“Congressional Democrats are preparing a plan that would boost President Joe Biden’s requested $33 billion Ukraine aid package to nearly $40 billion, and a House vote is possible as soon as Tuesday,” the AP reports.
“In what would be a setback for Biden’s push for more COVID-19 spending, the measure would not include any of added billions in pandemic spending that the president has wanted included in the plan.”
“Sen. Joe Manchin has been labeled the most powerful man in Washington for his willingness to single-handedly tank President Joe Biden’s agenda. But on the Democratic campaign trail in 2022, Manchin, the centrist from West Virginia, is a target of derision,” NBC News reports.
“Democrats with some conservative policy positions are being scornfully compared to him by rivals appealing to primary voters to carry the party’s torch.”
“A new Alabama law banning certain medical treatments for minors with gender dysphoria takes effect today unless a federal judge grants a request to put a temporary hold on it while a lawsuit is pending,” AL.com reports.
“Alabama’s law is the first in the country to actually take effect.”
Days after Stacey Abrams (D) qualified to run for governor in March, a super PAC funded by billionaire megadonor George Soros put $1 million into her campaign, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Citing “rumors around D.C.,” Breitbart reports that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his family had to seek shelter at an undisclosed location.
Politico says the report seems to be fueled by comments from conservative lawyer Ilya Shapiro, who said on Fox News that he “heard that Justice Alito has been taken to an undisclosed location with his family.”
Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel (D) said she will refuse to enforce what she calls a 1931 “Draconian law,” which would make abortion illegal in Michigan if Roe v. Wade is overturned, MLive reports.
Said Nessel: “Let’s be clear, women in my state and states all over America are going to die because of this position.”
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) cut a television ad backing Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who faces Donald Trump-backed challenger Katie Arrington (R), the Columbia State reports.
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick (R) released a new ad which suggests former President Donald Trump might have endorsed him — even though Trump actually endorsed rival Mehmet Oz (R) in the race.
Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg told ABC News that a clerk for a conservative justice is the “leading theory” amid intense speculation about who released a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito showing the court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Said Totenberg: “The only one that makes sense is it came from somebody who was afraid that this majority might not hold.”
Earlier for members: The Supreme Court Leak Was Probably by Conservatives
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) tried to discredit a staffer he fired who was 28 weeks pregnant after she requested maternity leave, Jezebel reports.
“Court documents show that the congressman himself requested staffers write letters about the woman’s job performance after he fired her.”
A new AP-NORC poll finds about 1 in 3 U.S. adults believes an effort is underway to replace native-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains.
“About 3 in 10 also worry that more immigration is causing native-born Americans to lose their economic, political and cultural influence… Republicans are more likely than Democrats to fear a loss of influence because of immigration, 36% to 27%.”
“Former President Donald Trump said he no longer has four cell phones identified by the New York attorney general’s investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances but has turned over his personal phone to be searched as he tries to convince a state judge to lift a civil contempt ruling that so far has cost him $140,000,” CNN reports.
Nearly 40% of popular baby formula brands were sold out at retailers across the U.S. during the week starting April 24, USA Today reports.
“For the next two weeks, one of the most powerful people in politics is a professor whose professional life has been devoted to studying demographics, political behavior, and mapping,” Bloomberg reports.
“Jonathan Cervas has until May 20 to redraw New York’s congressional and state Senate district lines, translating complex data into maps that will pass constitutional muster and stand for a decade. The stakes are high, and for a little added pressure, this is the first time he’s in charge as the court-appointed special master rather than working as an assistant or consultant.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that Republicans “have made clear that their goal will be to seek to criminalize abortion nationwide,” Axios reports.
Said Pelosi: “If handed down, this decision by GOP-appointed Justices would mean that, for the first time in our history, America’s daughters will have less freedom than their mothers.”
She added: “Republican state legislators across the country are already advancing extreme new laws, seeking to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care, ban abortion entirely with no exceptions, and even charge women with murder who exercise their right to choose.”
An internal poll for former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) shows him leading the GOP Senate field with 26%, followed by Vicky Hartzler (R) at 19%, Eric Schmitt (R) at 14%, Billy Long (R) at 7% and Mark McCloskey (R) at 5%.
Minnesota state Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R) argued for abolishing early childhood education, WCPT reports.
Said Drazkowski: “We should let parents raise their kids until they’re 5 at least before government comes with a school bus, backs it up to the maternity ward room door and takes them to the government school.”
“Gavin Newsom sounds like a man ready to jump on the next flight to Iowa or New Hampshire or wherever Democrats start their 2024 presidential campaign,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Those around Newsom say he has never openly hankered after the White House, and he has apparently never had any sort of in-depth discussion with his political team about running for president. Publicly, he insists nothing could be further from his mind.”
Said Newsom: “Literally 100% never been on my radar.”
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.
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