Secret Service faulted for Trump rally security failures

Congress okays temporary funding plan to avoid shutdown

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for September 26, 2024:

• Lawmakers leave town for the elections.

• House erupts over ‘racist’ GOP tweet.

• Republicans furious with Zelenskyy ammunition plant visit.

---

TRUMP ATTACK. The special House task force charged with investigating the attack at a Donald Trump rally on July 13 holds its first public hearing today on Capitol Hill. "There needs to be accountability," said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), the top Democrat on the panel. “Complacency has no place in the Secret Service,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), the task force chair.

• WITNESSES. Lawmakers will hear testimony from local and state law enforcement officers who were involved in security that day in Butler, Pennsylvania. Expect a lot of very negative reviews for the Secret Service. "It is clear that there was a lack of leadership, planning, and coordination," stated a committee memo for today.

• REPORT. The hearing comes a day after the release of a blistering bipartisan from a Senate committee, which cited multiple failures by the Secret Service in preparing security measures for that Trump rally on July 13. You can find the interim Senate report at this link.

• SENATE. The report says the Secret Service was notified in advance of the attack of a possible threat on the roof of a nearby building. "This information was passed to the (Secret Service) Security Room approximately two minutes before (the gunman) fired."

• SNIPERS. This line in the Senate report really caught my eye. "The July 13 rally was the first time a USSS (Secret Service) counter sniper team was assigned to a protectee other than the President, Vice President, or a presidential candidate who had been formally nominated by his or her party."

THINK ABOUT IT. Remember - that counter sniper team instantly shot and killed the gunman. Just think what might have happened at the Trump event if there was no sniper team to take out the gunman immediately.

---

STOPGAP. Ending several weeks of political theater, the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to extend current federal spending through December 20, sending lawmakers home to campaign for November, and avoiding a government shutdown before the elections. The House voted 341-82 in favor of the CR, and the Senate soon followed with a vote of 78-18. All the 'No' votes in both chambers were from Republicans.

• GOVERNING. Once again, the pivotal votes to keep the government from shutting down were provided by Democrats. "Democrats have repeatedly governed in the minority as if we were in the majority in order to meet the needs of the American people," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. "That is the story of the 118th Congress."

• COALITION. You can't argue with Jeffries on that point, because Democrats have stepped in repeatedly when House Republicans have been short on votes for the debt limit deal and for various measures to keep the government running. The 'governing majority' on fiscal matters is Democrats plus some Republicans. It's a crazy situation that is extremely unusual for the U.S. House.

• TALKS. It sure doesn't sound like lawmakers are going to spend the next 6 weeks cutting deals on government funding bills for next year - I bet everything is pretty much the same on November 12 when Congress returns. And I'm not quite sure how it's going to be fixed before the holidays. "We are not going to return to the Christmas Omnibus spending tradition," Speaker Johnson vowed again yesterday.

GOP. Republicans want to pass the 12 individual government funding bills and have negotiations with the Senate on them. But here's the problem - the House GOP **DOES NOT HAVE THE VOTES TO DO THAT.** They can complain all they want about 'regular order,' but if you can't pass funding bills in the House, that's not the fault of Democrats in the Senate.

---

FAILURE. The incompetence by both parties on government funding is really maddening. I found a tweet that I sent out in 2014 - more than 10 years ago - which is still correct. Only four times in the past 50 years has the Congress finished its government funding work on time (by October 1): 1976, 1988, 1994, and 1996. Yep, 1996 was the last time.

• WORK SCHEDULE. Part of the problem is that lawmakers aren't on Capitol Hill enough to do their work. For example, since the House left town at the end of June, lawmakers have worked 5 weeks. They won't be back until after the elections. So, that's working 5 of 19 weeks.

---

VUDU. The final moments of pre-election business on the House floor got a bit heated yesterday after a GOP Congressman - using his official Twitter account - aimed some ugly campaign rhetoric at Haitian immigrants. It echoed the attacks made by Donald Trump and other Republicans on Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio.

• TWEET. "These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters," wrote Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA). "All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th."

REACTION. Democrats were furious. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) called it, "One of the most racist and bigoted posts I've seen from a member of Congress." Others joined in. "The racism and xenophobia behind my colleague's lies is truly sickening," said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), co-chair of the Haiti Caucus.

• DELETE. On the House floor, members of both parties confronted Higgins. "I thought the statement was not a good statement," said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). "He listened to me on that, and I think he came back maybe a minute or two later, and said that he was going to remove it."

• SPEAKER. "I'm sure he probably regrets the language he used," Speaker Mike Johnson said of his fellow Louisiana Republican. "But you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here."

CENSURE. But Democrats were in no mood for redemption, as they said Higgins rebuffed their complaints, leading them to try to rebuke Higgins on the House floor. "It is not becoming of any member to push this type of rhetoric on any platform of the House of Representatives," said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), the Chairman of the Black Caucus.

• I OBJECT. Horsford tried to force action on a resolution to censure Higgins. That was blocked by an angry House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, who drew catcalls when he threatened to bring up offensive tweets from Democrats in response to the Higgins attacks.

• SUNSHINE. If there is one state where this story could have an election impact, it would be in Florida. There is a significant Haitian-American community in Miami-Dade County. Look for Democrats to do a little more on this front in the days ahead.

---

UKRAINE. Republicans are mad about the visit that Ukraine's leader made earlier this week to an ammunition production facility in Pennsylvania, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy met workers and thanked them for helping to defend his country. House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday demanded that Zelenskyy fire his Ambassador to the U.S. for organizing that visit.

• LETTER. "The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference," Speaker Johnson wrote in a letter. Johnson also expressed anger that no Republicans were invited to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant.

• VISIT. Who orchestrated the visit? Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was first on the tarmac to greet Zelenskyy when he arrived in the United States on Sunday. "Our Commonwealth proudly stands with the people of Ukraine as they fight for their freedom against naked aggression,” said Shapiro.

PENTAGON. Republicans were already incensed when they saw that Zelenskyy arrived in Pennsylvania on board an Air Force Reserve plane, saying it was all designed to help Kamala Harris. Rep. James Comer (R-KY) suggested 'this is an abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer dollars,’ as he asked the Pentagon for answers.

• TODAY. Along with visiting the White House, Zelenskyy will be on Capitol Hill today to meet with Congressional leaders in both parties. But Speaker Johnson won't be sticking around for that meeting.

---

TAR HEEL. If Republicans thought that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson would just fade away - that's not happening. The embattled GOP candidate for Governor said Wednesday that he's in the election to win. "From President Trump to our local community officials, we must vote Republican."

• ROBINSON. "I spoke with Republican leaders across the state and made it clear: This is an election about policies, not personalities," Robinson said in a video. "Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense."

• NUDE AFRICA. Robinson did not mention the source of his troubles, numerous examples of his posting lewd items on online bulletin boards about porn - or how the Republican Governors Association stopped funding TV ads for him. Look for Democrats to try to tie Robinson to Trump as much as possible.

• CONGRESS. And Democrats are also trying to do the same in races for Congress in North Carolina. One example is in NC1, where Rep. Don Davis is being challenged by Republican Laurie Buckhout. She deleted a bunch of tweets featuring her and Robinson - and Democrats made sure to note that.

---

INTERVIEWS. I saw something odd on social media yesterday from a guy who covers the New Jersey delegation in Congress. I don't know the reporter. But this video tweet - and the responses to it from other reporters - tells me this happens all of the time with this specific GOP member of Congress.

• BEN HULAC. "Almost daily, I am on Capitol Hill, interviewing New Jersey lawmakers," Ben Hulac wrote in a tweet. "Despite many attempts, Tom Kean has never spoken with me," mentioning a GOP Congressman from New Jersey. Hulac then attached a video of him following after Kean in the hallways.

• VIDEO. What's notable about the video is that Rep. Kean (R-NJ) and his aide won't say ANYTHING as Hulac tries to ask him questions. No eye contact, no 'no comment' response, nothing - while in the hallway, in an elevator, etc. This is just nuts.

HALLWAYS. It’s not odd for some members to be very skittish about answering questions - especially when they are new to Capitol Hill. I’ve run into that before. But there has to be a better way for Kean to handle it than stony silence.

• FATHER. Kean’s dad was Governor of New Jersey, and co-chaired the 9/11 Commission. He was the nicest guy and would take questions - even when he probably should have ignored us in the hallways. It’s just crazy to watch his son do this.

---

RAP SHEET. An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his actions on Jan. 6. Justin LaGesse climbed through a broken window to get into the Capitol that day, as he called police 'fucking traitors' and 'communist scum.' Back outside, LaGesse used a flagpole to try to break windows - with damage estimated at over $41,000.

---

MUSE OF HISTORY.  September 26, 1949.  On this date, President Truman sent the Senate a letter calling for the approval of a bill to raise the salaries for military and government positions.  "The fact is that the proposed salaries are very modest in relation to the responsibilities of these positions," Truman wrote.  "If they appear to be high in relation to the present salaries, that is because the present salaries are ridiculously low."

---

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on November 12.

The Senate comes back for votes on November 12.

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.