Daily Archives
28 posts · Monday
“The nation’s oldest U.S. senator looks like she’s sticking around. California’s Dianne Feinstein turns 84 on Thursday and is displaying signs that she’s headed for a re-election campaign, not a retirement party,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
“While the Democrat has been coy when asked about seeking a fifth full term next year, her political committee, unambiguously titled Feinstein for Senate 2018, raised more than $650,000 in the first three months of this year in a cue she is looking ahead.”
First Read: “In keeping with how off the conventional wisdom has often been — who saw Ed Gillespie having a closer primary in Virginia than Ralph Northam did? — it’s entirely possible that tomorrow’s special runoff in could have a more surprising outcome than GA-6. Ask yourself: What could produce bigger political shockwaves: Ossoff winning by two points in GA-6, or Archie Parnell (D) giving favorite Ralph Norman (R) a fight of his life in the race to fill OMB Director Mick Mulvaney’s congressional seat? (Mulvaney got nearly 60% of the vote in 2016.) “
“I’ll tell you what: I think the shooting is going to win this election for us. Because moderates and independents in this district are tired of left-wing extremism.”
— Brad Carver, GOP chairman in Georgia’s 11th congressional district, quoted by the Washington Post.
“Democrats are seeking to capitalize on President Trump calling the Republican health care bill ‘mean‘ ahead of the Senate’s vote to repeal Obamacare, seeing it as a pivotal moment in an issue that could drive the 2018 midterm elections,” Politico reports.
“Democrats see the health care fight as more potent than an investigation into potential collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice — and a possibly defining gaffe for commercials, according to aides. Hitting Republicans in the House for a bill that ‘even Trump said was mean’ is particularly satisfying for Democrats, considering the president celebrated its passage in the Rose Garden.”
Jonathan Swan: “Sources close to Mitch McConnell tell me the Majority Leader is dead serious about forcing a Senate vote on the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill before the July 4 holiday.”
“Some senators want to delay the vote but McConnell views that as delaying the inevitable. There are no mysteries about what the toughest disagreements are over — Medicaid funding and insurance market regulations.”
“This week is crucial: the Senate won’t vote without a CBO score, which means they need to finalize negotiations this week.”
“Alarmed by the stalemate on healthcare reform, lack of progress on tax reform and appropriations bills that are far behind schedule, Republican lawmakers across Congress are increasingly willing to consider cancelling the month-long August recess,” The Hill reports.
“Senate Republican negotiators reported that they are not close to a deal on healthcare reform and that scheduling a vote by July 4, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pushed, is likely unrealistic. That impasse has held up work on a budget resolution, which is necessary to move tax reform and the annual appropriations bills.”
“Once Republicans vote on a budget resolution for 2018, it will wipe out the special vehicle they plan to use to pass healthcare reform with a simple majority vote — a vehicle that was set up by the budget resolution for 2017.”
Politico: “Democrats are closer than they ever could have imagined to winning a House seat in the Republican suburbs of Atlanta, and dealing a resounding blow to Donald Trump. But they’re also gripped by anxiety about what happens if they fall short Tuesday. A loss in Georgia’s special election here could leave the party demoralized, with little to show for all the furious organizing, fundraising and spending in a handful of congressional special elections in the early months of the Trump administration.”
“As a result, Democrats are now straining to throw everything they have at Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District to push Jon Ossoff over the top against Republican Karen Handel, aiming to prove they can win the suburban districts that may pave the way to a House majority in 2018.”
Stu Rothenberg: “Democratic strategists may hate the idea that they must win the June 20 special election in Georgia’s 6th District, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
New York Times: “Representatives of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, have quietly contacted high-powered criminal lawyers about potentially representing him in the wide-ranging investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election.”
“Some of Mr. Kushner’s allies have raised questions about the link between his current lawyer, Jamie S. Gorelick, and Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel appointed to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, according to one of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity.”
“Every president has regular contact with key Cabinet members, but Trump, who remains deeply mistrustful of career agency officials, has turned the White House into a hangout for his chosen department heads. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met with the president at least 34 times since he was confirmed in February,” Politico reports.
“Senior aides say Trump demands facetime with his appointees in part because he doesn’t trust bureaucrats who do the day-to-day work of the federal government. The president shuns them as tools of what he often refers to as the ‘deep state,’ and blames them for the frequent, unflattering news stories coming from his White House, according to two White House aides. But for Trump’s Cabinet members, proximity is a plus. Being physically present at the White House ensures that they have a say in policymaking — and serves as an indication of status with the president.”
Jonathan Rauch: “Nixon’s second-term approval started strong, in the high sixties, but plummeted as Watergate revelations emerged. By the time the Senate Watergate hearings began, in May of 1973, his ratings were under 50 percent. By the time of the Saturday Night Massacre, in October of 1973, his approval was mired in the mid-twenties, never to recover.”
“Still, Nixon held onto office for more than 17 months after his ratings sank below 50 percent, and for more than nine months after they sank into the twenties. Being loathed by the American public, and being widely and correctly perceived to be a criminal, did not do him in for a long time.”
“The reason was that the critical variable was not overall approval but Republican approval. Removal either by impeachment or under the 25th Amendment, the two mechanisms available, requires a 67-vote Senate supermajority (unless a president is too incapacitated to serve). As a result, even though Democrats controlled Congress in 1974, Nixon could not be removed without Republican legislators’ support.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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