Republicans aim for pre-election spending fight
Another House GOP panel goes after Walz
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for September 5, 2024:
Feds indict two Russians in conservative media influence scheme.
Familiar refrain after Georgia school shooting.
House GOP subpoenas Secretary of State over Afghanistan.
SPENDING. Only on Capitol Hill can you take a 6-week summer break - and then say there's not enough time to finish your work on funding for Uncle Sam - which could then force a government shutdown showdown over the next few weeks. That was the message from House GOP leaders yesterday on a call with rank and file Republican lawmakers.
PLAN. The current GOP plan - which could still go haywire - is to vote as early as next week on a measure which combines a temporary funding plan with a bill which sets up new safeguards to stop illegal immigrants from voting. The goal of conservatives is to put Democrats on the spot before Election Day.
GOP. "Let Border Czar Harris and the Democrats explain to the American people why they do not want fair and secure elections," said Rep. Bob Good (R-VA). (I will note that there are very few examples of where illegal immigrants have voted in federal elections. But we digress.)
LAW. As I've mentioned before, it's already against the law for illegal immigrants to vote. This GOP bill - dubbed the 'SAVE' Act - would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote for federal elections. You can read the text of the bill at this link.
VOTES. "Passing this should be a no-brainer," said Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ). But it actually won't surprise me if House Republicans are unable to get a majority for this combination bill - because of familiar GOP divisions. We’ll see what happens next week.
OUTCOME. Regardless of what the House votes on, let me be very clear. WE ALL KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. Lawmakers will ultimately approve a 'clean' temporary funding bill with current spending levels. The GOP can either get that done quickly or have an extended shutdown fight.
OMNIBUS. What this argument will probably boil down to at the end is about a $50 billion difference in spending between the House and Senate - and whether the details get hammered out in December, or in March. That’s it.
SHUTDOWN. While conservatives love the concept of a shutdown showdown just before Election Day - the idea of a shutdown threat for much of September is not what some House Republicans want - because they are in tough districts where that threat might be used against them.
MESSAGE. Think about it. If you’re Rep. Nick Lalota (R-NY) on Long Island, the last thing you want is to spend the entire month of September answering questions about why the GOP wants to shut down the government.
HAWKEYE. If you’re Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), you don’t want your Democratic opponent to be given a messaging gift about a possible GOP government shutdown for the month of September.
STOPGAP. Congress is supposed to be done with the 12 government funding bills by September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The House has passed 5/12 bills so far. The Senate has passed 0/12. This is truly a ‘both sides’ problem, but only one party (the GOP) constantly threatens government shutdowns.
GOP-WALZ. Most Republicans in Congress could not have named the Governor of Minnesota a month ago, before he became the running mate for Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris. But now they know him so well that a second House committee has launched an investigation involving Gov. Tim Walz.
ED WORKFORCE. This time, the House Education and Workforce Committee is trying to get information about COVID fraud in Minnesota, claiming that state officials - with Walz as Governor - didn't do enough to stop COVID funding fraud.
DOCUMENTS. The subpoena sent to Walz and state officials gives them two weeks to produce more documents, setting a deadline of September 18. That speedy time frame almost ensures that Minnesota won't turn over documents, and will lead to demands for action among House Republicans.
COME ON. Democrats smelled a rat. “The timing of this subpoena to Gov. Walz is weird,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the top Democrat on the panel. "Blatant use of official resources for a campaign," tweeted Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL).
AFGHANISTAN. Meanwhile, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has issued a subpoena for Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requiring him to testify about the botched withdrawal of U.S. military forces and interests from Afghanistan in 2021. Blinken must show up by September 19 - or he could face contempt proceedings.
MCCAUL. "The Committee is holding this hearing because the Department of State was central to the Afghanistan withdrawal," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), who chairs the Foreign Affairs panel. His committee is set to release a GOP report on the Afghanistan withdrawal on September 9.
TIMING. As you can see, all sorts of GOP stuff is suddenly coming together to put pressure on the Biden Administration, Vice President Harris, and Gov. Tim Walz. The Afghan report will come out just one day before the Trump-Harris debate - and it won't surprise me to hear Trump quoting from that report in the debate itself.
SCHOOL SHOOTING. Gun violence made an unwelcome appearance yesterday in our nation's schools, as two students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Winder, Georgia. It was a familiar story line which brought a familiar response in Congress and at the White House.
BIDEN. "We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines again," President Biden said at the White House. He also again endorsed background checks on all private gun sales, and ending legal immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers. "Thoughts and prayers are not enough," Biden added.
HARRIS. On the road in New Hampshire, Vice President Kamala Harris started a campaign event by noting the carnage. "It’s just outrageous that every day parents have to send their children to school worried whether their child will come home alive," Harris said.
REPEAT. I will issue my standard explanation on the chances of action on gun violence in Congress - almost none. But I really do think there is a growing sense among younger Americans that something is not right on this issue.
GUNS. "I wish Congress passed lifesaving gun laws after my neighbor killed 26 with an AR15 in Sandy Hook," said Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance. "I have met too many parents whose children were taken from them because too many members of Congress didn’t have the courage to act 12 years ago."
RUSSIA TODAY. A federal grand jury charged two Russian nationals on Wednesday with a scheme to create and distribute content in the United States to achieve political messaging goals of the Kremlin. They did it by bankrolling a Tennessee media outfit which puts out conservative content on social media. And some of you may know the names.
USEFUL IDIOTS. The charges claim that conservative commentators like Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern — working for "Tenet Media" - have been unwittingly working for the Russians. And they were getting a lot of money, paid nearly $10 million by what was a media front controlled by the Kremlin.
UKRAINE. The indictment has some receipts. Back in March, there was a huge terrorist attack on a theater in Moscow. While ISIS claimed responsibility, the Russian agents at work here suggested to their American conservative media figures that they blame Ukraine and the U.S. “He’s happy to cover it,” was the response.
ТРИВОЖНО. This stuff is going on way more than you can imagine - just rewind to 2016 if you have any doubts. I'm sure there are a lot of other media and political types doing useful idiot stuff - maybe some knowingly. Just look back at that famous photo of that 2015 dinner in Moscow where Jill Stein and Mike Flynn showed up.
RFK JR. While Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants his name on the ballot in some states, he is trying to get off the ballot in key swing states. Kennedy filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin to force officials to drop him - even though state law requires him to stay on, because he qualified courtesy of a third party, the Natural Law Party.
CONGRESS. Why do I bring this up? Because the brief filed by Kennedy compares him to President Biden. "Both have been lifelong politicians," the brief argues, "and both have vast experiences within government — each having served decades in Congress." There's just one problem with that. RFK Jr. never served in Congress.
LIZ CHENEY. Yesterday I told you about ex-Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) saying he could not vote for Trump again, citing the Jan. 6 attack. Last night, one of Trump's most prominent critics over that day said she not only wouldn't vote for Trump, but would pull the lever for Kamala Harris.
TAR HEEL. "I don't believe we have the luxury of writing in candidate's names, particularly in swing states," Cheney said at an event at Duke University. "Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses - not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I am voting for Kamala Harris."
OLD TWEET. You only have to go back four years to 2020 to find a Cheney tweet which is the complete opposite. It's a reminder of how Trump’s effort to topple a free and fair election fractured the Republican Party.
TRUMP LEGAL. There will be a lot of reporters on hand at the federal courthouse this morning for a status hearing on the Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump. It comes a week after a revised indictment was filed against Trump, rejiggered after a Supreme Court ruling which granted Trump broad immunity from investigation by the feds.
STATUS. Special Counsel Jack Smith has made clear that the feds are ready to get this case going. "The Government is prepared to file its opening immunity brief promptly at any time the Court deems appropriate," Smith wrote last week. We'll have to see what Judge Chutkan says in court today.
CLASSIFIED. This case is different from the classified documents case which was filed against Trump in Florida. But there is evidently some evidence which remains top secret. How is there some super classified material related to the fake elector scheme and the Jan. 6 attack which is classified?
JAN. 6 TAPES. Speaking of Jan. 6, I’ll be back watching the security tapes this afternoon.
RAP SHEET. Today brings sentencing for a 70-year-old Massachusetts gynecologist who pleaded guilty to assaulting police inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Jacquelyn Starer hit a female officer in the Rotunda, as police tried to keep rioters from getting into the offices of the House Speaker. The feds have asked for over two years in prison. This is yet another example of someone who ruined his or her life for Donald Trump.
MUSE OF HISTORY. September 5, 1944. World War II was still raging, but lawmakers were already thinking ahead. On this date, Sen. George Aiken of Vermont presented petitions from labor groups in Vermont and New York on behalf of a major public works project to improve the St. Lawrence River seaway. "American labor is keenly alert to the need of preparing a program to take up the unemployment slack after the war," Aiken said on the Senate floor.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back for votes on September 9.
The Senate returns on September 9.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
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The RFK brief sounds like it was written by AI and pulled in another Kennedy or two. Lololol.
It was interesting how the Russian fake news media campaign indictment story immediately brought out the low information voters on Mr. Dupree’s FB page. All accusing him of becoming liberal in his reporting just for telling them what’s happening. It underscores just how effective the Russian influence campaign has been with these folks.
I’d wager a few more brainwashed 70-year-old gynecologists will receive prison sentences before 45 is done too.