"We're fractured" - House GOP heads home
Conservatives call for ouster of Intelligence panel chair
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for February 16, 2024:
FBI informant on Bidens indicted for making it up.
Rosendale abandons Senate bid after 6 days.
Bipartisan group tries to forge Ukraine-border deal.
CONGRESS. After yet another legislative work week cut short by Republican infighting in the House, lawmakers left Capitol Hill yesterday for a 13-day break not knowing what's next on aid for Ukraine and Israel, legislation on border security, funding for the federal government, or an effort to reform key intelligence surveillance laws. I’ll be blunt - it's not a pretty scene for the House GOP.
GOP. "We're fractured, and there's a lot of angst," Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) said of his fellow Republicans, as he noted the latest procedural defeat for GOP leaders this week on the House floor. "We've had some issues,” Womack said in a gentle understatement.
SPEAKER. The constant House GOP troubles have led to more grumbling about Speaker Mike Johnson and his job performance. "I think Johnson gets the remainder of his term," said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC). "The question is, how effective are you with the time you're given."
OWN GOAL. McHenry argues the move to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a giant GOP mistake which badly undermined the work of House Republicans. "We're not better off for it. The politics aren't better. We're not getting better public policy," McHenry told reporters.
BREAK. Some Republicans were not pleased that they were going home until February 28, especially with so much unfinished legislative work. "I've been in business my entire life," said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK). "You don't schedule your two month vacation before you've done the work. You do the work and then you take off."
CHAOS. Watching the latest GOP stumbles, Democrats piled on. "MAGA Republicans are focused on chaos and dysfunction," said Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA). "Republicans have no record of accomplishment to run on," said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX).
BIDEN. The White House hammered Republicans for opposing the border security deal worked out by key Senators, and for leaving without taking up a Senate-passed aid bill for Ukraine and Israel. "Congressional Republicans took one look, killed it, and left town," said President Biden. "For them, it was never about the border. It was about playing politics."
OPENING. The GOP move to deep-six that Senate border security agreement has energized Democrats in a way that I'm not sure Republicans could have imagined - allowing Democrats to counterattack. And Donald Trump has also provided another opening with his attacks on NATO. That's my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
FUNDING. When the House comes back on February 28, the focus will be the 12 government funding bills for this year - which are currently in House-Senate talks. Four funding bills expire on March 1, which is two weeks from today. The other eight bills lapse on March 8, the following Friday.
VOTES. That means lawmakers will have to approve several funding packages, which are sure to draw stern GOP opposition in some quarters. "The hard part will then be putting together coalitions you need to pass because we have a lot of people that are going to be disappointed," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK).
TALK. Cole has been involved in the negotiations to hammer out those dozen funding bills. He seemed optimistic about getting them done by the March 1 and March 8 deadlines. But as he noted, a number of Republicans are probably going to hit the roof when the details are finally released.
SHUTDOWN. The third-ranking House Republican, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg TV that no more temporary funding plans will be approved by the House. So, the clock is ticking towards a partial government shutdown.
INTEL. I told you yesterday how unusual it was for Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, to publicly say something about secret intelligence before his panel. The episode quickly spurred finger pointing among House Republicans, and multiple GOP calls for Turner to be investigated and/or removed from his post.
PUBLIC. At issue is not whether Turner was wrong to alert other members of Congress about intelligence which supposedly was about Russia’s effort to put new weapons in space. The issue is how Turner made a very cryptic - yet very public statement - about that top secret matter, basically waving his arms wildly to get attention.
OGLES. Critics accused Turner of trying to use it to boost arguments for funding aid to Ukraine and/or to slow reforms on foreign intelligence. "You had a chairman of the Intelligence Committee who used a political agenda," said Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), "to try to scare Congress into passing a piece of legislation."
INQUIRY. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Ogles called for a formal inquiry into Turner, and even hinted that Johnson should consider removing Turner from the Intelligence Committee, since the Speaker appoints those members. "That is a decision the Speaker will have to make."
PRESSURE. Others quickly jumped on board, and immediately tried to pressure Speaker Johnson to punish Turner. "Mike Turner recklessly abused his role as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee," said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Turner’s next door neighbor in the Buckeye State.
MORE. “I still don't understand why the fire alarms were pulled," said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), referring to Turner’s unusual public warning. "The Speaker has to decide how he's going to handle this."
MORE. "Believe me, people have been expressing their displeasure with Mr. Turner," said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who suggested that the Speaker should push Turner out as Intelligence chair. "And if that does not happen, then, you know, we'll take the next step," said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
RESPONSE. Turner defended the decision of his panel to share the Russia intel. "The House Intelligence Committee voted 23 to 1 to make this information available to Members of Congress," Turner said. That's fine. But sharing with House members is not the same as having the Chairman issue a public statement.
INTEL. When we pressed members of the panel about Turner’s move, the same kind of thing happened. They would always answer about sharing info with other lawmakers, not about Turner going public. "Our knowledge of the facts is what prompted it," said Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX).
HIMES. I'll just go back to what the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee said to me and CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday: "I suggested that we actually not say anything," Himes told us. In other words, there was no green light from Democrats for Turner’s public statement.
MIAMI VALLEY. I’ll say it again - I’ve covered Turner the entire time he’s been in Congress. He’s not a Matt Gaetz type or a showboat of any kind. But he seems to have done something out of character on this one.
HOUSE. Let me just weigh in on what's happening in the House overall. I worry that my nuts and bolts presentation in this newsletter doesn't convey it strongly enough. This is a completely crazy scene. It's dysfunctional. It's nuts. I'm not sure how most of the basic business of the Congress will get done this year.
RANK AND FILE. Republicans are just not on the same page when it comes to tactics and sticking together. There is a crosscurrent - mainly involving the Freedom Caucus - where they seem to treat most legislative dogfights like a crusade, which doesn't help produce compromise.
JOHNSON. Speaker Mike Johnson is in a no-win situation. You can criticize his leadership style all you want - and he does look like a rookie - but the GOP ingredients he has to work with would be a challenge for anyone. It won't surprise me to see someone move to push him out next month.
REALITY. When asked about the lack of productivity when compared to Democrats who had the same thin margin in the House, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) gave us one of the most bizarre answers I've ever heard. He went into this long jag about how Nancy Pelosi was an authoritarian Speaker, and that Democrats really didn't get anything of note done. The answer made no sense.
IDES OF MARCH. Next month might be challenging in the House for GOP leaders. We all know it might be hard to pass the government funding bills. The Speaker will need help from Democrats, and that will create GOP drama. And at some point, there will be a big push on aid for Ukraine.
TURNER. I wonder if the House GOP dysfunction has now caused a top Republican to commit an unforced error. What we saw this week with the public intelligence warning from Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) was not normal. That’s not who he is. And yet, he evidently felt like he needed to do that.
BORDER. Not pleased that Speaker Johnson helped Republicans sink a bipartisan package that combined aid to Ukraine and a Senate border security deal, a group of eight lawmakers - four from each party - are trying to forge their own middle of the road plan to both do something about illegal immigration and speed aid to Ukraine and Israel.
PUSH. "We've got to get military aid done," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). "Hopefully we can contribute to the conversation."
NO VOTE. That bipartisan effort comes as Democrats denounced House GOP leaders for doing nothing about aid to Ukraine or Israel. “It is unacceptable that the Speaker is recessing Congress without a vote on supporting Ukraine,” said Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA).
REAGAN DOCTRINE. Democrats also find themselves struggling to understand how the GOP has changed so fast on Russia. “It’s not my father’s Republican Party,” said Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), saying it’s hard to convince GOP lawmakers to confront Russia. “It’s frustrating as hell.”
BURISMA. An informant who provided the FBI with what he claimed was incriminating information about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and an energy company in Ukraine - whose allegations have been championed by Republicans in Congress as evidence of bribery and more - has been arrested and charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. In other words, it may have all been made up.
CHARGE. The charges from Alexander Smirnov were that a Ukrainian oligarch had admitted that he had paid $5 million in bribes to the Bidens. That information was handed over in June of 2020 - right during the campaign for President. But that wasn’t true.
FD-1023. The indictment confirms that Smirnov was the CHS - Confidential Human Source - cited in an FBI form which Republicans forced the FBI to release. They said it proved that Joe and Hunter Biden were on the take from Burisma. Except that was supposedly all made up by Smirnov.
DEMS. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to imagine the reaction from Democrats. “Republicans, for months and months, touted these claims as evidence that President Biden had committed crimes," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). "But they were made up,” as Democrats called for an end to impeachment proceedings.
IMPEACHMENT. "I formally call on Speaker Johnson, Chairman Comer, and House Republicans to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
BIG SKY. Six days after announcing that he would run for U.S. Senate in Montana, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) is abandoning the race. Rosendale's main problem was pretty simple - national Republicans and Donald Trump did not want Rosendale running, because they thought he would lose to Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).
SCARAMUCCI. "The day I announced, President Trump then announced that he was endorsing a different candidate," Rosendale said in a statement. "By my calculations, with Trump endorsing my opponent and the lack of resources, the hill was just too steep."
NEXT. Rosendale didn't say if he would still run for reelection to the House. "Over the next few days I will be back home in Montana with my family and will prayerfully consider what is next.”
REDISTRICTING. A special bipartisan commission finally released their new Congressional map for the state of New York on Thursday. It made only minor changes to a few districts in the Empire State. It presents Democrats in Albany with a choice. They can accept this product, or they can draw their own gerrymander - which might draw legal challenges in the courts.
RAP SHEET. A New York man has been arrested and charged with assaulting police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mitchell Bosch joined other rioters in pushing against police lines as officers were trying to clear areas outside the Capitol.
STATS. Bosch was the 1,300th person to be arrested in the Jan. 6 investigation. Of those who have been convicted or pleaded guilty, judges have handed out 935 total years in prison sentences. About 750 people have pleaded guilty - another 170 have been convicted in trials.
MUSE OF HISTORY. February 16, 1871. A veto by President Grant of a bill to build new iron-clad warships stirred the Senate on this date, as Senators grappled in a parliamentary wrestling match over how best to proceed on the veto and a replacement measure. "I shall let my vote stand," proclaimed Sen. Eli Saulsbury of Delaware, "because I am satisfied that when I vote against the President, I am sure that I vote right." Saulsbury was on the short end of a 67-2 defeat.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House returns for votes on February 28.
The Senate is back for votes on February 26.
Check President Biden’s schedule.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
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“HOUSE. Let me just weigh in on what's happening in the House overall. I worry that my nuts and bolts presentation in this newsletter doesn't convey it strongly enough.”
I hate to say it Jamie, but you might have to start using emojis in your newsletter for extra emphasis. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Did the GOP change the calendar or does March still follow February. I understand that work gets done when they are at home with their constituents but 2 days to finish the budget seems a bit tight for something that is 5 months late.