“We can sit around and have debates about conservative policy… but the question is, when the klieg lights get hot, when the left comes after you, do you stand strong or do you fold?”
— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), at CPAC, warning against a return to the old Republican “establishment.”
“Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) criticized the Biden administration for Thursday night’s airstrike against facilities in Syria linked to an Iran-backed militia group, demanding that Congress immediately be briefed on the matter,” Axios reports.
Said Kaine: “Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances. Congress must be fully briefed on this matter expeditiously.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will meet on Monday with Neera Tanden, the Biden administration’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, CNN reports.
“Tanden’s confirmation is on the rocks after at least one Democratic and several moderate Republican senators announced their opposition to her appointment… Murkowski is seen as a potential swing vote who could save Tanden’s nomination, but the senator has not indicated how she would vote.”
NBC News: “The Biden administration is issuing new guidelines Friday meant to address an unexpected hurdle it faced as it aimed to quickly fill key White House positions: recreational marijuana use.”
“After what one official described as ‘intensive consultation with security officials’ and the Personnel Security Division, the White House will now, on a case-by-case basis, waive a requirement that potential appointees in the Executive Office of the President be eligible for a ‘Top Secret’ clearance. Officials said a waiver would only be granted to those who have used marijuana on a ‘limited basis’ and who are in positions that don’t ultimately require a security clearance.”
“After insisting for the last few months that she didn’t need a clear-cut portfolio in the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris is now trying to carve out a niche in foreign policy, with the president’s encouragement,” Politico reports.
“It’s what the administration would say is proof of the equal partnership between the two, with Biden willing to bring Harris onto turf he is both known for and familiar with.Others say it’s more strategic: developing her own foreign policy credentials and being seen as Biden’s partner on these issues will give her an edge heading into 2024 or 2028.”
“We have contained this. I won’t say airtight, but pretty close to airtight. We’ve done a good job in the U.S.”
— Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow, on CNBC, commenting on the coronavirus pandemic one year ago.
First Read: “Democrats didn’t have 50 Senate votes to pass a $15 minimum wage increase, and the entire debate was complicating the rest of the Covid-19 relief package.”
“So if the goal was having the least amount of drama before passing the bill, then the Senate parliamentarian did Biden and the Dems a big favor (and it’s maybe the reason why Biden had already been signaling that the minimum wage hike wasn’t going to survive).”
“Now there’s a legitimate debate for Biden and the Dems on what they do next on the minimum wage. Do they try to pass a stand-alone hike to $15? Somewhere lower but tied to inflation? Or do they take tax deductions away from corporations that don’t pay a $15 per-hour minimum wage, as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called for after the parliamentarian ruling?”
“There’s a lot of people that could use those checks. I don’t know about needing them, but we could all use them. The debt is so far out of hand that it’s a fantasy number at this point. We might as well just blow it out till everything collapses.”
— Trump supporter Anthony McGill, quoted by the New York Times.
“The Republican National Committee complained on Thursday that President Joe Biden has not kept his promise to reopen most schools in the first 100 days of his presidency. He has only been on the job for 36 days,” the American Independent reports.
From the now-deleted tweet: “On the campaign trial [sic], Biden promised to reopen schools within his first 100 days in office. But that is just another promise that President Biden hasn’t kept.”
“Sen. Ted Cruz’s colleagues had a little fun at the Texas Republican’s expense when he returned to Washington this week following his infamous trip to Cancun,” NBC News reports.
“When senators arrived at the Senate gym on Wednesday morning, they found that one of them had taped memes on the lockers welcoming Cruz home and showing him in the short-sleeve polo shirt, jeans and Texas-flag mask that he had at the airport… ‘Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!’ was the ‘welcome back’ message typed at the top of the color printouts.”
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is privately saying he can pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus package but wants to avoid any last-minute changes jeopardizing its trajectory,” Axios reports.
“While the president hoped to enlist Republican support for the measure, Schumer has worked to ensure he has a solid 50 votes to muscle it through if necessary. A parliamentary ruling Thursday improved his chances.”
“Donald Trump will begin to reassert control over the Republican Party this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida — his first major public address since he left the White House,”NBC News reports.
“Banned from Twitter and golfing in Florida, Trump has kept unusually quiet since President Joe Biden was inaugurated a month ago — but that won’t last.”
“It’s a tradition that former presidents lie low in deference to their successors, but Trump has many bones to pick, some of them with Republicans whom he views as disloyal, and he is eager to make himself the party’s chief kingmaker ahead of a possible comeback presidential run in 2024.”
“A faction of local, county and state Republican officials is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories that echo those that helped inspire the violent U.S. Capitol siege, online messaging that is spreading quickly through GOP ranks fueled by algorithms that boost extreme content,” the AP reports.
“The Democratic Party’s liberal wing is mounting a pressure campaign to overrule a decision from the Senate parliamentarian after their hopes to include a $15-an-hour minimum-wage increase in the coronavirus relief bill were dealt a major blow,” the Washington Post reports.
“Liberals are furious with the late-breaking — but not entirely unexpected — ruling from the nonpartisan Senate umpire last night that the provision cannot remain in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package as written.”
“The White House has publicly ruled out overruling the parliamentarian — and it’s unlikely that all 50 Senate Democrats would stand united on this even if it got on board… But that’s not stopping the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus from reaching out to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain seeking support to overturn the decision.”
“In a swift reversal from 90 days ago, Democrats are now the ones with overpowering social media muscle and the ability to drive news,” Axios reports.
“Former President Donald Trump’s digital exile and the reversal of national power has turned the tables on which party can keep a stranglehold on online conversation.”
“A pickup truck parked at the United States Capitol and bearing a Three Percenter militia sticker on the day of the Jan. 6 riot belongs to the husband of freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, who approvingly quoted Adolf Hitler a day earlier,” the Daily Beast reports.
“The presence of a vehicle with a militia decal so close to the Capitol, inaccessible to normal vehicle traffic, raised questions about how it got there—and whether it belonged to any of the hundreds of suspects involved in the deadly riot.”
“President Donald Trump told political advisers Thursday that he’s chosen longtime ally Corey Lewandowski to run a yet-to-be-formed super PAC as part of his expanding post-presidential political apparatus,” Politico reports.
“People familiar with the meeting — which touched on a wide array of topics related to Trump’s political activities and the organizations supporting them — noted that the full plans for Trump’s operation are not finalized and they were uncertain about some details.”
“Trump has already established a leadership PAC, Save America, that has raised tens of millions of dollars. But unlike leadership PACs, which are limited in terms of how much money they can raise from individual donors, super PACs are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts.”
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.