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More Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy for role in Jan. 6

A jury delivered the Justice Department another victory in its prosecution of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, returning a guilty verdict on rarely used seditious conspiracy charges for all four members on trial in its second prosecution of the group.

Ed Vallejo, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett and David Moerschel all received guilty verdicts for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in which members of the militia group used a “stack” formation to force their way into the building.

The verdict comes just two months after a separate trial for five other members of the group, with that jury laying down a seditious conspiracy verdict for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the group.

Seditious conspiracy — used to charge those who plot to overthrow the government — carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and hadn’t been used successfully since a 1990s terrorism case. 

But the trial brings a dramatic turn in the Justice Department’s record in such cases. 

The verdict comes after Rhodes and Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in November.

Three other members tried alongside the two men were found not guilty of seditious conspiracy but received guilty verdicts on other charges that likewise carry up to 20 years in prison.

The second trial, brought after the nine defendants were split given the complications of bringing such a large group to trial, proved to be an even greater success for the Justice Department.

All four were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding.

Source: TEST FEED1

Five things to know about Jeff Zients, who is in line to be Biden's next chief of staff 

Jeff Zients, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, is expected to become President Biden’s next chief of staff, replacing Ron Klain and entering the role as Biden readies for the 2024 presidential election cycle.  

Klain is expected to hand over the reins to Zeints, 56, sometime after the State of the Union address in February after two years in the position.  

The position of White House chief of staff, while seen as one of the most powerful jobs in Washington, does not require Senate confirmation.  

Here are five things to know about Zients.  

Zients was Biden’s appointee on COVID administration 

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

After he was elected, Biden knew tackling COVID-19 would be one of his biggest tasks.  

The coronavirus was a huge issue in the 2020 election, and Biden took office as vaccines to handle the crisis were being rolled out. He inherited an economy that was filled with question marks because of the pandemic’s blow.  

In a sign of the trust Biden has in Zients (whose name rhymes with science), he appointed the former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget to run his response effort.  

On Biden’s watch, Zients was in charge of making key decisions behind the administration’s response to the deadly virus. 

In the early days of the administration, he was tasked with putting together the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and his team helped accelerate the timeline for the coronavirus vaccinations and their rollout efforts across the country. 

Biden and his team were “beyond satisfied,” as one source put it, with the way Zients, 56, a longtime corporate executive and consultant, handled such a complicated issue at a delicate time during the pandemic.  

“It was the issue at the time,” the source said. “And he handled it all very, very well.”  

While some critics have accused the administration of flubbing the response because they allowed the virus to come back with a vengeance during the holiday season in 2021, those close to the White House say he was able to call the shots quickly when it came to the response.  

When he departed the role, Biden called him “an expert manager.” 

Zeints has a lengthy private-sector resume 

(Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)

Zients, a native Washingtonian who attended St. Albans School, served as the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the Advisory Board Company and also chairman of the Corporate Executive Board, the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firms. Zients was also the founder of the investment firm Portfolio Logic.  

More recently, he served as the CEO of Cranemere, a holding company, and was also on the board of directors at Facebook. 

“He’s got a business executive’s mind,” said one source who has dealt with Zients. “He knows how to get stuff done.” 

Some critiqued Zients’ business background when Biden brought him on to the White House team. The Revolving Door Project, a progressive advocacy group, raised concerns that Biden’s role would be “a management consultant for the executive branch: cutting costs, finding efficiencies and looking at things like a businessman,” according to a report in the New York Times.

The Washington Post’s Editorial Board penned an op-ed ahead of his appointment by Biden defending Zients, arguing that the White House could benefit from the private sector perspective. 

An Obama-world veteran 

(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

President Obama appointed Zients as the country’s first chief performance officer shortly after his inauguration in 2009, charged with finding ways to cut government costs and streamline procedures, and was the deputy director for management at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

Obama, who lauded Zients’ “superb judgment” and “sound advice” as the chief perfornace officer, named Zients acting director of the OMB in 2012. 

Zients became known by Obama staffers as “Mr. Fix It” for his management know-how in salvaging government projects.

He was tasked in 2013 with managing an emergency repair job for the administration’s error-riddled Obamacare enrollment website, healthcare.gov, after tech problems kept Americans from accessing the medical insurance platform. 

He also served the Obama White House as director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for Economic Policy. 

Zients is wealthy 

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Zients successfully took the Advisory Board Company public in the early aughts and reaped millions from the offerings. At age 35, he landed at Number 25 on Fortune’s 40 richest self-made Americans under 40 list as the consulting firm’s chairman, with a reported $149 million to his name when he made the cut.

Zients debuted on the Fortune list two spots below fellow first-timer Elon Musk, who had just founded PayPal a few years earlier. 

In 2005, Zients was part of a group of investors — including former Secretary of State Colin Powell and longtime GOP fundraiser Frederic Malek — who unsuccessfully bid to buy the Washington Nationals team from Major League Baseball.

The group was a frontrunner in the sale but ultimately lost out to the Lerner family, which forked up nearly half a billion for the team.  

When news broke last year that the Lerners may be looking to sell, Zients, who had just left his role as Biden’s Covid coordinator, was floated by some as a possible buyer. 

Zients was an original investor in Call Your Mother 

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

This will mean less to residents outside Washington, D.C., but Zients’ business portfolio includes the popular Call Your Mother bagel chain in Washington, D.C. 

Zients was an original investor in the chain, which offers “Jew-ish” bites at its seven locations in the capital.  

Recipe testing for the flagship deli, which opened in 2018, took place at Zients’ home, according to the Washingtonian. He reportedly divested his shares in the company before heading to Biden’s White House. 

Biden made his first restaurant visit as president to Call Your Mother in Georgetown, just days after his inauguration. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Comer asks Secret Service for visitor information from Biden's Delaware home

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the new chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, has requested that the Secret Service hand over all the information it has on individuals who visited President Biden’s Delaware home in the time since he served as vice president, as the panel ramps up its probe of Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The request — made to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday — came after Comer demanded that visitor logs for the residence be turned over, but the White House said such records do not exist.

“Given the White House’s lack of transparency regarding President Biden’s residential visitor logs, the Committee seeks information from the Secret Service regarding who had access to his home since serving as Vice President,” Comer wrote in a letter to Cheatle.

The letter asks that materials be handed over by Feb. 6.

The call to the Secret Service is Comer’s latest move as his Oversight committee probes the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s Wilmington home and his old office at the Penn Biden Center.

Earlier this month, Comer demanded that the White House turn over visitor logs for the president’s Wilmington home. The White House counsel’s office, however, said such records do not exist for the residence, writing in a statement, “Like every president across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal.”

In Monday’s letter, Comer said that, according to Secret Service personnel, the agency “does generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.”

The latest tranche of materials — 11 classified documents — were discovered at the Delaware residence on Friday, when Department of Justice officials searched the premises. The materials included documents from Biden’s time as a senator and as vice president.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to look into the matter earlier this month.

Comer has plowed full steam ahead with his own probe of the matter, sending out letters requesting information on the topic. Last week, the Oversight chairman wrote a letter to the president of the University of Pennsylvania requesting a visitor log of individuals who met with Biden at the Penn Biden Center and information on security at the think tank and any donations that may have a connection to China.

Source: TEST FEED1

FDA panel to consider annual COVID-19 vaccine shots

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) advisory panel on vaccines is set to consider an annual schedule for the coronavirus vaccine, akin to how flu vaccines are administered, when it meets this week.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet Thursday to discuss how to simplify and streamline the COVID-19 vaccination process, including the composition of coronavirus vaccines and the recommended scheduling for these shots.

The rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, resulting in variants with an improved ability to escape immune protection, means that “periodically updating the composition of COVID-19 vaccines as needed,” as was done with the updated bivalent booster, requires consideration, according to panel documents posted Monday.

The panel said it anticipates evaluating the composition of the COVID-19 vaccine annually in June and making a recommendation for the following year — though it acknowledged the difficulties of mounting a globally coordinated vaccine recommendation.

“FDA anticipates conducting an assessment of SARS-CoV-2 strains at least annually and to engage VRBPAC in about early June of each year regarding strain selection for the fall season,” the VRBPAC documents said.

While acknowledging that COVID-19 and the flu are not identical, VRBPAC said the deployment of the bivalent COVID-19 boosters, created to target both the ancestral strain of the virus as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, was “analogous” to annual flu vaccinations.

The committee will also consider transitioning to a simplified immunization schedule in which a two dose series of vaccines is given to young children, older adults and immunocompromised individuals while everyone else is given a single dose.

And it will look at whether to move to using the same vaccine composition for all vaccine shots in a series. Under current FDA guidance, the updated bivalent boosters are authorized for individuals who have completed their primary COVID-19 vaccinations, which are geared towards the ancestral strain of the virus.

“This simplification of vaccine composition should reduce complexity, decrease vaccine administration errors due to the complexity of the number of different vial presentations, and potentially increase vaccine compliance by allowing clearer communication,” the panel said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Jeffries submits Schiff, Swalwell for Intel panel, forcing fight with McCarthy

The head of House Democrats has submitted Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to sit on the powerful Intelligence Committee, setting up a battle with Republican leaders who are vowing to keep them off the panel.

Separately, Democrats this week are also expected to seat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to a source familiar with the Democrats’ plans, which will likely prompt GOP leaders to hold a floor vote to remove her. 

In a letter sent Saturday to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel, and Swalwell are both “eminently qualified” to continue their service on the committee. Jeffries requested that McCarthy seat them there.

“Together, these Members have over two decades of distinguished leadership providing oversight of our nation’s Intelligence Community, in addition to their prosecutorial work in law enforcement prior to serving in Congress,” Jeffries wrote.

The developments were first reported Monday by Punchbowl News.

Unlike most committees, however, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has special rules empowering the Speaker to assign the panel’s members, in consultation with the minority leader. That means McCarthy can also decline to seat members without relying on a full House vote.

Historically, that process has proceeded without controversy and the minority party’s recommendations have been seated. But Republicans have been up in arms since 2021, when Democrats staged successful votes to remove two Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) — from their committee assignments. And McCarthy has vowed since then to keep Schiff and Swalwell from returning to the Intelligence panel — a pledge he amplified on Capitol Hill last week. 

“What I am doing with the Intel Committee [is] bringing it back to the jurisdiction it’s supposed to do. Forward-looking to keep this country safe, keep the politics out of it,” McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol. 

“So yes, I’m doing exactly what we’re supposed to do,” he added.

Schiff, as former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, had led the investigations into former President Trump’s ties to Russia, and Republicans have accused him of lying to the public during the course of those probes.

In Swalwell’s case, Republicans have highlighted his ties to a suspected Chinese spy who had helped fundraise for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign, which were first revealed in 2020. After the FBI informed Swalwell of their concern, he cut ties with the Chinese national and has said McCarthy’s decision to remove him from the Intelligence Committee is “purely vengeance.” 

Schiff also served as a lead House manager for Trump’s first impeachment trial, while Swalwell served as a manager for the second.

Fact-checkers have repeatedly found the GOP accusations to be false. And Democrats maintain that McCarthy’s threats are merely another promise to the conservative detractors who fought to deny him the Speaker’s gavel earlier in the month. 

Jeffries, in his letter, sought to carve out a distinction between the scenarios, noting that both Greene and Gosar were removed after revelations that they had promoted violent actions against Democrats, and both votes received some Republican support.  

“This action was taken by both Democrats and Republicans given the seriousness of the conduct involved, particularly in the aftermath of a violent insurrection and attack on the Capitol,” Jeffries wrote. “It does not serve as precedent or justification for the removal of Representatives Schiff and Swalwell, given that they have never exhibited violent thoughts or behavior.”

He also pointed out that McCarthy and the Republicans recently gave two committee posts to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who is under fire for a series of résumé fabrications and questionable campaign finance activities. Jeffries called him a “serial fraudster.”

“The apparent double standard risks undermining the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that is so desperately needed in Congress,” Jeffries wrote. 

Under Intelligence Committee rules, rank-and-file members are limited to four cycles — a cap Swalwell has hit — meaning that Jeffries waived that limit in order to force McCarthy to make good on his promise not to seat him. Schiff, as ranking member, is exempt from the cap. 

Separately, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee is scheduled to meet this week to finalize the party’s committee rosters, including the expected move to put Omar, one of three Muslim lawmakers in Congress, on the Foreign Affairs panel. 

The Minnesota Democrat, a Somali refugee, has been highly critical of the Israeli government and its supporters, particularly on issues related to Palestinian rights, leading to charges of antisemitism. In one 2019 episode, Omar was forced to apologize after suggesting wealthy Jews are buying congressional support for Israel. 

Unlike the Intelligence panel, McCarthy cannot block members of the Foreign Affairs Committee unilaterally. GOP leaders are expected to stage a vote to remove her from the panel, as was the case for Greene and Gosar.

Source: TEST FEED1

Juan Williams: Media is dancing to Trump's tune with its frenzy over Biden's documents

You can laugh it off as ridiculous, as silly, as comparing apples and oranges.

President Biden last week simply said the fuss about six-year-old classified documents found in his home and a former private office is a big dud: “I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there.”

To the contrary, I’ve found something alarming that is going on: An assault on the truth is taking place.

The American press is being bullied, misled or confused into twisting the story about the discovery of Biden’s classified documents. They are effectively helping to protect former President Trump from potential criminal charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of classified documents.

I’m amazed at the extent to which some in the White House press corps are now happy to play the part of puppets dangling from strings controlled by Trump and his caucus of radical House Republicans.

Last week, the GOP puppet-masters had reporters shouting at President Biden and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, demanding to know why there was no mention of the discovered documents before the November midterm elections. Apparently, they did not want to hear that there was an ongoing search to see if there were more documents “filed in the wrong place,” according to Biden.

Next, they shouted questions about why the Department of Justice (DOJ) didn’t order the FBI to raid Biden’s property to search for more files, as it did with Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Is it possible that the reporters overlooked that the National Archives never asked Biden for any of the approximately two dozen classified documents located six years after Biden’s tenure as vice president?

That’s right — Biden’s aides alerted the National Archives and, by all accounts, have cooperated with the DOJ.

What a contrast to the hundreds of official and classified documents that the National Archives repeatedly asked Trump to return, beginning in the months immediately after he left office. Trump or his team seems to have lied about holding the documents, demonized the FBI agents who came to get them, and never bothered to claim to cooperate with the Justice Department.

Oh, and don’t forget that more documents were discovered after Trump’s attorney, Christina Bobb, signed a letter stating that they had all been surrendered.

Did White House reporters also fail to notice that Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden and see if any laws were broken?

Next, the White House press corps demanded to know why there are no visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware home and private office, where some of the documents were discovered. But there have never been official visitor logs to the private homes and offices of former presidents and vice presidents.

Then came solemn questions and less-solemn speculation about national security and whether the president’s son, Hunter, had access to the documents. Where were the frenzied questions after the Mar-a-Lago raid about Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, potentially having access to hundreds of government documents in the days after Trump allegedly removed them improperly from the White House? (Kushner subsequently said he was “not familiar” with the documents seized by the FBI.)

The big news here seems obvious after watching this one-sided telling of the story: Trump’s sycophants in the conservative press and the new House majority have intimidated some in the White House press corps into pursuing an anti-Biden agenda. That agenda is to enable Trump to confuse the public by equating what appears to be his massive wrongdoing with what appears to be clerical errors by Biden.

Trump’s goal is to limit the chances he will be indicted for allegedly taking hundreds of classified documents from the White House and potentially putting national security at risk.

Yet, somehow, some of the press appears blind to being used to sell the latest Trump lie. This new “Big Lie” is that all high-ranking White House officials regularly mishandle hundreds of classified documents and that rabid Democrats are unfairly singling out Trump for punishment.

It is stunning to watch this successful manipulation of the press after Trump’s years of maligning the press.

I can’t forget Trump calling them the “enemy of the American people.” Once, he even said reporters were “the opposition party.” He later amplified that thought by tweeting that he could not “state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda.”

Apparently, Trump’s lies about the press worked.

Today, Trump is the “Pied Piper” with hypnotizing music, and many in the press seemingly are dancing to his tune. How else can you explain serious reporters saying they seek balance in a story with such an obvious and huge imbalance between the acts committed by Biden and Trump?

Freshman Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) declared last week that Biden and Trump’s “destinies are intertwined here. If you’re going to give Biden a pass, you have to give Trump a pass.”

This seems like a cynical attempt at media manipulation, using the power of the United States Congress to rehabilitate Trump and his allies and restore them to power. It is part of the same scheme being used by House Republicans in forming a panel to investigate the “weaponization of government.”

But it is a farce that requires a willing group of reporters to be content with dancing to Trump’s tune.

Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Debt ceiling battle highlights 2023 uncertainty

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

The House and Senate are back to work this week, armed with retread scripts in a year of consequential uncertainty.

The 2024 presidential contest will shape many of the year’s political arguments but it’s unclear if that jockeying will help untie near-term legislative knots on everything from funding the government to navigating a potential recession to assisting Ukraine.

Take the debt ceiling: Washington’s history suggests bipartisan negotiations will be necessary by spring. House Republicans want to force significant spending cuts, which the White House and Democrats oppose. Most lawmakers believe even flirting with a U.S. default, as several ultraconservative House Republicans have suggested, wanders too close to seppuku, or to put it another way, ritualistic economic suicide.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) wants to sit down with President Biden, who has agreed to meet with the Republican leader, without saying when. McCarthy said giving the Treasury Department authority to hike borrowing without add-on GOP conditions is “off the table.” Among House conservative demands: curbing federal spending for seniors.

“When it comes to the debt ceiling, the president has been clear. It should not be used as a political football, but again, he’s looking forward to meeting with the Speaker and continue to build on that relationship,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated on Friday.

McCarthy could conceivably lose the Speakership if he disappoints the firebrands in his caucus. “We cannot raise the debt ceiling,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted last week. “Democrats have carelessly spent our taxpayer money and devalued our currency. They’ve made their bed, so they must lie in it.”

Over the weekend, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, said Biden should not negotiate with Republicans over raising the cap on borrowing (The Hill), while centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has said he wants to discuss Social Security and Medicare spending with the GOP, told CNN that it was a “mistake” for the president to refuse to negotiate (The Hill).

“Those who are posing for holy pictures as budget balancers… should note one important fact: Almost 25 percent of all of the national debt accumulated over the history of the United States… was accumulated during the four years of Donald Trump,” Durbin told CNN.

While Senate Democratic leaders appear splintered over strategy, The Hill’s Al Weaver reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to play a pivotal role in cracking the code in the emerging debt ceiling fight — and Democrats may have to bend.

Meanwhile, Biden is poised to deliver a State of the Union address on Feb. 7, lean into a reelection bid and announce some White House personnel changes, including a new chief of staff, Jeff Zients, who will succeed outgoing Ron Klain next month.

Zients will bring some fresh eyes and expertise to the second half of Biden’s term during a period of divided government and the president’s high-stakes bid for reelection. He is a workhorse with a low-key manner and a track record both in private business and in the Obama and Biden administrations as a manager who tackles aspirations with teams of people who can look around corners, execute and deliver results. He also knows the ins and outs of federal budgeting and the economy, which will be valuable during Biden’s clashes with the GOP over spending and revenues.

Zients, 56, twice served as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and was director of the White House National Economic Council under former President Obama. He returned to government to manage Biden’s federal pandemic response (Politico), including vaccine distribution, before departing that role last year (The Washington Post).

Some Democrats told the Post that Biden’s closest political advisers in and around the West Wing, including Anita Dunn, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed, will likely steer political and communications decisions shaping Biden’s agenda heading toward what the president has signaled will be a bid for a second term. Some White House watchers expect related West Wing personnel changes ahead.

Biden’s team continues to muscle up for House Republican investigations, including oversight of the president’s classified documents controversy, now under investigation by a Justice Department special counsel. Additional classified documents were discovered at the president’s Wilmington, Del., residence on Friday during a 13-hour FBI search conducted without a subpoena (CNN). 

The New York Times reported that initially, Biden’s lawyers mistakenly believed boxes of files retained as part of Biden’s transition out of the vice presidency had only been shipped to a Washington think tank in which he had an office. 

Biden told reporters on Thursday, referring to his handling of the November, December and January recovery of pages and slow public disclosures, “I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no ‘there’ there,” (The New York Times).

The materials recovered with classification markings are described as dating to Biden’s years as vice president and senator.

The Hill: The discovery of classified documents at the president’s private residence and former think tank office harms Biden’s reputation, Durbin said. “When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it, because it’s not supposed to happen,” the senator told CNN on Sunday.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Troubles surrounding Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) have shifted from résumé lies to possible campaign finance law violations, which, if proved, could result in civil penalties, criminal prosecution or expulsion from Congress. 

▪ Fox News: Santos admitted on Saturday, after initial “categorical” denials, that he dressed as a woman “for fun” at a party while living in Brazil. Santos on Saturday was the target of a “Saturday Night Live” roast (Insider). Video is here and here. 

▪ The Washington Post: Early rift over immigration exposes House GOP’s tough path to consensus.

▪ Politico: Storied Senate Judiciary panel eyes a new era of quieter productivity.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS

Biden is entering the new year with low approval ratings, giving some Democrats consternation about the president’s political prospects, writes The Hill’s Amie Parnes. The numbers come at a critical time for the president, as Biden is preparing to launch his reelection bid. Democrats privately wonder if the controversy surrounding classified documents found at the president’s former office and at his Wilmington home could damage his brand, hurting his chances of a second term. A Reuters-Ipsos poll out on Thursday showed that 40 percent of Americans 18 and older approved of Biden’s job performance — a point higher than last month’s survey but too low for some Democrats at this point in his presidency. The survey, which was conducted on the heels of the revelations that Biden had classified documents in his possession, has blunted some of Biden’s momentum entering the new year. 

“I don’t know if anyone wants to be hovering around 40 percent when they’re launching a reelection bid,” one strategist said. “You, at the very least, want to be 5 or 6 points higher.” 

FiveThirtyEight: Will Biden’s misplaced classified documents bring his approval rating down?

Biden is also facing several serious obstacles this year that could derail the strong economy that has been central to pitch to American voters, write The Hill’s Sylvan Lane and Alex Gangitano. While the White House has sought to highlight the resilience of the U.S. economy in the face of high inflation, rising interest rates, and mounting layoffs across the technology, real estate and media sectors, Biden will face challenges preserving a sturdy economy amid an escalating fight over the debt ceiling with House Republicans and a Federal Reserve dead set on conquering inflation. 

▪ The Hill: Manchin doesn’t rule out running for president or Senate reelection under a different party.

▪ The Hill: Manchin says he would support Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) for reelection in Arizona. 

Democrats in Mississippi are feeling optimistic that their party will be able to oust Gov. Tate Reeves (R) from the governor’s mansion this fall with Democrat Brandon Presley’s recent entry in the race, The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports. Reeves has suffered from low approval ratings and has been implicated at times in the state’s long-running welfare scandal, but the governorship has proved elusive for Democrats in the red state for decades. But some believe this time will be different, saying Presley, the state’s northern district public service commissioner and a distant relative of Elvis Presley, has an ability to connect with rural voters and that’s proved he can win elections in one of the reddest parts of the state. 

Politico: When politicians climb down the ladder.

Wisconsin LGBTQ advocates and lawmakers are recalibrating after state GOP legislators last week voted for a second time to block a ban on conversion therapy from taking effect, putting more than 200,000 LGBTQ youth at risk of undergoing harmful and dangerous procedures meant to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

“I’m very concerned about young people in Wisconsin who live in communities where it is once again allowed, being subjected to this really cruel and unscientific form of therapy,” state Rep. Greta Neubauer (D), one of six openly LGBTQ members of Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature, told The Hill.

Lobbying giants expect a historic earnings boom to continue, even as a divided Congress threatens to slow legislation to a crawl, writes The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Capping off a record-breaking year for K Street, the top Washington, D.C., lobbying firms on Friday reported massive earnings for the final three months of 2022.

“People making the assumption nothing is going to happen over the next two years might be making a mistake,” said former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), a senior adviser at Squire Patton Boggs, pointing to House Republicans’ investigations and proposals impacting the energy and tech industries.

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Biden and Vice President Harris over the weekend expressed their condolences and support for those impacted by a mass shooting in Monterey Bay, Calif., near Los Angeles, where a gunman opened fire and killed 10 on Saturday. The community is predominantly Asian American and many were celebrating Lunar New Year in a dance hall when the shooting occurred. 

Authorities described the suspect, found dead on Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as Huu Can Tran, 72. The suspected mass shooting weapon was described as a “magazine-fed semi-automatic pistol,” which the Los Angeles sheriff said was likely illegal to possess in California. Events at two locations are under investigation as potential hate crimes while authorities search for a motive. Tran, the driver of a white van suspected to have carried out the shooting, was found dead in a van in nearby Torrance, Calif. (The Hill and CNN).

“Even as we continue searching for answers about this attack, we know how deeply this attack has impacted the AAPI community,” Biden said in a statement.

Harris, a former senator and former attorney general from California, told an audience in Florida that during “a time of a cultural celebration … yet another community has been torn apart by senseless gun violence.”

▪ NPR: Monterey Park has a special significance for the Asian community in LA.

▪ The Washington Post: A safe haven for Asian immigrants now shares in the tragedy of gun violence.

▪ Los Angeles Times: Mass shooting in Monterey Park shatters the hope and joy of Lunar New Year.

On Sunday, Harris spoke in Tallahassee, Fla., on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that was overturned by the Supreme Court last year. 

“There’s a collection of words that mean everything to us as Americans. The heartfelt words of our great national anthem, that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. But let us ask, can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body?” Harris said as the crowd responded with a loud “no.” Harris’s office said earlier that the choice of Florida for the vice president’s speech Sunday spoke to the reality that the Sunshine State, which enacted a 15-week abortion ban last year, is now at the forefront of the abortion debate (CNN).

The Biden administration on Sunday issued a memorandum to further protect access to medication abortion by ensuring doctors can prescribe and dispense it across the United States (The Hill).

▪ The New York Times: “We are on the right side of history,” Harris says on Roe’s 50th anniversary.

▪ The Denver Post: Women’s marches draw thousands on the 50th anniversary of Roe.

▪ The 19th: The first post-Roe March for Life showed anti-abortion activists are far from done.

▪ Vox: The coming legal showdown over abortion pills.

The Hill’s Cheyanne Daniels writes that despite placing racial justice at the top of his agenda two years ago, the president has been rebuffed by conservatives in Congress and the courts when it comes to strides sought by Democrats to expand voting rights and police reforms. At the two-year mark, Biden’s “incomplete” agenda during a period in which he had Democratic majorities in the House and Senate is unlikely to change while Republicans control the House and other issues take center stage.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Despite the ever-present danger of war, life in Ukraine proceeds almost normally at times, The New York Times reports. It was what passes for an ordinary Saturday for ordinary Ukrainian people these days, in Dnipro, far from the front lines of the war with Russia, but never fully at peace. All day, air-raid warnings were sounding, forcing people to make calculations that have become habitual: Go to a shelter or stay home? Take the elevator or the stairs? Then, suddenly, it all changed when a Russian missile struck an apartment complex.

“There are not that many bomb shelters,” Oleh Valovyi said, “and you get tired of running there because the air-raid alarms sound practically every day, several times a day.”

The Washington Post: Western Ukraine, distant from the front lines, feels the burdens of war.

Nearly a year into its war with Ukraine, Russia has had little success on the cyber battlefield — and that doesn’t look like it will change moving forward, The Hill’s Ines Kagubare reports. In the coming months, Moscow is expected to escalate its cyber operations as it continues to face major military setbacks in the conflict. However, that increase in cyber activity is likely to have a minor impact in the war as the Kremlin is met with stronger cyber counterattacks from Ukraine and its allies. 

There may in fact be no benefits for Russian forces in ramping up their cyber activity against Ukraine, says James Turgal, vice president of cyber consultancy Optiv, other than “to make the point that they can cause chaos.” 

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — who is under pressure to supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard tanks — said at a Paris news conference on Sunday that all decisions on weapons deliveries would be made in coordination with allies including the United States. Speaking at the same news conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out the possibility of sending Leclerc tanks to Ukraine (Reuters). But Germany would not “stand in the way” of Poland sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday in what appeared to be the clearest signal yet from Berlin that European allies could deliver the German-made hardware (The Guardian).

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Ukraine war lands Europe’s leaders in a battle of wills.

▪ Vox: Ukraine has a new cache of weapons on the way — but not German tanks.

▪ The New York Times: Germany’s reluctance on tanks stems from its history and its politics.

▪ Politico EU: Scholz upbeat about trade truce with U.S. in “first quarter of this year.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ousted the head of the country’s army on Saturday, moving against the most senior military officer to be held accountable after the Jan. 8 insurrection. Gen. Júlio Cesar de Arruda’s removal came six days after The Washington Post reported that he had sought to protect rioters and supporters of defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro who were sheltering at a camp in front of army headquarters after storming and ransacking the presidential palace, the supreme court and congress.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: China’s reopening complicates the global fight against inflation.

▪ Der Spiegel: Inside the European Parliament corruption scandal. Hundreds of documents provide deep insight into widespread influence peddling of a handful of members of the European Parliament and show that there may be much more to come.

▪ Reuters: It’s “now or never” to stop Japan’s shrinking population, prime minister says.

OPINION

■ Monterey Park shooting is horrific, but all too familiar, by the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board. https://lat.ms/3R0fvHx 

■ Democracies shouldn’t gloat about China’s stumbles, by Pankaj Mishra, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3XN1Lll

WHERE AND WHEN

👉 The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will convene at noon on Tuesday. 

The Senate meets at 3 p.m. and is expected to vote on the nomination of Brendan Owens to be an assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment.

The president will return to the White House from Delaware at 10:40 a.m.

The vice president will administer the oath of office to Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), appointed to fill the vacancy of former Sen. Ben Sasse, on the Senate floor at 3 p.m. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Zambia where today she will tour a community health location and visit U.S. firm Mylan Lab’s Lusaka distribution center for antimalarial and antiretroviral treatments. Yellen will join business leaders from the American Chamber of Commerce in Zambia for lunch. Later, the secretary meets individually with President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane and the governor of the Bank of Zambia, Denny Kalyalya. 

The Supreme Court today will issue its first opinion of the term (The Hill).

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2 p.m.

ELSEWHERE

➤ CONSUMERS & ECONOMY

📬 On Sunday, the U.S. Postal Service began charging 63 cents for a first-class stamp, up from 60 cents. The price for 1-ounce metered mail rose to 60 cents, and the price to send a domestic postcard jumped to 48 cents. A 1-ounce letter mailed to another country now costs $1.45. The Postal Service, on a tear to reduce its red ink, announced the changes in October. This week’s higher postal prices mark the third jump for Forever stamps in the past 17 months and the agency says price hikes will continue with regularity. It’s part of a “Delivering for America” plan, focused on averting $160 billion in financial losses by 2030 (CBS News).

💸 Reminder: The 2022 tax filing season begins today and the IRS deadline is April 18 (The Dallas Morning News). 

💳 Many Americans are falling prey to credit card debt just as card interest rates soar to historic highs (The Hill). Multiple industry surveys show a sharp rise in card debt that consumers carry from month to month, in part because they’re not as focused as they should be on how the interest is adding up. Average interest rates this winter on various cards hover around 20 percent, the highest figure in at least 28 years, according to Federal Reserve data. The Hill’s Daniel de Visé describes six ways consumers can chisel away their credit card debt.

🥚 Egg prices jumped 50 percent during the 12 months that ended in November, forcing professional chefs and home cooks to get creative. Substitutes in a cake recipe, for instance, can be more milk to provide the moisture. Applesauce or yogurt are favored stand-ins for eggs and fat. The Washington Post and WSYR-TV are among the news outlets that asked professional bakers and chefs for some workarounds for high-priced eggs.

While most sectors of the economy have recovered from the sharp downturn caused by the arrival of the coronavirus, the tech sector has fallen into a kind of recession characterized by mass layoffs, pervasive hiring freezes, a bear market for stocks and a sharp drop in venture-capital funding. In recent weeks, there have been 12,000 layoffs announced at Google, 11,000 at Facebook, 10,000 at Microsoft, 18,000 at Amazon, 8,000 at Salesforce, 4,000 at Cisco and 3,000-plus at Twitter. Why has tech suffered so much more than its corporate peers? 

That question has two answers, The Atlantic reports: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s effort to stamp out inflation and the waning of a pandemic during which many of these companies thrived.

▪ CNN: Here are the companies that have laid off employees this year — so far.

▪ The New York Times: Tech layoffs shock young workers. The older people? Not so much.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Tech layoffs unwind recent head-count growth, torpedo long-shot projects.

▪ CNN: How Big Tech’s pandemic bubble burst.

▪ Bloomberg News: Nearly 20 percent of U.S. firms expect to reduce their headcounts, survey shows.

▪ MSNBC: With layoffs, tech companies are quickening the robot revolution.

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

As COVID-19’s omicron subvariant known as XBB.1.5 becomes more prevalent in some parts of the country, health experts say it likely escapes immune protection better than previous mutations, though it is still unclear whether it causes more severe illness (The Hill). More than 80 percent of coronavirus cases in the Northeast are now from XBB.1.5, and physicians in the region say they have so far not noticed a more severe illness among their patients.

“The presentation is for the most part the same. Maybe they’re not presenting as ill, but we are still seeing plenty of ill patients and we are still certainly seeing patients that die,” Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist for Hartford Healthcare in Connecticut, told The Hill.

Wu said XBB.1.5 does not appear to be more lethal and noted that any time more cases of COVID-19 are seen, morbidity and mortality will increase in turn.

▪ Nexstar Media: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that XBB.1.5 is spreading in the United States. Earlier this month, XBB.1.5 began sweeping through the Northeast. As of Thursday, the CDC reports the variant makes up roughly 82 percent of cases in New England, New York and New Jersey. It’s now spreading along the East Coast.

▪ The Hill: What we know about how COVID-19 vaccines may affect menstrual cycles.

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,104,118. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 3,953 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🏮 Sunday marked the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. Those around the world celebrating with parades, floats, costumes, food and wishes for good luck sought to kick off the year with fun — and some great photos. 

Stay Engaged

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Democrats see Mississippi governor's race as ripe for an upset

Democrats in Mississippi are feeling optimistic that their party will be able to oust Gov. Tate Reeves (R) from the governor’s mansion this fall after Democrat Brandon Presley’s recent entry in the race. 

Reeves has suffered from low approval ratings and has been name-checked at times in the state’s long-running welfare scandal, but the governorship has proved elusive for Democrats in the red state for decades. 

The party believes this time will be different. They say Presley, the state’s northern district public service commissioner and a distant relative of Elvis Presley, has an ability to connect with rural voters and that he’s proven he can win elections in some of the reddest parts of the state. 

“There is not a better retail politician in the state of Mississippi, period. He knows how to connect with voters. He knows how to listen to voters, which I think is an underrated skill in a politician,” said Democratic strategist Brannon Miller, whose firm has worked with Presley’s campaign previously but is not involved in the gubernatorial race at this time. 

“As a Democrat, you can’t be anything but optimistic about a person like that,” he added.

Presley, who officially announced his candidacy a little over a week ago, touted his credentials as a former mayor of Nettletown — a “no stoplight town” — in his announcement video. He also emphasized his time serving on the state’s utilities regulatory body where he said he “opened up closed-door meetings to the public, brought high-speed internet service all the way out here — to some of the most rural and forgotten places in our state.”

Shortly after his announcement, Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the lone Democrat in Mississippi’s congressional delegation and a powerful member of the party in the state, endorsed Presley. 

In an interview with The Hill, Thompson pointed to teachers grappling with low pay, the ongoing welfare investigation into millions of dollars that were supposed to go to the state’s low-income residents and were misappropriated, and dozens of rural hospitals on the brink of shutting down as some of the biggest issues the state will need to contend with.

“Brandon Pressley says he wants to work with those local communities on their particular problems. I’m excited about that,” Thompson said. “‘Cause I hear what people are saying every day about their trials and tribulations. And so we need somebody in the highest position in this state that not just hear about citizens’ trials and tribulations but actually does something about it.”

Indeed, Mississippi State Health Officer Daniel Edney warned in November that the financial crisis plaguing the state’s rural hospitals risked the closure of more than half of them, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported. Teachers’ pay in the state has trailed other states in the nation, though Reeves last year signed legislation that would boost pay an average of more than $5,000. Ageing water infrastructure in Jackson, exacerbated by serious weather conditions, has left residents in the majority-Black city without reliable, clean water at times. 

There’s also an ongoing investigation into the misappropriation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds that were supposed to be directed toward the state’s lowest income residents but were instead pocketed for things unrelated to the program’s priorities. The investigation has at times name-checked Reeves, but he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Democrats see recent polling as reason for optimism that there’s fertile ground to elect a Democrat as governor. A Morning Consult poll released earlier this month found Reeves among the 10 governors with the lowest approval ratings, coming in at 49 percent. And a Mississippi Today-Siena College poll found that 57 percent of respondents, including 33 percent of Republicans, would like to see someone other than the governor as the state’s top official.

“Brandon Presley’s never … relied solely on Democrats to win. He’s always had to win Republicans and independents to have the job he has now,” said a consultant that works with Presley’s campaign. 

“’I’m not worried about the registration of the state,” the consultant said, pointing to the 57 percent of those polled in the Mississippi Today-Siena College survey that wanted a new governor.

Plus, several Republicans, including former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. and Secretary of State Michael Watson, are reportedly considering entering the race, which could spark a bruising primary for Reeves.

But Republicans say Democrats still have their work cut out for them. The state hasn’t elected a Democrat for governor since 1999, and unseating a Republican incumbent in a state that went for former President Trump by more than 16 points in 2020 will be no small feat.

“Brandon Presley and D.C. Democrats are dreaming if they think they can turn Mississippi blue. The hard-working people of Mississippi know they can’t afford a Joe Biden liberal running the state into the ground,” Sara Craig, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement. 

“Democrat policies around the country have crushed Americans struggling to make ends meet. The leadership of Governor Reeves is a stark contrast, with more jobs and better pay, safer streets and quality schools, and he’s just getting started,” she added.

Frank Bordeaux, the chairman of the Mississippi GOP, said he didn’t take much stock in Mississippi Today’s polling on Reeves and believed that the state’s welfare investigation would not negatively impact the governor’s reelection efforts — a probe that Presley referenced in his first ad.

“Obviously, if you’re going [to] go negative right out the gate, you’re losing,” Bordeaux said. “And so that’s kind of how we take that. Him saying that he’s got to do something to get his name out there, and he’s got to try to compete with the governor. And he’s obviously decided to go negative right out the gate.”

Democrats acknowledge that a mixture of rebuilding state party infrastructure and increased financial engagement is necessary for making inroads. 

“A real weakness [in] the state is we don’t have the infrastructure, right? We just don’t have a Democratic infrastructure. Our Democratic Party is in a rebuilding phase, for lack of a better word,” said Democratic strategist Pam Shaw, referring to the state Democratic Party.

Miller, the other Democratic strategist, put it another way.

“I think it’s a problem of, you know, we’re just a poor state, and particularly Democratic voters tend to be very poor in Mississippi. And we don’t have the sort of outside progressive organizations that provide the base in terms of financial and grassroots support for Democratic candidates,” he said.

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) invested seven figures in the 2019 gubernatorial race, and spokesman Sam Newton said in a statement the group will “continue to closely watch this race as it develops.”

“The DGA has shown that we can win anywhere, including ousting GOP incumbents in very tough environments like Kentucky, Wisconsin and North Carolina in recent election cycles,” he noted.

Andre Wagner, executive director for the Mississippi Democratic Party, said making gains for Democrats in a red state like Mississippi will be “something that takes time,” pointing to Georgia as an example.

“I think that Mississippi is on the precipice of being able to be on the forefront — to be right on the forefront to turn this state blue, or at least purple. It took work, it took real concerted effort to turn Georgia into what it is now,” Wagner said. 

“Shirley Chisholm said that if you’re not at the table, bring a folding chair. And honestly, I think that’s what we need to do is make sure we bring folding chairs to the table so we can all be a part of this work together,” he added.

Source: TEST FEED1

McConnell is a key player in approaching debt ceiling fight

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is set to play a pivotal role in a debt ceiling fight expected to consume Washington in the coming weeks and months.

The Republican leader is a central figure in a fight between conservative House Republicans determined to win huge cuts to domestic spending and a White House that, at this stage in the game, is refusing to negotiate spending cuts for a debt ceiling hike.

Any debt ceiling increase must pass both the Senate and House, meaning McConnell likely will need to deliver GOP votes behind some kind of compromise if the government is to avoid defaulting on its payments — something that would rupture stock markets, threaten the U.S. credit rating and shake the underlying economy.

“McConnell might as well be on a tightrope hovering over Niagara Falls at this point,” one former Senate GOP leadership aide said of the challenges ahead for McConnell, who has been at the center of a number of past negotiations and deals that allowed the debt ceiling to be raised by a Democratic president and Republican House.

McConnell will face calls to deliver real spending cuts from fiscal conservatives who see a chance to enact change, while convincing the public that Republicans are not putting the economy at risk to satisfy the loudest and most vociferous voices in the House GOP.

And he’ll need to do it after a disappointing midterm election for his party that left him short again of a Senate majority.

“This is going to be a defining moment for the party, not only for how we can stand tall for fiscal sanity on the spending side, but also how we can convince independents that we’re a responsible party of government, which includes not endangering the full faith and credit of the U.S.,” the GOP leadership aide said.

McConnell gave the first signals of how he will handle the crisis on Thursday, insisting the U.S. would not default on its debt and that he “would not be concerned about a financial crisis” coming to fruition.

He said he expects a negotiation of some kind with the Biden administration, but declined to delve any deeper. The main negotiation is expected to take place between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), with the two saying on Friday that they look forward to sitting down and discussing the situation soon. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also noted that she expects the lion’s share of talks to take place between the White House and House Republicans.

Nevertheless, McConnell will face pressure from within his own Senate caucus to win something for Republicans in the standoff.

“It’s going to be a really tall task,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told The Hill, who voted against raising the debt ceiling twice in late 2021. 

“Mitch always insists we have to raise the debt ceiling, and I think most Republicans would agree with him on that,” he said.

“But he seems to almost give away any leverage by insisting that we cannot and will not let the country default. It’s a great and nice message to Wall Street, but it’s kind of a lousy message to your competitor or your opponent,” Cramer continued.

At the same time, Cramer offered a note to McConnell’s sagacity, noting with a laugh that, “Every time I think Mitch is wrong, he turns out to be right.”  

The House GOP has already agreed to write their fiscal 2024 appropriations bills at fiscal 2022 levels, a move that would cut $130 billion in spending.

Democrats have not agreed to enacting those cuts, nor have some Senate Republicans. Cramer dismissed them as not “realistic” and “a pipe dream.” 

McConnell has a long history of brokering deals with Biden, which Democrats are noting privately.  

“Just look at the last couple years. Mitch is the grown-up in the room on the other side,” one House Democrat told The Hill.

Biden and McConnell famously helped negotiate a 2012 agreement to avoid the “fiscal cliff” that, absent a deal, would have increased taxes and enacted deep spending cuts. 

In October 2021, McConnell swung a two-month extension of the debt ceiling to ward off the possibility that Democrats might do so by nullifying the filibuster. Before doing so, McConnell consulted with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who were under pressure to nix the 60-vote threshold to move a debt limit bill. McConnell also noted at the time that Republicans would not allow a routine debt limit increase to take place as long as Democrats pursued the Build Back Better agenda, which was being pursued under a legislative process that prevented Republicans in the Senate from blocking it. 

He also cobbled together a group of 14 other Republicans, including members of leadership and moderates, to break a filibuster on a package two months later that allowed Democrats to raise the ceiling on their own by $2.5 trillion. 

However, according to multiple Senate GOP sources, there was frustration surrounding the December 2021 vote to end debate among some of those members. McConnell had said in a letter shortly after the two-month increase was passed that the party would not help Democrats do so again, leading to criticism from GOP corners.

McConnell is also now dealing with bitterness from Republicans in the House and Senate over last month’s passage of the omnibus spending bill. Several House Republicans during the fight to make McCarthy Speaker referenced that bill in demanding changes.

“The reason I think this is going to be harder is — at some point political capital gets spent faster than it can get renewed, and the omnibus cost a lot,” Cramer said. “It’s been brutal.”

How each side gets to the table in the coming months remains unclear.

Manchin last week was the only Senate Democrat to indicate a willingness to negotiate on the debt ceiling, noting that he spoke with McCarthy about tying an increase with the TRUST Act — a bill he co-authored with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to create “rescue committees” that look into Medicare, Social Security and other government trust funds that are endangered.

“You have to do something,” the former Senate GOP leadership aide continued. “And if Republicans are saying cut spending, and Democrats keep saying ‘do nothing,’ then it really feels like we’re really far apart.”

“Nothing’s going to happen until we’re staring down the storm,” the aide added.

Source: TEST FEED1