Trump on Jan. 7: "I don't want to say the election is over"
House passes bill ensuring access to contraceptives
Also in today’s edition of “Regular Order” for July 22, 2022.
There will be more Jan. 6 hearings after Labor Day.
A bill on same-sex marriage still has life in the Senate.
CHIPS bill to cost $79 billion.
TRUMP. Armed with testimony from a series of Donald Trump's own White House aides, the Jan. 6 panel on Thursday night painted a devastating picture of a President who never lifted a finger to help stop the attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol, even as top aides and GOP lawmakers begged him to tell rioters to end their siege.
HEARING. "Everyone told Trump to condemn the violence," said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA). But Trump refused. "Donald Trump's conduct on January 6th was a supreme violation of his oath of office and a complete dereliction of his duty to our nation," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
GOP ATTACK. One witness found herself under attack from fellow Republicans during the hearing. Sarah Matthews - who was a Deputy White House Press Secretary - now works for the GOP on Capitol Hill. But the official House GOP Twitter account called her, "Just another liar and pawn in Pelosi's witch-hunt.” That tweet was soon deleted.
WITNESSES. Both Matthews, and former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser Brian Pottinger resigned hours after the attack. "January 6, 2021 was one of the darkest days in our nation's history," Matthews said, "and President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion."
POTTINGER. After seeing Trump's tweet attacking Vice President Pence for refusing to throw the election to Trump - as the Capitol was under attack - Pottinger said he decided it was time to quit. "I simply didn’t want to be associated with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol.”
VIDEOTAPE. The new evidence presented last night included video outtakes of Trump putting together video messages on Jan. 6 and 7. In each one, Trump did not like what his staff had written for him to say. “I don’t want to say the election is over,” Trump barked the morning after the attack.
PENCE DETAIL. One of the more chilling moments from Thursday night came when the panel played recordings of Secret Service agents protecting Vice President Mike Pence, as they grew increasingly worried about his safety. "If we're going to leave, we need to do it now," one agent said as rioters were just around the corner from where Pence was taking shelter.
FAMILY. A White House security official - who was listening to the Secret Service radio traffic - described how the demeanor of agents changed as more attackers poured into the Capitol. "There were calls to say goodbye to family members," the official said. "The members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives."
EVACUATION. Pence was taken from his office just off the Senate floor down to an area that most people could never find in the bowels of the Capitol - even those (like me) who have worked for decades in that building. He stayed there for hours until the Capitol was secured.
MORE HEARINGS. The Jan. 6 committee is not finished with its public work, as committee leaders said Thursday that with more evidence coming in - there will be more hearings. "The dam has begun to break," said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). "So, our committee will spend August pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts before convening further hearings this September."
SECRET SERVICE. There was more testimony last night establishing that Donald Trump got into a heated argument with his Secret Service detail - as he wanted to be taken to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While Secret Service officials denied the testimony of ex-Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson, no agents have answered questions about the episode.
TESTIMONY. "Some of the officers who said that they would be coming and talking under oath - they have not come in, and they have recently retained private counsel," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
TEXT MESSAGES. Meanwhile, the Secret Service may now be facing a criminal investigation about the deletion of text messages about the events of Jan. 6. Whether or not this was part of some kind of cover up - it certainly is not a good look for a law enforcement agency.
CONTRACEPTION. Responding to the recent Supreme Court decision on abortion, the House voted 228-195 in favor of a bill from Democrats which gives Americans the right to use and obtain contraception. "It is astonishing that in 2022, there is a debate on women’s right to bodily autonomy," said Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ).
DEBATE. On the House floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi lectured Republicans. "You don't want birth control, but you want control of women," Pelosi said, as Democrats expressed disbelief at the strong GOP opposition. "This is part of their agenda, which is really hard to defend," Pelosi added.
DETAILS. The social media disinformation machine was quickly working overtime - making wild charges about what was in the bill. It’s very straightforward. The bill says people have a right to contraceptives, and health plans/doctors can't be stopped from prescribing birth control.
GOP. Republicans scoffed at the need for the bill. "Access to contraceptives is in no way in jeopardy," argued Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), as GOP lawmakers said Democrats were just trying to come up with anything to distract from inflation and high gas prices.
EIGHT. The eight GOP lawmakers who voted for the bill were Cheney WY,
Fitzpatrick PA, Gonzalez OH, Katko NY, Kinzinger IL, Mace SC, Salazar FL, and Upton MI. "You can’t ban abortion and then not protect women’s access to contraceptives," said Nancy Mace (R-SC), who was raped at age 16.
GOP. All week, Republicans mocked Democrats for talking about the words of Justice Clarence Thomas from the recent Supreme Court decision on abortion. In his concurring opinion, Thomas suggested the Court should overturn precedents underpinning landmark rulings on same-sex marriage (Obergefell) and contraception (Griswold).
THOMAS. “We thought the Democrats were obsessed with President Trump," said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), "but Justice Thomas is a close second." It turns out though, Democrats were worried for a reason - because Congressional Republicans largely agree with Thomas.
VOTES. 195 GOP lawmakers voted against the bill which basically codifies the Griswold decision upholding a right to contraception. 157 GOP lawmakers opposed a bill supporting same-sex and interracial marriage.
MARRIAGE. Democrats still have a chance to get the Senate to approve a House-passed bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriages. The latest GOP Senator to announce he'll support the bill is Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who accused Democrats of trying to 'create a state of fear' over the future of same-sex marriage.
RON JOHN. "Even though I feel the Respect for Marriage Act is unnecessary, should it come before the Senate, I see no reason to oppose it," Johnson said in a written statement on Thursday.
GOP. Five Republican Senators have now said they will back the bill: Johnson, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). Democrats need five more to get to a filibuster-proof 60 votes.
UNDECIDED. The most striking thing in the hallways this week has been the reaction of GOP Senators on this issue - as many simply said they were undecided, or hadn't looked at the bill. Initially, this seemed like it had no chance. But now? It could actually pass.
CHIPS+. The Senate won't take the next step on a bill to spur domestic production of semiconductors until Monday evening. There had been hope of speeding up action yesterday before Senators left town for the weekend - but opponents refused to move up that cloture vote.
GOP. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said this bill "is a vote for inflation. It’s a vote for more debt." The Congressional Budget Office backed up Scott's argument, as it found the bill would add $79 billion to the federal deficit over ten years. $52 billion of that is money going to big semiconductor companies.
CHIPS. The name of the bill could stand for semiconductor 'chips' - but of course, there is more. It's officially the 'Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act.' Some staffer must have received a bonus for that one.
SCIENCE. As I showed you yesterday, the revised CHIPS+ bill has a host of science provisions, including a full NASA authorization bill. There is one thing missing though - it does not authorize any specific funding levels for the space agency. It would set up a 'Moon to Mars Program Office' inside NASA.
IRONY. It looks like both Senators from Florida will vote against this bill - even though it includes all of the NASA language. Neither Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) nor Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has taken on the unofficial role of NASA cheerleader in the Senate.
REGULAR ORDER. We welcome back our weekly readers today. You missed a lot this week. Please think about upgrading to a daily subscription - or give the gift of straight news to someone you know, and support my independent reporting from Capitol Hill.
NEW YORK ATTACK. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) - who is running for Governor of New York - was attacked Thursday evening as he spoke at a campaign stop. Video showed a man walking up on stage where Zeldin was - the New York Republican grabbed the man's arm, and a struggle ensued. Thankfully, Zeldin was not injured.
LEGAL WEED. A group of Democratic Senators have updated their legislative plans to end federal laws against marijuana. "It’s time to end the federal prohibition of cannabis," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said Thursday. He introduced the plan along with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
CAOA. Called the "Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act," the bill would have the Food and Drug Administration regulate 'production, labeling, distribution, sales, and other manufacturing and retail elements of the cannabis industry’ - just as is done by the feds with alcohol and tobacco.
FUTURE. Getting something like this through the Congress is probably not going to happen this year. But clearly, change is coming on marijuana - at the federal level - at some future point in time. Here's a link to the summary of the bill from Democrats.
NOVEMBER. There have been a lot of claims and counterclaims from the two major parties about how the Supreme Court's decision on abortion will impact the 2022 midterm elections for Congress. We are starting to see evidence in the generic polls that Democrats are seeing a boost.
POLLING. The last three major polls on Congress - from Economist/YouGov, Quinnipiac, and Politico/Morning Consult - have shown Democrats ahead. Maybe this is just a blip. Maybe it's just poll bias. Or maybe the Supreme Court did have a positive impact for Democrats. I still feel like the GOP has the edge - but it's something to watch.
MUSE OF HISTORY. July 22, 1856. On this date, the Senate was debating what would become the Guano Islands Act. The bill allowed Americans to claim uninhabited islands with guano deposits for the U.S. "I am decidedly in favor of it," said Sen. John Clayton of Delaware. "Guano has become a very valuable fertilizer." Two days later, the Senate passed the bill on a voice vote. It would lead to U.S. claims on dozens of islands around the world - outposts like Baker and Howland Island in the Pacific, and Johnston Atoll. In a sense, this bird poop law helped the U.S. build an empire.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House meets next on Tuesday.
The Senate is back on Monday.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
With regard to the contraception bill, I've not read any GOP statements from those who voted no, but I will note that the definition of "contraceptive" in the bill includes emergency contraceptives, which many consider abortifacients, so the vote against the bill could be a concern that it's a back-door way to effectively preempt state laws that limit access to abortifacient drugs.
In the United States, interracial marriage has been legal since 1967 and same-sex since 2015. Congress is just wasting time, as they are wont to do, rehashing old results. And, as for the Supreme court protesters, issues have been determined. Marching around screaming and smelling will only get you placed in a white jacket. Go home and do something constructive such as help a neighbor paint their house while they sit on the porch smoking, drinking beer and laughing at you.