In today’s edition … House Democrats to push expanded Child Tax Credit as tax battles are set to heat up … What we’re watching: Witness expected to appear before Miami grand jury investigating Trump … The day of the mild-mannered heartland Republican is here … Dem group pushes debt limit fight as GOP liability … The GOP’s oversight of the District continues … but first …
Hashing out a deal with President Biden to raise the debt limit was tough for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
The showdown’s aftermath might be even tougher.
Challenges have been piling up for McCarthy in the week since the bill cleared the House. He has been forced to deal with the restive hard-right faction of his conference as appropriators work to chart a path forward on the annual spending bills and the contours of a battle with the Senate over domestic and defense funding starts to take shape.
Let’s start with the most immediate challenge:
McCarthy is facing a conservative revolt
A small but defiant group of House conservatives effectively halted all action on the House floor Tuesday by refusing to vote for a rule, a necessary step to passing legislation — forcing one to fail for the first time in 21 years.
The protest was not about the measures on the floor (which would protect gas stoves and rein in executive actions, both of which have strong conservative support). Instead, the outrage was over how McCarthy handled the bill to lift the debt limit.
Blocking gas-stove legislation might seem comical, but it’s actually a big deal. If House Republicans can’t pass rules, then House Republicans can’t pass bills.
- “The 11 far-right lawmakers voted against the first rule vote this week, preventing GOP leadership’s wish to pass four non-divisive bills that would have returned them to the status quo. It proved the difficulty McCarthy and other leaders now face as they work to make amends with a fractious bloc of the conference that historically bucks leadership,” Leigh Ann writes with our colleagues Marianna Sotomayor, Amy B Wang and Paul Kane.
It’s a major act of protest that will not only make life difficult for McCarthy but is a precursor to the upcoming appropriations process. (We’ll have more on that below.)
- “We took down the rule because we’re frustrated at the way this place is operating,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said. “We took a stand in January to end the era of the imperial speakership.”
Here’s why conservatives aren’t happy:
- They say McCarthy violated the “agreement” he struck with them during the speakership fight, creating a “trust” deficit. The members didn’t specify exactly which agreements were breached but we have outlined three specific ones they’ve brought up over the last few days.
- McCarthy relied on Democrats to pass the rule for the debt limit bill last week, which angered conservatives and helped convince them to sink the rule on Tuesday. Russ Vought, Trump’s former budget director who is influential with the House Freedom Caucus, told us last week that House conservatives would use this tactic.
- Republican leaders “punished” a member. Conservatives said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) was punished for not voting for the debt limit bill by withholding a vote on his bill to force the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to reconsider the agency’s rule limiting pistol braces. After meeting with leadership, Clyde told reporters Tuesday night he’ll get a vote on his bill.
- Spending levels. Conservatives are also angry that the debt limit agreement funds domestic spending at fiscal year 2023 levels plus one percent rather than fiscal year 2022 levels — a $14.8 billion difference.
Late last night, the gas stove votes were placed back on the schedule for today, suggesting that an understanding was reached between McCarthy and the conservatives.
But any alliance remains fragile.
A likely collision course with the Senate
Domestic spending: The debt limit deal settled what is usually a months-long battle over how much to spend for defense and domestic spending — $886 billion for defense and $703.6 billion for nondefense.
But conservative members want to force even more spending cuts beyond what the White House and Republican negotiators agreed to. (See last point above.)
McCarthy told us Tuesday that appropriators could always spend less than the caps negotiated in the deal, which conservatives will probably push for. But the Democratic-controlled Senate isn’t going to accept that, probably setting up a clash between the two chambers.
Defense spending: Defense spending is also expected to be a major issue of contention between the House and the Senate, especially if the Biden administration asks for an emergency Ukraine spending bill.
The possibility of a future emergency defense supplemental was not discussed in the debt limit negotiations, one of the negotiators told us.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) secured an agreement last week with Senate leaders to bring up a supplemental if it’s necessary later this year.
This week, McCarthy wouldn’t immediately endorse the idea, especially now that he’s facing pressure from his right flank.
- “You got to give the purpose of what you want money for,” McCarthy told us Tuesday. “And then what do you want to achieve with this money and then people have to look at it and decide. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, I need more money.’” (CNN reported on Monday that McCarthy was reluctant to support a Ukraine supplemental.)
Then again, McCarthy touted his support for Ukraine aid last month in an exchange with a Russian reporter during a trip to Israel.
- “I vote for aid for Ukraine, I support aid for Ukraine,” McCarthy said at the time.
The White House hasn’t ruled out asking for a supplemental later this year.
- “We’re just not at a decision point to talk about the need for additional funding last in whatever form that might take,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday, although he added that the White House expects such funding would be approved as it has in the past.
NEW: House Democrats to push expanded Child Tax Credit as tax battles are set to heat up
A trio of House Democrats — Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), and Ritchie Torres (N.Y.) — are introducing a bill to expand and make permanent the Child Tax Credit.
Democrats hope to lay down a marker on a major Democratic tax priority as House Republicans plan to mark up an extension of some of the 2017 Trump tax cuts as early as next week.
- Democrats have scoffed at Republican intentions to extend the tax cuts days after a bruising battle to lift the debt limit in which Republicans demanded deep spending cuts to reduce the nearly $32 trillion deficit.
Democrats’ CTC plan would make permanent the measure enacted under the covid-era American Rescue Plan. It would expand the amount of the tax credit to $3,600 per year for children under 6 years old and $3,000 for children over 6, which is an increase from $2,000. It also would eliminate earnings minimums for recipients and would provide the benefit monthly instead of during tax season.
An unnamed witness is expected to appear today before a Miami grand jury investigating former president Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents and whether he obstructed government efforts to retrieve them after leaving office.
Today’s appearance follows a Monday meeting between the former president’s lawyers, special counsel Jack Smith and a senior Justice Department official at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.
Our colleagues Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett write that Monday’s meeting is a sign that the investigation is in its final stages and that the launch of the Florida grand jury could mean that federal prosecutors are considering bringing charges there. Trump advisers briefed after the meeting told our colleagues that they’re preparing for a potential indictment. We’re waiting to see when and if that happens.
The day of the mild-mannered heartland Republican is here
Two more Republicans will shoulder their way into the burgeoning presidential field today, one well-known and one hardly known at all.
Former vice president Mike Pence will make his most decisive break to date with Trump, “after serving dutifully for four years but resisting his exhortations to overturn the 2020 election,” our colleagues Marianne LeVine and Ashley Parker report.
- “We can turn this country around, but different times call for different leadership,” Pence says in his announcement video out this morning, referring to Trump but not naming him. “Today our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature.”
It will be a historic clash. The New York Times’s Peter Baker notes that “the closest the country has previously come to a direct contest between running mates was in 1940 when Vice President John Nance Garner, a conservative Texan known as Cactus Jack and no fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, waged a campaign for the White House.”
But Scott Reed, co-chair of the Committed to America PAC, a super PAC supporting Pence’s candidacy, told Marianne and Ashley that Pence will go his own way. “He’s not going to try to out-Trump Trump; he’s going to stand out as a leader of character,” Reed said.
But Pence has perhaps the most difficult job of any of the candidates: breaking with Trump while touting the policies of the Trump-Pence administration. Nuance is difficult to master in politics.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who’s set to announce his own campaign today, has his own plans to stand out in a Republican field that includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, the Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Pence and Trump.
- “While some other contenders are jockeying over who can be the toughest fighter in the GOP field against President Biden and the political left, Burgum emphasized the importance of humility in [an interview last week] — arguing that ‘government is at its best when you’ve got servant leaders that are acting for the good of the public,’” our colleague Maeve Reston reports.
He’s also selling himself as more focused conservative energy and economic policies and less on cultural issues than his rivals, according to a Burgum adviser.
“The economy must be our top priority,” Burgum wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Tuesday evening that criticized President Biden’s economic message. “We need to get inflation under control, cut taxes, lower gas prices and reduce the cost of living.”
Burgum, a tech billionaire, plans to partially self-fund his campaign.
NEWS: Dem group pushes debt limit fight as GOP liability
Democrats continue to say the House GOP bill to lift the debt limit and slash spending is a political liability for Republicans even though a compromise version is what was signed into law.
Today, the Democratic dark money group, Courage for America, is launching a campaign against vulnerable Republicans who voted for the House GOP bill, which would have lifted the debt limit for less than a year and drastically cut domestic spending.
Digital ads will run in four vulnerable members’ districts — Reps. John Duarte (Calif.), Jen Kiggans (Va.), Marc Molinaro (N.Y.) and Brandon Williams (N.Y.) — attacking the members for voting for “cuts to veterans’ benefits, law enforcement and education.” (Republicans promised after the vote they wouldn’t cut veterans’ benefits.)
The group will also hold a call next week with allied groups to present a strategy to ensure Republicans continue to be tied to McCarthy and the debt limit fight.
The GOP’s oversight of the District continues
Another one: The GOP’s oversight of Washington continues today with a hearing on the city’s election laws. Members of the House Oversight and Administration committees will take up the American Confidence in Elections Act, a bill that gives Republicans a chance to “advocate for stricter voting laws in the deep-blue city,” our colleague Meagan Flynn reports.
- Four witnesses, including Monica Holman Evans, the executive director of the D.C. Board of Elections, and Ken Cuccinelli, a former Trump administration official who now runs the conservative Election Transparency Initiative, are expected to appear before the committees today.
- “Evans is expected to explain to members of the committees some policies the board has in place to ensure election integrity,” Meagan writes. “Those include combing the rolls for deceased voters; conducting signature verification for all mail-in ballots; testing voting equipment in public view; conducting manual post-election audits, also in public view; and having poll watchers and election observers present during voting.”
- McKinsey’s little-known role in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. By Todd Frankel and Daniel Gilbert.
- Tucker Carlson drops first episode of bare-bones Twitter show. By Will Sommer.
- Prosecuting Florida’s migrant flights would face legal hurdles. By the New York Times’s Edgar Sandoval.
Thanks for reading. You can also follow us on Twitter: @LACaldwellDC and @theodoricmeyer.