending — and even some, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), oppose continued aid to Ukraine. Those lawmakers will be hard to win over.
The parallels between the current situation and the debate that led to automatic cuts known as sequestration 12 years ago are not lost on McCord. In 2011, Republicans had just taken over control of the House and were demanding spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The crisis ended in the Budget Control Act, which forced hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts over the next 10 years.
This time, lawmakers will have to make tough choices about which parts of the defense budget to cut, McCord said.
“You are going to have to face the harder question of what is it that you want to do less? Do you want to have fewer people? Do you want to have fewer ships? Fewer airplanes? Smaller pay raises? That’s where the money is in the defense budget,” he said.
Although it’s not certain defense cuts will be part of a budget deal, McCarthy has strongly hinted the Pentagon could be on the chopping block. He told Fox News in January that the Defense Department could “be more efficient,” and even identified some potential targets that would be popular among his party:
“Eliminate all the money spent on ‘wokeism,’” he said, referring to DoD personnel policies aimed at diversity, inclusion and climate change put into effect during the Biden administration. “Eliminate all the money [they are spending] trying to find different fuels.”
But McCord said the amounts saved from cutting those types of programs would be miniscule.
“I’m not aware that anybody knows the number … but you would need a super telescope,” McCord said.
As for spending on alternative fuels, McCord said that’s already well under 1 percent of the Pentagon’s total budget.
He chastised Republicans for what he called a “complete reversal of the last two years” of calling for bigger defense budgets.
“It would appear to be largely the same people saying, ‘well, now it should be smaller,’” he said. “It is puzzling to me that the message we’ve gotten from Congress the last few years was in one direction, for a robust budget, and in both years they added to our request.”
Lawmakers have consistently voted to boost defense spending on a bipartisan basis, noted defense budget expert Todd Harrison, the managing director at Metrea Strategic Insights. But he also acknowledged the role that budget hawks will play.
“Everything is uncertain until Congress figures out how they are gonna resolve this standoff over the debt ceiling,” Harrison said. “The problem is that Biden can negotiate all he wants with McCarthy, but it’s not clear McCarthy can deliver the votes in the House.”
The possibility of spending cuts and even defaulting on the nation’s debt adds to a dangerous environment of uncertainty at the Pentagon, McCord said.
“If we started missing payments, there’s no free get out of jail card,” McCord said, of the possibility of default. “There is no exact playbook for this. So there is a certain extra layer of uncertainty and of course, the stakes are bigger.”
Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
#Biden #prepares #largest #Pentagon #budget #history #spending #cuts #loom
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Now, Trump’s political apparatus is preparing to follow suit with its own offensive.
Over the next several weeks, the super PAC’s officials are expected to travel to the four early nominating states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada — to test out possible lines of attack against DeSantis and a handful of other potential rivals before focus groups. The Trump-aligned organization, MAGA, Inc., has begun drafting messages that could be used to undercut opponents, which it says are based on extensive opposition research.
While the super PAC’s early focus has largely been on DeSantis, officials say its research effort has been expanded to include other prospective candidates. And those involved are not ruling out the possibility of airing early ads targeting Trump’s opponents, potentially before the end of March. The super PAC has hired a media buyer and has begun looking into the cost of running commercials in early primary states, according to a person familiar with the group’s activities. It is also expected to set up a “war room” based in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Trump’s campaign has also set up its headquarters in West Palm Beach, near where the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located.)
Budowich, who heads the pro-Trump super PAC, did not specify an exact date for when the group would start airing ads. In a statement, he said that “MAGA Inc., through deep opposition research, tested messages, and a significant war chest, is building a GOP primary guillotine that will welcome every challenger with swift and decisive force.”
A DeSantis spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But on Tuesday, the governor took a rare swing at Trump, arguing that his landslide reelection win this past November in Florida showed that voters approved of his light-touch approach to handling the pandemic.
“The good thing is, is that the people are able to render a judgment on that whether they reelect you or not,” DeSantis told reporters during a press conference when asked about Trump’s recent attacks. “And I’m happy to say — you know in my case — not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has had in the history of the state of Florida. … That verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida.”
With polls showing Trump and DeSantis leading the field in the early-voting states, some people in the former president’s orbit have privately expressed a desire for Trump’s super PAC to begin going after the Florida governor.
The group has substantial resources at its disposal: Fundraising efforts did not begin until 2023, but upon its launch last year, MAGA Inc. was seeded with $55 million, much of it transferred from Trump’s political action committee, Save America. (Super PAC officials downplayed expectations for a campaign finance report due Tuesday evening, which will cover fundraising for the final weeks of 2022.)
Now, the super PAC is looking to build its war chest further, and it is planning to hold its first fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 23. Organizers are describing the event as a “candlelight dinner,” that will be attended by the former president. The super PAC has brought on Meredith O’Rourke, a veteran Republican fundraiser, to oversee its finance efforts and has begun hiring a team of regional fundraisers.
Raising major funds, however, may not prove easy for Trump. Some of Trump’s top donors from 2020, such as hedge fund executive Stephen Schwarzman, have expressed a desire to move on from the former president. Others have also been supportive of DeSantis.
And some big donors appear likely to sit out the 2024 GOP primary entirely. Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson who has recently dined with Trump and was his biggest financial supporter in 2020, has made clear she has no plans to get involved in the nominating fight.
[ad_2]
#Trump #big #money #machine #prepares #battle #DeSantis #rivals
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Hyderabad: Till a few weeks ago, political pundits in Telangana were hardly taking note of Y. S. Sharmila but today she has emerged as a serious player who can no longer be ignored.
The alleged attack by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) activists to stop her state-wide padyatra in November shows that the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) has become a thorn in the flesh for the ruling party.
Sharmila’s detention after the attack on her padyatra, her subsequent attempt to stage a protest at Chief Minister KCR’s residence in Hyderabad, her dramatic arrest with a car with Sharmila sitting inside being towed away by the police and her hunger strike to protest hurdles being created by the BRS government in the resumption of her padyatra all helped her to capture public attention.
Political observers say Sharmila succeeded in gaining sympathy in some sections by portraying herself as a woman who is at the receiving end for questioning the KCR government.
The daughter of former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has drawn the ire of the BRS by launching a bitter attack on its ministers, MLAs and MPs during the padyatra. Her verbal attacks provoked BRS leaders, triggering strong protests and even physical attacks.
When Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy floated the YSRTP in 2021, not many took her seriously. The BJP and the Congress had dubbed her the arrow of KCR to divide the anti-incumbency votes, especially the votes of the powerful Reddy community.
Interestingly, Sharmila’s foray into Telangana politics was not liked by her brother who wants to confine himself to Andhra Pradesh. She, however, received support of her mother Vijayamma, who last year resigned as the honorary president of the YSRCP.
Last month, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan condemned the manner in which Sharmila was arrested and several BJP leaders expressed solidarity with her.
There were reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called her but she refused to answer queries about it. All this prompted the BRS leaders including KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha to dub her a BJP plant in the state.
Sharmila, however, claims that the YSRTP is the only party that is fighting on behalf of the people of Telangana. She said both the Congress and the BJP failed to expose the failures and corruption of KCR.
The YSRTP leader even submitted ‘documentary proof’ of corruption in the Kaleshwaram project to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“YSR Telangana Party is today a threat to KCR and his BRS and they have bitterly turned against us. If you are not scared of the changing public mood and the growing strength of our party, why these attacks,” she asked.
In October 2021, she embarked on a padyatra like her late father YSR, who had undertaken a walkathon in then united Andhra Pradesh in 2003 and led the Congress party back to power in 2004.
She has been constantly reassuring people that Rajanna Rajyam or the golden era welfare of the late YSR would be brought back, if the party was voted to power.
Sharmila has already covered over 3500 km and is set to resume the walkathon this week from Warangal district where it was stopped by BRS supporters on November 28, 2022.
The YSRTP is yet to attract major leaders from other parties. A couple of days ago, former MP from Khammam and BRS leader Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy met her, triggering speculation that he will switch loyalties to the YSRTP.
Sharmila has already announced that she will contest elections from Palair, one of the Assembly segments of Khammam Lok Sabha constituency. Ever since launching the YSRTP, she has been focusing on Khammam district, which is located on the border with Andhra Pradesh.
According to political analysts, she chose Palair as it is considered a soft seat for a debut. The party will be looking to capitalize on the advantages Khammam district offers with the strong social and cultural influence of Andhra Pradesh.
As her evangelist husband Anil Kumar hails from Telangana, Sharmila calls herself a daughter-in-law of Telangana to counter those calling her non-local.
However, analysts say as Telangana sentiment is not going to be strong this time and the TRS itself becoming BRS to expand to other states including Andhra Pradesh, Sharmila and her party may not face any adverse campaign by those who see it as an Andhra party.
Dianne Feinstein, the 89-year-old who served as California senator for three decades, has yet to announce her retirement. But the contest to succeed her in two years is already shaping into a bitter battle.
After months of shadow campaigning and whispered political leveraging, earlier this month, Katie Porter – the whiteboard-wielding progressive congresswoman – became the first to officially declare her candidacy. Barbara Lee, the old-school leftist with an ardent antiwar record, has reportedly told colleagues she is running. Adam Schiff, icon of the anti-Trump liberal resistance, has reportedly begun prepping for a run. Silicon valley congressman Ro Khanna is expected to jump in as well.
In California’s open primary system, it’s possible, and likely, that two Democrats will face-off in the 2024 Senate race. Until then, voters may need to brace for what is sure to be a protracted, pricey two years of campaigning.
And we’re likely to see an “avalanche” of candidates to come, said Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University.
Porter’s early announcement drew criticism for coming not only before Feinstein had announced her retirement, but also amid a spate of severe storms in California. Following Porter’s announcement, Schiff pointedly used his campaign fundraising list to raise money for flood victims.
Katie Porter reads a book in the House Chamber during the fourth day of Speaker elections. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
But Porter’s declaration also earned praise, for publicly owning up to the political plots that many ambitious California lawmakers have so far been devising in the dark. Concerns about Feinstein’s cognition and fitness to serve have been circulating for years, and quite a few candidates have been eyeing her seat for just as long.
“The sooner you can get out the door and start talking to donors and consolidate support, the stronger you’ll be,” Schiller said. Porter already had $8m in her campaign war chest after beating back a Republican challenger in her competitive Orange county district, south-east of Los Angeles and managed to raise more than a million in the first day after announcing her run for Feinstein’s seat. Schiff has nearly $21m.
Meanwhile Lee, a beloved Bay Area politician who has served in congress since 1998, hasn’t had to do a lot of fundraising so far. She’s got just over $50,000 on reserve. In a state that is dominated by the Democratic party, the ultimate victor could boil down to who has the most funding. And how each candidate manages to differentiate themselves from fellow lawmakers who ultimately agree on most major policy decisions.
Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference with other members on the Inflation Reduction Act. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
“They’re not going to run on very slight policy differences,” Schiller said.“They’re going to run on who will be the strongest, most energetic – and they will use that word, energetic – advocate for the state of California.”
Porter, who is a protege of senator Elizabeth Warren (and has already been endorsed by the senator) has built a reputation as a sharp interrogator at congressional hearings, and staunch defender of women’s rights. Her victories in purple Orange county will also have trained her to persevere in politically chequered California.
Meanwhile, Schiff became a household name after serving as lead impeachment manager pursuing Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. While Schiff has earned the ire of criminal justice and immigrant rights advocates in California for his “tough on crime” record as a California legislator prior to being elected to Congress, he will likely be received as a more centrist and moderate alternative to the more leftist contenders.
Adam Schiff speaks to members of the media after final hearing of the January 6 panel. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Lee, the only member of both chambers of Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force after 9/11, can rely on her unwavering progressive record. “I can personally attest to her courageous, bold, principled stances,” said Aimee Allison, president and founder of She the People, an organisation aimed at boosting the political power of women of colour.
In the Bay Area, which has historically been the state’s political powerhouse and produced a spate of governors and senators including House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Feinstein, governor Gavin Newsom and vice-president Kamala Harris, Lee has strong support and has earned her bonafides working with the Black Panthers, then as a lawmaker pushing to limit defense spending, enacting gun control measures, climate legislation and protections for women’s rights.
When Newsom was considering whom to appoint to the Senate seat vacated by Harris, Lee was a top contender. Now Allison and many other Californians are hoping to see a Black woman ascend to the Senate – at a time when there are none in the chamber. “Black women are the drivers of so many Democratic wins throughout the country at every level,” Allison said. That they aren’t represented at all in the Senate “is a travesty”, she said.
Ro Khanna questions the panel during a House Committee on oversight and reform hearing. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock
It’s still unclear whether Khanna will run against Lee if she declares – having hinted that he might make way for his fellow Bay Area progressive if she runs. Khanna, who has positioned himself to run for either Senate or the presidency in recent years with political tours around the US, has branded himself as someone who can bridge populism and the big tech that dominates his Silicon Valley district.
Other potential contenders will make themselves known soon. Markedly missing from the field so far is a Latino candidate, in a state where 40% of residents are Latinx. Alex Padilla, the state’s junior senator, is the first Latino senator elected from California.
Some politicos think Newsom himself may declare a run – even as others speculate that he is positioning himself for a presidential run.
Feinstein still hasn’t said she’ll retire. But since Porter announced, “we’re all focused on the Senate race of 2024 – you can’t put that back in the box”, Allison said. “So the people who are serious about running for Senate – they’ve got to get started.”
[ad_2]
#Senate #musical #chairs #California #prepares #political #battle #Feinstein #vacancy
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
The industry is bracing for “some pretty intense regulation,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, whose members include landlords. “They need to be very cautious about what they’re doing,” said Howard, who was one of a handful of industry representatives at a November White House meeting on tenant protections. “There’s a real chance of creating a problem that doesn’t exist.”
With a possible recession looming, the Biden administration will be looking for ways to provide relief to cash-strapped Americans suffering from a higher cost of living. Since the U.S. House is now under Republican control, the kind of sweeping economic legislation enacted during the last two years is off the table.
Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are leaning on the administration to go big by curbing rent increases at millions of units in properties with government-backed mortgages – a long-shot move the White House is not seriously weighing, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.
“People can’t afford to live,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who spearheaded a letter last week with Warren calling on President Joe Biden to issue an executive action limiting rent hikes in properties backed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage financiers. “We want to push the president as far as possible to lighten the burden of rent on everyday people.”
Democrats want the administration to enact new restrictions on rent hikes and punish landlords they accuse of price-gouging — “not just principles, not just guidelines, but what can the president do through executive action to lighten the burden on people and put more money in their pockets,” Bowman said in an interview.
The White House declined to comment on the specifics of potential new regulations, pointing to a statement it released last week in response to the letter from Democrats.
“We are exploring a broad set of administrative actions that further our commitment to ensuring a fair and affordable market for renters across the nation,” spokesperson Robyn Patterson said. “We look forward to continuing to work with lawmakers to strengthen tenant protections and improve rental affordability.”
While rent is still driving up overall inflation — thanks in part to a data lag in the official inflation gauge — the national median rent has fallen for four straight months, according to the latest data from Apartment List. New lease demand plummeted in the second half of 2022, when the net demand for apartments fell into negative territory for the first time since 2009, according to an analysis by RealPage Market Analytics.
“Complicating this process isn’t good at any time in the market cycle,” said Greg Brown, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Apartment Association. “But we’re in the fourth straight month of rent declines. I think things are adjusting again, so it does raise the question, are they responding to a situation of three to four months ago, not what is currently happening or will be happening in the near future?”
The association and 10 other industry groups urged Biden to resist pressure to lay new federal requirements on top of existing regulations and said that doing so would “further exacerbate affordability challenges,” in a letter last month.
Even as demand eases, the market is about to see a surge in supply – portending additional price cuts. More apartment units are currently under construction than at any point since 1970.
“A lot of rental supply is going to be completing in 2023 — we’re going to see more completions than we have in 40-plus years,” said Jay Parsons, chief economist at RealPage, a property management software provider. “The balance of power really has shifted toward renters — they’re going to have more options, more competitive pricing and better deals.”
Bowman and tenant advocates argue that modest declines in rents – the national median fell 0.8 percent in December – barely make a dent in tenants’ expenses after the eye-popping gains of the last few years.
Even after falling from its July peak, the median asking price in November was still 20.9 percent higher than it was at the same time in 2019, before the pandemic struck, according to the latest monthly rent report from Realtor.com. About 53 percent of tenants said their rent had increased by more than $100 per month over the last year, according to the latest Household Pulse survey by the Census Bureau.
Rent was increasing even before Covid, Bowman said, adding that many of his constituents spend over half their income on housing.
“The cooling effect in the market isn’t meaningfully changing conditions for tenants,” said Tara Raghuveer, director of the Homes Guarantee campaign at People’s Action. Raghuveer also attended the November White House meeting.
“The rent is still too damn high,” she said.
[ad_2]
#White #House #prepares #tenant #protections #alarming #housing #industry
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
