Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Republicans will not support the tax increases proposed by President Biden to pay for his infrastructure plan, Politico reports.
Said McConnell: “We’re not interested in re-opening the 2017 tax bill. We both made that clear with the president. That’s our red line.”
Steve Flowers: “Some of you have inquired how Alabama will fare in Washington after Senator Shelby retires at the end of 2022.”
“The answer is that it will be nothing less than devastating for the Heart of Dixie. The amount of federal dollars that Senator Shelby has individually brought home is incalculable and irreplaceable. Alabama is going to be in the proverbial boat without a paddle in 20 short months. We will have negligible power in Washington and for a state that depends on federal dollars, that is not going to be a good position to be in for Alabama.”
Mother Jones: “As a progressive in one of the nation’s most conservative state legislatures, Sinema abandoned her early radicalism for a new theory of change.”
“She learned to play nice, seeking incremental progress through careful messaging and across-the-aisle relationships, and reinventing herself as a post-partisan deal-maker. But her success was also powered by an army of activists—outsiders like she had once been—operating on a far different theory of change.”
“Now, for the first time in her career, she holds real power.”
Washington Post: “Over the course of his rapid rise in politics — from law school professor to state attorney general to his 2018 election to the Senate — Hawley has followed two parallel paths, each reflecting a different political persona.”
“On one, he has pursued elite privilege, even relative to other senators, commuting to a private high school, attending Stanford University and Yale Law School, clerking at the Supreme Court, and working for a powerful Washington law firm, all while courting liberal professors and establishment Republicans who enabled his ascent.”
“On the other, he has expressed sympathy with some of the country’s most far-right, anti-government extremists, demonstrating a willingness to see the world through their grievance-infused prism even after horrific attacks — from Oklahoma City in 1995, when he was 15, to the Capitol attack in 2021.”
Washington Post: “Biden is hosting Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) at the White House on Tuesday in the latest meeting with individual lawmakers as he continues negotiations over his $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure package.”
Playbook: “The meeting comes just a day after Biden huddled with Manchin on the same topic — a sign that Biden is employing a charm offensive to woo the two moderates who have expressed reluctance about using reconciliation to pass infrastructure spending. Perhaps the president is trying to butter them up before making the pivot to a Democrats-only strategy? Remember: Due to the Senate’s 50-50 split, the Dems can’t do much of anything without both Sinema and Manchin on board.”
As she returns to Washington, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) “has emerged as the GOP’s front-line voice in the high-stakes congressional debate over infrastructure,” the Washington Post reports.
“Hailing from a state that’s eager for federal money — and a party that’s increasingly reluctant to spend it — the second-term senator from one of West Virginia’s most well-known political families may be the best hope to help broker the sort of compromise that Democrats and Republicans insist they want.”
“A key Senate committee is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday to advance Democrats’ sweeping elections overhaul, stamping its approval on a landmark voting rights expansion as Washington tries to blunt ballot restrictions by Republican-controlled statehouses,” the New York Times reports.
“If enacted, it would effectively override laws emerging in states like Georgia and Florida that raise barriers to vote with national requirements — like automatic voter registration, no-excuse early and mail-in voting and the re-enfranchisement of former felons — meant to lower them.”
“Sen. Ted Cruz has plowed more than $240,000 into Facebook advertising since the platform started accepting political ads again two months ago. The only sitting senator who has spent more is Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who forked over $335,000 for ads on the social media giant,” Politico reports.
“Republicans say the approach will help Cruz raise dollars online and cultivate and collect email addresses of small dollar donors. And while the investment could pay off in what’s likely to be an expensive Senate re-election bid — Cruz’s 2018 race against Beto O’Rourke was the second most expensive of the cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics — it also could serve the Texas Republican well if he decides to run for president again, which Cruz has said he hoped to do.”
Washington Post: “Biden is meeting separately on Monday with two influential Democratic senators who will help shape the president’s ambitious infrastructure plan.”
“He will meet with Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), who leads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with jurisdiction over transportation policy, as well as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV), a critical swing Democratic vote who has shown some distance from Biden’s $4 trillion jobs and infrastructure package.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told Axios that he’s already impatient with the White House’s quest for Republican support for President Biden’s infrastructure package, saying. ‘The American people want results’ and don’t care if these results are achieved with bipartisan votes.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is safe in his job despite repeated attacks from former President Trump,” The Hill reports.
“At the same time, GOP sources say that McConnell’s long-term future atop the Senate GOP may depend on what happens in the 2022 and 2024 elections and whether Trump, who is strongly considering another presidential campaign, expands his power in the party.”
Wall Street Journal: “On Wednesday, Mr. Biden will hold his first formal meeting since taking office with top congressional leaders: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The meeting will touch on several topics, but is expected to focus in part on the president’s spending proposals.”
McClatchy: “McConnell has conveyed his vehement opposition to the bill repeatedly in public. What’s different, conservatives say, is his personal level of commitment behind-the-scenes to educate activists on just how damaging the legislation would be to the future electoral prospects of Republicans. To those involved, they’ve noticed a level of engagement from the GOP leader they haven’t seen before.”
“Some progressives have warned that McConnell is taking the legislation more seriously than even Democrats are. And the fight is expected to intensify next week, when the Senate Rules & Administration Committee is scheduled to begin marking up the legislation.”
“Turns out I was right about Donald Trump, and sadly, it appears I was wrong about Ted Cruz.”
— Former Ted Cruz “running mate” Carly Fiorina, quoted by CNN, blaming “access to power and money and influence” for Ted Cruz’s changed persona since 2016.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) savaged Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) after he shared a photo of himself having “a great dinner” with former President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Tweeted Ocasio-Cortez: “Nothing like reminiscing about attempted coups over a bouquet of flowers.”
A new Morning Consult poll finds 42% of Republican voters hold favorable views about Sen. Mitch McConnell, up 12 points since a post-election low reached in late February. Meanwhile, the share of GOP voters with unfavorable views about McConnell fell 14 points, to 36%.
The improvement brings McConnell’s favorability rating roughly in line with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“One hundred percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by The Recount, echoing his 2010 comments that, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
“Any elected official should stand their ground. If you feel firmly about something, you should stand your ground. But I also believe that we need to come together as a party, recognize we have differences within the party but the goal with us should be to win seats.”
— Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), quoted by Politico, defending Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
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.