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DeSantis edges closer to 2024 decision

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is on the cusp of making a final decision on a 2024 presidential run.

Several Republicans familiar with the deliberations say that DeSantis is almost certain to seek the GOP’s presidential nomination. His advisers have begun reaching out to and interviewing potential hires for a campaign and are gaming out the best time to announce his intentions.

A formal campaign launch is still months away, they say, and won’t likely come until after the state legislature wraps up its regular session in May. Two sources familiar with the plans said that the Florida governor could announce his presidential bid as early as late May or early June.

“I think his mind is pretty much made up at this point,” one Republican operative said. “My read on it is: Let’s get through session, get some stuff done and see where things stand. But unless something changes drastically between now and then, I’d say he’s a go.”

DeSantis has said little about his 2024 ambitions, but his growing stature within the GOP is clear. Early polling shows him beating former President Trump, his onetime political benefactor, in a head-to-head primary match-up, and conservatives are increasingly naming him as a top choice for the party’s presidential nod.

Behind the scenes, DeSantis’s advisers have also begun actively laying the groundwork for a national campaign, reaching out to potential hires as they look to staff up his political operation. Among those involved in the preparations are Phil Cox and Generra Peck, two veteran DeSantis campaign aides.

Another Republican with ties to DeSantis said that “this is his moment.” While the Florida governor has been floated as a potential presidential hopeful for years, he gained even more momentum after scoring a staggering 19-point win in his November reelection bid — a margin that hasn’t been seen in a Florida gubernatorial race in four decades.

“He needs to seize the opportunity now because who knows what things will look like down the road,” the person said. “He has the momentum now.”

Another Republican source said that while DeSantis is leaning heavily toward a presidential bid, there’s little certainty about the timing, noting that he could wait until August or even September — after the “summer campaign lull” — to announce his plans. 

DeSantis’s gubernatorial campaign did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on his potential 2024 plans.

Nevertheless, there’s already a robust outside effort to lure DeSantis into the 2024 race. 

One group, Ready for Ron, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission last month declaring its intent to spend more than $3 million on television advertising and phone, mail and digital promotion through late June — an effort that could help DeSantis fill a campaign gap between now and a potential announcement.

On Monday, David McIntosh, the president of the conservative Club for Growth, told reporters that the group had invited DeSantis to its annual donor retreat and was hoping to feature him as a keynote speaker.

DeSantis wasn’t the only 2024 prospect to land an invite to the gathering. The Club also extended invitations to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Trump was notably left off that list.

But for the time being, DeSantis is best positioned to break through in the primary, McIntosh said, adding that while Trump has universal name ID among voters, the Florida governor “still has room to grow.”

“What the club believes the Republican Party should do is make sure whoever we nominate will actually win,” McIntosh said. “The party should be open to looking at a different candidate. DeSantis is in the strongest position.”

The speculation around DeSantis’s plans has put him directly in the sights of Trump, the only major declared candidate in the race so far. The former president sees himself as largely responsible for DeSantis’s political success and has complained both publicly and privately about the Florida governor’s growing stature.

In the past week or so alone, Trump has accused DeSantis of “trying to rewrite history” when it comes to his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and dubbed him a “RINO GLOBALIST,” using an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

For his part, DeSantis has largely ignored Trump. Asked about the former president’s criticism during a news conference on Wednesday, DeSantis said that he was more focused on confronting President Biden than on engaging in fights with fellow Republicans.

“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida, and fighting against Joe Biden, that’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans,” he said.

Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, said that Trump’s attacks on DeSantis have so far fallen flat, adding that they have come off more as a desperate attempt to preserve his hold on the GOP.

“Trump is obviously lashing out at DeSantis, but it’s not getting much notice and it sure isn’t sticking,” Heye said. “It looks desperate.” 

To be sure, the first nominating contests of the 2024 presidential race are still about a year away, and DeSantis remains relatively untested on the national stage. And there are still lingering questions about exactly what kind of lane DeSantis tries to carve out for himself in a potentially crowded primary field.

“We have to see how he campaigns,” Heye said. “Does he campaign trying to take on Trump or use rhetoric that we’ve heard similar to Nikki Haley and even [Arkansas Gov. Sarah] Huckabee about new generations and hitting his culture war issues?”

Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as Trump’s U.N. envoy for nearly two years, has been preparing for a 2024 bid and is expected to launch a campaign as soon as next week. Others, like Pence and Pompeo, are also believed to be readying their own White House bids.

But DeSantis’s allies say he’s in a unique position — one that could help him bridge the gap between Trump’s brand of right-wing populism and Republicans ready to move on from the former president. 

“He’s forged such a unique brand and such a bold leadership strategy and record of results in Florida,” Stephen Lawson, a Georgia-based strategist who served as communications director for DeSantis’s successful 2018 gubernatorial run. “He’s got a strong story to tell.”

Al Weaver contributed.

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GOP divided over whether heckling Biden hurts them

House Republicans are divided on whether the raucous heckling of President Biden during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night was inappropriate — or whether it helped them effectively communicate their position to the American public.

Many Republicans thought the uproar in response to Biden’s comment accusing Republicans of wanting to sunset Social Security and Medicare was justified, blaming the president for “instigating” a desired reaction that would put Republicans in a bad light. But some expressed doubts about the rowdiness that followed.

The claim about Social Security was the first to draw such an audible reaction from Republicans, who are fighting for spending cuts as a condition of raising the debt ceiling and seeking to sell those cuts to the American public. 

“He started off, I thought, wonderfully. … But then you can’t stand up there and blatantly lie,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) said. “So as much as I wish we had had more decorum, OK, you are instigating that behavior. So it starts with the leader.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also put the blame on Biden. 

“The president was trying to goad the members, and the members are passionate about it,” McCarthy said on Fox News Wednesday morning. “But the one thing that the president was saying was something that he knew was not true.”

Though Republicans have sought for decades to privatize Social Security and cut Medicare — and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) released a proposal last year to sunset all federal programs after five years — McCarthy has repeatedly said that cuts to entitlement programs are “off the table” in debt ceiling talks, which he launched with Biden last week.

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said while he thought the president deserves respect, he understands why some members found it difficult to “uphold decorum.”

“The office of the president deserves respect, period, agree or disagree,” he said.

“I got a little uneasy in my seat and pretty frustrated listening to some of the allegations that are just patently false,” Graves added.

Once the vocal pushback started, though, it didn’t stop. Later in the speech, some Republicans chanted “secure the border” and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) yelled “It’s your fault” when Biden mentioned fentanyl deaths.

Some thought the uproar went too far.

“I think it’s important that proper decorum be addressed not only in the chamber, but everywhere we go. And we should hold ourselves to a higher ground,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), chair of the more centrist Republican Governance Group. “That’s something we shouldn’t engage in, and we should at least show the respect that’s due and owed [to] the office of president when he comes to our chamber to speak.”

The most high-profile of the hecklers Tuesday night was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a conservative firebrand who stood and yelled that Biden was a “liar” when the president accused Republicans of wanting to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. 

The episode was reminiscent of Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) outburst during the State of the Union in 2009, when he shouted “you lie” to protest then-President Obama’s claim that Democrats had no designs to provide health care to undocumented immigrants.

House Democrats formally reprimanded Wilson on the floor, and the South Carolina Republican quickly apologized for letting “my emotions get the best of me.” 

Greene is conceding no such fault. 

“I let him know exactly how the people feel. I got more text messages last night and this morning than I did on my — probably winning both elections,” Greene told reporters outside the Capitol on Wednesday. “So, no, I have no regrets.”

McCarthy is just starting negotiations with Biden on the debt limit fight, and he projected ahead of the address that Republicans would be civil and not play “childish games” during the State of the Union. 

Republican members were reminded in a morning conference meeting that there would be hot mics and cameras, and McCarthy pledged that he would not rip up a copy of Biden’s speech — in reference to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tearing in half a copy of former President Trump’s speech.

While McCarthy, in his Fox interview, largely defended the hecklers, he also expressed some disappointment that they had taken “the bait” in the form of Biden’s entitlements jab. 

“We need to be smart,” he said. “Don’t take the bait.”

Greene, however, had other ideas.  

“I wasn’t goaded into anything,” she said. “I was reacting based on how the American people feel. They’re fed up with President Biden. And I don’t have any problems with Speaker McCarthy; he’s doing a great job.” 

She said McCarthy has not spoken to her since Tuesday’s speech.

Multiple times, McCarthy appeared to be shushing his conference as they jeered Biden — gestures captured by the C-SPAN cameras for the public to see — and some moderate Republicans praised the Speaker for trying to keep his conference in order. 

“Kevin McCarthy’s, I think he’s doing a great job of trying to be a statesman, stand above the fray,” moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said. “I’ve been impressed with what he’s been doing since he won the Speaker’s fight on Jan. 7.”

It remains to be seen whether the rowdy response will affect debt ceiling negotiations, but initial polling and research show a largely positive reaction to Biden’s speech, while independents were turned off by the back-and-forth — not welcome signs for Republicans.

A CNN flash poll found 72 percent of adult viewers, including 67 percent of independents, had a very or somewhat positive reaction to Biden’s speech. 

Lee Carter, president at the communications consulting firm Maslansky + Partners, said in an analysis of live voter opinion data on Fox News that when Biden was heckled while talking about fentanyl and the border, both Republicans and Democrats gave the speech a grade of a “B” – but independent voters put it at a “D.”

“The independents were really turned off by the whole exchange, and that’s one of the themes that you saw for the night,” Carter said. “The way that the Republicans behaved really did turn off a lot of independent voters.”

“What people were saying over and over again was, there should be some amount of decorum. You can fight back, you can slap back, there’s a lot of other times and places to do it,” Carter said. “They just didn’t like the sort of coliseum feel that was happening last night.”

Mychael Schnell and Aris Folley contributed.

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Trump’s last Defense secretary takes on the ‘American war machine’

Two decades before Chris Miller became then-President Trump’s acting Defense secretary, overseeing the Pentagon as an insurrection played out in Washington, D.C., he was on a C-17 airplane headed out of Iraq, shortly after U.S. forces had captured Baghdad.

By June 2003, Miller had worked 657 days straight as a group operations commander of a special forces battalion, and as the battle grew more distant on his way to a German base, his thoughts turned dark.

He had long hoped to fight for his country. But not like this.

“The more I thought, the more I was horrified,” Miller writes in “Soldier Secretary,” a memoir released this week. “We invaded a sovereign nation, killed and maimed a lot of Iraqis, and lost some of the greatest American patriots to ever live — all for a goddamned lie.”

“Soldier Secretary” offers an insight into the life of an American soldier who rose — briefly — to the top of the Pentagon as he grew increasingly resentful of the U.S. military-industrial complex, which he writes has now become a “hydra-headed monster” with “virtually no brakes on the American war machine.”

Still, Miller is hopeful that the next generation of Americans can shake the U.S. out of foreign entanglements and the idea of policing the rest of the world.

In an interview with The Hill, Miller said there is a pressing need for accountability in the upper ranks of the Pentagon and with military leadership for the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“That really bothers me. Our young soldiers see the hypocrisy in that … if they end up being late for work, they get in a lot of trouble. Or let’s say they mess up a piece of paperwork for a supply request, there’s a possibility they can be kicked out of the service,” he said. 

“And then there’s the people who lose wars and end up advancing on to other positions of power and wealth,” Miller adds. “And that’s what really bugs me.”

Miller spent his childhood in Delaware and Iowa, with news about the Vietnam War blaring on the TV every night. 

His father and uncles were combat veterans, and Miller enlisted in the Army in April 1980, at the age of 17. He scored high marks on a military aptitude test that opened a plethora of opportunities, but just wanted to serve in the infantry.

“I want to carry a gun,” Miller writes in the book, recalling what he told a recruiter. “Go on patrols. You know, be a soldier.”

But for more than a decade, he missed opportunities to fight despite being stationed in  Kuwait (after the Gulf War) and during the civil war in Bosnia (where he was mostly responsible for monitoring and intelligence).

Then terrorists took down the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and he was sent into Afghanistan to serve as a special forces company commander.

It was during his next assignment to Iraq that the seeds of doubt about the U.S. military-industrial complex began sprouting. 

“The recognition that so many sacrifices were ultimately made in the service of a lie, as in Iraq, or to further a delusion, as in the neoconservatives’ utopian fantasy of a democratic Middle East,” he writes. “It still makes my blood boil, and it probably will until the day I die.”

By the end of his last tour in Iraq, from 2006 to 2007, Miller had grown distrustful of the military establishment: the Defense Department, defense contractors, Democrats, Republicans, think tanks. Even the mainstream media is often “cheering on American missile strikes and urging greater involvement in conflicts America has no business fighting,” he writes. 

Miller studied at the Army War College in 2009 and trained with the CIA before he became the deputy to the civilian head of special operations, two positions removed from the Defense secretary in the Pentagon.

His views on the U.S. role in global conflicts led to plenty of petty conflicts in the defense bureaucracy. But he found an ally in Trump, who tapped him in March 2018 as special assistant to the president for counterterrorism and transnational threats at the National Security Council. 

“The political side and the domestic stuff that everyone focuses on overshadows the great successes he had with his worldview,” Miller said of Trump. “He didn’t get us into any wars and did not increase our military presence.”

This non-engagement worldview can seem out of step with the current threats posed by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing belligerence toward Taiwan. 

But Miller says the U.S. should combat foreign adversaries through irregular warfare, a military strategy designed around intelligence and winning the loyalty or cooperation of local populations.

“We’re doing the same old thing again and the world situation has changed,” Miller says. “Instead of doing what they want us to do and expect us to do, which plays into their hands, I want us to be more sophisticated. Maybe not take the bait every time.”

In November 2020, Miller was appointed by Trump to be the acting secretary of Defense, just two months before the Capitol riot.

In the leadup to what became an attempted insurrection, Miller helped organize the D.C. National Guard, which eventually helped quell the thousands of pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

Miller says Jan. 6 was “embarrassing” and concedes that Trump’s actions on that day were not helpful, but pulls up short of condemning his former boss’s behavior. 

“It’s beyond comprehension to me the way they created this narrative,” Miller says of the claims that Trump was responsible for the violence that day. “I’ll totally let the courts figure this one out. If there’s new information I would change my mind. I stand by my comments that he was absolutely not helpful … [but] the politics of this has spun out of control.”

The career military man takes a notably both-sides view of the growing partisanship that defines American politics. He writes that culture wars are “splitting Americans into warring factions” and empowering China and Russia, but doesn’t place particular blame on either party. 

How does Miller propose to overcome this? 

For one, require every American to serve with the AmeriCorps program to bring citizens together, with the option to serve through the military or an agency like the National Park Service. Two, secure the border with military force to stop cartels from flooding American streets with illicit drugs. And three, upgrade the nation’s nuclear arsenal to serve as a deterrence. 

Miller also offers a series of reforms to the military, from holding military leaders accountable to creating a leaner and more nimble fighting force to slashing the Pentagon’s nearly trillion-dollar budget in half.

House Republicans have tabled defense cuts as part of negotiations over the debt ceiling, but largely focused on “woke” programs like diversity training that make up a tiny fraction of overall spending. 

Progressive lawmakers have long been critical of bloated defense spending, but Miller doesn’t think Congress is quite ready to meet in the middle anytime soon.

“There’s no incentive to reduce military spending,” he says. “I think there’s whispers, but [we need] someone with the courage and experience to get in there and force it.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden gets the best of GOP

President Biden seemingly got one over on House Republicans in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, baiting GOP lawmakers over spending cuts related to the nation’s debt limit and withstanding regular heckling and name calling in a speech that lasted over an hour.

Throughout his administration, the president has faced increasing doubts from both parties over his ability to lead the country for another four years, but after this week’s address even some Republicans — including his top political nemesis — had compliments for the president.

“I disagree with him on most of his policies, but he put into words what he felt, and he ended up the evening far stronger than he began. Give him credit for that,” former President Trump shared on his Truth Social account just after Biden’s address wrapped.

As Biden prepares to announce his reelection bid in the coming weeks, his State of the Union address — on a prime-time national stage — showed that he can still be old school Biden: nimble, crafty and quick to punch back.

Democratic strategist Eddie Vale said Biden “looked ready to hit the trail in 2024.”

“[The address] showed a president who was having fun, toying with his opponents,” Vale said.

And the president didn’t just stick to the script. During some of the most raucous moments in the chamber, House Republicans openly sparred with Biden, shouting “liar” and “it’s your fault” in response to some of his policy suggestions.

Biden shined in some of those moments, avoiding the types of gaffes he’s sometimes known for.

The most memorable moment of a live back-and-forth between the president and the GOP came when the president suggested that some Republicans want to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare, which led to “boo,” “no!” and “liar!” from the audience.

“Folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? They’re not to be touched? All right. All right. We got unanimity!” Biden said, seemingly settling a wrought policy disagreement on live television.

His response seemed to work. Immediately, it put Republicans on defense while bolstering Biden’s stature as the adult in the room.

“Joe Biden sparring with the crowd and winning wasn’t something I expected,” former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who left Congress earlier this year, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the exchange as the president putting Republicans “on the defense.” Biden later recalled during a speech in Wisconsin that Republicans “sure didn’t like me calling them on it.”

Speaking on Fox News on Wednesday morning, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who at times shook his head sitting behind Biden during the speech, accused the president of using a “political ploy” to “goad” members of his party into reacting. 

“But the one thing we need to be is — we need to be smart. We need to be smart, don’t take the bait, stay with the American public about what we want to do,” McCarthy said. 

Ivan Zapien, a lobbyist and former Democratic National Committee official, said that Biden projected confidence in the address and brought politics back to a place where jeers from the other party could be a positive thing.

“I thought his speech hit the right tone, forcefully making his policy points — but open to debate. But above all, I think the tone of the whole night, including the boos and shouts, was positive. Biden, being Biden, lifted our politics back to a place where we can boo, yell and cry, and still get things done for the country — this is a message I think the country needed,” Zapien said.

The president on Tuesday said about a dozen times in his address that he wants to “finish the job” Americans gave him when he was elected in 2020, giving a nod to a 2024 bid. 

Nayyera Haq, a SiriusXM host who served as a senior aide in the Obama White House, predicted Biden will bring that same energy to the trail in 2024. 

“The man spent nearly an hour glad-handing in the chamber when I would have been wiped out and needing a nap. This is a Biden who can be out on the campaign trail showing compassion to tense voters, yakking it up with union bosses and giving Democrats the sense of fighting back they want to see,” she said. 

The president is expected to announce that he is officially running for reelection in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the White House hailed Biden’s address on Tuesday as a success.

“If you talk about the split screen, you saw that from the president and you saw what Republicans were all about, which is jeering and behaving in a way that, again, Americans don’t want,” Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. “They told us very clearly after the midterms what they wanted.”

Other Republicans besides Trump also complimented the president, saying the way he handled the hecklers will be remembered.

“Those who were heckling the president — issues of decorum aside — trying to demonstrate what fighters they are, essentially allowed Biden to grab them by the hands and say stop hitting yourself. It’s ultimately what the speech will be remembered for, not anything Biden said, good or bad or substance,” said Doug Heye, a GOP strategist.

Biden entered the State of the Union on the heels of polls that showed much of his legislative accomplishments weren’t resonating with a significant swath of the American public. And while even a strong State of the Union address is unlikely to move the needle on such issues, Democrats are hopeful Biden’s determination will help him succeed in 2024.

“For Biden, it’s very personal, but his optimism, authenticity and focus on getting stuff done will be his super power going into reelection,” Zapien said.  

Biden hit the road for Wisconsin on Wednesday, attempting to build on the momentum from his State of the Union address and double down on his argument that the economy is improving because of steps taken by his administration. He will then travel to Florida on Thursday to double down on his State of the Union comments about protecting Social Security and Medicare.

“Last night, I reported on the State of the Union. It is strong. It is strong,” the president said to union workers at the Wisconsin Laborers Training Center in DeForest, Wis., on Wednesday. “It is strong because of you.”

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What Republicans have actually said about cuts to Social Security and Medicare

President Biden drew a raucous response from Republicans during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night when he said some GOP lawmakers want to cut Social Security and Medicare.

“Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal,” he said as Republican lawmakers jeered.

Biden and Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Republicans of attempting to target Medicare and Social Security in potential spending cuts that they hope to tie to a debt ceiling increase. However, Republicans have denied that the entitlement programs are at risk.

But some prominent Republicans have previously suggested cuts to the programs. Here’s what they actually said about cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare.

Rick Scott

Sen. Rick Scott’s plan for all federal legislation to sunset after five years is at the center of the debate on Social Security and Medicare after President Biden’s State of the Union. (Greg Nash)

At the center of the current debate over the federal entitlement programs is an 11-point plan released by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) last February, which called for all federal legislation to sunset after five years as part of an effort to curb government spending.

“All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” the document said.

This would require Congress to renew Social Security and Medicare every five years. Scott’s proposal also called for a yearly report from Congress “telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.”

However, the Florida Republican has maintained that his proposal would not cut Social Security and Medicare, as Democrats have suggested. On Tuesday night, Scott dismissed Biden’s accusations as a “dishonest move” by a “very confused president.”  

“I will not be intimidated by Joe Biden twisting my words,” he added.

Mike Pence

Former Vice President Mike Pence has said a conversation about reforming Social Security needs to happen. (Greg Nash)

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has indicated that he is considering a bid for the presidency in 2024, said last week that a conversation needs to be had about reforming Social Security.

“There are modest reforms in entitlements that can be done without disadvantaging anybody at the point of the need,” Pence said, noting that a substantial portion of federal spending goes toward entitlement programs.

Pence suggested that the U.S. government allow young Americans to put part of their Social Security withholdings into a private savings account overseen by the government, which could potentially generate more than current Social Security accounts. 

Mike Lee

Sen. Mike Lee’s views on Social Security have been called into question since he initially called for eliminating the entitlement program in 2010. (AP)

When Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) initially ran for Senate in 2010, he called for the complete elimination of Social Security.

“It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it,” Lee said at a campaign event in 2010, adding, “There’s going to be growing pains associated with doing this. We can’t do it all at once.”

However, the Utah Republican appears to have since tempered his views on entitlement programs.

“I don’t recall ever having advocated for dismantling those — that’s sensitive stuff,” he said in an October interview with the Daily Herald.

“I think, we oughta look to, after we get it solvent, look to the idea of allowing people, if they want to, to at least identify some portion of their social security payments to go into a private account,” he added, appearing to promote a similar idea to Pence.

Ron Johnson

Sen. Ron Johnson has also suggested renewing entitlement programs, but on an annual basis. (Greg Nash)

Similar to Scott, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has suggested that Congress regularly renew the entitlement programs. However, Johnson has proposed that it be done on an annual basis. 

“I’ve been saying for as long as I’ve been here that we should transfer everything, put everything on budget so we have to consider it if every year. I’ve said that consistently, it’s nothing new,” Johnson told “The Regular Joe Show” podcast last August. 

“I want to save it; I want to fix it. Right now, we’re whistling past the graveyard,” he added.

Republican Study Committee

The Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, has called for increasing the threshold for Medicare to 67 years of age and Social Security to 70 years of age in an effort to avoid the programs’ trust funds from becoming insolvent, per its fiscal 2023 budget. The group includes more than 150 Republican members of the House, the majority of the GOP caucus.

Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham has suggested raising the qualifying age for Social Security and Medicare. (AP)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested in a debate in June that a bipartisan compromise on the issue will likely mean that “people like me are going to have to take a little less and pay a little more in.”

Like the Republican Study Committee, he also suggested adjusting the qualifying age for Social Security and Medicare upward.

“Let’s do something like [former Sen.] Ted Kennedy [D-Mass.] would do: Get Republicans and Democrats to find a way — like the Gang of Six, the Simpson-Bowles plan,” Graham said, referring to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform that was created in 2010 with a focus on deficit reduction.

“We’re going to have to adjust the age one more time like Ronald Reagan and Tip — Tip O’Neil did,” he added, referring to the former Republican president and former Democratic House Speaker. “There is a bipartisan way forward.“

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Haley pulls support from DeSantis in 2024 GOP primary poll

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) pulled key support from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a hypothetical GOP 2024 presidential primary, putting former President Trump ahead in a three-way race, according to a new poll. 

The Yahoo News-YouGov poll found that DeSantis leads Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, 45 percent to 41 percent. But with Haley in the mix, Trump leads with 38 percent support to DeSantis’s 35 percent and Haley’s 11 percent. 

Pollsters also found DeSantis leading President Biden in a hypothetical general election match-up, 44 percent to 43 percent, but Biden leads Trump by 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent. 

Trump is the only major Republican candidate to have officially jumped in the race, but Haley is expected to launch her bid next week, potentially becoming the first major challenger to him to mount a bid. 

DeSantis has been rumored as a possible contender for the GOP nomination and has consistently placed at least second in hypothetical Republican primary polls. In some cases, he has been in first ahead of Trump. 

Many other prominent Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have indicated that they are considering their own runs, which could lead the Republican primary to become a crowded race. 

Almost half of Republican and Republican-leaning respondents said they approve of Haley running, while a fifth disapprove. But 30 percent said they are not sure. 

The poll found Trump holds a strong lead over her in a head-to-head match-up, 54 percent to 27 percent. 

Trump leads DeSantis by 1 point, 37 percent to 36 percent, in a hypothetical nine-candidate match-up, taking into account other possible candidates. 

The poll was conducted among 1,585 U.S. adults from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6. The margin of error was 2.8 percentage points. 

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Jim Jordan requests communications between Biden administration, social media companies

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are requesting documents that include communications between the Biden administration and social media companies as part of the panel’s investigation into what the GOP says were efforts to “suppress free speech and censor content online.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday penned a letter to Brian Boynton, the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil division, requesting that the Justice Department turn over documents that it provided in an earlier lawsuit filed by GOP-led states involving purported free speech violations.

The Hill obtained a copy of the letter, which requests that the materials are handed over by Feb. 22.

“The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the Executive Branch’s efforts to sidestep the First Amendment by coercing and coordinating with private companies, including social media platforms, to suppress free speech and censor content online,” Jordan wrote. 

“As part of our oversight, we write to request a discrete set of documents and information that the Department of Justice has produced as part of discovery in federal litigation over the same subject matter,” he added.

The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit against President Biden and other administration officials in May for “allegedly working” with social media companies — including Meta, Twitter and Youtube — to censor and suppress free speech on topics such as COVID-19 and election integrity.

The lawsuit — brought by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) and then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) — named Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Heath and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, among others. It lists a number of stories the Republicans say were suppressed on social media, including the Hunter Biden laptop story and information about the origins of COVID-19.

Last month, Landry released a thread of emails from April 2021 between White House employees and Facebook discussing a video posted by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson that, according to Landry, criticized the COVID-19 vaccine. In the communications, then-White House coronavirus response coordinator Andy Slavitt asked about Carlson’s video, and White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty questioned why it did not violate the platform’s regulations.

Landry zeroed in on an email from a Facebook representative, whose email address is redacted, that said, “The video received 50% demotion for seven days while in the queue to be fact checked, and will continue to be demoted even though it was not ultimately fact checked.”

Jordan is now requesting that the Justice Department produce the documents it has provided in the Missouri and Louisiana litigation.

“These documents appear to reveal that the Executive Branch repeatedly pressured social media platforms to censor certain viewpoints,” Jordan wrote. “Congress has an important interest in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how the Executive Branch coordinates with or coerces private actors to suppress First Amendment-protected speech.”

“As Congress continues to examine how to best protect Americans’ fundamental freedoms, the documents discovered and produced during the Missouri v. Biden litigation are necessary to assist Congress in understanding the problem and evaluating potential legislative reforms,” he added.

The Hill reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Jordan’s letter is the latest example of increased scrutiny House Republicans are placing on the suppression of information on social media platforms. On Wednesday, the same day Jordan sent his letter, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee held a hearing that looked into Twitter’s decisions regarding a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden. Former Twitter executives testified at the hearing.

It comes after Republicans have claimed that the social media company suppressed circulation of the story for political purposes in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

Source: TEST FEED1

Schumer: Biden ‘rope-a-doped’ Republicans into ‘trap’ on Social Security, Medicare

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday praised President Biden over his back-and-forth with Republicans on Social Security and Medicare during the State of the Union address one night earlier, saying that they walked into a “trap” he laid for them.

“Joe Biden was so deft. He let them walk into his trap. He rope-a-doped them,” Schumer told “Morning Joe.” “And now all of America has seen the Republican Party say, ‘No, we’re not going to cut Social security and Medicare.’ He did a service.”

During one of the most contentious points in the speech, Biden accused some Republican lawmakers of pushing to sunset the two entitlement programs, prompting head-shakes and boos from the GOP side of the aisle. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was seen visibly shaking his head against Biden’s statement, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shouted that Biden is a “liar.” 

After continued jeering by Republicans, Biden noted that it seemed as though all of the lawmakers were singing the same tune on the pair of entitlement programs. 

“So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?” Biden said. “Alright,” he said, adding a thumbs-up.

McCarthy has said in recent weeks that cuts to the two programs are off the table in talks to raise the debt limit by early summer, even though some lawmakers called for reforms to them earlier in January. 

In addition, the White House found itself in another brouhaha with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who Biden and Democrats have highlighted repeatedly over the last year for his call to sunset all federal legislation after five years, which would include Social Security and Medicare. 

After the address, Scott called Biden a “liar” on the issue.

“If they think they can shut me up or intimidate me by lying … I’m here for it,” Scott tweeted Wednesday morning. “I will not be silenced by the Washington establishment.”

Scott doubled down on his sunset proposal later on Wednesday, criticizing the president as “confused” in response to Biden mentioning during his address that some Republicans want to do just that. 

“In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott said in a statement after the speech. 

Senate Republican leaders, headlined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have distanced themselves from Scott’s plan, which Democrats used in a number of ads leading up to the 2022 midterm elections.

Source: TEST FEED1

Matt Gaetz quietly replaces Chip Roy on ‘weaponization’ panel

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) quietly replaced Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on the new House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The change was noted in the Congressional Record last week, but was not widely noticed for days. All Republican members of the panel are appointed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).

“In order to devote adequate time to the Rules, Judiciary and Budget Committees, as well as be a dad and do my job as the Representative of Texas’ 21st Congressional District, I was happy to give my spot on the Weaponization Subcommittee to my friend, Matt Gaetz,” Roy said in a statement.

A spokesman for Gaetz said that the Florida congressman “is honored to serve on the Weaponization Subcommittee and will be working very hard.”

The subcommittee was created in large part as a response to calls from House Republicans who withheld support from McCarthy to create a “Church-style” select committee to investigate alleged government abuses, a reference to a 1975 Senate select committee led by former Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) that investigated intelligence agencies.

Roy and Gaetz were both among those McCarthy detractors. But for Roy, other commitments are taking precedence.

As a part of negotiations during the drawn-out Speaker battle last month, right-wing holdouts secured a commitment to have three hard-line conservative members on the House Rules Committee, which controls the structure of debate and the floor amendment process for legislation that goes to a final vote though a normal process.

During the Speakership saga, Roy had volunteered himself to sit Rules Committee in order to ensure enough hard-liners could be on the time-consuming panel, and was selected by McCarthy, along with Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Members of the House Budget Committee, including Roy, were announced on Tuesday.

Both Roy and Gaetz opposed McCarthy for Speaker on multiple ballots, but Gaetz — unlike Roy — never voted for McCarthy for Speaker, instead voting “present” on the final vote.

The weaponization subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), will hold its first hearing on Wednesday, consisting of two panels “to discuss the politicization of the FBI and DOJ [Department of Justice] and attacks on American civil liberties.”

Announced witnesses are Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-Hawaii), George Washington University Law Center Professor Jonathan Turley, former FBI agents Thomas Baker and Nicole Parker, and Elliot Williams of the Raben Group.

Source: TEST FEED1

Scott doubles down on sunsetting all federal programs after Biden’s jab 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Wednesday defended his proposal to sunset all federal legislation after five years and slammed President Biden as “confused” in response to Biden’s claim at the State of the Union address that some Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare.

“In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott said in a statement following Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress.  

Scott last year rankled Republicans when he rolled out a 12-point policy agenda that included the sunset proposal, which Democrats promptly began using as ammunition in the midterms.

“This is clearly and obviously an idea aimed at dealing with all the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late,” Scott added, denying Biden’s claim Tuesday evening that Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare.  

Biden said that “instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” eliciting loud boos from GOP lawmakers in the chamber.  

Some House Republicans have floated the idea of reforms to entitlement programs as part of debt ceiling negotiations, though Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and others insist cuts aren’t on the table.

Speaking over the raucous response, the president insisted, “Anybody who doubts it, contact my office, I’ll give you a copy — I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.” 

“It is being proposed by individuals. I’m politely not naming them, but it’s being proposed by some of you,” Biden said.  

That barb infuriated Scott, the former chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who called the claim “a lie” and “a dishonest move … from a very confused president.”  

“I will not be intimidated by Joe Biden twisting my words,” he declared and pushed back by arguing that Democrats effectively cut Medicare when they gave the federal government power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices in the Inflation Reduction Act.

He says that will lead to less money going to pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs and therapies.

Scott argues that his plan anticipates that Congress would quickly renew popular programs such as Medicare and Social Security — as well as defense programs — before they have a chance to sunset.  

“Does he think I also intend to get rid of the U.S. Navy? Or the Border Patrol? Or air traffic control, maybe? This is the fake, gotcha BS that people hate about Washington. I’ve never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would,” Scott said.  

Source: TEST FEED1