“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.”
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?
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.”
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.”
Politico has an excerpt of John Boehner’s scorching new book, On the House.
On the 2010 midterms: “You could be a total moron and get elected just by having an R next to your name—and that year, by the way, we did pick up a fair number in that category.”
On Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “By 2013 the chaos caucus in the House had built up their own power base thanks to fawning right-wing media and outrage-driven fundraising cash. And now they had a new head lunatic leading the way, who wasn’t even a House member. There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless asshole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Senator Ted Cruz.”
On Barack Obama: “All of this crap swirling around was going to make it tough for me to cut any deals with Obama as the new House Speaker. Of course, it has to be said that Obama didn’t help himself much either. He could come off as lecturing and haughty. He still wasn’t making Republican outreach a priority. But on the other hand—how do you find common cause with people who think you are a secret Kenyan Muslim traitor to America?”
This is a book you’ll want to read.
A Justice Department investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and an indicted Florida politician is focusing on their involvement with multiple women who were recruited online for sex and received cash payments, the New York Times reports.
“Investigators believe Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector in Seminole County, Fla., who was indicted last year on a federal sex trafficking charge and other crimes, initially met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances… Mr. Greenberg introduced the women to Mr. Gaetz, who also had sex with them.”
“One of the women who had sex with both men also agreed to have sex with an unidentified associate of theirs in Florida Republican politics.”
“Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican being investigated by the Justice Department over sex trafficking allegations, made a name for himself when he arrived on Capitol Hill as a conservative firebrand on TV and staunch defender of then-President Donald Trump. Behind the scenes, Gaetz gained a reputation in Congress over his relationships with women and bragging about his sexual escapades to his colleagues,” CNN reports.
“Gaetz allegedly showed off to other lawmakers photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with, including while on the House floor.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Twitter:
“A Senate evenly split between both parties and a bare Democratic House majority are hardly a mandate to ‘go it alone.’ The President should live up to the bipartisanship he preached in his inaugural address.”
Tom Steyer told The Hill that he is currently not planning to run for public office again, after reports he might enter the recall race to succeed California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
CBS News: “A Trump-era plan to cut food stamps is now off the table after the Biden administration said it is abandoning a previous plan to tighten work requirements for working-age adults without children. Those restrictions were projected to deny federal food assistance benefits to 700,000 adults, a proposal that had drawn strong condemnation from anti-hunger advocates.”
Bloomberg: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed a move to put a repeal of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions in the infrastructure and social-spending program that Democrats are hoping to pass as soon as this summer.”
“The deaths of nearly 200 people are linked to February’s cold snap and blackouts, making the natural disaster one of the worst in Texas this past century,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“The tally, which is nearly double the state’s official count, comes from an investigation of reports from medical examiners, justices of the peace and Department of State Health Services, as well as lawsuits and news stories.”
The Justice Department investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and allegations of sex trafficking also includes whether campaign funds were used to pay for travel and expenses, CNN reports.
Taegan 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.
