Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. economy slowed down in the first quarter. That isn’t a surprise, but considering the stimulus hitting the economy it counts as disappointment.”
Pompeo Still Doesn’t Have Votes for Confirmation
Jonathan Swan: “If Paul and Flake vote no, they’ll need two red state Democrats to vote yes. They’ve already got Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Republicans involved tell me they’re optimistic about getting Joe Manchin (D-WV), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Joe Donnelly (D-IN).”
“The Pompeo confirmation process has been revealing — and has shown the White House how difficult it will be for Trump to get anybody confirmed should he fire any more cabinet secretaries. It was only a little over a year ago that the Senate voted 66-32 to confirm Pompeo as CIA chief; and now his vote is down to the wire.”
Inside One of America’s Ugliest Political Feuds
New York Times: “The idea of Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo ever collaborating on anything seems almost unfathomable nearly 16 years later. The two Democrats are now engaged in a feud so nasty, petty and prolonged that even in the cutthroat politics of New York, few can remember ever seeing anything quite like it. The two men have sparred over substance, silliness and everything in between: public housing and private workout routines, homelessness and topless women in Times Square, taxing millionaires and euthanizing a deer, a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and state troop deployments, schools, snowstorms and the subways — even naps.”
GOP Implodes Again for McCaskill
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “is up for reelection. And, like clockwork, the Republican Party of Missouri is in complete turmoil again,” Politico reports.
“McCaskill won a second term term in 2012 when GOP Rep. Todd Akin’s campaign imploded in the wake of his comments about “legitimate rape.” Now, Republicans worry GOP Gov. Eric Greitens’ mounting scandals will inundate McCaskill’s likely Republican opponent, state Attorney General Josh Hawley, and bestow another term on one of the most endangered incumbent senators in the country.”
Supreme Court to Hear Travel Ban Case
“The Supreme Court has so far had little to say about Donald Trump’s time as president, even as the nation has moved from one Trump controversy to another. That’s about to change,” the AP reports.
“The justices’ first deep dive into a Trump administration policy comes in a dispute over the third and latest version of the administration’s ban on travel from some countries with majority Muslim populations. Opponents of the policy and some lower courts have labeled it a ‘Muslim ban,’ harking back to Trump’s campaign call to keep Muslims from entering the country.”
Washington Post: “It is the first time the court has considered the merits of a policy that has consumed the administration since its start, and raises deep questions about the judiciary’s role in national security issues usually left to the political branches.”
Ryan’s Ex-Driver Becomes Frontrunner to Replace Him
Associated Press: “A former driver for House Speaker Paul Ryan who has been active in Wisconsin Republican politics for years announced Sunday he is running to succeed Ryan in Congress. Bryan Steil, an attorney from Ryan’s hometown of Janesville and a member of the UW Board of Regents, becomes the likely Republican front-runner after the field of better-known potential candidates cleared for his entry.”
Hillary Clinton Will Star In GOP Midterm Plan
Fox News: “Clinton is starring in the Republican Party’s 2018 midterm strategy. With no Democrat to attack in the White House for the first time in nearly a decade, Republicans are betting big that the ghost of Clinton will serve them well in 2018.”
“Even if she avoids the spotlight moving forward, the Republican Party plans to evoke her early and often in key congressional races, particularly in regions Trump won, which feature most of the midterm season’s competitive races.”
“Internal polling and focus groups conducted by Republican campaigns find that Clinton remains one of the most unpopular high-profile Democrats in the nation, second only to Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader.”
Conway Takes on Greater Communications Role
“Kellyanne Conway has never actually wanted the job of White House communications director, according to sources who’ve discussed it with her, but Axios has learned that she left many in the White House communications team this week with the impression that she’d be leading the team in some capacity.”
“She told the staff that the President had asked her to take a more active role in communications. She didn’t directly address any of the communications director speculation but many in the room were left with the impression that she’d be taking a leadership role going forward.”
White House Fears VA Secretary Will Get Denied
Jonathan Swan: “Senior administration officials and senators from both parties on the Veterans Affairs Committee are growing increasingly concerned about Ronny Jackson’s prospects to be confirmed as Trump’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs.”
“In fact, Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly thought it was unwise for Trump to nominate Jackson so quickly without going through all the due diligence that a normal cabinet nomination process would involve. Though since then, I’m told Kelly has aggressively defended Jackson.”
Hannity Linked to Shell Companies that Spent $90M
Fox News host Sean Hannity “is linked to a group of shell companies that have spent $90 million buying hundreds of homes across the U.S through the help of foreclosures and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development,” the Guardian reports.
Axios: “Some of the property purchases were financed utilizing mortgage assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development — and Hannity was a vocal supporter of Ben Carson to head the agency without disclosing that connection. These revelations surrounding Hannity’s property holdings highlight the ethical issues between his journalistic work and his personal entanglements with the Trump administration.”
GOP Increasingly Turns to Inexperienced Candidates
Political scientist Matt Grossmann notes that Republican House open seat primaries are increasingly favoring inexperienced candidates.
Clyburn Backs Leadership Shakeup If Democrats Fail
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) says this year’s midterm election is the last shot for the current Democratic leadership, Politico reports.
Said Clyburn: “If we’re still in the minority, all of us have got to go.”
Playbook: “Clyburn has been at the leadership table for years. He is now the only member of House Democratic leadership who has voiced what many have said behind-the-scenes: that if Dems can’t win in November it’s time for new leadership. Many Democrats complain privately that even if they take the House, it is time for Nancy Pelosi and her team to step aside and make way for the next generation.”
Collins Slams Comey for ‘Cashing In’ with Book Deal
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) slammed former FBI Director James Comey for releasing his memoir during the ongoing Russia probe, saying she worries the book could interfere with the investigations, NBC News reports.
Said Collins: “I cannot imagine why an FBI director would seek to essentially cash in on a book when the investigation is very much alive. He should have waited to do his memoir.”
Delaney Already Campaigning Hard In Early States
Politico: “The first presidential contests of 2020 are nearly two years away, but for one Democrat the campaign is already in full swing. John Delaney — a wealthy, little-known congressman from Maryland — has spent more than $1 million on TV in Iowa, hired staffers and opened a campaign office in Des Moines.”
“Since announcing his bid last July, he’s made 110 campaign stops in 48 of Iowa’s 99 counties. He has visited New Hampshire six times, and on Friday made his second trek to South Carolina.”
McCaskill Holds Edge In Missouri
A new Missouri Scout poll finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) holding a slight edge over her likely challenger Josh Hawley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 44% with another 8% undecided.
Budget Committees Are Not Doing Their Job
Stan Collender: “It’s fairly typical for the House and Senate to miss the April 15 deadline set in federal law for Congress to adopt the budget for the coming year.”
“But what’s not typical is what’s happening now: The GOP-controlled House and Senate Budget Committees are flatly refusing to comply with the law (and fulfill their only real statutory responsibility) by not even trying to do a budget for the fiscal year that starts this October 1.”
“Yes, you read that right. The House and Senate Budget Committees only have one job — to adopt a budget resolution — and this year they are unwilling, incapable or just stomping their feet and refusing to do what the Congressional Budget Act specifically requires of them.”
Presidential Candidates Collecting IOUs for 2020
NBC News: “Barack Obama didn’t pull off one of the greatest political upsets of the century alone. He beat Hillary Clinton in 2008 with a little help from friends he made on the campaign trail two years earlier when he was a senator stumping for Democrats around the country in the midterms.”
“Today, with a potential midterm wave building, the 2020 presidential race is off to a rolling start as a host of potential Democratic candidates look to help themselves by helping others, quietly stepping up their political work to curry favor with key party members ahead of what could be a presidential primary contest with a double digit number of hopefuls competing.”
Quote of the Day
“The day Trump announced he was running, I admitted to a couple of Times editors that I’d watched eight seasons of The Apprentice and that we should do a story about it. They told me political reporters wouldn’t be writing about Trump. ‘We have enough candidates to cover,’ one editor said. ‘Let the TV writers do it.'”
— Amy Chozick, in her new book Chasing Hillary.