The Week: “For liberals indulging in schadenfreude, the post-election fracturing of the Republican Party and the conservative movement has been enormously satisfying. But it’s not the most important story in Washington. In fact, the most pressing truth — the one that really threatens to derail President Obama’s second term — is the quieter, wonkier friction within the Democratic Party.”
Filibuster of Gun Bill Could Derail GOP Rebranding
If Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) “can’t come to a deal on expanded background checks sometime in the next few days, President Obama’s proposed gun legislation seems likely to be headed toward a filibuster led by some of its most conservative members,” the Washington Post reports.
“Politically speaking, such a move could have short-term benefits for Republicans but also creates real risks for further damage to the party’s already tarnished brand in the long(er) term… What’s good politics for Republicans in South Dakota or Nebraska or Mississippi is not necessarily a good thing for the GOP’s attempts to rebrand itself. Remember that expanded background checks have the support of roughly nine in ten Americans – a sort of no-brainer issue that typically guarantees congressional action of some sort.”
Political Crime is Out of Control in New York
BuzzFeed: “in the past six years, members of the New York State Senate have been
about three times more likely than average Americans to run afoul of the
law. And majority leaders have been over ten times more likely.”
Lame-Duck FEC Invites Scofflaws
Roll Call: “Already short one officer, the Federal Election Commission will soon have a dubious distinction: As of April 30, all five of its remaining commissioners will be serving expired terms.”
“In theory, composed of three Republicans and three Democrats, the FEC has been deadlocked for so long that, some argue, the agency could hardly grind to more of a halt. But the FEC’s growing backlog of work, protracted stalemates and failure to enforce or even explain the rules is taking a toll. At a minimum, political players are increasingly confused about how to reconcile already-complicated election laws with the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling to deregulate political spending.”
Quote of the Day
“Right now I’m grateful to live in a city, in a state and a country where I strongly support my mayor, and my governor, and my president, and my senators, and my representative. If at some point that weren’t true and I thought I could make a meaningful and measurably greater impact, you know, I’d have to ask and answer that question.”
— Chelsea Clinton, quoted by NBC News, on whether she would run for political office.
Would $100 Million Help Hillary Clear the Field?
Top Democratic operatives tell Time that Hillary Clinton will need to raise $100 million over the next 20 months if she hopes to clear the field of serious Democratic challengers.
Said one: “I would think you’d want an eye popping number to clear the field. I think the $100 million commitment would say to potential opponents ‘think before you jump to your death.””
Veteran Advocates Turning on Obama
Daily Beast: “America’s 23 million veterans are facing an unprecedented crisis as the backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has grown to nearly 1 million–more than double what it was when President Obama took office.”
“Given the breadth of the crisis, this widespread outrage isn’t surprising. But perhaps what is surprising is that for the first time, several prominent veteran advocates who’ve been staunch supporters of Obama are now joining the chorus of critics who say the president has badly mishandled the VA.”
The Mission to Turn Texas Blue
Bloomberg reports on how Democratic activists “have come to Texas on a mission as large as the state’s 261,000 square miles: to capitalize on the surge in Hispanic population and turn the Lone Star State into a two-party competitive one instead of the place where the Republican nominee has carried every presidential election since 1976.”
Brown Wouldn’t Be First from Massachusetts
As former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) mulls a possible U.S. Senate bid from New Hampshire, Smart Politics notes that 25% of the 63 U.S. Senators in the Granite State’s history were born in one of its bordering three states including 18% from Massachusetts, while nearly 40% were educated in the Bay State.
Obama Budget Hit from Both Sides
First Read notes the early word on President Obama’s budget — to be released on Wednesday — is that it “has been rejected by both the right and left: Boehner opposes the president’s call for new revenues to go along with these entitlement cuts, while the left is furious about the proposed reforms to Social Security and Medicare. The question is whether this anger from the left gives Republicans a second look.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Meet the Press: “This is somewhat encouraging. His overall budget’s not going to make it, but he has sort of made a step forward in the entitlement reform process that would allow a guy like me to begin to talk about flattening the tax code and generating more revenue.”
California Billionaire Targets Lynch in Massachusetts
Hedge fund executive Thomas Steyer is bombarding Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) “with theatrical attacks from the skies and from the streets. He has poured $400,000 into the Massachusetts race so far, bankrolling planes with banners, trucks with video screens, and canvassers who plan to knock on 300,000 doors statewide,” the Boston Globe reports.
Steyer has seized on Lynch’s primary campaign against Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) “as a test case of his ability to elevate the issue of climate change in the political discourse.”
“Last month, he burst onto the scene with a sharply worded threat to Lynch, warning him that if he did not change his mind and oppose the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline ‘by high noon on Friday,’ he would launch an aggressive campaign to defeat him in the April 30 primary.”
Donors Get Gold-Star Ambassador Gigs
USA Today:
“It’s a time-honored presidential tradition to reward political friends
and campaign contributors with plum ambassadorships to Caribbean
islands and glittering European capitals. The practice is getting fresh
attention as President Obama weighs second-term appointments for the
donors and fundraisers who help collect more than a $1 billion for his
re-election. In the 2012 campaign, 773 individuals and couples raised at
least $50,000 for Obama, who is expected to fill about 30 political
positions in his second term.”
Obama Consolidates Power in Second Term
President Obama “has begun his second term by consolidating his personal control of the White House, Democrats in
and outside the Administration say, reflecting a shift from his less centralized first term,” BuzzFeed reports.
“The shift has become clear in the new style of management under Obama’s new Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, who — unlike his predecessors — acts more as Obama’s enforcer than as a principal in his own right.”
“Once, McDonough’s predecessors, notably Rahm Emanuel, made strategic choices and served as the key liaisons to Congress. Now, Obama sets the strategy and priorities and makes the calls to Capitol Hill himself; and the chief of staff’s role has been handed to a trusted ally who shares the president’s vision.”
Margaret Thatcher Dies
Wall Street Journal: “Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister who became one of the most influential global leaders of the postwar period, died Monday, three decades after her championing of free-market economics and individual choice transformed Britain’s economy and her vigorous foreign policy played a key role in the end of the Cold War.”
The Week has a great round up of coverage.
First Read: “It’s rare for a foreign to leader to be beloved by some many in the
United States, but Thatcher was — especially among conservatives. If
Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan are the founding fathers of modern
conservatism, then Margaret Thatcher is its founding mother. Thatcher
also set the template for tough-as-nails female world leaders.”
Why It’s Hard for Obama to Push His Agenda
“The days ahead could be decisive ones for the main pieces of President Obama’s second-term agenda: long-range deficit reduction, gun safety and changes to immigration law,” the New York Times reports.
“Members of both parties say Mr. Obama faces a conundrum with his legislative approach to a deeply polarized Congress. In the past, when he has stayed aloof from legislative action, Republicans and others have accused him of a lack of leadership; when he has gotten involved, they have complained that they could not support any bill so closely identified with Mr. Obama without risking the contempt of conservative voters.”
Politico: “The window for action on these issues will start to close as the 2014 midterm election cycle whips into full swing at the end of the year. After that, the next Congress figures to be colored by partisan posturing for the 2016 presidential election.”
The Boring Sequester
Jon Favreau: “From the outset, Washington never treated the sequester with the seriousness it deserves. And really, who would have expected otherwise? The word is a verb being used as a noun to describe $85 billion in defense and domestic discretionary cuts to the federal budget. I almost fell asleep just writing that sentence.”
“Much of the political press lost interest in covering the substance of
policy debates late last century, so it wasn’t too surprising that by
February, some reporters were bitterly tweeting about how particularly
boring they found this sequester business.”
Prospects for Gun Control Improve
“Prospects for a bipartisan deal to expand federal background checks for gun purchases are improving with the emergence of fresh Republican support,” the Washington Post reports.
“The possibility that after weeks of stalled negotiations senators might be on the cusp of a breakthrough comes as President Obama and his top surrogates will begin on Monday their most aggressive push yet to rally Americans around his gun-control agenda.”
Politico says Obama “finds out this week whether he scratches out a narrow victory on gun control — or ends up with nothing at all.”
But Roll Call notes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may be in no hurry to push for a vote.
Immigration Bill Expected This Week
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that a bipartisan group of eight senators is “on track” to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation by the end of this week, despite recent “kerfuffles” in its negotiations and competing items on the congressional agenda, Roll Call reports.
But the Washington Post reports that Republican members “expressed skepticism” about that timetable.
“The timetable is important because President Obama has called for a comprehensive immigration reform measure that could be approved by the Senate and House in time for him to sign it into law by the end of the year. Under the timetable eyed by the Senate group, whose proposal is expected to be the template for a potential deal, the legislation would be introduced in the Judiciary Committee this month for the amendment process.”
Politico has five things to watch in the immigration debate.
