More free trips for Thomas revealed
Trump rallies Republicans in whirlwind visit
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for June 14, 2024:
Defense bill takes a sharp right turn in the House.
Supreme Court upholds abortion drug.
House rejects return of Confederate memorial.
THOMAS TRIPS. One week ago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged that he had failed to include several free vacation trips on his official gift disclosure forms. Now Senate Democrats have released documents showing that Thomas took several more trips - paid for by conservative billionaire Harlan Crow - which also weren't publicly reported.
MORE TRIPS. The new information came as a result of a subpoena sent to Crow for information about travel and gifts that he provided to Justice Thomas. The items not included by Thomas on his gift disclosure included:
May 2017 private jet travel from St. Louis to Kalispell, MT.
May 2017 private jet travel from Kalispell, MT to Dallas.
March 2019 private jet from Washington, D.C. to Savannah, GA (round trip).
June 2021 private jet from Washington, D.C. to San Jose, CA (round trip).
There were also questions about details of a free trip to Indonesia.
DEMS. "Clarence Thomas is corrupt as hell," said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), as the news brought immediate calls by Democrats for his resignation. "Justice Thomas has been corrupted by Harlan Crow," added Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). "The next trip Justice Thomas takes should be into retirement," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
ETHICS. I'm going to keep repeating myself, because I think this is extraordinarily important. The nine Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have by far the weakest ethics standards of anyone in the federal government. No member of Congress or Executive Branch could accept this level of trips and gifts. But the Justices can - and evidently do.
GOP. The knee-jerk Republican reaction to every story gift and travel story about Justices Thomas and Alito is to accuse the press and Democrats of demonizing them. But there is a reason these stories have produced outrage - because the details deserve more attention from Congress.
ABORTION. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously knocked down a conservative effort to block the use of the abortion drug mifepristone. In a 9-0 decision, the Justices ruled that those challenging the FDA's approval of the drug - a group of doctors opposed to abortion - did not have standing to make their claim. Read the ruling at this link.
KAVANAUGH. "Federal courts do not operate as an open forum for citizens 'to press general complaints about the way in which government goes about its business,'" wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in what was seen as yet another rebuke for the Fifth Circuit - by far the most conservative judicial district.
CAP HILL. While Democrats celebrated the ruling, they warned that Republicans aren't going to stop trying to restrict abortion. "Make no mistake, women's access to reproductive care remains at risk," said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA).
CONGRESS. GOP opponents of abortion were not pleased. "This is extremely disappointing," said Rep. Mark Green (R-TN). "We must continue to fight against mail-order abortion pills and fight for the lives of the unborn."
STILL TO COME. The Justices will release more decisions this morning at 10 am, with 26 cases still left on this year's docket. Let's just say that I don't expect a 9-0 decision on the one abortion case left from Idaho.
TRUMP. Republicans rallied with former President Donald Trump on Thursday, as he made his first visit to Capitol Hill since his supporters tried to use violence to keep him in power on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump urged GOP lawmakers to stick with him in the campaign, and he had some interesting advice on how to handle the issue of abortion.
UNITY. The simple goal was unity for Trump, and he certainly achieved that in his separate meetings with House and Senate Republicans, who said it was much like a pep rally. "The message overall was we've got to win in November," said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA).
PRO-LIFE. As for the abortion issue - which has bedeviled Republicans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago - Trump urged GOP lawmakers to adopt his stance, which is that states and the voters should decide this issue, not the feds.
ARGUMENT. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) described Trump's argument this way: "This really should be an issue where voters get to decide the issue and Republicans shouldn't make it look like we want the Congress to take that issue away from voters. He said, just tell voters, you decide - it's up to you."
ISSUES. One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he is not a policy wonk. That’s not meant to be mean. It’s just the truth. And that may help to explain one idea he floated yesterday to GOP lawmakers - raising tariffs on imports as a way to pay for future income tax cuts.
MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. "I was thrilled to hear President Trump suggest we raise tariffs and reduce the income tax for Americans to zero," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
DEBBIE DOWNER. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade - but this kind of thing makes almost zero fiscal sense. Let me explain.
TREASURY. To help you understand, let's dive into the Treasury Department's fiscal report for the month of May, which goes into specific details of how much money the U.S. brings in from tariffs (on imports) and from individual income taxes. You will quickly see how the two don’t compare to each other.
May 2024 - Tariffs/Customs duties collected = $5.2 billion.
May 2024 - Individual income taxes collected = $129.6 billion.
Total tariffs so far in FY2024 = $49 billion
Total individual income taxes so far = $1.7 trillion
POLICY. I really want to see someone propose raising over $2 trillion in tariffs in one year. The details would be very unpopular.
MILWAUKEE. One controversy that emerged out of Trump's visit was what he said about the city of Milwaukee, which is hosting the GOP convention next month. It was originally reported that Trump said Milwaukee is 'a horrible city.' But it only got more confusing from there.
DENIAL. While Republicans vigorously denied the reports, their explanations all seemed to be different. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) told us Trump was talking about Wisconsin election laws. Rep. Brian Steil (R-WI) at first said Trump didn't say that, then said it was something else about Milwaukee.
SENATE PAGES. When we asked Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) - the guy who unleashed an expletive-filled tirade at a group of Senate Pages in the Rotunda one time - we got ourselves a little lecture out on the steps of the Capitol.
"This is why people don't like the press. You're intentionally focusing on a four second comment that is factually correct about crime in the city of Milwaukee. This is why people don't like the press. Why aren't you guys talking about a positive message as it came out of there?... Why aren't you doing that? You know why? It doesn't sell papers."
SPRECHER. Yes, Democrats found a way to have fun with this dustup. "Once he's settled in with his parole officer, I am certain he will discover that Milwaukee is a wonderful, vibrant and welcoming city full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community," said Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI).
NDAA. A major defense policy bill took a sharp right turn yesterday on the House floor, as Republicans muscled through a series of social policy riders on abortion, diversity offices, and banning the 'Pride' flag from being flown at military installations. What started as a very bipartisan bill is now likely to draw opposition today from Democrats.
ABORTION. First, the House voted 214-207 to block the Secretary of Defense from reimbursing women active duty troops for any travel to get abortion services. The House also approved a trifecta of amendments to eliminate all diversity offices and staff at the Pentagon.
REPEAT. This is what happened last year, when a bipartisan national defense bill got to the House floor and was commandeered by conservatives. It led to a long standoff with the Senate - and ultimately most of those conservative policy riders were dropped in the final agreement.
UKRAINE. Democrats didn't lose every vote. The House easily defeated a plan from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to ban further military aid to Ukraine. The vote was 343-74.
CONFEDERACY. The House also voted 230-192 against a plan from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) to restore a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. 24 Republicans broke ranks to vote against the plan, led by Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) - who was the only Republican from the South to vote 'No.'
UNION. Five Republicans from California voted against the Confederate memorial, as did three from New York. The most interesting data point was that 3 of 4 GOP lawmakers from Iowa voted 'No' - Reps. Feenstra, Hinson, and Miller-Meeks. The vote tally can be found at this link.
MEMORIAL. If you’re not familiar with this memorial - which was removed last year by the Pentagon - it features a Black ‘Mammy’ holding the baby of a white southern soldier, a slave following his master into battle, and various inscriptions about the ‘Lost Cause.’ (It was never called the Reconciliation Memorial.)
DEFENSE. The defense policy bill up for a vote today in the House includes a 19.5 percent pay increase for the lowest military ranks. That sounds great - but it also costs money - over $22 billion for the next five years. Evidently that's just going to get added to the deficit.
PAYING FOR IT. The defense budget is slowly edging its way towards $900 billion each year. There’s nothing wrong with a bigger defense budget - but no one talks about how to pay for it. More in my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BOTH SIDES. I’ve long said that both parties love to spend money - they just like to spend money on different things. It’s not hard to figure out why the national debt is nearing $35 trillion.
CONGRESS-PAY. The House Appropriations Committee last night approved a plan to make sure lawmakers don't get a scheduled pay raise in 2025. The salary for a member of Congress has been stuck at $174,000 since 2009 - it would be close to $240,000 if regular increases had been allowed to take effect over the past 15 years.
SEERSUCKER. Yesterday was the annual Seersucker Thursday in the Senate, as nine Senators showed up in their summer finest for a group photograph just outside the Senate chamber. For those who didn't wear seersucker - there was always the chance to use the Senate's version of a carnival photo-board! I saw that cutout being hauled up in the elevator on Thursday afternoon.
RAP SHEET. A Maine man who repeatedly hit police officers with bear spray outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 has been arrested for his actions. Christopher Belliveau faces five felony counts. He joined rioters in overrunning police lines outside the building, and then entered the Capitol after rioters busted out windows to force their way inside.
MUSE OF HISTORY. June 14, 1902. Just weeks after U.S. military forces had left Cuba, Sen. Stephen Elkins of West Virginia on this date introduced a resolution to admit the 'State of Cuba' as part of the United States. The move went directly against part of the Teller Amendment from 1898, which authorized the use of military force against Spain in Cuba, but said the U.S. would not try to annex the island.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back for votes on June 25.
The Senate returns on Monday.
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.
“just tell voters, you decide - it's up to you.” Sure sounds like each citizen should have the right to decide for themselves without government intervention. What in interesting idea.
Seersucker Thursday destroyed any modicum of support I would have for a pay raise.