Biden slams 'outrageous' IVF decision in Alabama

Speaker again presses Biden to act on border

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for February 23, 2024:

• First spending bills could be out Sunday night.

• Democrats worry about Biden border moves.

• A much different kind of CPAC.

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ABORTION. Amid anger over an Alabama Supreme Court decision which created legal questions for women trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF), the White House condemned the ruling on Thursday, as Democrats called on voters to punish the GOP over the issue. "Make no mistake," said President Biden, "this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade."

• BIDEN. The President led a chorus of Democrats expressing agony over the court ruling which caused some Alabama IVF facilities to halt their operations. "The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable," Biden said in a statement.

• GOP. Once again on Thursday, there was almost complete radio silence from GOP lawmakers in Congress about the ruling from Alabama. "I haven't studied the issue," Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told reporters in South Carolina.

• GOVS. It was a different story from a group of GOP Governors who spoke at an event sponsored by Politico. Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire called it a 'terrible ruling.' Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia said a lot of people 'wouldn't have children if it wasn't for (IVF).' Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee said he was 'generally in favor of IVF.'

• YELLOWHAMMER. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign jumped on an interview done by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), where his answers seemed like he thought IVF was something that stopped women from having kids.

DIVIDE. You can see how limits on IVF - much like efforts to restrict contraception - put many Republicans in a bind. "I believe there is nothing more pro-life than helping families have children," said Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), who said IVF let her start a family. "I do not support federal restrictions on IVF."

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CAMPAIGN. As I discussed yesterday, this Alabama case just gives Democrats one more item to talk about related to abortion. We've seen repeatedly how it's a losing issue for the GOP. "The extremism of the far right has gone too far," said Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI), whose 2-year-old son was born through IVF.

• MESSAGE. Democrats clearly feel like the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned is a powerful issue for them at the ballot box. "Our message for this election should be: Codify Roe Federally," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI).

• TODAY. The nation’s Governors will visit the White House this morning. Watch to see what the President talks about. You never know - abortion might get a mention.

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BORDER. With reports that President Biden might take some executive actions about the border, GOP lawmakers again blasted his handling of the recent migrant surge. "The President suddenly seems interested in trying to make a change using the legal authority that he claimed until recently didn't exist," said House Speaker Mike Johnson.

• CHANGES. In a statement, the Speaker rattled off a series of different demands for Biden: tighter policies on asylum, bringing back the 'Remain in Mexico' program, limits on immigration parole, and other reforms. "If Biden cared about securing the border, he would close the border," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).

• GRUMBLING. Meanwhile, more progressive Democrats are getting increasingly worried about what Biden might do. "Democrats cannot solve immigration problems by adopting Trump-like policies," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). "President Biden would be making a grave mistake," said Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL), citing reports of Biden limiting asylum claims.

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SHUTDOWN. While the Congress was out this week, negotiators kept working behind closed doors on the overdue government funding bills for Uncle Sam. Four of those bills expire next Friday, March 1 - the other eight (which include the Pentagon) run out on March 8. Will there be a partial shutdown in one week? Stay tuned.

• SUNDAY NIGHT. Capitol Hill reporters were told yesterday to expect details of at least the first batch of bills over the weekend. "Bicameral talks are continuing," said a source familiar with the negotiations. "We hope to be able to announce something Sunday night."

• MINIBUS. The four measures which have to be finished by next Friday should be some of the easiest to complete:

  • Military Construction/VA

  • Energy & Water

  • Agriculture-FDA

  • Transportation-HUD

NEXT WEEK. We all know where this is going. The funding deals will be released. Many conservative Republicans will denounce the details and then take a lot of gratuitous shots at GOP leaders. "I've not met one constituent this week asking us to increase topline spending," groused Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).

• GOP FLAK. Leading the way for critics will be the House Freedom Caucus. "We need lower spending levels and real policy wins," the group said, firing off a letter to Speaker Johnson which featured a list of provisions favored by conservatives.

• SHUTDOWN. Could there be a shutdown in one week - or the next Friday? You can’t rule it out. (For those keeping score at home, this is the fourth shutdown drama since late September.)

• WASTE OF TIME. Remember, Speaker Johnson didn't want a pre-Christmas Omnibus. So, instead of voting in December on spending bills negotiated behind closed doors, Congress will likely approve spending bills negotiated behind closed doors - in March. What a waste of time. That's my column this week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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CPAC. When I first covered the Conservative Political Action Conference way back in the mid-1980's, the big draw was a speech by President Ronald Reagan, and the message was bluntly confrontational towards the Kremlin. "We accept no moral equivalency between the cause of freedom and the rule of totalitarianism," Reagan said at the 1988 gathering.

• 2024. Fast forward to this year, and there is a much different theme at CPAC. "Welcome to the end of democracy," said conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. "We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”

• POSOBIEC. If you think Posobiec is a nobody, think again. He has a giant following on social media and in conservative media, and he'll be up on the main stage for ten minutes today. Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he will pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters. And that's becoming a mainstream GOP view.

• RUSSIA. The change on Russia is also obvious at CPAC. On Thursday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) blamed the U.S. for causing the war between Ukraine and Russia. "We're the one that forced this war because we kept forcing NATO on Ukraine," said Tuberville, which is straight up Russian propaganda.

• LAWMAKERS. A number of prominent GOP lawmakers will be speaking today, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The Gaetz segment is billed as 'Burning Down the House,' alluding to his effort to boot out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.

FULTON COUNTY D.A. Finally, Rep. Jim Jordan will host a 20 minute chat about the investigations into Donald Trump. The session is titled, "What You Talkin Bout Fani Willis."

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HUNTER BIDEN. The man arrested for lying to the FBI about huge bribes to President Biden and his son Hunter has been arrested again. Alexander Smirnov had been freed by a judge in Nevada - why, I'm still not quite sure. The feds then moved to take the FBI informant into custody again.

• YAKOV. The feds say Russian Intelligence used Smirnov to funnel false allegations to the U.S. about Joe and Hunter Biden each getting $5 million bribes from an energy company in Ukraine. That charge was featured by Republicans in Congress as they pressed an impeachment investigation.

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BIDEN PROBE. There is no way to sugarcoat what happened in recent days to the GOP. This was a terrible week for House Republicans and their Biden probe. The fact that one of their main story lines now looks like it was straight up Russian disinformation makes it all look bad.

• PLOT TWIST. For months, Republicans had talked up the $5 million Burisma bribe to the Bidens. They claimed there were audio tapes and more from their secret source. Now, GOP lawmakers act like it never was anything big.

• YAKOV. "At the end of the day, he wasn't an important part of the investigation," Rep. James Comer (R-KY), said of Smirnov, who told how Russian intelligence was pushing fake stories about Hunter Biden.

• WARNING. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) - who has raised red flags about GOP impeachment efforts - said GOP lawmakers should not have embraced Smirnov's claims. "We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known," Buck told CNN. "It appears to absolutely be false."

• ФАЛЬШИВЫЙ. Democrats ripped Comer. "James Comer must resign from Congress," said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA). "They finally admitted out loud that facts don’t matter," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). "They just want to sell the American people fiction."

GOING FORWARD. No matter what we learned this week, Republicans aren’t stopping. Hunter Biden is due in for a closed door Q&A next week. GOP lawmakers will keep yelling about the money he brought in until at least Election Day. But Republicans still don’t have a smoking gun on President Biden.

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REGULAR ORDER. I got this note recently: "Thanks for being the Joe Friday of journalism." The next month is going to be crazy on Capitol Hill. If you need a different kind of gift for someone, then give the gift of straight news from Capitol Hill.

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SOUTH CAROLINA. The GOP race for President takes another step forward on Saturday in South Carolina. 50 delegates are at stake as former President Donald Trump is expected to easily coast to victory over ex-Gov. Nikki Haley - in her home state.

• CONTESTS. There are actually eight different primaries in one tomorrow. This is a winner-take-all format not only statewide, but delegates are also awarded for the winner in each of the seven Congressional districts in the Palmetto State.

• SUPER TUESDAY. Haley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week that she's heading out for rallies in states which vote on March 5 - Super Tuesday. But let's be honest, I think most people believe this race is over.

• FUNDRAISING. There are some red flags out there for Trump, especially when it comes to campaign money. Nikki Haley raised $11.5 million in January, while Trump brought in $8.8 million. Trump is trying to both fund his campaign and pay his legal bills from the same pot of money. That might not work.

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DESANTIS. I told you earlier this week about Gov. Ron DeSantis traveling to South Carolina and Indiana to press the case for term limits in Congress. I thought that it was odd for him to show up in South Carolina - given the GOP primary there on Saturday. Let's just say Trump World was not pleased.

• CHEUNG. The first shot came from Trump's campaign spokesman. "Ron tucked his tail between his legs and he should have scurried off into the shadows of obscurity," said Steven Cheung. "Now that he's dipped his high-heeled toes back in the water, he might just find out our shovel can dig a lot deeper."

• MILLER TIME. That wasn't all. "We looked past Rob’s half-hearted endorsement and the bullshit trip to South Carolina to try to stay relevant," said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, "but if his popping off continues, Thor’s hammer will return."

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JAN. 6 TAPES. I keep emailing GOP staffers to ask why no Jan. 6 security tapes have been released in over a month. It's the same response that I get when emailing top staffers to ask why House Republicans have not sent certain House-passed bills to the Senate. No one responds.

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RAP SHEET. An Ohio man pleaded guilty this week to assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Matthew Honigford used a flagpole to repeatedly jab at police. He later joined other rioters in trying to use a metal bike rack to push back officers outside the Capitol. Sentencing will be in August.

• BACK THE BLUE. A Pennsylvania man was arrested this week for his actions on Jan. 6. After being forcibly removed from the Capitol, Kenneth Giusini is seen joining other rioters in pushing and shoving police officers who were trying to keep them from getting back in through the North Door of the building.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  February 23, 1861.  The attack on Fort Sumner had not yet occurred, but there was concern in Congress about exactly that type of possible conflict.   On this date, Rep. Samuel Woodson of Missouri introduced a bill to 'preserve the public peace' - authorizing the President to 'withdraw all soldiers' and civilian workers 'from all the forts, arsenals, dock yards' and other federal installations in the South. Woodson’s goal was to prevent 'domestic insurrection and civil war.'

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House returns for votes on Wednesday, February 28.

The Senate is back for votes on Monday, February 26.

Check President Biden’s schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a cup of coffee.