GOP rift quickly appears over spending strategy

Congress waits on tonight's Harris-Trump debate

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for September 10, 2024:

• Cuomo to battle with GOP over COVID response.

• Biden threatens to veto House GOP funding plan.

• Cornyn vows to protect filibuster as GOP leader.

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GOP-SPENDING. This Congress has been marked by divisions among House Republicans. And we may be seeing a pre-election repeat. As House GOP lawmakers meet this morning, Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to combine a 6-month temporary government funding plan (CR) with a GOP bill to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote seems to be in some trouble.

• NO VOTES. "It's an easy 'no' vote for me," said Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who said he could not support voting for current government spending levels for another six months. "Perhaps we should have actually planned ahead," said Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), "as opposed to taking off the month of August."

• SAVE ACT. Mills supports the proof of citizenship requirements. But he told reporters there's no way that could be implemented for this year's elections. "So to say that this - as an attachment to the CR - is somehow going to do something, is a farce,” Mills said, throwing more shade at the Speaker.

• SASSY WITH MASSIE. Maybe the biggest truth bomb on this funding standoff came from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who skewered both parties during a meeting of the House Rules Committee. Here's some of what Massie said, as he bad-mouthed the plans of Speaker Johnson:

"This is political theater. I'm going to call out both sides right here. It's all posturing. It's fake fighting. We all know where it ends up. This is Groundhog Day. I don't care if the Democrat is the Speaker or a Republican is the Speaker. We always get a CR in September, and then we get an Omnibus. Sometimes there's a twist on that. Get the Omnibus before Christmas, but if we're not good, it comes after Christmas, but that's what's going to happen. And in the meantime, it's political theater...We've got great writers. I wish they'd just come up with a new plot. It's the same plot every year."

DEFENSE. Meanwhile, defense hawks in the GOP were also making noise in opposition to the plan on Monday. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said he would also vote against the Speaker's CR plan.

• GOP PLANS. House Republican leaders want to vote on the CR by Wednesday, but it won’t take many defections to doom this plan, as Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of votes. There are a few Democrats who might vote for the combo bill. But it was getting messy pretty quick for the House GOP.

• SENATE. And I should also mention that several Republican Senators told us that they don’t like the March 28, 2025 funding date proposed by the Speaker. They want to get these bills done before Christmas, not by Easter.

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HARDBALL. That was not the reception that Speaker Mike Johnson was banking on as he returned to the Capitol on Monday. He sounded a hard line to reporters, saying he would accept nothing less than his 6-month plan. "There is no fallback position," Johnson declared when asked about a possible shutdown on October 1. “This is serious business.”

• GOP. A number of Republicans quickly echoed the Speaker's threat, trying to point the finger of blame at the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris. "Democrats would rather shut down the government than stop illegals from voting," said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX).

• DEMS. Top Democrats ridiculed the GOP. “The partisan and extreme continuing resolution put forward by House Republicans is unserious and unacceptable,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

• SHUTDOWN. The White House quickly joined in. "House Republicans have chosen brinksmanship," announcing that President Biden would veto the plan if it somehow made it through the House and Senate. (It won’t.)

• DEADLINE. Despite all the talk, most everyone expects Congress will approve a temporary funding plan to avoid a shutdown on October 1. But it may take a few more days for that to happen.

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DEBATE. Like millions of Americans, lawmakers in Congress will be paying close attention to the big debate tonight, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off with former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia. It might be their only debate before the November 5 elections, and a good - or bad performance - could well determine the White House winner.

• DEMS. After watching President Biden’s debate debacle in late June, Democrats are hoping for something much different tonight. “The stakes are very high,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

• TUSSLE. Look for Democrats to put more of a focus on Trump's actual debate answers this time around. "Trump will be the same irrational, erratic teller of lies he’s always been," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

• GOP. Republicans want Trump to force Harris to get specific. “Make her explain her policies,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK). “I think painting the true picture of who Kamala is, is an important goal - but not doing it in a too aggressive of a way.”

• MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. One thing I’ve heard repeatedly from the GOP is that Harris is a wild-eyed liberal trying to look moderate. “We know exactly who she is,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “We know her policies.”

• TRUMP. Meanwhile, you could almost see some of the possible Trump debate points evolving in real time yesterday on Trump’s Truth Social website.

  • "Comrade Kamala."

  • "She is a Marxist."

  • "The whole World is on fire under these clowns!"

  • "THE HOUSE REPORT ON AFGHANISTAN IS DEVASTATING TO COMRADE KAMALA HARRIS & SLEEPY JOE!"

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COVID. If you want some bare-knuckle politics in order to warm up for tonight’s debate, then I've got a hearing for you. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will testify at 2 pm on how he handled the Coronavirus outbreak. Cuomo may be a disgraced figure within the Democratic Party, but he isn't going to roll over for the GOP.

• OP-ED. Writing in the Daily Beast, Cuomo predicted the GOP Covid panel will 'smear' him. "Remember what this is for,” Cuomo wrote, “an election-year block-and-tackle operation to protect Donald Trump and deflect from his leadership failures throughout COVID.”

• HEARING. The GOP announcement about this hearing certainly had all the looks of a concerted effort to attack New York Democrats. "Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).

• TRANSCRIPTS. Republicans released hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts from Cuomo and other New York officials about what happened. Cuomo's Q&A showed he hasn't lost his partisan edge, as he twice brought up January 6, and sparred with GOP lawmakers from New York.

• HEARING. Too bad the Harris-Trump debate is tonight, because this could be one hell of a hearing.

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AFGHANISTAN. Doing some campaign work for Donald Trump, House Republicans on Monday unveiled an updated report about the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. "The administration’s dereliction of duty placed U.S. servicemembers and U.S. State Department personnel in mortal danger," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).

• HONORS. Republicans will keep the matter in the spotlight today, as Congress will hold a Gold Medal ceremony for the 13 service members who were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan. Those honors will be held in the Rotunda of the Capitol. House and Senate leaders of both parties will speak.

• ISSUE. If you step back and look at the last few weeks, you can see how it all comes together for the GOP. Trump did his event at Arlington National Cemetery, then marshaled comments from families of the victims to attack Harris - and now having House Republicans weigh with their own broadsides. I will be surprised if Trump doesn't mention Afghanistan in the debate.

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GUNS. In the wake of a school shooting in Georgia, House Democrats are asking Republicans to schedule hearings in Congress on gun violence. In a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the head of the House Oversight Committee, Democrats say gun violence cries out for some kind of attention from the GOP on Capitol Hill.

• LETTER. It is a serious dereliction of duty for this Committee — and the Republican-led House Representatives — to act to protect presidential candidates from gun violence but do nothing at all to protect the rest of the American people whom the president serves," wrote Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).

• AR-15. Democrats have also zeroed in on the use of the AR-15 by the Georgia school shooter - just a few weeks after another gunman used that weapon to almost assassinate former President Donald Trump. "This Committee should show the American people that Congress can and will act to stop the devastation caused by AR-15s," Democrats wrote.

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MAILBAG. There was a very good question about the lack of action in Congress on government funding bills which deserves an answer. "Why hasn’t the Senate passed any of the 5 funding bills that have made it through the House? Are they still working through them? Waiting until they get all of them?"

• SENATE. One reason the Senate hasn’t acted is that both parties know that the House can’t pass all 12 bills - so, there will have to be a negotiated deal. Senate Democrats also know that opening bills up to amendments on the Senate floor could cause all sorts of headaches just before an election.

• MAINER. I’m disappointed that the agenda for this week is yet more nominees,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). “It’s time for us to be bringing appropriations bills to the floor right now.”

• WORK. Collins has been fully involved in the deal making on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which hammered out bipartisan deals on 11 of the 12 funding bills back in July. But that’s as far as they’re going right now.

• OLD DAYS. It used to be that the full Senate would just basically accept whatever the Appropriations Committee produced - with a minimum of floor votes and amendments. Not anymore. Last year, Democrats tried to bring several 3-bill packages to the floor, but that resulted in endless GOP delays.

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COCAINE MITCH. The return of Congress yesterday brought back the voice of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, which was also a reminder that his days are numbered, as he is ready to give up his leadership post after the elections. The campaign to succeed him is well underway.

• LONE STAR. In a letter sent on Monday to fellow Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) set out his plans if elected GOP leader. One of his stated goals is to preserve the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. "We must reject all attempts to nuke the legislative filibuster in the Senate," Cornyn wrote.

• FILIBUSTER. Sooner or later, the filibuster will be history. The current rules to shut off debate were put in place after World War I, and modified (to 60 votes) after Watergate. Both parties love the filibuster when they're in the minority, and both grumble about it when they are in charge.

HISTORY. Would getting rid of the filibuster be good or bad for the Senate and the nation? I honestly don't have an answer. I can think of good and bad impacts. But I do know that pretty much every major issue in U.S. history has had to contend with the Senate filibuster. It has been used repeatedly as a tool for delay.

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NEW SENATOR. One of the first orders of business in the Senate on Monday was to swear in Sen. George Helmy (D-NJ). He replaces Democrat Bob Menendez who resigned on August 20 after his conviction on bribery and corruption charges. Helmy's first vote was on a motion to shut off debate on the nomination of a federal judge.

• ANONYMOUS. After casting his first vote, Helmy went down to catch the subway train back to his office building. He stood there quietly chatting with an aide - no reporters badgering him, while we chased other Senators. Helmy will only be here for a few months, but he will always be called, 'Senator.'

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VIBE CHECK. I'm big on hallway vibes. And it just seemed like on Monday that everyone knows the next few weeks are going to be a shit show here in Congress, and not much is going to get done. There was no buzz at all inside the Capitol about achieving anything major.

• BLUE MONDAY. After five weeks off, 10 Senators didn't make it back for the first vote of September: Murkowski (R-AK), Padilla (D-CA), Risch (R-ID), Rounds (R-SD), Rubio (R-FL), Scott (R-SC), Sinema (I-AZ), Sullivan (R-AK), Vance (R-OH), and Whitehouse (D-RI). (7 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 1 Independent.)

• HOUSE REPORT. After six weeks off, 40 House members didn't make it back for the first votes of September. They were evenly divided - 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans.

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RAP SHEET. A Florida father and son - both former cops, and both members of the ‘Proud Boys’ militia group - pleaded guilty last week in federal court to Jan. 6 charges. Kevin and Nathaniel Tuck joined others in breaking past police lines and barricades outside the Capitol that day. Both made it inside the building - Nathaniel had a physical confrontation with officers just outside a Senate entrance.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  September 10, 1890.  On this date, Sen. John Ingalls of Kansas presented a petition from the territorial legislature of Oklahoma, asking for the immediate opening of the 'Cherokee Strip' to settlement.  The 'Strip' was about 57 miles wide, and ran along a lengthy chunk of the border with Kansas.  While it was supposed to provide a perpetual space for the Cherokee, by 1893 it was opened to settlers.

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House meets at 10 am.

The Senate convenes at 10 am.

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