Rand Paul blocks sanctions on Russia

Fortenberry guilty in trial over illegal campaign contributions

The Senate still can’t vote on sanctions against Russia. Biden okays 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. And there are new calls for Clarence Thomas to resign - because of the actions of his wife. This is “Regular Order” for March 25, 2022.

RUSSIA. Even as President Joe Biden was in Europe for emergency meetings about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked the Senate from voting on a bill to set higher tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus. "99 Senators are in agreement," said a frustrated Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.

• POWER. Paul objected to language in the House-passed bill which would allow a President to unilaterally levy sanctions which might be unrelated to the Ukraine invasion. "Words are important," Paul said on the Senate floor as he blocked action. "All Presidents’ powers should be controlled."

• LET'S MAKE A DEAL. Democrats offered Paul a vote on his amendment, but he refused. He wanted his language added to the bill. And in the Senate, one Senator can stop all action - and Paul did just that.

• THE SENATE. This is now two straight weeks where the Senate was unable to move forward on sanctions against Russia. Also still on hold is a bill that bans Russian oil and gas imports.

REFUGEES. On his trip to Europe, President Biden said the U.S. would commit more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Ukraine. "Many Ukrainian refugees will wish to stay in Europe," Mr. Biden said. "But we also will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians to the United States with a focus on reuniting families."

• CONGRESS. Democrats praised the move. "Immigrants and refugees make our country stronger," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). "Accepting 100,000 Ukrainian refugees is a good start," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). "But the United States must do more."

• GOP. ‘Do more’ is the theme for many Republicans, no matter how much in new aid gets announced by the White House. "Biden needs to stop talking about helping Ukraine and actually do it," said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK).

• BIDEN. President Biden heads today to Poland. He’ll have meetings with the Polish Prime Minister on Saturday.

GUILTY. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) was found guilty on Thursday over charges that he lied to the feds about taking $30,000 in illegal foreign campaign money. The Nebraska Republican - who was first elected to Congress in 2004 - could face up to 15 years in prison. Fortenberry’s sentencing was set for June 28.

• WHAT’S NEXT. In these situations, the most likely outcome is that Fortenberry will resign in the near future - but that’s his decision. He’s certain to face pressure from his own party to move on.

• ETHICS. If Fortenberry decides to fight, look for the House Ethics Committee to pursue this case. The last time a sitting member of Congress was convicted of corruption was 2002. When Rep. Jim Traficant (D-OH) wouldn’t resign, the House voted to expel him.

JANUARY 6. Democrats reacted with outrage at news last night of texts between Ginni Thomas - the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas - and Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows after the 2020 election. In the texts obtained by the Washington Post and CBS News, Ginni Thomas calls for Democrats to be jailed for stealing the election.

• DEMS. "This stuff from Ginni Thomas is crazy shit," said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). "There were just a ton of very important Republicans actively trying to organize a coup," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). "There was an organized conspiracy which was well funded and armed," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI).

• Q. Some of the texts from Thomas are straight out of the craziest conspiracy theories of 2020, as she quoted calls for Biden, his family, Democrats, and reporters to be jailed at Guantanamo Bay and 'face military tribunals for sedition.'

• ONE NOTE. While Thomas was urging the White House to fight, her husband was the sole dissenter when the Supreme Court allowed the National Archives to transfer Trump White House papers to the Jan. 6 committee.

• RESIGN. "Clarence Thomas was the only #SCOTUS Justice to want to withhold Donald Trump's documents from the January 6 panel," Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) tweeted late last night. "Clarence Thomas needs to resign."

THOMAS. One week ago today, Justice Thomas was admitted to a Washington, D.C. hospital for treatment of flu-like symptoms. A statement issued on Sunday indicated he would be released 'in a day or two.' It's now Friday. No new medical updates have been provided by the Court.

• SCOTUS. The Supreme Court is notoriously tight-lipped about medical issues involving the nine Justices. In June of 2020, Chief Justice John Roberts was injured in a fall - but news of his hospitalization was not publicly revealed for nearly three weeks.

• ARGUMENTS. Thomas missed all three days of arguments this week before the Court. Three more days of oral arguments are scheduled for next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

TRUMP. The more Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) talks, the more it raises questions about what Donald Trump is still doing to try to get back in the White House. "The President has asked me to rescind the election of 2020 - that's unconstitutional," Brooks told an Alabama TV station, still stung by Trump’s un-endorsement.

• BROOKS. "He always brings up, ‘We've got to rescind the election. We've got to take Joe Biden out and put me in now,’” Brooks said in a live interview. "He still says that?" the anchor asked. "Yeah," the Alabama Republican replied. "You can't do that. It's unconstitutional."

• ELECTION. Speaking of Alabama Republicans and the 2020 election, the Alabama Attorney General was testifying at Thursday's Supreme Court hearings. A.G. Steve Marshall was asked whether Joe Biden was legitimately elected. Marshall would not directly answer. Watch the video.

Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse

If you cannot accept the results of a free and fair democratic election, you have no grounds to criticize or evaluate a Supreme Court nominee.

TRUMP. Donald Trump filed a sprawling lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and a veritable cornucopia of her Democratic Party allies on Thursday, charging they engaged in a conspiracy to wrongly tie his campaign to Russia. "Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot," the suit alleges.

• RUSSIA. In a 108-page filing, Trump said Clinton 'maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative’ that Trump was in cahoots with Russia. Only one member of Congress was named - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) - who at the time was head of the national Democratic Party.

• DEFENDANTS. The others named in a lawsuit are a laundry list of Clinton campaign and FBI officials. One might judge the legitimacy of the lawsuit by the fact that the word 'fictitious' was misspelled as 'fictious' four times in the document (including on the very first page). Read it at this link.

MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. A group which sued to keep Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) off the ballot is now trying the same legal approach in Georgia against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “The Constitution disqualifies from public office any elected officials who aided the insurrection,” said Ron Fein of the group Free Speech for People.

• CAWTHORN. The group’s effort to knock Cawthorn off the ballot was blocked by a federal judge earlier this month, who used an 1872 post-Civil War amnesty law to clear Cawthorn. The judge argued that law overrode provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.

MASK MANDATES. Republicans in Congress enthusiastically endorsed calls by major airlines for the end of Coronavirus mask requirements for air travelers. "It's time to end the federal mask mandates for public transportation," said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-NC). "Just do it," added Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

• TRAVEL. The comments came after ten major players in the airline industry joined in a letter calling for the end of the mask mandate for travelers. The group also wants to scrap a requirement that international travelers get a negative test before leaving the United States.

• SPRING BREAK. The current mask mandate for airline, train, and bus travelers is scheduled to expire on April 18, the day after Easter.

JACKSON. After two days of political skirmishes, the Senate Judiciary Committee quietly wrapped up hearings on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday. A panel from the American Bar Association praised President Biden's pick, saying "Jackson merits our highest rating and is 'Well Qualified' for appointment to the Supreme Court.”

• POSTMORTEM. Democrats were not pleased at the GOP treatment of Jackson. "Some of the attacks on this judge were unfair, unrelenting and beneath the dignity of the United States Senate," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

• MCCONNELL. The Senate GOP Leader wasted little time in announcing that he would vote 'No' on the nomination. "I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, as he criticized Jackson for not saying whether she supported plans to expand the size of the Court.

• VOTES. A vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected on April 4. A vote in the full Senate should happen around April 8. “We’re going to have a Black woman on the Supreme Court,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH).

MCCONNELL. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell not only gets attacked by Democrats on the campaign trail, but also by more and more by Republicans running for Senate. One prime example of that has been Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has made no bones about his desire to force McConnell out as GOP leader in 2023.

• KEYSTONE. This week in Pennsylvania, GOP candidate George Bochetto said he was “very concerned about Mitch McConnell,” citing McConnell’s criticism of Donald Trump over the Capitol Attack. Bochetto said “so much of it was untrue and unjustified.”

• PRIMARY. Along with Missouri, Pennsylvania is a somewhat dysfunctional situation for Republicans in 2022. The early leader is Dr. Oz - yes, that Dr. Oz. Bochetto labeled him a 'carpetbagger.' Trump's original candidate, Sean Parnell, suspended his Senate bid after losing custody of his children.

EARLY DEPARTURE. After announcing that he would not run for re-election in 2022, Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) has now decided to resign his seat before the end of the 117th Congress. He will take a job at Akin Gump, a prominent lobbying and law firm in Washington, D.C.

• PRIVATE SECTOR. It used to be that basically the only way you left Congress was scandal, death, defeat, retirement, or conviction. But in recent years, a number of members have decided to add another option: a job.

• 117TH. Already this Congress, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) resigned to become the head of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) resigned to take a job with Donald Trump's media company. And now Vela heads to the private sector.

FEDERAL DEFENDERS. This week's Supreme Court hearings involved a lot of questions for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her work as a public defender in the federal courts. I was a bit surprised to learn that not every federal court district has such an organized program of public defenders. More on that in my column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MUSE OF HISTORY. March 25, 1965. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other marchers made their way to the Alabama state Capitol in Montgomery, Southern Senators were denouncing new voting rights legislation backed by President Johnson. "Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are being singled out and penalized," complained Sen. James Eastland (D-MS), who predicted the South would be 'wholly and completely destroyed.' Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) filled the Congressional Record with southern newspaper editorials against the plan, like one from the Greenville (S.C) News, which denounced 'King and his motley, manyhued henchmen.'

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on Monday.

The Senate meets again on Monday.

President Biden’s daily schedule link.

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

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