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The Hill's Morning Report — SCOTUS skeptical about student loan forgiveness

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For the 26 million borrowers who applied for student loan forgiveness, the prospect of debt relief just got murkier. The Supreme Court’s conservative justices on Tuesday cast doubt on President Biden’s debt forgiveness plan during oral arguments, hindering the administration’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt because of the emergency economic changes of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden initially was reluctant to use executive power to forgive student loan debt. He agonized for months over equity versus giveaways, fueling inflation and questions of fairness to those who had borrowed and honored their loan obligations in the past.

Eventually, the Biden administration moved to forgive applicants’ debts under current law, offering up to $20,000 per federal student loan borrower. Six Republican-dominated states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — and two individuals sued to stop the president’s plan (The Hill and The New York Times).

In the first of two challenges to the program, Biden v. Nebraska, a majority of the justices appeared skeptical that Congress gave clear enough authorization for the Biden administration to forgive billions of dollars in student debt. Chief Justice John Roberts indicated that the administration had violated separation of powers principles by acting without sufficiently explicit congressional authorization to undertake one of the most ambitious and expensive executive actions in the nation’s history.

“We’re talking about half a trillion dollars and 43 million Americans,” Roberts said early in the arguments, asking why the court shouldn’t expect Congress to explicitly accept a program of such massive scope (Politico).

The Wall Street Journal: During oral arguments, Roberts questioned the program’s fairness to those without college loans.

As the court prepares to rule on the cases this summer, The Hill’s Lexi Lonas has rounded up the key takeaways from Tuesday’s oral arguments. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing on behalf of the administration, told the court the government is “not disputing that this is a politically significant action,” but that the language of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act is clear enough to give the Education Department secretary the power to forgive student loans.

The law says that the Education secretary can “waive or modify” federal student financial assistance programs “as the Secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency” — such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Congress doesn’t get much clearer than that. We deal with congressional statutes every day that are really confusing. This one is not,” liberal Justice Elena Kagan said.

As the case before the Supreme Court unfolds, student loan borrowers are in limbo about the exact date when they must begin repayments following a three-year pandemic pause (The Hill). Eight of them told New York magazine’s The Cut how student loan relief would change their lives.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Student loan forgiveness: Key statements from each justice.

▪ The New York Times: Biden’s program means the student loan balances of millions of people could fall by as much as $20,000. This FAQ explains how it will work.

▪ Vox: The Supreme Court showdown over Biden’s student debt relief program, explained. The law is explicit that Biden’s student debt relief program is lawful. The Court’s Republican majority is unlikely to care.

▪ The New York Times: Missouri’s challenge centers on the nuances of the state’s Higher Education Loan Authority, known as MOHELA. Created in 1981, it has since grown to become one of the largest federal loan servicers — the entities that collect borrowers’ payments on behalf of the federal government.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS 

Democrat Lori Lightfoot, the first Black woman and the first openly gay person to serve as mayor of Chicago, on Tuesday became a one-term mayor — and Chicago’s first in 40 years to lose reelection.

In a contest that turned on voters’ concerns about urban crime and public safety, Lightfoot finished third in Tuesday’s election behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas (D), and Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson (D). Vallas and Johnson will face off in an April runoff to decide who will become the 57th mayor of Chicago (The Hill, Chicago Sun-Times and NBC News).

▪ Chicago Tribune: In four years, Lightfoot went from breakout political star to mayor of a Chicago beset by the pandemic and crime.

▪ ABC News: Vallas, 69, and Johnson, 46, are backed by Chicago’s most powerful labor unions, respectively — the Fraternal Order of Police for Vallas and the Chicago Teachers Union for Johnson. Vallas is running as a moderate who wants to invest more in public safety while Johnson is on record saying he wants funding for social services and intervention programs. Both men vow to fire Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown if elected.

Meanwhile, near the nation’s capital this week, Republican attendees at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference can buy T-shirts and network or perhaps fall hard for a prospective or announced White House candidate. CPAC opens its doors today, although the parade of prominent speakers begins on Thursday.

The Hill’s Caroline Vakil surveyed the agenda and zeroed in on five key Republicans who plan to participate, and five who convey a different message by skipping the event. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will speak on Thursday, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has instead embarked on a book tour that will take him to Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire, key Republican primary states (The New York Times).

Announced presidential candidates former President Trump and former U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley will address the CPAC crowd, but former Vice President Mike Pence will be elsewhere. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who has his own ideas about a GOP agenda heading into 2024, will speak, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has clashed with Scott, sent his regrets.   

Politico: How big is the Always Trump component of the Republican Party? 

DeSantis, 44, recently hosted a retreat for Republican donors and elected officials in West Palm Beach, Fla., and plans to speak this week during a closed-press Club for Growth donor event that will unapologetically exclude Trump. He’ll also appear in Alabama, Texas and California in the coming weeks. The Hill’s Max Greenwood reports on the governor’s shadow campaign in advance of his possible GOP presidential bid.

Top Republicans on Monday night signaled support to McCarthy for his decision to release video footage from Jan. 6, 2021, to Tucker Carlson and Fox News, but questioned whether Capitol security information was revealed in the process. Some lawmakers in the closed-door leadership meeting with the Speaker asked whether sensitive security protocols or certain evacuation routes would be exposed by taking that step (CNN).

GOP lawmakers argue that Democrats previously aired sensitive video footage as part of the Jan. 6 select committee probe. Democrats say what the public saw from a committee room was cleared by the Capitol Police and did not reveal secure Capitol “exit routes.” Carlson says footage his team viewed with McCarthy’s blessing will air on Fox this week. On Tuesday, the Speaker and GOP colleagues said no information would be broadcast before ensuring it doesn’t compromise the security of the Capitol complex (The Hill).

The Hill: House Republicans plan to give Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants access to tens of thousands of hours of security video footage. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have had access to troves of videos and files from Jan. 6. Defense attorneys have access to all of the materials in the Justice Department’s possession, according to The New York Times. But the new trove of video to be released goes beyond what defendants and lawyers have been able to obtain before now.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who says he’s exploring a possible presidential bid, defended his state’s first-in-the-nation primary, which Democrats are replacing so that South Carolina’s primary goes first. Sununu, during a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM POTUS Politics host Steve Scully, said Democrats can “go suck it” after altering their primary calendar. He said “maybe this summer” he’ll decide if he’ll enter the GOP presidential contest.

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Biden said Tuesday that when his budget blueprint heads to Congress on March 9, he’ll propose ending Trump-era tax reductions that benefit high income individuals and likely big corporations.

It will mark Democrats’ first effort to dismantle the GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Biden’s fiscal plan would cut $2 trillion from the deficit by raising taxes and closing tax loopholes on the wealthy, but his idea is guaranteed to be a nonstarter with Republicans (The New York Times).   

▪ Reuters: Biden says “I’m gonna raise some taxes” in his March budget proposal.

▪ USA Today and The New York Times: Biden on Tuesday accused Republicans of seeking to slash the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, which are relied on by millions of Americans.

The Justice Department and Intelligence Director Avril Haines are urging Congress to reauthorize a controversial intelligence program with no changes. Section 702, as it’s known, is designed to gather electronic communications of foreigners abroad but has the potential to sweep up the communications of Americans (Politico). 

Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su will be Biden’s nominee to succeed outgoing Secretary Marty Walsh (Politico).

➤ CONGRESS

McConnell said Tuesday that he opposes defense cuts and favors substantial spending increases as necessary to be prepared to respond to threats posed by Russia and China and to help Ukraine win, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. 

But at the same time, lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday questioned the Pentagon about U.S. spending on Ukraine, signaling fresh concerns about what has been until now a consensus to bolster the war-torn country. Appropriators in December approved about $45 billion in military and other assistance for Ukraine, projecting it would last until the end of September. The funding is expected to be depleted before then (The New York Times). 

McConnell’s support for increasing defense spending complicates the aim of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to achieve a conservative-focused deficit-reduction package in potential trade for House votes to raise the debt limit later this year. McConnell and McCarthy concur that the U.S. will not default on its obligations. With the GOP agreement that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are off the table but at odds as a party over whether to shrink Pentagon spending, curbing future projected deficits without raising revenues becomes more complicated. 

▪ The Hill: Senate Democrats tread carefully in early Social Security budget discussions with the GOP. 

▪ Roll Call: House GOP appropriators unveil tighter earmark rules.

Leaning on bipartisan flourishes and an opening primetime video presentation, a new House panel that is tasked to reveal how the U.S. can navigate a perilous relationship with China began a Tuesday hearing by laying out an “existential struggle” with Beijing (The Hill).

Reuters: A new U.S. congressional select committee on competition with China held its first hearing with a focus on human rights on Tuesday, amid tense bilateral ties.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News during a Tuesday interview that “most likely a potential lab incident” in Wuhan, China, resulted in viral transmission of COVID-19 to humans. Details remain classified, he said (The Hill). 

McCarthy is forfeiting some of his power to set the GOP agenda, handing it to “the five families,” a conscious use of a “Godfather” reference (Bloomberg News). The Speaker is offering fractious GOP factions more of a voice, hoping to better navigate his narrow five-vote margin by decentralizing power. Each of the “five families” envisions internal meetings first and discussions with GOP leadership afterward.

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R), who joined the upper chamber in January, wants to help workers and businesses affected by the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, using a community aid program styled after the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program, enacted in 2021 under Biden’s signature. There’s a hitch: Vance’s GOP colleagues are cool to the idea. PPP loans attracted the ire of many elected Republicans when they learned that fraudsters nabbed an estimated $80 billion of the $800 billion available from Uncle Sam to help small businesses. 

“A little time needs to pass. We don’t even know what the health impacts are going to be yet of the train derailment, much less the economic impacts,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told The Hill, adding that it also remains to be seen how much freight rail company Norfolk Southern will pay to help East Palestine recover. 

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country is in trouble after six brutal months of fighting in the city of Bakhmut along the eastern front lines with Russia. In his Monday address, Zelensky called once again for modern combat aircraft to be sent so that “the entire territory of our country” can be defended from “Russian terror.” Despite the Russian gains, there was no indication that Ukraine’s forces were preparing to withdraw, and reports from the region suggested reinforcements were arriving (BBC).

Meanwhile, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of launching drones that flew deep inside Russian territory, including one that was within 60 miles of Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered stepped-up protection at the border as the drones signaled a breach of defenses. Officials said the drones caused no injuries and did not inflict any significant damage, but the attacks on Monday night and Tuesday morning raised questions about Russian defense capabilities. While Moscow blamed Kyiv for the assaults, Ukrainian officials did not immediately claim responsibility (ABC News).

In a live speech on Tuesday to the board of the National Association of Manufacturers, Zelensky urged U.S. companies still in Russia to exit and relocate to Ukraine to support its economy, its infrastructure and its defense (The Hill).

▪ The New York Times: The struggle to deliver on promises to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks for use against Russian forces has exposed just how unprepared European militaries are.

▪ The Hill: Russian deaths in Ukraine surpass all its war fatalities since WWII combined: study.

▪ NPR: How Russia’s war in Ukraine is being fought on social media.

Bola Tinubu, a perennial political kingmaker, was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election Wednesday, extending the governing party’s rule as Africa’s largest country faces a series of economic and security crises. Tinubu’s victory comes after the political parties representing his two major rivals said the election had been rigged and called for it to be canceled and redone after reports of delays and isolated incidents of violence at polling stations. 

The election in the West African nation — the most populous on the continent, with 220 million people — was the most wide open in years. The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, said in a Monday statement that it took “full responsibility” for the logistical problems and delays. Many Nigerians had looked to the election to put the country back on track after eight years of rule by an ailing president who had reached his two-term limit and was not running for reelection (The New York Times).

A passenger train and a freight train collided overnight in northern Greece, killing at least 36 people and injuring 85 others as plumes of smoke filled the sky. The passenger train was following a route between Athens and Thessaloniki when it collided with the cargo train about 255 miles north of Athens.

“The evacuation process is ongoing and is being carried out under very difficult conditions due to the severity of the collision between the two trains,” fire service spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said in an emergency briefing (The Washington Post and Reuters).

▪ The Hill: U.S.-China tension over COVID-19’s origins test Biden’s balancing act with Beijing.

▪ The Washington Post: Hundreds massacred in Ethiopia even as peace deal was being reached.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: United Nations agency confirms Iran produced enriched uranium close to weapons grade.

▪ Bloomberg News: Italy’s government and German officials are leaning against a European Union plan to start phasing out combustion engine cars pivotal to the bloc’s green agenda.

👉 Mexico’s president claimed photographic proof of a mythical elf. He posted a picture of a veiled creature with glowing eyes perched in a tree. The president said it was an “alux” — a mischievous being in Mayan lore (The Washington Post, drawings HERE).

OPINION

■ After Ukraine, does Putin have his eyes on another country? by Andreas Kluth, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3J2kIMs

■ It’s time to stop giving Ukraine what we think they need and give them what they want, by Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré (ret.), opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3ZezBAX 

WHERE AND WHEN

📲 Ask 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 9 a.m. 

The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to consider the nomination of Margaret Guzman to be a U.S. district judge for the District of Massachusetts. 

The president will announce at 9:30 a.m. in the East Room that he’s nominating Julie Su to be Labor secretary. Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. At noon, Biden will speak at the Department of Homeland Security to mark the 20th anniversary of its creation following the attacks of 9/11. He will return to the White House an hour later and depart again at 5:05 p.m. by chopper to Baltimore to speak at 6 p.m. at a House Democratic retreat. Biden will return to the White House South Lawn at 8:10 p.m.

Vice President Harris will join the president at 9:30 a.m. in the East Room for remarks about outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Su’s succession to lead the department, subject to Senate confirmation. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken today will meet with officials including President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and plans an afternoon news conference. He will travel to New Delhi, India, to participate in the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting. He will meet with Indian government officials and civil society representatives.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will testify at 10 a.m. to the Senate Judiciary Committee during an oversight hearing.

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

ELSEWHERE

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

Food and Drug Administration expert advisers on Tuesday recommended the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is made by Pfizer. They will meet today to consider pharmaceutical company GSK’s version (NBC News). 

The government could soon make it possible for the companies to manufacture the vaccine for use against a respiratory virus that kills roughly 14,000 older adults in the United States annually. Analysts predict the drug firms could gain a foothold in a market estimated at $5 billion to $10 billion. The FDA is scheduled by May to decide on approval for use in people 60 and older, which would enable the shots to be rolled out ahead of a seasonal surge in the winter. Approval for use in the population typically follows recommendations by the FDA’s independent experts (Reuters).

Many people who contract COVID-19 are left with lingering health issues that may seem unrelated but wind up testing the medical community’s ability to determine cause and effect. One of those conditions is known as POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that causes rapid heart rate, fainting and dizziness. Many patients are dismissed as having anxiety, delaying diagnosis. Once diagnosed, many patients face waiting lists as long as two years to get treatment from specialists (The Washington Post).

▪ The Hill: Why a definitive answer about COVID-19’s origins remains out of reach. 

▪ PBS: Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, disease origins remain a mystery.

▪ The Atlantic: No one really knows how much COVID-19 is silently spreading … again.

▪ The Washington Post: Artificial sweetener linked to higher heart attack risk, study says.

▪ CBS News: Children languish in emergency rooms awaiting mental health care.

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): 1,119,914. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 2,407 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 … ⛰️ It’s March 1st. On this day in 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the western United States as the country’s — and world’s — first national park. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978, the park’s 2.2 million acres — larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined — contain unique hydrothermal and geologic features.

The park is home to one of the world’s largest calderas, with more than 10,000 thermal features and more than 300 geysers, including the Old Faithful geyser, its most popular. Visitors to the park also have a chance of spotting wildlife ranging from the park’s famous bison to bears and wolves (Britannica and National Parks Service).

▪ The Intercept: How to save Yellowstone’s wolves. 

▪ Jackson Hole News & Guide: Unsolved mysteries and strange deaths in Yellowstone.

▪ Fox News: Yellowstone, Grand Canyon under snow: 20 dazzling photos of America’s national parks this winter.

Stay Engaged

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10 key figures who will — and won't — be at CPAC

Presidential hopefuls and Republican firebrands aren’t the only names generating buzz ahead of this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Perhaps just as notable are those who are skipping the event altogether.  

While GOP presidential candidates former President Trump and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will be attending the four-day event, others are noticeably missing from the announced speaker lineup, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). 

The conference, which begins on Wednesday and will be held in National Harbor, Md., precedes what’s expected to be a crowded Republican presidential primary and comes amid infighting over the direction of the GOP. 

Here are 10 key figures who will be — and won’t be — at CPAC: 

Who will be attending: 

Former President Trump 

Former President Trump will be speaking at CPAC at a time when he remains the formidable Republican to beat in a GOP presidential primary. A Fox News poll released on Sunday found Trump receiving 43 percent support while DeSantis, who’s widely speculated to be gearing up for a White House run, received 28 percent, among a list of hypothetical primary contenders.  

Many of CPAC’s speakers and attendees are also staunch supporters or allies of the former president, including CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp; House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). 

Trump is expected to deliver the last speech on Saturday evening. 

With Desantis’ absence, Trump will have more of the 2024 spotlight for himself. The former president will still have to compete for attention against Haley, the other high-profile GOP presidential candidate who announced her run last month and is attending CPAC. 

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley 

Haley’s CPAC appearance will offer the Republican presidential candidate a key opportunity to get in front of some of the party’s most important movers and shakers since announcing her candidacy in mid-February. And while CPAC will be a more Trump-favorable venue, that doesn’t mean that Republicans aren’t shopping for another presidential nominee. 

Haley has sought to present herself as a new face for the Republican party, saying in her campaign launch ad, “it’s time for a new generation of leadership.”  

She’s also referenced her gender, alluding to the fact that she could make history as the first woman — as well as the first candidate of color — to become the GOP’s presidential nominee. 

Haley is expected to make remarks on Friday afternoon. 

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 

Though other widely speculated presidential candidates like DeSantis, former Vice President Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) are not among CPAC’s announced speakers, Pompeo will be delivering remarks on Thursday evening. 

In the days after Republicans’ disappointing November midterms, which saw many of Trump’s endorsees struggle to cross the finish line, Pompeo offered several jabs at the former president.  

Responding to Trump’s remarks made during his presidential announcement in which he portrayed himself as a “victim,” Pompeo tweeted in November: “We need more seriousness, less noise, and leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.” 

Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake 

Lake garnered much media attention during the November midterms as she went head-to-head with Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona gubernatorial race. Lake, who lost her election but has refused to concede, has been seen as a Trump acolyte who’s endorsed the former president’s baseless claims about the 2020 election. 

There are murmurs that Lake is considering a Senate run, with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat up in 2024. There’s also been speculation that she might be considered as a vice presidential pick. She held a rally in Arizona in late January and has made stops in Iowa, an early presidential primary state where she grew up and attended college.  

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) 

Scott is also slated to deliver remarks on Thursday, and his presence at CPAC comes several months after a failed bid to take on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for Senate GOP leader.  

The two were at loggerheads during the November midterms as Scott, who served as the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm last cycle, defended the quality of the party’s Senate candidates while McConnell hedged his bets that the Senate may be less likely to flip, citing candidate quality. 

Scott was also put on defense recently over a 12-point plan he released last year in which one of the points advocated to sunset all federal programs, which include Social Security and Medicare, after five years. McConnell dinged the Florida Republican over the proposal, calling it “the Scott plan […] not a Republican plan.”  

Who won’t be back CPAC:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  

Florida’s governor, who won widespread praise from Republicans following his reelection by an impressive 19-point margin, is skipping CPAC and is instead making visits to Florida, Texas and the Club for Growth donor retreat. 

But that doesn’t mean he’s missing out on the spotlight among Republicans and media alike. DeSantis has regularly been making headlines in recent weeks, including over signing legislation that eliminates Disney’s self-governing status and over his administration’s move to reject an Advanced Placement African American studies course. 

DeSantis, who has not yet announced a formal bid for the White House, is expected to make an announcement after Florida’s state legislature session wraps up in the spring.  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

McConnell is also not among the list of announced speakers at CPAC, though it may be unsurprising given that the Senate GOP leader has been a Trump critic and many of CPAC’s attendees are supportive of the former president. 

McConnell drew Trump’s ire for criticizing the former president in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and he notably hedged his party’s bets over taking back the Senate. Many of the Senate Republicans running last cycle were backed by Trump, though some of them lost in their general elections.  

Former Vice President Pence 

Pence is also reportedly not attending CPAC this week, ABC News reported, citing multiple sources. He didn’t attend the conference in 2021 or 2022, either.  

Like DeSantis, Pence will also be attending Club for Growth’s donor retreat, which spans from Thursday to Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla. Pence and DeSantis’ absences raise the question whether Republican presidential candidates can chart their own paths without the platform or visits of key groups and institutions like CPAC. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

McCarthy is not on the list of announced speakers at CPAC, though the House Speaker didn’t attend last year’s event either. The conference comes close to two months since McCarthy prevailed in the House Speakership vote as Republicans attempted to vote on and elect the California Republican for the gavel position. 

The Speakership vote underscored lingering divisions within the House GOP, though some of McCarthy’s initial detractors have since gained top committee assignments like CPAC attendees Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who sits on the House Steering Committee, and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who serves on the House Homeland Security and the Oversight and Reform committees. 

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)

The South Carolina Republican is also a widely speculated 2024 GOP presidential candidate following news last month that he was launching a listening tour, with stops in early presidential primary states like South Carolina and Iowa.  

Scott is also slated to attend Club for Growth’s donor retreat — one that does not include Trump on its list of featured speakers. A possible Scott presidential candidacy would make him the second South Carolinian to enter the race, though he said in a recent interview, “I bet there’s room for three or four. Certainly room for two.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Senate group wades into tough talks on Social Security

A bipartisan group of senators is treading carefully into the politically difficult discussion of making changes to Social Security to extend its solvency.  

Senators from both parties who have been involved in the talks are tight-lipped when it comes to revealing details, though reports have begun to surface of discussions of potential changes to the age threshold for retirement and raising the taxable wage cap. 

“All of the ideas on the table are the ones you would expect, but the thing that I like about these discussions is that there’s ideas on the table that nobody has talked about until now, but that have a track record of working, and that’s what I think is interesting,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. 

It’s unclear exactly how many senators are involved in the talks, though Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said about five to six senators have been attending briefings “routinely,” including Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

The talks are taking place against the backdrop of efforts to raise the debt ceiling this summer. House Republicans have demanded steep spending cuts in return for raising the ceiling.  

The Biden administration has argued that the lifting of the debt ceiling should be handled separately, while accusing Republicans of seeking to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Republicans in the Senate and House have chafed at the White House attacks, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has insisted that Social Security and Medicare will not be touched as part of a debt limit deal.  

But there are voices in both parties who think changes do need to be made to Social Security to extend its life separately from the debt limit fight.  

A report released by the Congressional Budget Office earlier this month warned that the Social Security trust fund could run out of money by 2032 — a year earlier than previously expected — without changes to existing policies.   

The development puts the exhaustion date within a 10-year window, the first time experts say that’s happened in decades, prompting fresh uneasiness among lawmakers.  

But changes to the program are a tough lift, especially in a Congress where one party leads each chamber.  

“The only way that any reforms to Social Security are going to work out is if they’re 100 percent bipartisan,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who expressed interest in some of the ideas that have been a part of the informal Senate talks. “If there’s even one person out of balance, it won’t work.”  

One idea that has piqued interest on both sides of the aisle is to create a new sovereign wealth fund to help finance Social Security.   

While senators say the overall plan is yet to be finalized, sources familiar with the proposal told Semafor that the fund could involve more than $1 trillion in seed money to help finance investments.  

The idea has prompted questions from some experts over how much the fund could help shore up the program, which is expected to pay out more than a $1 trillion in benefits this year alone.

But the proposal has gotten some support from senators involved in the bipartisan effort being led by Cassidy and King.   

Romney said the proposal would allow the country “to be able to borrow at low interest rates and invest in the growth of our economy, and perhaps economies of other nations as well.”   

“That’s what other retirement funds do around the world, in corporations and in the railway world, and it creates a substantial source of revenue,” he said, adding that if the investments “didn’t do terribly well, we would kick in through other sources and make sure that we don’t threaten in any way the benefits of recipients.”  

According to Semafor, among the ideas being discussed as a potential backup plan if the fund falls short of at least 8 percent in return include upping the maximum taxable income and payroll tax rate. But both are proposals that could see a tough time garnering necessary support for passage in a divided Congress.   

The senators involved in the bipartisan group say they are trying to keep the talks from becoming politicized. That’s a difficult task given the high stakes in the debt ceiling fight.   

President Biden in his State of the Union address sought to get Republicans to agree to not make any cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Former President Trump, who is running for another term in office, has also criticized the idea of cutting Social Security or Medicare.

In remarks on Tuesday, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who has been a part of the talks, said one of the biggest hurdles to the effort is keeping “presidential politics out of it.”  

“It’s a really easy third rail to use on both sides of the aisle, if you want to go after an opponent,” Rounds told The Hill.

“Sometimes, it’s easier just to spin it because this is an area that people care about, but they’re always concerned because they’re worried about somebody taking away benefits and they don’t trust government the way it is,” he added.   

Some Democrats aren’t crazy about the talks, however.   

Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), one of six vulnerable Democrats targeted in a recent GOP campaign effort charging the party with “threatening Social Security and Medicare,” called the proposed sovereign wealth fund a distraction by Republicans to detract attention from proposals to cut existing benefits.

The Biden administration has also been hesitant to lean into the discussions.  

As for when lawmakers plan to put ink to the plan, senators involved in the effort say the public could see text in a matter of months.

“I think it will likely be introduced this year,” Romney said. “I’m not sure it’ll pass this year, but obviously, it’s a huge topic with enormous interest, and the fact that we have both Medicare and Social Security that are slated to become insolvent within a decade suggests that we need to make sure to save them.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Vance pitches PPP for Ohio while other Republicans say to wait

Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-Ohio) call for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)-style plan to help workers and businesses affected by the East Palestine train derailment is being greeted skeptically by Senate Republicans as they think about the best way to deliver aid to the community.

Vance has been among the leaders calling for increased attention and resources for East Palestine and a region that is still in the midst of a toxic waste cleanup following the Feb. 3 derailment. 

But while most senators say they’re open at looking ways to help the area recover but they caution it’s too early to make that determination and question whether a PPP-type program is necessary.

“It’s something I’d be willing to look at. … I think it would be difficult. We want to see those small businesses get back up on [their feet], and I know they’re having trouble with that, but how do you quantify a train derailment disaster over some other kind of thing?” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “It’s something to consider. I’d have to see how he would enact something like that.” 

Vance’s call for an aid package along the lines of the pandemic program that provided billions of dollars for small businesses came as part of an op-ed in The Washington Post where he relayed anecdotes from residents of the town who are concerned about the financial viability of staying in the area. 

Financial assistance from Congress is not likely to come immediately, however, as lawmakers await investigations by the National Transit Safety Board and other agencies to be completed and cleanup to be concluded, which they hope give them a better idea of what the area needs.

“I understand where Sen. Vance is coming from. We’ve all had natural disasters. When we do, we all try to help each other. … But it needs to be thought through. A little time needs to pass. We don’t even know what the health impacts are going to be yet of train derailment, much less the economic impacts. I would look at anything that JD wants to propose,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told The Hill.

Kennedy also noted that a major question surrounds how much Norfolk Southern will be on the hook for when all is said and done. 

In total, the railway has committed nearly $8 million to the area in various ways, but lawmakers indicated they are nowhere close to being finished on that end. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told reporters on Tuesday that the federal government should not have to provide assistance to the area and believes Norfolk Southern should cover more than the lion’s share of what is needed. 

“Norfolk Southern’s paying for all of this. … There shouldn’t have to be federal dollars. Norfolk Southern’s paying for this. They’ve committed to that and we’re going to hold them to it,” Brown told reporters.

Brown added that he is “open to anything” on Vance’s PPP idea and that they have discussed it.

Vance told The Hill on Tuesday that he and his staff are still figuring out the nuts and bolts of the PPP-type proposal, adding that it is “one piece” of the financial response and will be thought through over the “next couple of weeks.” 

“We’re still thinking through what exactly it would look like, but the PPP program is a pretty good structural basis for it, which is effectively income replacement for people who lost their job through no fault of their own. That’s the baseline of how we think this would work,” Vance said in a brief interview, adding that questions surrounding where the funds would come from and underwater mortgages also need to be addressed. 

While popular when it passed, the Paycheck Protection Program has drawn the ire of many Republicans in recent months as experts estimate that $80 billion of the $800 billion in PPP loans that were doled out to small businesses were fraudulent. Unlike that system, any proposal for those in eastern Ohio would be on a much smaller scale, though it would be unprecedented for a non-COVID situation. 

“I’m open to helping. I’m not sure that’s the right model,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the PPP idea. “That’s been the norm around here when there are disasters like this, the federal government steps up and tries to help, and I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), a longtime House Ways and Means Committee member, indicated he is open to the idea. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill that he would discuss the possibility with Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who represents the area. 

On the disaster front, lawmakers OK’d more than $40 billion for victims of storms and wildfires as part of the year-end omnibus spending bill. 

One entity that is not aiding financially is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which said that the derailment does not qualify as a traditional disaster. The agency has, however, dispatched multiple staffers to the area. 

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor on Monday that lawmakers will work with Vance “to ensure the people of Ohio are appropriately informed and supported in the months to come.”

Mychael Schnell contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

DeSantis revs up shadow campaign

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is kicking his 2024 campaign-in-waiting into higher gear as a handful of his would-be Republican rivals gather this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Over the weekend, the likely 2024 hopeful held a retreat for Republican donors and elected officials in West Palm Beach, Fla. He’s also kicking off an aggressive public schedule that includes a book tour through Florida, a speech at the Club for Growth’s annual donor retreat and appearances in Alabama, Texas and California in the coming days.

The flurry of activity comes as GOP luminaries and presidential contenders — including former President Trump, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — gather outside of Washington, D.C., this week for CPAC, the high-profile gathering of conservatives and a longtime mecca for Republican White House hopefuls.

DeSantis, who hasn’t formally launched a presidential bid yet, will be notably absent from the conference. But his jam-packed schedule is the latest — and perhaps clearest — sign that he’s entering a new, more aggressive phase of his 2024 preparations.

“What you’re seeing is that DeSantis has found a way to run without officially throwing his hat in the ring,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist. “The book deal, putting himself in front of donors — and at the same time he’s also back home reminding Floridians of who he is and what he’s done.”

“He’s finding a way to make that balance work,” O’Connell added. “He doesn’t want his hand forced.”

A campaign announcement from DeSantis is still likely months away; the governor said last week that he would make a final decision sometime after the Florida state legislature wraps up its regular session in May. 

But there’s little doubt among Republicans that he will jump into the race. His advisers have been reaching out to potential campaign staff hires for at least several weeks. And in another sign that DeSantis is preparing for a campaign, he released a new book — “The Courage to be Free” — on Tuesday, taking a step that several other prospective candidates have already taken.

DeSantis is scheduled to attend two fundraisers in Texas on Saturday before jetting off to California on Sunday to speak at a reception for the Orange County GOP. He will also be the keynote speaker at the Alabama GOP’s annual Winter Dinner on March 9. 

And there are signs that DeSantis will soon begin a swing through the early primary and caucus states that will be crucial to deciding the GOP’s 2024 nominee. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that he will make stops in Iowa in the first half of March, followed by trips to Nevada and New Hampshire.

Yet DeSantis and his team have signaled that they will move at their own pace when it comes to an official campaign launch, despite the fact that the primary field already includes three other candidates and is expected to grow larger in the coming weeks and months. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence has said that he will make a decision on a 2024 run “by the spring,” while former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who’s scheduled to speak at CPAC, is expected to announce his intentions in a matter of months. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has begun to prepare for a possible campaign. He traveled to Iowa last week, where he delivered a pair of speeches outlining his vision for a revamped GOP.

Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor, acknowledged that “there’s some nervousness among donors” that DeSantis hasn’t announced his 2024 intentions yet. But he also said that the Florida governor’s hands are tied until the end of the state legislative session, arguing that DeSantis is doing what he can to keep his momentum up.

“Gov. DeSantis can’t officially launch his campaign for the GOP nomination until after the legislative session ends in May, so he’s doing what he can now to keep one foot on the national stage,” Eberhart said. 

“There’s some nervousness among donors that DeSantis isn’t out there more, but we still have a long way to go before the nomination is decided,” he added. “I don’t have any doubt that DeSantis will make a big splash in the pond of candidates when he does officially announce. In the meantime, those other candidates can decide how they want to take on Trump.” 

For now, DeSantis appears to have at least some room to set his own schedule when it comes to a 2024 campaign. Early polling shows him and Trump running far ahead of every other Republican candidate, either current or prospective. In multiple hypothetical head-to-head match-ups against the former president, DeSantis has emerged as the favorite.

But there are still some key challenges facing DeSantis. Some recent polls have shown Trump coming out ahead of the governor in a GOP primary. One Republican consultant with deep experience in Florida politics said DeSantis “doesn’t have all the mechanics in place” for a campaign; he’s still trying to build out a more robust staff, while his massive political war chest remains tied up in state accounts. 

Another GOP strategist questioned DeSantis’s decision to skip CPAC, saying that it’s a missed opportunity to put himself in front of the Republican Party’s conservative activist class.

“It’s a well-known Beltway commodity. Trump is going, Haley is going, so why not show up?” the strategist asked. “He knows where he wants to be, so I guess he doesn’t see it as a big deal. But if Trump’s going to be there, why cede that ground to him?”

Other Republicans, however, argue that DeSantis is a special case, having managed to draw the kind of national attention that most would-be presidential contenders crave without going through the typical motions.

“He’s been able to generate national attention and national news coverage without going to these sort of cattle call events, and he’s risen to the top of the polls without having to do the sort of stuff that other candidates have to do,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who served as a senior aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential run. 

“It’ll be a test for sure,” he added. “But it strikes me that he’s running the sort of race he wants to run, not running one driven by the formula of past rollouts.”

Source: TEST FEED1

House panel lays out 'existential struggle' with China in primetime debut

Anti-war protesters. Audiovisuals. Tough talk on the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

The House Select Committee on China kicked off its first hearing Tuesday evening with fireworks as it laid out the challenge facing the U.S. in catching up and confronting an aggressive foe in Beijing. 

“We may call this a ‘strategic competition,’ but this is not a polite tennis match,” Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) said in his opening remarks. “This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century — and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake.”  

The committee, which was established by a bipartisan vote to run for the tenure of the 118th Congress, is an ambitious attempt by lawmakers to craft the next generation of U.S. policy towards China that has buy in from the majority of Congress and the world.

Republicans and Democrats hand-selected to participate on the committee have stressed their professionalism and commitment to civility and pursuit of bipartisanship, but opening remarks by the top lawmakers touched on issues that are deeply divisive — both in policy and culture.    

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, immediately sought to distinguish between the CCP and Chinese citizens and those of Asian heritage. He warned against verbal attacks against people within those demographics, pointing specifically to those targeting members of Congress.  

“We must practice bipartisanship and avoid anti-Chinese or Asian stereotyping at all costs,” he said. 

He referenced recent remarks questioning the “loyalty” of Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), holding back from naming Texas Republican Lance Gooden, who suggested she be denied access to sensitive classified materials.  

“These comments only feed the scapegoating and targeting of Chinese Americans, further endangering them and other Asian Americans. Indeed, this xenophobia and stereotyping is what the CCP would want to happen. The CCP is counting on us being divided. We must rise to the occasion and prove them wrong,” Krishnamoorthi added.  

The meeting — held in the same hearing room and at the same time as the kickoff for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack last year — took another page from the panel’s playbook, introducing the topic with a video rolling through actions taken by the CCP. 

The committee is not expected to produce the same level of excitement that surrounded the Jan. 6 hearings, which uncovered numerous previously unknown details surrounding the attack on the Capitol, but instead aims to serve as a deep dive into how the U.S. can navigate a deeply interconnected, but perilous, relationship with China. 

And even as the committee sought attention with its primetime rollout, it had to contend with drama it wasn’t bargaining for when a series of protesters interrupted its meeting, casting the committee as aggravating tensions between U.S. and Beijing. 

The protesters were from the group CODEPINK, which are known for staging disruptive public displays of confrontation, advocating a blanket non interventionist approach to global conflicts. 

One protester, who stood up and shouted, held up a sign that read, “China is not our enemy,” before being forcibly removed by security. A second protestor stood up shortly after, holding a sign that read “Stop Asian Hate,” and shouting accusations that the committee was “saber-rattling.”  

That drew a reaction from Gallagher, who told the protester, “Your sign is upside down,” s well as a remark from the committee’s expert witness, who said that such dissent would not be tolerated in Beijing. 

“They’d have no such right in China. It wouldn’t be broadcast, their voices would be silenced perhaps permanently,” said Scott Paul, President for Alliance for American Manufacturing ahead of his opening remarks.  

Despite the interruption, the committee was largely substantive, with lawmakers digging into topics including human rights, trade, technology, global relations and military deterrence.  

Other expert witnesses included two former Trump administration senior officials — former national security adviser H.R. McMaster and former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger — and Tong Yi, a Chinese human rights advocate who talked about her imprisonment in a Chinese labor camp related to her work alongside pro-democracy activists. 

“I was handed a two-and-a-half-years sentence for disturbing social order and sent to a forced labor camp,” Tong said in opening remarks.  

Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi jointly produced a video focusing in on human rights criticisms in China and included other video presentations underscoring the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions to undermine and overtake democracies like the U.S. 

“The success that the Chinese Communist Party once enjoyed presenting itself as constructive, cooperative, responsible, normal, was one of the great magic tricks of the modern era,” Pottinger said.  

Lawmakers addressed questions to the experts on some of the most contentious issues plaguing Washington. 

This included newly reported intelligence assessments that lends more support to the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China; whether the U.S. is adequately positioned to help prepare Taiwan to defend itself against a potential military invasion from the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army; and the security risks posed by the ubiquitous, China-based social media app TikTok.  

Gallagher, speaking to the professionalism on the panel, said he sought to allow each lawmaker the breadth to question the experts even as the committee hearing was set to last for more than what would be a two hour meeting. 

“If you are the eager student that stays until the end, I will entertain a second round of questioning,” Gallagher said. “So you may find yourself alone with me and the witnesses at 1 a.m. asking endless rounds of questions if you’re so interested in the topic.”  

The chairman did not receive requests for a second round of questioning and closed the hearing just before 10 p.m. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Johnson to face Vallas in Chicago mayoral runoff

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is projected to advance in Chicago’s mayoral race, pitting him against former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas, according to The Associated Press.

The Cook County commissioner needed to be among the top two candidates with the most votes in order to advance to the Chicago mayoral runoff given the unlikeliness that any one candidate would outright win at least half of the vote on Tuesday. 

The race also marks a stunning fall for Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D), who was running for reelection but failed to advance to the final round.

Despite being an incumbent, Lightfoot was largely seen as an underdog. Recent polling either placing her in a statistical tie with or trailing one of the following candidates: former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas, Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), and Johnson. 

Johnson has sought to position himself as the progressive candidate in the race, accusing fellow mayoral candidate García as being “a staunch ally of Lori Lightfoot.” The Cook County commissioner, who has the backing of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), however, has had to tread a fine line over a previous position of supporting defunding the police. 

The Cook County commissioner was targeted over his support for defunding the police in one of Lightfoot’s ads. In an interview with The Hill last week, he would not say whether he would remove funding from the Chicago Police Department, only saying he would be “investing in what works.”

Vallas, meanwhile, last ran for mayor in 2019, though he was unable to make it into the runoff that year, which saw Lightfoot elected.

He leaned into tough-on-crime messaging during the race in an election where public safety was ranked in some polling as a top issue among voters. He’s also backed by the Fraternal Order of Police.

In a sign of the competitive nature of the race, Lightfoot and other candidates targeted Vallas, casting him as a Republican. The Chicago mayor has also targeted him over his position on abortion. Vallas has dismissed the attacks, saying he’s a “lifelong pro-choice Democrat.”

The Chicago mayoral runoff is set for April 4.

Source: TEST FEED1

Lightfoot ousted as Chicago mayor

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) is projected to lose her bid for reelection, a stunning blow to an incumbent who made headlines as an underdog reformer candidate who defied expectations and won the city’s top job in 2019.

Lightfoot on Tuesday failed to be one of the top two vote-getters to notch a spot in the final round of voting in April, according to The Associated Press. A runoff was expected given the unlikeliness that any one candidate would outright win at least half of the vote on Tuesday.

Paul Vallas, former Chicago Public Schools CEO, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson are projected to face each other in the April 4 runoff.

Despite being an incumbent in the race, Lightfoot was largely seen as an underdog. Recent polling either placed her in a statistical tie with or trailing one of the following candidates: former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Paul Vallas; Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.); and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. 

The Chicago mayor’s tenure has at times been colored by contentious relationships she’s had with individuals and groups like the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). 

Experts suggested ahead of the race that it wasn’t clear what type of constituency would vote for Lightfoot ahead of the race given some of the groups who had once backed her, including the city’s white and progressive-leaning North Side lakefront cohort, appeared less likely to endorse her again. 

Source: TEST FEED1

FBI director says origin of COVID-19 pandemic ‘most likely’ a lab ‘incident’ in Wuhan

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the agency has assessed that the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic was “most likely a potential lab incident” in Wuhan, China. 

Wray told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview on Tuesday that the FBI’s work on determining where the pandemic originated is continuing, but many details related to the investigation remain classified. 

“So as you note, Bret, the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” he said. 

Wray added that he believes that Beijing has been working to undermine the investigation from the United States and other members of the international community. 

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here. The work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he said. 

Wray’s comments come a couple days after the revelation that the Energy Department (DOE) recently released a report that determined with “low confidence” that a lab leak was responsible for the start of the pandemic. 

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the FBI previously concluded with “moderate confidence” that a lab leak was the cause of the coronavirus spreading to the public, but other U.S. intelligence agencies have been split on whether that was the source. 

The Journal reported that people who read the DOE’s report said the CIA and one other agency are unsure about the source of the pandemic, while the report said the National Intelligence Council and four agencies believe it came by a natural occurrence from an infected animal.

The intelligence agencies released a report in 2021 on their assessment of the origin of the virus, but it did not definitively make a conclusion on many questions.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan responded to the Journal’s report on Sunday that the intelligence community has not received a “definitive answer” on the pandemic’s origins.

“There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure,” he said.

The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Response, which the body formed last month, is investigating the source of the pandemic during this session of Congress. Debate over the origin has been significantly politicized since the pandemic began three years ago. 

GOP members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee concluded in a report released last year that the virus escaped from a Wuhan lab.

Source: TEST FEED1

McCarthy, GOP pump brakes on release of Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson

House Republicans are pumping the brakes on the release of Jan. 6 surveillance footage they’ve offered to Fox News host Tucker Carlson and going on offense against Democrats who have spent the past week slamming the move.

Republican leaders are emphasizing that no clips will be broadcast without prior security clearance while accusing Democrats of neglecting the same precautions during the investigation by the House select committee last year — a charge the Democrats quickly rejected.

Carlson, Fox’s wildly popular conservative pundit, said last week that he would begin airing footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot this week, after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered him what Carlson described as “unfettered” exclusive access to more than 40,000 hours of unreleased surveillance tape starting earlier in the month.

Yet McCarthy and other Republicans, following days of silence on the topic, made clear Tuesday that no information would be released to Carlson’s team — let alone broadcast publicly — before the footage is screened to ensure it doesn’t compromise the security of the Capitol complex. 

The Speaker said Republicans are working with the U.S. Capitol Police to ensure that’s the case.

“It’s many more hours of tape than we were ever told. They said at the beginning it was like, 14,000 hours. There’s roughly almost 42,000 hours. We’re working through that. We work with the Capitol Police as well, so we’ll make sure security is taken care of,” McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol. 

“There’s certain parts that he wanted to see,” McCarthy said of Carlson, but stressed that the Fox News host’s team specifically said they do not want to see “exit routes.”

“They’re not interested in it. They don’t want to show that,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy statement was a shot at the Jan. 6 select committee for airing footage showing then-Vice President Mike Pence leaving the Senate chamber after rioters stormed into the Capitol in a failed effort to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.

The footage did not show Pence’s full route out of the Capitol, and members of the investigative committee said they took pains to clear each video clip with leaders of the Capitol Police before broadcasting them. 

“What we showed to the public was video that we vetted through general counsel, we vetted through the chief of the Capitol Police,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss,), chairman of the since-dissolved Jan. 6 committee, told reporters Tuesday. “And under no circumstances did we push out anything that we felt that would have violated any aspect of the security of this area.” 

McCarthy, though, cast doubt on the Democrats’ narrative, saying members of the Capitol Police force have informed him directly that not all footage from the Jan. 6 select committee was screened.

“There’s times when the Capitol Police told me that they didn’t consult with them either on some of these routes, so that’s a concern,” McCarthy said.

The Capitol Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McCarthy said that he expects the security footage to be widely released “as soon as possible,” but would not “predetermine” the format of such a release. 

McCarthy told The Hill that he has not spoken personally to Carlson about the Jan. 6 footage.

McCarthy also criticized the Jan. 6 Select Committee for airing clips that showed his staff members being evacuated from his office wing.

“They went in and they showed our office … because they have a camera in our office. They never talked to any of us about it,” said McCarthy, who did not cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee after it issued a subpoena to talk to him.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) also raised concerns about footage released by the Jan. 6 select committee, pointing to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) daughter filming a documentary in a secure location where congressional leaders were kept during the riot.

But Democrats are also pointing fingers, voicing their own doubts that Republicans are adopting strong security protocols as they share the footage with Carlson, who has downplayed the violence on Jan. 6 and promoted conspiracy theories about the riot being orchestrated by Trump’s political adversaries. 

Thompson said his office has been asking for — but not received — written procedures governing how the many hours of footage would released, and then used. 

“If they don’t have anything in writing … then I say it’s a bad idea,” Thompson said. 

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said that his panel is still working through those procedures.

“We’re working on putting protocols together and policies and procedures and schedules,” Loudermilk said.

While Carlson’s team has full access to watch the tens of thousands of hours of footage, Loudermilk said, he will work with the sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police to ensure that any copies of that footage given to Carlson do not pose security risks.

“There hasn’t been a release of tapes,” Loudermilk said. “It’s basically controlled access to be able to view tapes. Can’t record, can’t take anything with you. Then they will request any particular clips that — that they may need, and then we’ll make sure that there’s nothing sensitive, nothing classified — you know, escape routes.”

The fierce debate over the release of the full Jan. 6 footage — and the appropriateness of granting exclusive access to Carlson — comes as McCarthy is fighting to solidify support from some Republicans wary that the new Speaker lacks the conservative bonafides to take on President Biden and the Washington “swamp.”

Some of those critics said McCarthy had promised them, during the hard-fought Speaker’s balloting, that he would release the full library of Jan. 6 footage in return for their support. Carlson himself also suggested that McCarthy pledge to release the tapes to earn support for the Speakership.

McCarthy denied that claim on Tuesday. While he has said in other comments and in a fundraising email that he had “promised” to release the footage, he said that was a reference to a question in a press conference last month, not because of negotiations during the Speaker’s election.

“I’m just following through on that,” he said Tuesday.

 It’s unclear if McCarthy’s most vocal Republican detractors — whose backing he needs to pass legislation in a narrowly divided House — will accept a more limited release of the footage.

Carlson, Fox’s most popular commentator, has been among McCarthy’s most prominent, if not frequent, right-wing critics. And McCarthy’s decision to share the Jan. 6 footage exclusively with Carlson has led to accusations that the Speaker is simply coddling up to the popular host to save his own political hide. 

“The Speaker is saying that this is about public accountability and transparency. But that is totally belied by the fact that he gave it to one extreme person in the media,” said Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip. 

The choice of Carlson is under additional scrutiny this week following revelations — released as part of an ongoing defamation lawsuit against Fox News — that he was among the network pundits furious that Fox had correctly called Arizona for Biden. Carlson, at the time, voiced concern that the accurate reporting would drive Fox viewers to other conservative outlets, which continued to report Trump’s lies about a stolen election. 

McCarthy defended the choice of Carlson on Tuesday, accusing the Jan. 6 select committee of handing surveillance footage to outlets favored by liberal viewers, including CNN and MSNBC.

“Have you ever had an exclusive? I see it on your networks all the time,” McCarthy said to a group of reporters that included correspondents from CNN and MSNBC.

Source: TEST FEED1