A new Punchbowl News survey of senior Capitol Hill aides finds 60% says Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful congressional leader, followed by Mitch McConnell at 28% and then “other.”
And then in fourth with 6% was Chuck Schumer.
A new Punchbowl News survey of senior Capitol Hill aides finds 60% says Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful congressional leader, followed by Mitch McConnell at 28% and then “other.”
And then in fourth with 6% was Chuck Schumer.
Former President Trump doubled down on his criticism of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Senate Republicans who voted in favor of passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell, for granting a two month stay which allowed the Democrats time to work things out at our Country’s, and the Republican Party’s, expense!”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused Big Bird of engaging in “government propaganda” for a tweet encouraging Covid vaccinations of children.
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“Democrats are ramping up their discussions about changing the Senate’s rules amid growing frustration about the inability to move voting rights legislation,” The Hill reports.
“After months of trying to give space for bipartisan discussions on election legislation, Democrats are planning internal talks about what, if any, rules changes they’ll be able to get through on their own. Those ideas include smaller shifts on nominations or amendments. But altering the filibuster — particularly when it comes to elections bills — is getting the most attention.”
Politico: “As Speaker Nancy Pelosi furiously worked to unite her caucus around a centerpiece of the party’s domestic agenda, Manchin is making it clear that he’s not paying much attention to what the House is crafting, memorably saying Wednesday that he has ‘no idea’ what they are doing.”
“So even as the House tries to include provisions like paid leave and immigration reform, the West Virginia Democrat is operating on the presumption that the House can do what it wants, and then he will too. Manchin opposes including paid leave in the bill, and the Senate’s nonpartisan rules referee may scrap immigration reform before he has a chance to raise a concern.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told CNN there’s a “hostile working environment” on Capitol Hill.
Said Manchin: “You want to know what’s wrong with the place? I go to work in a hostile working environment every day. If you’re a Democrat, and a Republican is up for election, you’re supposed to be against that person.”
He added: “If Donald Duck’s running against that person, you’re supposed to get money from your PAC to help the other person beat the person that you’ve been working with. And even sometimes they’ll say, ‘can you come campaign against so and so?’ And then we come back on Monday, and here’s a person that we’ve given money against.”
“After months of strenuously stating he wouldn’t budge from a $1.5 trillion maximum price tag for Democrats’ climate and safety net plan, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) acknowledged he had, in fact, agreed to a $1.75 trillion figure during an appearance on MSNBC,” Politico reports.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) announced on Thursday that he supports nixing the filibuster on voting rights legislation, marking the latest Senate Democrat to back changing the Senate’s rules, The Hill reports.
Said Carper: “I do not come to this decision lightly, but it has become clear to me that if the filibuster is standing in the way of protecting our democracy then the filibuster isn’t working for our democracy.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Democrats will explore “alternative paths” to pass voting rights legislation, The Hill reports.
“Schumer, speaking from the Senate floor, didn’t directly mention the legislative filibuster, but floated that Democrats should be willing to go it alone to pass voting rights legislation and that the gears of the Senate have ‘ossified.'”
“I mean only in Washington could people think that it is a smart strategy to take a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and prevent your president from signing that bill into law. And that’s somehow a good strategy?”
— Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), quoted by the New York Times.
“Republican senators on Wednesday voted to block debate on the third major voting rights bill that congressional Democrats have sought to pass this year in response to the state-level GOP push to restrict ballot access following former president Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted to advance it.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said the “unbelievable” Republican victories in Virginia’s statewide races Tuesday validate his concerns about inflation and moving the $1.75 trillion reconciliation package too quickly through Congress, The Hill reports.
He added: “You can read so much into all of that last night. I think it should be a call to all of us have to be more attentive to the people back home.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was “bombarded with text messages” from House progressives over the weekend and that led to the moderate senator pushing back in a public statement on Monday, Politico reports.
Said one Democratic senator: “He was mad because members kept asking him for more shit.”
Politico: “If you’ve been paying attention this year, progressives yelling at Manchin has only further entrenched him in most cases.”
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was unable to advance two nominees after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) didn’t show up to vote, Politico reports.
“You don’t list nominees in committee unless you’re pretty darn sure you have the votes to advance them. And Manchin, who’s made efforts to mend fences with Sanders over the party’s social spending bill, clearly didn’t have his colleague this time.”
“Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he didn’t sign off on a framework for a $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill before it was released from the White House,” The Hill reports.
Said Manchin: “The White House knew exactly where I stood. There was a couple of concerns that we had that we needed to work through.”
He added: “I’ve been here long enough to know that when you say you signed off on things, you got to keep your word and I’m not going to be a liar or make anyone else a liar so that’s why I hadn’t.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) argued that feminism is pushing men towards pornography and video games, The Guardian reports.
Said Hawley: “Can we be surprised that after years of being told that they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games?”
Walter Shapiro: “The real threat to Senate Democrats lies in the unalterable realities of human mortality. The point is not to be ghoulish but realistic. Container ships from China have been moving faster than congressional negotiations over the Biden reconciliation package. Manchin wrote a memo to Chuck Schumer at the end of July saying that he would not support a spending plan of more than $1.5 trillion. Only now—three months later—are Democrats finally adjusting to the reality that talk of $3.5 trillion in spending was little more than a left-wing air castle.”
“What makes this dilatory pace unfathomable is that Democrats know the disastrous implications of the loss of a single Senate seat in the midst of a legislative battle.”
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.
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