The Hill: “As many as 20 Republicans are taking a serious look at running for the White House in 2016. A handful of candidates have moved aggressively into the field, and others are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks, with several announcements expected in April.”
Conservatives Angry After Boehner Allies Attack
“Conservatives are seething after an outside group aligned with Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting a trio of Republican lawmakers over threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security,” The Hill reports.
“Tea Party Rep. Steve King (R-IA) equated the attack ads to GOP ‘cannibalism,’ while his conservative colleague Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) called them a ‘stupid’ tactic that would backfire.”
Senate Republicans Won’t Touch Medicare Reform
“Facing a difficult election map in 2016, Senate Republicans are steering clear of entitlement reform changes that their House counterparts are demanding,” The Hill reports.
“Republicans in both chambers unveiled budgets earlier this week, with an eye towards negotiating a single fiscal plan in April. But while both budgets would balance within a decade by making trillions of dollars in cuts, their approach to Medicare is markedly different.”
Start Your Political Job Hunt
An instant download: Political Job Hunt: An Insider’s Guide to Finding a Job That Makes a Difference.
Don’t forget to check the latest job listings too!
‘Shoot the Gays’ Measure May Make Ballot in California
The San Francisco Chronicle reports an extreme anti-gay initiative may make the ballot in California.
The measure declares it is “better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath,” it would require that anyone who touches a person of the same gender for sexual gratification be put to death by “bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”
“The measure would also make it a crime, punishable by 10 years in prison and permanent expulsion from the state, to advocate gay rights to an audience that includes minors. It specifies that its constitutionality can be judged only by a state Supreme Court that has been purged of LGBT justices and their advocates. And it authorizes private citizens to step in as executioners if the state fails to act within a year.”
Where Does Clinton Stand on Trade?
Hillary Clinton “has yet to show her hand on whether she supports the latest effort to pass “fast track” trade promotion authority, but that could happen as soon as Monday morning when she takes the stage with prominent labor leaders at a Washington event put on by a liberal-leaning political think tank,” Politico reports.
“What she says there — or in coming weeks — could improve or imperil her position with unions, Democratic colleagues in Congress, the business community and the sitting president.”
Scott Walker Drops His Accent
New York Times: “The classic Upper Midwest accent — nasal and full of flat a’s — is one of several Walker trademarks to have fallen away this month after an intense period of strategizing and coaching designed to help Mr. Walker capitalize on his popularity in early polls and show that he is not some provincial politician out of his depth.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I think there’ll be a lot of Democrats there paying good money to see me get beaten up.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by MSNBC, on his charity boxing match against former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.
Sanders Relaunches Website
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has relaunched his campaign website in a way that makes it look like he’s going to be running a national campaign.
Cashing In on Political Intelligence
Businessweek looks at the “shadowy” business of political intelligence — “gathering inside information on executive, legislative, and regulatory developments and selling it to Wall Street investors, who pay large sums to keep abreast of what’s going on behind the headlines and trade on it before anyone else.”
“It’s clear such information is valuable. An August 2014 paper by two finance professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that hedge funds which hired Washington lobbyists ‘gained an informational advantage in trading politically sensitive stocks’ and outperformed funds that didn’t by 63 to 87 basis points per month… Is it legal? That’s a murkier question.”
Feds Launch Probe Into Schock’s Spending
“The FBI and the federal prosecutors in Illinois are investigating whether Rep. Aaron Schock broke the law in accounting for campaign expenses,” CNN reports.
“Schock in recent days announced plans to resign, citing controversy surrounding allegations that he improperly accounted for travel and other contributions from donors and reimbursements for campaign use of a personal car. But the probe managed by prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Springfield, Ill., means his legal troubles are just beginning.”
A person familiar with the case tells the Associated Press that the Justice Department is formally investigating whether Schock “committed crimes with his office expenditures and business dealings.”
Quote of the Day
“I’m the candidate. And my views are the ones that matter.”
— Rick Perry (R), quoted by the Des Moines Register, forgetting that he’s not officially said he’s a candidate for president when asked about the views of his aides.
McConnell Blocked Just As Often By His Own Party
“When he became majority leader, propelled by sweeping Republican victories last year, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to run a more productive and traditional Senate than his Democratic predecessor, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada,” the New York Times reports.
“In some ways, that has come to pass. Democrats have been given greater opportunity to amend bills than Republicans had when Mr. Reid had a majority. Mr. McConnell promised there would be no government shutdown, and he averted one over funding the Department of Homeland Security. And, occasionally, senators now have to work on Fridays. But when it comes to the central role of a Senate leader — getting things done — Mr. McConnell has been impeded by internal struggles in his party and the hostility that awaits him across the aisle.”
Israeli Politics Complicates Clinton’s Emerging Campaign
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in this week’s Israeli elections has reverberated through American politics, reinforcing Republican faith in the political wisdom of a hawkish foreign policy, worsening his relationship with President Obama, and energizing liberal critics of Israel’s government. But mostly it has complicated the life of Hillary Clinton,” the New York Times reports.
“As she moves closer to making her campaign for president official, Mrs. Clinton now faces a deepening polarization among Jewish Democrats over Mr. Netanyahu and how the United States should deal with his government.”
Boehner Takes On Conservatives
Over the next week, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) plans “to jam two big-ticket items through the House — a show of strength for a leadership team stung by a string a defeats and facing doubts about whether it even can govern,” Politico reports.
“First, to get a budget approved, the Republican leaders intend to employ a parliamentary maneuver to boost defense spending by $20 billion without any corresponding spending cuts. They’re betting the move will help break a stalemate between fiscal hardliners and defense hawks. Within days of that, the GOP leaders will try to pass a permanent fix to the ‘Sustainable Growth Rate,’ a formula by which the federal government reimburses doctors who serve Medicare patients.”
Clinton Foundation Tapped Foreign Donors
“The Clinton Foundation swore off donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. That didn’t stop the foundation from raising millions of dollars from foreigners with connections to their home governments, a review of foundation disclosures shows,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“All told, more than a dozen foreign individuals and their foundations and companies were large donors to the Clinton Foundation in the years after Mrs. Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, collectively giving between $34 million and $68 million, foundation records show.”
McConnell Begins Campaign to Thwart Obama Rules
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “has begun an aggressive campaign to block President Obama’s climate change agenda in statehouses and courtrooms across the country, arenas far beyond Mr. McConnell’s official reach and authority,” the New York Times reports.
“The campaign of Mr. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is aimed at stopping a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations requiring states to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Campaign Staffers Are Targets Too
Politico: “The cross hairs are no longer trained solely on the candidates themselves: Staffers are now also considered fair game for opposition research hits — and campaigns are struggling to react to a world in which the candidate isn’t always the focal point for attacks.”
