June 9, 2023

Essentials

McCarthy races to sell newly released debt deal amid rumblings of far-right rebellion

During a conference-wide conference call Saturday night, Speaker Kevin McCarthy highlighted what he sees as GOP victories in the agreement. | Francis Chung/POLITICO House Republicans and the White House unveiled the text of a two-year bipartisan budget deal on Sunday that would lift the $31.4 trillion debt limit through the 2src24 election and limit federal

Does the debt deal have enough GOP support? This Democratic senator says he’s worried.

On Sunday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) voiced concern about the speed with which members of Congress will be able to send the final deal back to the president. | Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo The White House and House Republican negotiators reached an agreement in principle Saturday night that would raise the debt limit and avert potential

Hakeem Jeffries says he has ‘no idea’ what Kevin McCarthy’s talking about

The compromise reached last night “will not be a final agreement” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, until Congress has been able to review the legislation. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told him there is “not one thing in the bill for Democrats.”

‘My fellow Republicans wanted me to lie,’ Liz Cheney says in commencement speech

Since her departure from Congress, former Rep. Liz Cheney has unabashedly called out the events surrounding Jan. 6 and been unrelenting in her criticism of former President Donald Trump. | Jack Dempsey/AP Photo Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday called on graduates to engage in politics and urged them not to waver from the

Biden, McCarthy poised to claim victory after protracted debt drama

President Joe Biden’s White House did not brief the Democratic caucus until 5 p.m. Sunday. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Some House conservatives spent Sunday morning lining up against a deal that one called “insanity.” Some progressives are privately grumbling at their party’s lack of wins. Yet as lawmakers parsed through the deal between President

Debt limit derails the rest of Congress’ must-pass agenda

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed to pass all 12 bills on the floor, which will be a particularly difficult feat with a four-vote margin. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Spending packages. The farm bill. Defense legislation. Congress’ knockdown fight over what was once its most mundane activity — raising the debt ceiling — is claiming an unintended

House Dems in No Labels-allied caucus are livid with No Labels

“No Labels’ attacks are the kind of division the country needs less of right now, and it’s a betrayal of every moderate and every problem solver in Congress,” Rep. Brad Schneider said. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images A group of House Democrats with ties to No Labels is turning on the centrist group after it attacked

A well-liked incumbent stands in the way of Republicans retaking the Pennsylvania Senate seat

Bob Casey, a three-term senator who has built such a moderate, mild-mannered reputation he has been compared to oatmeal, is in the crosshairs of national Republican leaders. | Francis Chung/POLITICO PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a rising star in the state’s GOP, is keeping her options open ahead of the 2src24 Senate election. She

Majority of Californians believe Feinstein isn’t fit to serve, poll finds

Since her return to Washington, Dianne Feinstein has taken on a lighter schedule, appearing in the Senate only at committee hearings or on the floor when her vote is essential. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Nearly two-thirds of Californians believe Sen. Dianne Feinstein is no longer fit to serve in office due to her health condition, a

House conservatives blanch at leaked details of McCarthy-Biden debt talks

While conservatives were always unlikely to support an agreement with Democrats, it’s a glimpse at the fury that could erupt on Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s right flank over a Biden-approved deal. | Francis Chung/POLITICO As details leak about an emerging bipartisan debt deal just days before a possible default, House conservatives are growing increasingly unhappy. With

Inside House Democrats’ fight over debt ceiling messaging

In the party’s weekly leadership meeting earlier this week, Hakeem Jeffries suggested that since the White House felt it could not go on offense against Kevin McCarthy, House Democrats would. | Francis Chung/POLITICO In a closed-door Democratic whip meeting on Thursday, Rep. Jahana Hayes challenged her party’s leadership team on the caucus’ debt ceiling messaging

House Republicans are dealmaking newbies — and that could be a problem

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a record mostly devoid of big dealmaking, having been on the periphery of bipartisan agreements struck under Biden. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Kevin McCarthy is finally a leading player in a huge Washington drama with his gavel on the line. But as his team sits down with President Joe Biden’s, McCarthy is

White House believes massive Dem bailout may be needed to pass debt ceiling compromise

Rank-and-file Democrats acknowledge that they will be under enormous political pressure to support any debt-ceiling deal backed by President Joe Biden, lest they leave the economy and the president of their own party out to dry. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo White House aides privately estimate they may need to deliver as many as 1srcsrc Democratic

The debt talks are about to test McCarthy’s hold on his party

For the moment, multiple members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are pleased with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s outreach. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s negotiations with President Joe Biden are serving another purpose besides reaching a debt deal — as his second job interview with conservatives. As the talks lurch closer to the Treasury Department’s

McCarthy: A debt deal could still pass by June 1

Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday he remains confident that Congress could still beat a possible June 1 default deadline despite the weekend stall in talks with the White House. While McCarthy said he would’ve preferred a deal by Sunday night, he declared the U.S. could still avoid an economically destructive debt default by June 1

Key Republican recruits hesitate to jump in if Trump is the nominee

Donald Trump’s resurgence has notably chilled GOP recruitment across the country. And because only a handful of seats separate both parties in the House and Senate, any one flop could narrow the path to majority. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images Less than a month after the midterms, Republican recruiters were already plotting how to persuade their

Debt ceiling talks break down and attacks escalate as deadline approaches

With the deadline for a potential default less than two weeks away, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said talks would likely not resume until President Joe Biden returned from Asia late Sunday night. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Debt ceiling negotiations deteriorated after Republican negotiators rejected a White House offer to limit spending on both defense and a

Expect ‘plot twists and dramatic turns’ in race to succeed Santos

“The MAGA madness that George Santos [above] represents is not him alone,” said Zak Malamed, the founder of a PAC funding young candidates. | Francis Chung/POLITICO ALBANY, N.Y. — The story of George Santos has been one of the strangest in modern political history. The race to replace him could be just as messy. It’s

Negotiators resume weekend debt talks as clock ticks

“The White House refuses to acknowledge that we have a spending problem,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, a chair of the Republican Main Street Partnership. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo House GOP leaders and the White House resumed talks on a default-averting debt deal Friday evening, hours after Republicans had publicly announced a pause in those talks.

What you need to know about the 14th Amendment and the debt ceiling

President Joe Biden speaks about the debt limit talks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, May 17, 2src23, in Washington. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Democratic lawmakers are pushing President Joe Biden to invoke his constitutional authority under the 14th Amendment to raise the nation’s debt limit without an act of Congress. Biden has

Biden’s 14th Amendment message to progressives: It ain’t gonna happen

Joe Biden himself has said that he sees a bipartisan deal as the only option to the current standoff, casting doubt on the 14th Amendment as workable in public remarks. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Progressive lawmakers renewed their call for President Joe Biden to bypass Congress to avert a default after the abrupt cancellation of

‘We better figure it out’: The politics trap that could slow a national AI law

The mood was less partisan during OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Senate testimony on Tuesday. But tech topics that typically spark intense fights in Congress were still front and center. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo Capitol Hill is rushing to regulate artificial intelligence before most members have even a basic understanding of the technology. And as momentum

Controversial judicial pick asks Biden to withdraw after failing to win Dem support

Several Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were resisting supporting Michael Delaney, shown in 2src13, when he served as an attorney general. | Jim Cole/AP Photo Appellate court nominee Michael Delaney asked President Joe Biden to withdraw his nomination Thursday, a rare failure of a judicial nominee with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House. Several

Congress crosses its fingers for the new Big Four to avert debt disaster

Budget chief Shalanda Young is a respected budget guru who’s won trust from both sides in her handling of epic Hill spending battles like the border wall. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo Kyrsten Sinema, who’s convened her share of bipartisan dealmaking groups, has stayed pretty quiet on the debt limit standoff. Until now. The Arizona

Democrats spar over Santos strategy as GOP punts on bid to expel him

Rep. George Santos is surrounded by media as he leaves the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y on Wednesday, May 1src, 2src23. | Stefan Jeremiah/AP Photo House Democrats wrangled internally on Wednesday over whether to try to stop Speaker Kevin McCarthy from punting on a bid to expel George Santos from Congress. The tensions surfaced

The Pelosi daughter at Dianne Feinstein’s side

Nancy Corinne Prowda, left, accompanies Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as she leaves the Capitol on Thursday, May 11, 2src23. | Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images When Sen. Dianne Feinstein walked into the Capitol last week, ending a monthslong medical absence, she was accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a small entourage of

House Foreign Affairs leadership offered viewing of Afghanistan cable

Ranking member, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) (right) asks questions as Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) (left) listens during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo The State Department has offered to let House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) see a dissent cable related

Kamala Harris has an artificial intelligence problem

The jokes seemed to write themselves last week after the Biden administration announced Vice President Kamala Harris, known for her vapid word salad speeches and obvious gaslighting, would now run point on artificial intelligence. Even I jumped in on the action, noting on FOX Business that Harris was more associated with the word “artificial” than the […]

House GOP leaders reassure their Santos critics after Dems launch expulsion push

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) boards a vehicle as he departs a vote the U.S. Capitol on May 15, 2src23. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Just after House Democrats moved on Tuesday to force a vote on expelling scandal-plagued George Santos from Congress, GOP leaders outlined their thinking in a private meeting with some of the New York

Biden appoints 2 additional top aides to try and get to the finish line on debt ceiling talks

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday, with from left, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo President Joe Biden is deploying two of his top advisers to negotiate a debt deal with Capitol Hill

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