Sen. Ted Cruz said that an apology for calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar “ain’t gonna happen,” The Hill reports.
Said Cruz: “If the Washington lobbyists want to see that happen, they can hold their breath a long, long time.”
Moran Reverses Himself on Supreme Court Hearings
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) “has reversed his position on a hearing and vote for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, just a week after straying from the position of GOP leadership,” Politico reports.
“The senator’s office released a statement Friday clarifying Moran’s position, saying the senator no longer believes hearings are a necessity.”
White House Maps Strategy for Garland Nomination
“With small cracks emerging in the Republican Supreme Court blockade — and private indications from some GOP senators that they’d likely back Merrick Garland if he ever did come up for a vote — the White House is preparing to press its perceived political advantage when senators return from their recess next week,” Politico reports.
“The next month will be all about meetings: The Supreme Court nominee will have met with 10 senators as of Wednesday, and the White House is looking to load his schedule full with the 52 additional senators (including 16 Republicans) who’ve said publicly they’ll see the judge once they’re back from the two-week break.”
“That will bring them to the next, one-week recess in May. Once senators get back from that time in their home states, the White House will shift its focus to calling for hearings: Garland has met with everybody who’s been willing to see him, they’ll argue, including a majority of the Senate.”
Robert Criticized Confirmation Process Last Month
“Last month, Chief Justice John Roberts delivered some blunt remarks about the Supreme Court confirmation process. The Senate should ensure that nominees are qualified, he said, and leave politics out of it,” the New York Times reports.
“The chief justice spoke 10 days before Justice Antonin Scalia died, and he could not have known how timely and telling his comments would turn out to be. They now amount to a stern, if abstract, rebuke to the Republican senators who refuse to hold hearings on President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland.”
GOP Supreme Court Blockade Shows Cracks
“The Senate GOP’s Supreme Court blockade showed signs of cracking almost immediately after President Obama unveiled his nominee — even as Mitch McConnell and his allies reiterated their vow not to hold any confirmation hearings before the November elections,” Politico reports.
“A handful of GOP senators said they would at least meet with Merrick Garland, the chief justice of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals whom Obama nominated for the nation’s highest court on Wednesday. Meanwhile, some Republicans acknowledged they could move Garland’s nomination during the lame-duck session, should their party lose both the White House and control of the Senate this fall.”
For members: Two Reasons McConnell Could Capitulate on the Court
Graham Admits Supreme Court Fight is Payback
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) admitted that the GOP’s refusal to consider any Supreme Court nominee made by President Obama “was payback for the 2013 decision by Senate Democrats to unilaterally change Senate rules to make it easier to break Republican filibusters against executive branch nominations,” the New York Times reports.
Said Graham: “This is the consequence of an abuse of power. Don’t ask for fairness if you are not going to give it.”
On the Verge of a Constitutional Crisis
First Read: “Maybe more importantly, this political fight over Scalia’s eventual successor could finally break the U.S. Senate, Congress, and all of Washington. Think about: The past congressional fights have been over things like the debt ceiling, the sequester, and the fiscal cliff. But this is the Supreme Court — something that isn’t as esoteric to most Americans. Ditto the fact that a vacancy could last a year or longer. This is a big deal. It’s maybe not a constitutional crisis yet. But it could certainly head that way.”
Quote of the Day
“If we enshrine this precedent and declare a functioning Supreme Court optional, subordinate to the whim of the Senate majority, it is easy to envision a future where the Supreme Court is routinely crippled.”
— Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), writing for the Washington Post, on the GOP’s stated refusal to consider any Obama nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy.
Lott Would Have Had Cruz Thrown Out
Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) says if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had called him a liar on the Senate floor, as he did to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) last year, he would have taken a much harder line, The Hill reports.
Said Lott: “Having been majority leader, I’ve never had someone stand on the Senate floor and call me a liar. In fact, if I had been in the Senate at that time I would have moved to have him removed from the Senate chamber physically.”
McConnell Says Obama Is ‘Smart’ But ‘a Little Preachy’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Yahoo News that he disputes President Obama’s diagnosis of American politics as toxic and tribal and sharply disagrees with the president’s proposed cures.
Reflecting on nearly eight years of working with Obama, McConnell also described him as “a very smart guy” but “a little preachy.”
Paul Says Rubio Should Resign
Sen. Rand Paul told CNN that Sen. Marco Rubio should resign since he doesn’t show up to cast votes in the Senate.
Said Paul: “Well, you know, the difference between Marco Rubio and I is, I show up for work. And we had the biggest vote of the whole year, voting on a trillion dollars worth of spending, and he didn’t show up. So, yes, I think he ought to resign or give his pay back to the taxpayer.”
GOP Sets Low Expectations for Congress in 2016
Wall Street Journal: “After productivity and compromise on some key issues in 2015, Republican leaders in Congress are sending a message about next year: Don’t expect us to replicate it.”
“Lawmakers this year agreed to a $1.15 trillion bill to fund the government through September and reached major, unexpected deals with the White House on education, highways, trade and a bundle of other issues. But they are already setting lower expectations for 2016, laying down markers in areas such as national security where the parties can define themselves against each other in a year that will determine the presidency as well as control of the Senate. The White House, too, has indicated it has a less ambitious legislative agenda for the new year.”
Rubio Misses Spending Bill Vote
Sen. Marco Rubio “missed Friday’s Senate vote approving a massive $1.8 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill and tax package — a day after he suggested that he would try to slow the legislation down,” The Hill reports.
“The Florida Republican, who is running for president, was the only 2016 contender to miss the vote, which is the Senate’s final vote of the year.”
Cruz Is a True Outsider in the U.S. Senate
“Since his arrival in 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz has managed to alienate, exasperate and generally agitate the plurality of his 99 colleagues in the Senate. In a highly partisan, hypercompetitive legislative body where solipsism is nearly a creed, Mr. Cruz stands out for his widely held reputation for putting Ted first,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Cruz is so unpopular that not a single Republican senator was willing this year to give him a request to support his demand for a roll-call vote, known as a sufficient second, leaving Mr. Cruz standing on the Senate floor like a man with avian bird flu, everyone scattering to avoid him.”
“In his presidential campaign, Mr. Cruz uses his role as an outsider as a source of strength.”
Reid-McConnell Relationship Hits New Low
Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell “sat down for a rare face-to-face meeting on the last day of November. The agenda was straightforward — plotting out the legislative agenda for the end of the year — but what transpired has pushed the relationship between the veteran Senate leaders, never warm and fuzzy, to a new low of bitterness and distrust,” Politico reports.
“Reid left the meeting seething with rage, associates of the Democratic leader said, after McConnell told Reid that legislative language to help 9/11 responders and challenge a boycott against Israeli goods would be left out of a must-pass transportation bill. Within a day, Reid’s allies were going public to portray McConnell as using 9/11 heroes as negotiating chips, and later that week Reid said it was solely McConnell who blocked the Israel language.”
The Hill reports both Reid and McConnell are disputing this story.
McConnell Pledges Ambitious Agenda for 2016
Politico: “Now, heading into an election-year political environment that won’t exactly tilt toward legislative headway, McConnell is nonetheless promising that the Senate won’t get stuck in the doldrums. Topping his agenda is a push to pass all 12 appropriations bills, a goal that’s eluded Congress since 1994. The larger objective is to make the case to voters in 2016 that the GOP Senate is in capable hands — and so they should keep it that way.”
“The Senate leader will have to navigate some serious obstacles to overcome election-year inertia next year, starting with the four GOP senators running for president and Democrats who are licking their chops to retake the chamber. But the election isn’t a reason to sit back, McConnell said.”
John McCain Praises Bernie Sanders
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said some very nice things to the Washington Examiner about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Said McCain: “I obviously am in strong disagreement with him on his basic philosophy of the role of government, but as far as an honest individual, to work with, to reach agreement, I respect Bernie Sanders.”
He added: “I will also say to anyone who will ask, Bernie Sanders is an honest man. He’s an honest man and his word is good. Once we reached an agreement, that agreement stuck. And now he’s brushing his hair, which is really a remarkable thing.”
Cheney to be Honored in U.S. Senate
“As vice president as well as president of the Senate, Dick Cheney once asserted that he was essentially his own branch of government. Nevertheless, he will be immortalized in the Senate beginning on Thursday with a traditional marble bust in recognition of his service there,” the New York Times reports.
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