McCarthy endorses Cheney challenger in Wyoming

Senate preserves vaccine mandates in spending showdown

An unprecedented move as Republicans try to get rid of Liz Cheney. The Senate keeps the lights on for three more weeks. And lawmakers are all invited to the State of the Union. This is “Regular Order” for February 18, 2022.

CHENEY. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) officially gave up on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Thursday, endorsing one of her primary opponents in Wyoming, Republican Harriet Hageman. “I look forward to serving with Harriet for years to come," McCarthy said in a story in the Federalist.

• GOP. I can’t emphasize enough how extraordinary this move is. Just over a year ago, Cheney was the third-ranking Republican in the House GOP leadership. But Republicans have abandoned her for one reason - and one reason only - her criticism of Donald Trump over the January 6 attack.

• IMPACT. Hageman is one of at least three challengers to Cheney in the GOP primary on August 16. Unless one of those Republicans can consolidate the vote against Cheney, there is always the chance that Cheney could win. Wyoming does not have a primary runoff. You just need the most votes.

• SUPPORT. One of the few Republicans to stick up for Cheney was Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who has also been basically excommunicated from the Republican Party over Jan. 6 as well. He blasted McCarthy. "Now, we see he is a man with no moral core," Kinzinger tweeted.

WYOMING. Worried about Democrats and Independents voting for Cheney in the primary, some Wyoming Republicans are trying to change state election laws, and move to a 'closed' primary system. That got a boost on Thursday from Donald Trump. "This bill has my Complete and Total Endorsement and Support," Trump said in a statement.

• BILL. The plan to close party primaries comes from GOP state Sen. Bo Biteman of Sheridan County, Wyoming. He echoed Trump's assessment that only Republicans should vote in the GOP primary. Current law allows Wyoming voters to change their registration on the day of a primary.

NO SHUTDOWN. It took some arm-twisting, but the Senate last night avoided a government shutdown, approving a three-week funding plan to keep the government running until March 11. Congressional leaders hope to have a deal by then on an Omnibus funding bill to close out spending work for Fiscal Year 2022.

• SENATE. The suspense came on amendments dealing with the Coronavirus. Senators voted 47-46 to reject an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to block funding for any vaccine mandate by the federal government. Four GOP Senators missed the vote - as the outcome might have been different.

• GOP FOUR. The absent four were Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC). Backers of the plan were livid. "Unbelievable is an understatement," said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).

• SCHOOLS. The Senate also voted 49-44 against an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), which sought to block federal funding for any school which utilized a vaccine mandate. With no changes, the funding bill now goes to President Biden for his signature.

FED NOMINEES. The Senate has left town on a 10-day break in gridlock on nominations for five top positions at the Federal Reserve. Republicans say they will not allow Democrats to move all five nominations together, hotly opposed to Sheila Bloom Raskin, tapped for a top bank oversight post.

• GOP. "Republicans are more than willing to move forward with a vote on four of the President's Fed nominees, including Chairman Powell," said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. But Toomey said they want more answers from Sheila Bloom Raskin.

• RASKIN. Because of the even split on committees in the Senate, Republicans can stop nominations by not showing up for votes, and preventing a quorum. That boycott worked this week and it worked last year as well. "End the theatrics and show up to do your jobs," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

UKRAINE. Unable to agree on a package of sanctions against Russia, Senators in both parties did come together on Thursday to approve a non-binding resolution expressing support for 'an independent and democratic Ukraine.' The measure was approved on a voice vote.

• СООБЩЕНИЕ МОСКВА. "Should Putin further invade, he will make a gross miscalculation and face the full weight of a united Congress," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). But those words rang a bit hollow after the two parties were unable to agree on any sanctions.

STATE OF THE UNION. As Coronavirus cases drop nationwide, things are slowly getting back to normal on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers were told on Thursday that all members of Congress will be welcome at the State of the Union Address on March 1. But - they won't be about to bring any guests to the speech.

• RULES. N95 masks will be mandatory, which could provide some drama for GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who refuse to wear masks on the House floor. All members will also be required to have a negative PCR test within one day of the Joint Session.

• LAST YEAR. Biden’s first address to lawmakers in 2021 had a limited in-person audience because of the virus outbreak and the aftermath of the Capitol Attack. Only about 200 people were in the House chamber.

DURHAM. Republicans spent much of this week accusing the news media of ignoring a new court filing related to Donald Trump. "They spied on the President of the United States," said Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), and many other GOP lawmakers. Except the evidence shows nothing of the sort.

• FILING. The furor erupted after a filing by special counsel John Durham, who is investigating Democrats who pushed the Trump-Russia scandal. The filing said internet traffic was monitored involving the "Executive Office of the President of the United States" - thus, the charges about spying on Trump. Except the data was from the Obama White House.

• OBAMA. Not only was the White House DNS data from the Obama years, but it was given to researchers who were checking for possible Russian hacking efforts. No one hacked into White House servers. No one spied on anyone. No one 'infiltrated' anything. And it wasn't aimed at Trump, either.

• NO CHARGES. If this was a vast conspiracy against Trump, then one must ask the logical question - why didn't Durham charge anyone with a crime? The following extended thread on Twitter is a good review.

FACT CHECK. On Thursday, Facebook labeled a Durham post by Rep. Rich Hudson (R-NC) as "False Information." Hudson protested, even though his post was false. "Facebook is censoring me,” Hudson said, “to try and cover up reports about the Clinton campaign spying on President Trump.” Again, none of this involved any surveillance of Trump.

• FACT CHECK II. Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) tweeted flat out wrong information. "The Durham Report proves that President Trump was illegally spied on to create the Russian collusion hoax," Rutherford said. "This explains why Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 emails and had a secret server."

• HILLARY. Rutherford is way off. Clinton's email server was used in 2009-2013, well before Trump ran for President. “It’s funny, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get,” Clinton said on Thursday.

AIRPORT GUNS. The big increase in guns being seized at TSA airport checkpoints was blamed on gun owners at a House hearing this week - with people usually saying they forgot about their gun being in their carry-on bag. Even as I wrote my column this week - I found that explanation hard to believe. Read more in the AJC.

REGULAR ORDER. If you know someone who wants a ring side seat in Congress, then think about giving them a gift subscription to ‘Regular Order’ - or as my daughter (and chief marketing guru) says: ‘Give the gift of straight news.’ Come for the news, and stay for the Muse of History!

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  February 18, 1867.  On this date, the Senate was embroiled in a debate over the salary of the U.S. ambassador to Portugal.  A year earlier, Congress had voted to stop paying James E. Harvey - but Harvey stayed at his post.  "If he is content to do the work and do it for nothing it is his legal right to do so," said Sen. Timothy Howe of Wisconsin.  What was Harvey's crime?  He wrote a private letter to the Secretary of State which was leaked to the press, which some Senators didn't like - so they held back his pay.  "It seems to me like malice," said Sen. James McDougall of California.   The Senate then voted 19-14 to restore Harvey’s government salary.

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on February 28.

The Senate meets at 10:30 am.

President Biden’s daily schedule link.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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