“Jared Kushner plans to write a book about his White House experiences, including his role in negotiating normalization deals between Israel and Arab states,” Reuters reports.
Jayapal Wants Investigation of Three GOP Lawmakers
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called for ethics investigations into Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Mo Brooks (R-AL) over what she described as their involvement in “instigating and aiding” the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, The Hill reports.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“This is about the Democrats don’t believe that deficits matter anymore. They’ve got control, so they’re going to spend as much money as they can.”
— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), suddenly concerned about deficits in an interview with The Hill.
Merrick Garland Confirmed as Attorney General
“Merrick Garland, a longtime federal appeals court judge whose nomination to the Supreme Court Republicans famously refused to consider, was confirmed as President Biden’s attorney general,” the Washington Post reports.
The Senate vote was 70 to 30.
Warren Winning Over Biden Through Staff Hires
“Joe Biden has shown little appetite for Elizabeth Warren’s trademark campaign proposal, a wealth tax, but she’s won something else from the president, as nearly a dozen of her allies and former aides have joined his administration,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Massachusetts senator’s associates hold top posts at the White House and at federal agencies handling issues ranging from financial regulation to national security and climate change. The hires have helped assuage progressives concerned Biden isn’t sympathetic to their views, but have set off alarms in the banking and financial sector.”
Prominent Evangelical Splits With Southern Baptists
“One of the most prominent Southern Baptists in the country is leaving the denomination. Beth Moore, an author and speaker who teaches on biblical topics to arenas filled with evangelicals, cited the ‘staggering’ disorientation of seeing denominational leaders support Donald Trump, among other issues,” the New York Times reports.
Said Moore: “There comes a time when you have to say, this is not who I am. I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists.”
Religion News Service has the bombshell interview.
Congress Passes Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Relief Plan
Congress approved a sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, 220 to 211, “authorizing a flurry of new federal spending and a temporary yet dramatic increase in anti-poverty programs to help millions of families still struggling amid the pandemic,” the Washington Post reports.
Axios: What’s in the bill?
President Biden is expected to sign the bill on Friday.
Pastor on Leave After ‘Trophy Wife’ Comments
“A southeastern Missouri preacher went on leave from his church and is seeking professional counseling after giving a sermon that chastised married women who ‘let themselves go’ and held up former first lady Melania Trump as the pinnacle of feminine beauty,” the Associated Press reports.
Said Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark: “I’m not saying every woman can be the epic — the epic – trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump. Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know… maybe you’re a participation trophy.”
How Biden Could Fund His Next Bill
Chye-Ching Huang: “After a decade of budget cuts for the agency, the cracks in the I.R.S. are costing taxpayers trillions of dollars and growing impossible to ignore. The agency is increasingly unable to detect or address blatant tax cheating by high-income filers and the largest businesses.”
“In February, I.R.S. Commissioner Charles P. Rettig told Congress that about $570 billion in taxes owed in 2019 were not paid. That tax gap is projected to total about $7.5 trillion over this decade. Meanwhile, the I.R.S. answered fewer than a quarter of its phone calls from people seeking help with their taxes.”
Johnny Damon Touts Trump Support in Arrest Video
A Florida police officer’s body cam shows former baseball player Johnny Damon stopped for drunk driving and getting into a scuffle with police.
He then attempted to win over the police officer: “Hey, bro, I’m a good fucking guy. I know people are trying to target me because I’m a Trump supporter.”
He added: “Believe me, I am Blue Lives Matter… What are you doing right now?”
Mike Lee Rips Election Reform Bill
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) ripped into a massive election reform bill, saying the proposal was “written by the devil himself,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Said Lee: “I disagree with every single word in HR1, including the words ‘but’ and ‘the.’ Everything about this bill is rotten to the core. It was written and held by the devil himself.”
He added: “Apparently this is an effort to ensure an institutional revolutionary Democratic Party of sorts that can remain in power for many decades to come.”
Biden Relief Plan Dramatically Cuts Poverty
A new Urban Institute study finds President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief plan will reduce the projected poverty rate for 2021 by more than one-third, from 13.7% to 8.7%.
Politics Is the New Religion
Shadi Hamid: “Not so long ago, I could comfort American audiences with a contrast: Whereas in the Middle East, politics is war by other means—and sometimes is literal war—politics in America was less existentially fraught. During the Arab Spring, in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, debates weren’t about health care or taxes—they were, with sometimes frightening intensity, about foundational questions: What does it mean to be a nation? What is the purpose of the state? What is the role of religion in public life? American politics in the Obama years had its moments of ferment—the Tea Party and tan suits—but was still relatively boring.”
“We didn’t realize how lucky we were.”
It’s Not Biden Who’s Taking a Risk on the Relief Bill
Jonathan Chait: “The Republican decision to vote against Biden in unison, without building much of a case against his bill, seems like the worst of all possible worlds. They are setting themselves against a bill that enjoys sky-high levels of support from both economic experts and a large chunk of their own base. It’s possible this gambit somehow works out. But if anybody regrets their political choices in the early weeks of the administration, the odds are it won’t be Biden.”
For members: The Biden Boom Is Coming
Marcia Fudge Confirmed as Housing Secretary
The Senate voted to confirm Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) as secretary of housing and urban development, making her the first Black woman to lead the agency in more than four decades, the Washington Post reports.
Clyburn Says Lindsey Graham Needs to Go to Church
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) blasted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over his comments that aid to Black farmers in the Covid-19 relief bill are “reparations,” CNN reports.
Said Clyburn: “Lindsey Graham is from South Carolina. He knows South Carolina’s history. He knows what the state of South Carolina and this country has done to Black farmers in South Carolina. They didn’t do it to White farmers. We’re trying to rescue the lives and livelihoods of people. He ought to be ashamed of himself.”
He added: “I think you ought to go back and maybe go to church. Get in touch with his Christianity.”
Most Think Biden Reached Out to Republicans
A new Pew Research poll finds that 57% of Americans believe President Joe Biden engaged in good faith efforts to win Republican support for his pandemic relief bill, while 55% believe that Republicans did not engage in good faith efforts to work with him.
Gillibrand Won’t Say If Cuomo Should Resign
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) continued to urge for an investigation to be concluded before making any decision on whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo should stay in office amid sexual harassment allegations, USA Today reports.
“And the Democratic senator, who was the first to call for Sen. Al Franken’s resignation in 2017 amid sexual harassment claims, said she resents the fact that women in leadership have to be asked every day about whether someone in hot water should resign.”
Said Gillibrand: “Asking every female elected in our state when a person should resign or not resign really isn’t the conversation we should be having.”
