“The Alaska Senate voted on Wednesday to allow its leaders to exclude Sen. Lora Reinbold (R) from the state Capitol and most in-person legislative activities because of repeated refusals to follow precautions against COVID-19,” the Anchorage Daily News reports.
“Immediately after the vote, Reinbold attempted to convene a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which she chairs. The Senate secretary and Senate President Peter Micciche (R) withdrew all staff from the meeting.”
Politico: “Already, the president has been touting the measure, tweeting that ‘better days lie ahead,’ while his White House promoted announcements from Amtrak and American Airlines that furloughed employees will be brought back or not have their work interrupted.”
“For veterans of prior Democratic administrations, the aggressive sales job is a welcome change from the past, when the party often seemed to think major legislation would sell itself. But they warned that Biden needs to strike an appropriate balance, lest his new administration come off as out-of-touch with those who feel left behind or are struggling to cope with the lingering effects of the year-long pandemic.”
There are now 59 Democratic lawmakers in New York calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to resign, in light of a sixth sexual harassment allegation against him, Axios reports.
The lawmakers say “he has lost the confidence of the public and the state legislature.”
NY1: “With 40 signatories in the Assembly, that number now surpasses a significant threshold. Assuming Cuomo refuses to resign, and these lawmakers are ready to take the next step with impeachment, they would now have more than the 76 votes needed to impeach.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) will support Xavier Becerra to become President Biden’s secretary of Health and Human Services, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
“Although the California attorney general will still likely be among the most narrowly confirmed of Biden’s Cabinet nominees, Collins’ support ensures that he will have at least one Republican vote, and almost certainly avoids the need for Vice President Kamala Harris to break a tie vote in the Senate on his nomination.”
“Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”
— Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh (R), quoted by CNN, on Republican bills to make it harder to vote.
“A panel of Idaho legislators killed the Powerball lottery game in the state over bizarre suspicions about other countries participating in the lottery,” the Idaho Statesman reports.
“A new bill…was needed because Powerball will be including Australia and the United Kingdom; current Idaho law allows lotteries in the state played by people only in the U.S. and Canada.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) “has a message for states and cities poised to receive a collective $360 billion from the American Rescue Act stimulus package: Send it back,” the Palm Beach Post reports.
“Scott’s call to reject money that polls show is popular nationally, even among Republicans, has flared tension between Scott and another Florida GOP leader, Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
Dylan Matthews: “Fifty-seven years ago, a Democratic president who had a reputation as a moderate — and who had been a senator and vice president before reaching the highest office in the land — announced his administration would be waging ‘unconditional war on poverty in America.’”
“With Congress’s passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, another Democratic president with a reputation as a moderate (and who came through the Senate and the vice presidency) is putting his stamp on American policy. The Covid-19 relief bill, which passed the US House on Wednesday afternoon and is set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden on Friday, is the most far-reaching anti-poverty legislation in more than 50 years.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Just as in congressional elections, the president’s party often struggles in gubernatorial races. The president’s party has lost governorships in 16 of the 19 midterms since the end of World War II, and two of the three exceptions (1962 and 1998) were years where there was no net change. Only in 1986, Ronald Reagan’s second midterm, did the president’s party enjoy a gubernatorial net gain (eight seats) in the postwar era.”
“It’s not good. It’s not a good place to be.”
— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), when asked by CNN about his willingness to serve as a veto on President Biden’s agenda.
A new CBS News/YouGov poll finds 75% of Americans approve of Congress passing President Biden’s pandemic relief plan, including large majorities of Democrats and independents, along with nearly half of Republicans.
Biden’s approval rate on handling the pandemic is 67% to 33%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Today Show that he would have been “shocked” to hear a year ago that the U.S. coronavirus death toll would surpass 500,000.
Said Fauci: “It would have shocked me completely. I mean, I knew we were in for trouble… In fact that day, at a congressional hearing I made the statement, ‘Things are going to get much worse before they get better.’ But I did not in my mind think that ‘much worse’ was going to be 525,000 deaths.”
“The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 712,000, the lowest total since early November, evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs amid a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases and signs of an improving economy,” the AP reports.
Washington Post: “The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction, when Southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved Black men.”
“In 43 states across the country, Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting with such constraints as stricter ID requirements, limited hours or narrower eligibility to vote absentee, according to data compiled as of Feb. 19 by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. Even more proposals have been introduced since then.”
Reuters: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that he is ‘extremely uncomfortable’ with the continued high level of security at the U.S. Capitol, saying there are currently no serious threats against Congress.”
Said McConnell: “With all this razor wire around the complex, it reminds me of my last visit to Kabul.”
A new Gallup poll finds 79% of parents of K-12 students in the U.S. favor in-person learning in their communities right now.
“Many frustrated parents have been vocally pushing for a return to the classroom, citing concerns about the damage to their children’s academic progress, psychological health and social development.”
“The Biden administration has pledged a laser-like focus on the judiciary in the coming months, vowing to not only prioritize nominations but also cast a wide net in its search for potential appointees,” CNN reports.
“As things stand, there are currently 69 eligible vacancies in various levels of the federal court system and 27 that will occur down the road as judges have announced their intent to retire. And the White House is almost assuredly keeping an eye on the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, should he decide to step down this term and give the President his first chance to fill a Supreme Court seat.”
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.