FiveThirtyEight: “Notably, the four states where the greatest number of voting-restriction bills have been filed — Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania — were some of the closest states in last year’s presidential election. They also all voted for President Biden — the first time Georgia and Arizona voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in over two decades — and have Republican-controlled legislatures, making them especially fertile ground for new voting restrictions.”
Trump’s Homeland Security Chief Was Hacked
“Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration’s head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the department’s cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries,” the AP reports.
“The intelligence value of the hacking of then-acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his staff is not publicly known, but the symbolism is stark.”
Lin Wood Seeks to Lead South Carolina Republicans
“Lin Wood, the defamation and personal injury lawyer who took up former President Trump’s baseless accusations of election fraud, will run to lead the South Carolina Republican Party,” The Hill reports.
China Announces Further Military Exercises
“China will conduct a military drill in the South China Sea next Monday and Tuesday as tensions in the region continue to rise,” the South China Morning Post reports.
Banning Trans Girls Is New Front In GOP Culture War
New York Times: “South Dakota is just one of a growing number of states where Republicans are diving into a culture war clash that seems to have come out of nowhere. It has been brought about by a coordinated and poll-tested campaign by social conservative organizations like the American Principles Project and Concerned Women for America. The groups are determined to move forward with what may be one of their last footholds in the fight against expanding LGBTQ rights.”
“Three other states have passed bills this month that resemble South Dakota’s. In Mississippi and Arkansas, they are set to become law this summer. And similar bills have been introduced by Republicans in two dozen other states, including North Carolina, where an unpopular ‘bathroom bill’ enacted in 2016 prompted costly boycotts and led conservatives nationwide to pull back on efforts to restrict rights for transgender people.”
Masha Green: The movement to exclude trans girls from sports.
Chuck Schumer’s Power Play
Punchbowl News: “Aides to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have asked the parliamentarian whether they can double dip, using the 2021 budget resolution to pass two reconciliation bills. The American Rescue Plan got through Capitol Hill using the fiscal year 2021 budget resolution. Schumer wants to know if he can use it again.”
“This is potentially a very big deal. It could give Democrats and President Joe Biden a chance to do at least two more reconciliation bills this year (one FY 2021, one FY 2022), if Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough agrees with the Democrats’ arguments, which rely on their interpretation of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act and reconciliation procedures.”
Axios: “If the Senate parliamentarian upholds Schumer’s interpretation, Democrats can pass more pieces of the party’s agenda without having to bust the filibuster rule, which requires at least 60 votes — and therefore 10 Republicans in the 50-50 Senate.”
Playbook: “While Democrats haven’t made a final decision on the legislative strategy, there is deep skepticism in both the White House and among Senate Democrats that any 60-vote bill on any significant issue is possible this year. It was already conventional wisdom that Biden is likely to be able to pass two reconciliation bills and almost nothing else. Now, Schumer may try to squeeze a third one out of the system.”
Arguments Against D.C. Statehood Don’t Stand Up
Robert McCartney: “Opponents of D.C. statehood have at most three arguments that deserve any respect. They involve the Founders’ intent, retrocession to Maryland and the 23rd Amendment.”
“But none stands up to scrutiny,.. It’s hard to accept that Republicans and other critics believe that these arcane constitutional claims count for more than respecting the nation’s founding rallying cry of ‘no taxation without representation.'”
“Instead, as GOP leaders are increasingly willing to admit publicly, they care primarily about preventing the deep-blue District from sending two additional Democrats to the Senate and one to the House.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I own an AR-15. If there’s a natural disaster in South Carolina where the cops can’t protect my neighborhood, my house will be the last one that the gang will come to, because I can defend myself.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on Fox News.
Most Republicans Think Pandemic Is Overblown
A new Pew Research poll finds the 60% of Republicans think the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed 550,000 Americans so far — has been made a bigger deal than it really is.
The Biden Do-Over
Washington Post: “The opening months of the Biden administration have provided the Democratic Party with a rare ‘do-over’ — a chance to enact wide-ranging agenda items far more quickly and on a larger scale than in 2009. Even Biden’s slogan, Build Back Better, aspires to improve what came before.”
“Surrounded by many of the same top aides who worked in the Obama White House, the Biden team is behaving almost as if it is back to work after a lengthy sabbatical, picking up where Obama left off without having to ascend a learning curve.”
“The Donald Trump era offered Democrats a view of their worst nightmare — a president that most of them saw as authoritarian and dangerous to the country’s future. Bound by that fear, Democrats say they are attempting to undo what many both inside and outside the administration view as the mistakes and disappointments from the Obama years.”
Two Grand Juries In Georgia Probing Trump
The Daily Beast has learned “there are now two grand juries underway in Fulton County, and jurors in these secret proceedings will soon be asked to issue subpoenas demanding documents and recordings related to the Trump investigation.”
Republicans Likely to Push Forward with Iowa Caucuses
USA Today: “The Democrats’ botched handling of the 2020 Iowa caucuses touched off a renewed national debate over the presidential nominating process and Iowa’s place in it.”
“But Iowa Republicans say the early visits from national political leaders help reinforce their expectation that they, at least, will hold the nation’s first caucus again in 2024 — regardless of what Democrats do.”
Top Democrats Weigh Gun Control as Filibuster Test
“Two top Senate Democrats are weighing whether gun reform can be a long shot issue proving they can work with Republicans — and don’t have to scrap the filibuster after all,” Axios reports.
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) have been privately negotiating how to revise H.R. 8, the House Democrats’ background checks bill, to gain support from at least 10 Republicans.”
Wisconsin Lawmakers Want to End Party Primaries
“A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers proposed a new kind of election system for Congressional races on Friday, arguing that the state’s existing system exacerbates partisanship and discourages compromise,” NBC News reports.
“Currently in Wisconsin, the winners of party primaries compete in the general election. This bill proposes switching to ‘Final-Five’ voting, which would require nonpartisan, single-ballot primaries in federal races. The top five candidates would then proceed to the general election, where voters would vote on ranked-choice ballots to determine a winner through an instant runoff.”
Border Surge Could Last 7 Months
“The Biden administration projects the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border could spiral from more than 16,000 this month to as many as 26,000 in September,” Axios reports.
Jeff Bezos Ordered Twitter War on Sanders and Warren
Recode: “Amazon has long been at odds with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over their criticisms of the company’s labor and business practices. But the discord reached a new height last week when Amazon aggressively went after both on Twitter in an unusual attack for a large corporation.”
“Turns out that Amazon leaders were following a broad mandate from the very top of the company: Fight back.”
“Recode has learned that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos expressed dissatisfaction in recent weeks that company officials weren’t more aggressive in how they pushed back against criticisms of the company that he and other leaders deem inaccurate or misleading. What followed was a series of snarky and aggressive tweets that ended up fueling their own media cycles.”
The Reason Biden Is Popular Is No Secret
Harry Enten: “President Joe Biden’s approval hasn’t moved in two months. He had an average 55% approval rating at the beginning of his presidency. Two months later, Biden’s approval rating stands at 54%. That’s less movement than even former President Donald Trump had during his first few months on the job, and opinion on Trump was notoriously stagnant.”
“Biden’s secret to success is simple: he’s addressing the issues Americans care about, while his weaker issues are those that most Americans don’t seem as worried about.”
“You can see this well in Gallup polling and a newly released ABC News/Ipsos poll.”
Trump Blasts Biden During Wedding Speech
Former President Donald Trump railed on President Joe Biden during a wedding speech at Mar-a-Lago which was captured on video.
