Supreme Court drops arguments on COVID border restrictions
Did the U.S. shoot down a ham radio balloon?
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for February 17, 2023:
Biden says three 'objects' not linked to China.
Lawmakers head to Europe to support Ukraine.
Sen. Fetterman hospitalized for depression.
IMMIGRATION. With no explanation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday canceled arguments on a controversial Coronavirus policy, which has been used to stop illegal immigrants at the southern border. The move seemingly paves the way for the end of the ‘Title 42’ COVID border restrictions in May, and ratchets up pressure on Congress to act on immigration legislation.
LIMBO. The Court gave no explanation. The case wasn’t dropped. And the March 1 arguments were not rescheduled. Earlier this week, the Justice Department said with a public health emergency slated to end on May 11, that would also end the Title 42 restrictions, making this case moot.
TITLE 42. Republicans argue such a change will mean a large surge at the border. "Officially terminating Title 42 would be catastrophic for our national security," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said last week.
LEGISLATION. The Supreme Court move could force House Republicans to get cracking on a broader immigration bill. But the shape of that remains unclear. “We’ve got a lot of ideas,” said Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
BORDER. McCarthy spoke to reporters after touring the border in Arizona with four GOP freshmen. “I can promise you this, the new majority in Congress, we're going to fight to fix this problem.” But McCarthy gave no timetable.
THE COURTS. I keep thinking back to what Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in December when the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on this Title 42 matter. “We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.” In other words, it’s the job of Congress and the President to agree on some sort of border policy.
BALLOON GATE. In his first extended comments about the Chinese spy balloon that wandered across America before being shot down, President Biden said while the first balloon was definitely from China, the other three objects shot down probably were not. Biden said those objects may have been balloons launched by private groups or even hobbyists.
BIDEN. "We don't yet know exactly what these three objects were," the President said. "But nothing right now suggests they were related to China's spy balloon program, or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country."
CHINA. Biden praised the U.S. military's work for taking down the Chinese balloon, as well as blowing the other unknown items out of the sky. "I expect to be speaking with President Xi," Biden said of the Chinese leader. "I make no apologies for taking down that balloon."
GOP. Republicans were somewhat incredulous about the explanations. "A military officer reached out to me tonight," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). "Biden's speech on the balloons was all lies." "Biden's comments on the balloons in our airspace left us with no answers," added Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK).
QRZ. So, what exactly was shot down over Alaska, the Canadian Yukon, and Michigan? Some of you know that one of my hobbies is amateur radio - and a few of my colleagues have been telling me it's possible that experimental small payload balloons - launched by ham radio hobbyists - may have been brought down.
HAM RADIO. For example, a balloon launched by a ham radio group - the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade - which was floating over the Aleutian Islands of Alaska at 36,000 feet, stopped transmitting on February 10.
YUKON CORNELIUS. The next day, the callsign K9YO balloon should have been over the Canadian Yukon. The same day as a U.S. fighter jet brought down an unknown object - with a missile.
BALLOON. Another tip for me didn’t seem to pan out. Two days after the Chinese spy balloon was shot down, a small ham radio balloon launched by a Georgia ham radio operator went missing in between Australia and Antarctica. Was it shot down? Probably not.
CUIDADO. One note of caution that I would express is that these ham radio balloons are very small. Imagine an oversized Mylar balloon that you might buy at the grocery store. That's what we're talking about. It seems hard to believe that a Sidewinder missile was used to blow that up. (I can’t make this up!)
FETTERMAN. The medical issues continue for Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). After being hospitalized earlier this month, Fetterman checked himself into the hospital on Wednesday night, seeking treatment for clinical depression. In a statement, Fetterman's office said 'he is receiving treatment on a voluntary basis.'
OFFICE. "While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks," Fetterman's office wrote. Fetterman is being treated at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
SUPPORT. Democrats praised Fetterman for going public. "Millions of Americans, like John, struggle with depression each day," said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. "It takes extreme strength to reach out when you need help," added Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
KEYSTONE. Both of Pennsylvania's Senators have been sidelined this week. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) underwent surgery for prostate cancer. His prognosis is said to be good.
MUNICH. Members of both parties will be in Germany this weekend for the Munich Security Conference - which takes place just days before the one-year mark of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "The world remains in awe of the courage and heroism of the Ukrainian people," said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will be at the gathering.
CODEL. Leading the House bipartisan delegation is Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He will join CIA Director William Burns on Saturday for an event, the ' Role of Intelligence & Putin’s War in Ukraine.'
MCCONNELL. While some Republicans continue to oppose sending more military aid to Ukraine, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell continues to express his support. "I’m going to try to help explain to the American people that defeating the Russians in Ukraine is the single most important event going on in the world right now," McConnell told Fox News on Thursday.
MONEY. In appearing on more conservative media outlets, McConnell is often pressed about the cost of helping Ukraine. "In terms of the cost of it, it's about .02 percent of our gross domestic product," the Senate's top Republican says. "Believe me, if the Russians succeed in taking Ukraine down, it will just be the beginning."
VEEP. Vice President Kamala Harris is officially leading the U.S. delegation to Munich. The White House says she will 'reaffirm the support of the American people for Ukraine.' Harris is also expected to meet with the different delegations of House and Senate members at the conference, in order to 'highlight the bipartisan nature of U.S. support for Ukraine."
REGULAR ORDER. I don’t think I ever would have predicted that I would be chasing Senators in the halls about the U.S. military shooting down unidentified objects in the skies above us. There’s no better time to subscribe to ‘Regular Order.’ Support independent journalism on Capitol Hill, or just buy me a drink.
ELECTION LIES. Yesterday brought the release of an absolutely astonishing document in the legal fight between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion's defamation suit charges that Fox News promoted the conspiracy theory that voting machines were changing votes for Donald Trump to Joe Biden - even though Fox knew the charge was false.
TEXTS. The document is chock full of text messages where stars like Tucker Carlson dump on Trump sycophants. Carlson called lawyer Sidney Powell a 'lunatic,' 'crazy person,' and 'nutcase.' Laura Ingraham said Rudy Giuliani was 'an idiot.' Take some time to read through this document.
INSIDE FOX. This court filing is filled with details of Fox big shots agonizing over the loss of viewers after the 2020 election - because Fox News reported that Joe Biden had won. They knew Donald Trump lost, but they felt they had to push his claims of vote fraud in order to keep their audience.
FOX NEWS. As Trump made wild accusations of vote fraud, Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich accurately tweeted that his claims involving Dominion were false. Tucker Carlson told Sean Hannity that night, "Please get her fired."
RETRACTION. "To this day, Fox has not retracted any of the defamatory statements at issue," Dominion's lawyers noted. "Its repeated rebroadcasting of debunked lies about Dominion and its refusal to this day to retract those lies is further evidence of its actual malice."
BLACKED OUT. What really puzzled me in this document were all the redactions. That tells me there is a lot more evidence which for some reason remains under wraps.
LAWSUIT. The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, has filed suit against the Biden Administration, claiming last year’s giant Omnibus funding bill was unconstitutionally approved by the U.S. House. Why? Because less than half of the House was actually present, as many voted remotely as allowed under the rules.
QUORUM. "On December 23, 2022, only 201 of the Members of the House of Representatives were present in the House’s chamber. As that was less than half of the Members, a quorum was not present," Paxton's lawsuit begins. "The Court should declare that the Consolidated Appropriations Act has not been enacted and is not law."
RULES. The Constitution does say that a 'Majority...shall constitute a Quorum to do Business.' But it also clearly says something else. "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings." And in this case, that's what the House did - it had rules for remote proxy voting.
THE PAST. This challenge reminds me of one lawsuit brought against the Obama health law. A conservative legal group claimed certain portions of the plan were added by the Senate, violating the Origination Clause. That had no merit, and should never have reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
EDUCATION. As Republicans talk about plans to cut federal spending, an old idea has resurfaced - getting rid of the Department of Education, which was created in 1980 under the Carter Administration. It has long been a target of Republicans, who argue the feds should play no role in local education policies or efforts.
SHORT AND SWEET. "The bill is one sentence," says Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who is the chief sponsor. “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2023.” "Let's end it," said Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI).
BACKERS. A year ago, Massie had 20 cosponsors in the House for his plan. This year, it's only nine so far - and that's been the story of these kinds of efforts by Republicans over the years. They have never really gotten much traction.
RAP SHEET. A North Carolina man pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting law enforcement officers outside the Capitol on January 6. Matthew Beddingfield attacked police with a metal flagpole, and also threw a metal rod at officers.
MORE. Inside the Capitol Rotunda, Beddingfield joined with other rioters in trying to storm past officers to get to the Senate floor. He also entered the Capitol office of House GOP Leader - and now Speaker - Kevin McCarthy. Beddingfield could face up to eight years in prison.
ARCHITECT. Speaking of the Capitol, most people have no idea President Biden fired the Architect of the U.S. this week for misuse of government resources. But as I wrote in my column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - all scandals are important - and this one will be remembered for a guy who threw his wife and daughter under the bus in a bid to save his job.
MUSE OF HISTORY. February 17, 1870. The Senate voted 50-11 on this date to allow the state of Mississippi to again have representation in Congress. The bill had a series of very specific requirements for the Magnolia State - intended to insure that Blacks were allowed to vote, to hold public office, and to attend public schools. The vote came in the midst of an extended effort by southern Senators to prevent Hiram Revels - a Black from Mississippi - from taking his duly elected seat in the Senate. Revels was finally seated on February 25.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House next has votes on February 27.
The Senate will not have votes until February 27.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
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You know, I was going to write that, and then I figured that someone would complain. But maybe he got to the Senate and realized what a bad scene it is. The backup title for my book has always been, 'Alcohol is a Depressant, But So Is The Senate."
That's sort of my thought too. A missile that costs several hundred thousand dollars taking out a ham radio project that probably cost $50 max. I can't make this stuff up.