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John Boehner’s Message to Ted Cruz

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When former Speaker John Boehner was recording his audio book, Axios reported that he would deviate from the book’s text and insert random attacks on Sen. Ted Cruz.

Here’s one of the audio clips.

Yep, I’ll be buying the audio version.

Sale
On the House: A Washington Memoir
On the House: A Washington Memoir
  • Audible Audiobook
  • John Boehner (Author) - John Boehner (Narrator)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 04/13/2021 (Publication Date) - Macmillan Audio (Publisher)
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Ossoff Urges Boycott of Georgia GOP, Not Businesses

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Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in a statement to National Review:

“I absolutely oppose and reject any notion of boycotting Georgia. Georgia welcomes business, investment, jobs, opportunity, and events. In fact, economic growth is driving much of the political progress we have seen here. Georgia welcomes the world’s business.”

“Corporations disgusted like we are with the disgraceful Voter Suppression bill should stop any financial support to Georgia’s Republican Party, which is abusing its power to make it harder for Americans to vote.”

Vaccinated Americans Can Travel Safely

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The CDC said that Americans who are fully vaccinated can travel “at low risk to themselves,” both within the United States and internationally, but they must continue to take precautions like wearing a mask in public, avoiding crowds, maintaining social distancing and washing hands frequently, the New York Times reports.

“Vaccinated Americans do not need to get a coronavirus test before arriving in another country, unless required to do so by authorities at the destination, and they do not need to quarantine after returning to the United States unless required to do so by local jurisdictions.”


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The Most Telling Excerpt In John Boehner’s Memoir

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Former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) writes in his new memoir that former Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) wanted to be placed on the powerful House Ways and Means, and that he turned her down, Axios reports.

Writes Boehner: “Her response to me was calm and matter-of-fact. ‘Well, then I’ll just have to go talk to Sean Hannity and everybody at Fox and Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and everybody else on the radio, and tell them that this is how John Boehner is treating the people who made it possible for the Republicans to take back the House.'”

He added: “I wasn’t the one with the power, she was saying. I just thought I was. She had the power now. She was right, of course.”

Sale
On the House: A Washington Memoir
On the House: A Washington Memoir
  • Hardcover Book
  • Boehner, John (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 288 Pages - 04/13/2021 (Publication Date) - St. Martin's Press (Publisher)
Amazon Prime
Check Price on Amazon

Senate GOP Offers Post-Filibuster Wish List

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“Republicans are publicly airing a wish list of bills they could pass in a future GOP-controlled Senate free of the filibuster, a warning shot intended to curb Democrats’ growing enthusiasm for abolishing the 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Other possibilities, according to Mr. McConnell and fellow Senate Republicans: anti-abortion bills, tighter election and immigration laws, loosening of environmental regulations, concealed-carry gun reciprocity in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and defunding cities that have adopted so-called sanctuary policies to limit cooperation with immigration authorities.”

Republicans Are Boxed In on Infrastructure

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Jennifer Rubin: “Having declared themselves in favor of infrastructure for years, they either have to come up with a tax scheme that will fall far more heavily on ordinary taxpayers or give up their phony deficit mania (which does not apply to tax cuts, apparently). This puts Democrats in both the roles of being fiscal conservatives (pay as you go!) and defenders of working-class Americans. Republicans have the choice between embracing fiscal irresponsibility or giving up their laughable claim to be the party of working people.”

Job Growth Surges

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“The U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs in March, the highest level in months, as vaccine distribution and declining caseloads helped accelerate a recovery in the labor market,” the Washington Post reports.

“The unemployment rate edged down to 6 percent from 6.2 percent in February.”

What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does

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New York Times: “Go page by page through Georgia’s new voting law, and one takeaway stands above all others: The Republican legislature and governor have made a breathtaking assertion of partisan power in elections, making absentee voting harder and creating restrictions and complications in the wake of narrow losses to Democrats.”

“The New York Times has examined and annotated the law, identifying 16 provisions that hamper the right to vote for some Georgians or strip power from state and local elections officials and give it to legislators.”

CBS News: Which states will be next?

Threat of China Invasion of Taiwan Grows

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“China is ratcheting up military pressure on Taiwan, probing the air defences of the self-governed island on a near-daily basis amid fears of impending conflict,” the Times of London reports.

“According to Taiwan’s ministry of national defence, Chinese planes, sometimes in large numbers, entered the zone at least 18 times last month, 17 times in February and 27 times in January.”

Iran Nuclear Deal Participants to Meet in Vienna

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“Negotiations to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will take place among all parties in Vienna next week, the first serious effort to rescue the agreement since President Biden took office in January,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Senior officials from all participants in the accord, Iran, France, Germany, the U.K., Russia and China, and top U.S. officials will gather in the Austrian capital.”

Dozens of Big, Profitable Companies Paid No Taxes

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“Just as the Biden administration is pushing to raise taxes on corporations, a new study finds that at least 55 of America’s largest paid no taxes last year on billions of dollars in profits,” the New York Times reports.

“The sweeping tax bill passed in 2017 by a Republican Congress and signed into law by President Donald J. Trump reduced the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. But dozens of Fortune 500 companies were able to further shrink their tax bill — sometimes to zero — thanks to a range of legal deductions and exemptions that have become staples of the tax code.”

How Trump Made Inroads with Latino Voters

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“A new analysis of U.S. voters suggests — counterintuitively — that the coronavirus pandemic may have helped drive former President Donald Trump’s surprising increase in support from Latinos last November,” Axios reports.

“By shifting Trump’s rhetoric from immigration to fears around the economic impact of shutdowns, the virus gave conservative and low-information Latino voters a permission structure to back Trump even if they shunned him in 2016.”

Corporate Criticism of Voting Bills Spreads to Texas

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Associated Press: “American Airlines, which is based in Fort Worth, came out against restrictive voting measures that have a favorable path to reaching Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk in the coming weeks.”

“Public opposition from the airline came after a package of sweeping elections changes cleared the GOP-controlled Senate and, notably, a day after some of Georgia’s most prominent corporate leaders came out publicly against a new election law after civil rights activists criticized their silence.”

Democrats Want Ron Johnson to Run Again

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Politico: “It’s not only that Democrats see Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) as finally ripe for defeat after closely aligning himself with former President Donald Trump’s penchant for incendiary rhetoric. They also want to make a point that Johnson’s confrontational style is no longer a fit in his perennial swing state.”

“Officially, Senate Republicans want him to run again. But Johnson has a frigid relationship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell … McConnell is eager for Johnson to make a decision soon… Republicans want clarity because they are already defending an open seat in a state Joe Biden carried in last year’s presidential race, in Pennsylvania. With the Senate equally divided at 50 seats for each party, a single race in a swing state like Wisconsin could determine the majority in 2023.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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