Author: todd.lassa

…meanwhile…

WEDNESDAY 1/18/23

(Pictured: Yellen)

UPDATE: Summer's Almost Here -- Yeah, it's winter in most of the country, and raining or storming where it's not. But summer will come too quickly if newly minted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) doesn't reverse course on his tactic of "negotiating" (holding hostage) the debt ceiling in return for cuts/retractions in the Biden White House's rather Rooseveltian programs (bipartisan infrastructure spending, the Inflation Reduction Act). The federal government bumped its $31.4-trillion debt limit Thursday afternoon, but to prevent a global economic meltdown over McCarthy's Republican caucus' refusal to approve funds to pay for a budget already approved, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen took "extraordinary" steps to prevent default, The Washington Post reports. Those mostly "technical" tactics raise the level the government is allowed to borrow to hold off default, and possibly global economic depression, to this summer.

"I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States," Yellen wrote to McCarthy.

Bumping Against the Debt Ceiling

TUESDAY 1/17/23

It is happening again: The federal government hits the $31.4-trillion debt limit Thursday, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is threatening to keep the government from paying current bills, which would lead to what The Washington Post calls “global economic calamity.” McCarthy and his House GOP caucus want Biden administration budget concessions in exchange for bumping up the limit. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin last Friday said the White House would begin taking “extraordinary measures” Thursday to prevent the “fiscal showdown” with House Republicans. Without taking such measures, the government would not be able to continue to borrow to pay existing bills.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called for raising the limit, in an op-ed obviously directed at McCarthy and the non-MAGA members of his caucus.

“Something or someone has to give because the debt limit has to be raised,” the WSJ op-ed reads. “The U.S. has already borrowed and spent the money, and debt held by the public is a contract. Nobody sane in Washington,” it continues, perhaps calling out the Matt Gaetzes and Lauren Boeberts of the House GOP caucus, “wants to be blamed for triggering a default, and the bond market ructions it would cause, which means it almost certainly won’t happen.”

•••

Santos’ Russian Connection -- A report in The Washington Post connects Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the freshman representative who told many lies about his resume, with the cousin of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his involvement with the Russian energy industry. 

The report says Vekselsberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, with his wife, each contributed the maximum-allowed $5,800 to Santos’ campaign and since 2020 contributed tens of thousands of dollars to committees connected to the congressman (who first ran, unsuccessfully, for his seat in 2020), WaPo says. 

Intrater has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into Harbor City Capital, a Florida company where Santos briefly worked and which the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme (Santos has not been implicated in the probe, so far). 

What’s more, Intrater’s connection in 2016 and 2017 to Donald J. Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen, was investigated in the Mueller Report.

Should Santos Step Down?: The Nassau County, New York arm of the GOP says “yes,” but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who traded Santos’ vote in the 15-round speaker election last week in exchange for letting the congressman take office would rather let him serve out his two years. 

The Big Question May Be: Is this further evidence of Russian influence in the MAGA wing of the GOP?

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Business and Finance v. MAGA GOP

Wall Street and corporate America do not want the fringe-right of the House Republican caucus to stop paying the government’s bills and torpedo the nation’s credit rating. How should Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his caucus proceed as the U.S. hits the $31.4-trillion ceiling Thursday? 

Enter your thoughts in the Comment section this column, or in the left column, if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Also in this column: 

•Do discovery of confidential government files found in President Biden’s garage and his vacated Washington office deflate the seriousness of Mar-a-Lagogate?

•A look at the 15-rounds of ballots for Speaker McCarthy, and the concessions he made to get there.

•Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay on the stiff sentences for members of the Watchmen in their plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, “The Question” (page 2). 

•Macaulay on the final report by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, “Bad Fan Fic” (page 2).

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Opening the Door to Other Dems in ’24?

Before the White House admitted that confidential documents were found in Joe Biden’s Washington office and Wilmington, Delaware home, the president was under growing pressure to announce whether he would run for re-election in 2024, according to The Hill. Now he almost certainly will wait until this spring to see how the special counsel’s investigation plays out before revealing his decision.

Will Biden step aside – should he -- to make room for other Democratic intenders, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg or the current vice president, Kamala Harris? Write your thoughts in the Commentsection below or in the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Also in this column …

•Social media fueled the attack on Brazil’s federal government buildings by supporters of ex-President Bolsonaro, on January 8.

•Congressional Democrats remember January 6 on its second anniversary.

We welcome your comments on any of our recent political news stories and hope to encourage a civil left-right dialogue. Unlike social media platforms, The Hustings is not set up to let you read only comments from others connected to you. 

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For Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day

Sunday, the 94th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth and the day before the nation celebrates the civil rights leader, Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to deliver the Sunday sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.  Biden’s sermon came at the invitation of Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), the church’s senior pastor. 

“It’s still the task of our time to make that dream a reality because it’s not there yet,” Biden told the congregation (per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “To make Dr. King’s vision tangible, to match the words of the preachers and the poets with our deeds.

“On this day of commemoration, service and action, let us hold up a mirror to America and ask ourselves: What kind of country do we want to be? Will we honor Dr. King’s legacy by rising together – buttressed by each other’s successes, enriched by each other’s differences and made whole by each other’s compassion? I believe we can.”

Biden was to deliver the keynote address to the National Action Network at the civil rights group’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast Monday.

--TL

..meanwhile...

FRIDAY 1/13/23

Max Fine for Trump Organization – The Trump Organization has been fined $1.6 million over its conviction for tax fraud and other crimes involving off-the-books perquisites for top executives. A judge for the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered the maximum fine, though “a pittance” to ex-President Trump’s real estate business, The New York Times reported Friday. On Tuesday, the Trump Organization’s CFO, Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in the case, was sentenced to serve five months at Rikers Island jail, which is by no means a country club prison.

•••

So Much for Touting Lowered CPI – President Biden tried to make Thursday about celebrating improving inflation numbers (graph above) but instead his administration spent the day playing defense over a sprawling scandal involving his holding on to government papers, some of them confidential, at his office between his vice presidency and presidency, and now his home about 100 miles northeast.

No One Messes with Biden’s Vette: And maybe that’s an explanation for why additional government documents, some of them confidential, were discovered in the car’s locked garage at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home in December, one month after about 10 confidential documents were found in the president’s office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.

No Mar-a-Lagogate … But: Biden turned over the documents to the National Archives after they were found and he did not “declassify” them with his mind. But the brewing scandal does give ex-President Trump some relief on one of his myriad scandals. 

And So, DOJ Investigation: Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland Thursday appointed former U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur special counsel in the documents case, to investigate “extraordinary circumstances,” The Washington Post says. Hur, a Justice Department official in the Trump administration, will examine whether “any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter,” and Garland is confident he will tackle the assignment “in an even handed and urgent matter.”

Investigation in the House: “I think Congress needs to investigate this,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), said Thursday (per PBS News Hour). “Here’s an individual that sat on 60 Minutes that was so concerned about President Trump’s documents, and now we find that this is a vice president keeping it for years out in the open in different locations.”

About That Timing: Confidential documents in the closet in Biden’s post-VP Washington office were discovered November 2, six days before the midterm elections, and the additional documents found in the garage next to his ‘67 Corvette were discovered about a month later.

•••

Ricketts to Senate – Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pullen has appointed the state’s former Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, to take retiring Sen. Ben Sasse’s seat. Sasse, a moderate Republican, left to become president of the University of Florida two years before the remainder of his term. Ricketts will have to run in 2024 if he seeks a full six-year Senate term.

--TL

...meanwhile...

THURSDAY 1/12/23

Still High, but Getting Better – The Consumer Price Index fell 0.1% in December over November, lowering the annual rate to 6.5%, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports Thursday. New vehicle prices fell for the first time in years last month, down 0.1% for an annual rate below that of the entire CPI, at 5.9%. But gas price relief led the way, down 9.4% in December for a -1.5% annual price adjustment. 

“The index for gasoline was by far the largest contributor to the monthly all items decrease, more than offsetting increases in shelter indexes,” the BLS said. Shelter prices were up 0.8% for December, for a +7.5% annual rate.

Gas Prices Stall: The national average for unleaded regular gas was $3.272 per gallon Thursday, AAA says, still under the year-ago average of $3.301 per gallon. AAA says recent pump price spikes have stalled since the holidays.

•••

How About a Biopic? -- Armando Iannucci is creator-director of the television political satire Veep and the big-screen political satire The Death of Stalin. We sincerely hope he is already hard at work on a script for The George Santos Story. Wednesday New York Republican officials called on freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to step down from office. Santos has declined, saying nothing he has done amounts to criminal behavior and newly gaveled House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who traded his support for Santos in exchange for Santos’ vote for speaker, told reporters that “A lot of people” including some of those in the Senate have fabricated parts of their resumes, (per the left-leaning Talking Points Memo).

“Is there a charge against him? You know, in America today, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” McCarthy added.

But Nassau County’s Republican county executive, Bruce Blakeman, counters, “I do not want to deal with someone who is a liar.” Speaking on NPR’s Morning Edition Blakeman, who is Nassau County’s first Jewish county exec said the most egregious lie Santos has told is that his parents were Holocaust survivors, which “trivializes everything the families went through.” Turns out Santos is not even Jewish, while 300,000 residents of Nassau County are. 

When NPR’s A Martinez asked Blakeman about the possibility Santos would be replaced by a Democrat if removed from office (and reduce the GOP’s already thin majority in the House), the county exec replied; “This has transcended politics. This is about good government.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Deflating Mar-a-Lagogate

Will President Biden’s documents scandal deflate the Justice Department’s investigation of ex-President Trump’s apparent hoarding of confidential documents at Mar-a-Lago, or will “intent” continue to distinguish the cases? What do you think of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel in the case? (Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the new House Oversight Committee chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) are not fans of special counsels – Comer says Congress can complete an investigation more quickly, per NPR’s Morning Edition.)

Should the House Oversight Committee investigate Biden’s confidential documents alongside the Justice Department’s special counsel? Write your thoughts in the Comment section below or in the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Also in this column …

•Republican consultant Karl Rove tells Fox News that Biden’s confidential document grab is different from Trump’s (before revelations of additional documents in Biden’s garage). 

•Concessions Speaker McCarthy made to the MAGA-right House Freedom Caucus.

We welcome your comments on any of our recent political news stories and hope to encourage a civil left-right dialogue. Unlike social media platforms, The Hustings is not set up to let you read only comments from others connected to you. 

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Social Media Fueled 1/8

Social media stoked Sunday’s attack by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace, NPR reports. The riot was organized on such outlets as Telegram and Whatsapp, often using coded language, and was livestreamed by Bolsonaro supporters on YouTube, and could be found on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, according to a report on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Bolsonaro supporters were also cheered on January 8 by Donald J. Trump confidant and supporter Steve Bannon, as “freedom fighters.” NPR notes that Facebook is expected to announce soon whether ex-President Trump will be allowed to return to the platform. Trump’s two-year Facebook ban was up on Sunday, January 8.

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Debt Ceiling Showdown to Come?

TUESDAY 1/11/23

With a thin majority in the 118th Congress, House Republicans have no chance of getting such controversial legislation as rescinding IRS funding (see right column) through the Democratic-majority Senate and back to President Biden’s desk. But the 221 Republican members of the House can deny an increase in the federal debt ceiling necessary to pay for an already-passed budget and potentially shut the government down. After House Republicans voted to approve Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) rules package Monday, ex-President Trump called on them to "play tough" on the debt ceiling, stoking "fears of a chaotic Congress," according to The Guardian.

That’s the sort of disruption House Democrats, as expressed by minority whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, fear of the concessions Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made to secure the votes to become speaker.

“Kevin McCarthy hasn’t held the speaker’s gavel for a whole week,” Clark said, “and already he’s handed over the keys to MAGA extremists and special interests for the next two years.” 

•••

Feinstein Gets a Push – Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) turns 90 this coming June, and already she is the oldest member of Congress. Feinstein has filed paperwork for re-election for 2024, though she has not declared her candidacy for a sixth full term (she won a special election in 1992).

But on Monday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) announced Monday she is running for U.S. Senate in 2024. California’s other U.S. senator, fellow Democrat Alex Padilla, won re-election in 2022 (California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to replace Kamala Harris when she became vice president in 2021) and therefore is not up for re-election until 2028. 

--TL

Enter your Comments below or in the right column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Rove: Penn Biden Docs No Mar-a-Lagogate

Karl Rove, the Republican political consultant and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, pushed back against Fox News butwhataboutism in an interview Tuesday about classified documents returned to the National Archives by the Biden administration. 

“Well, there are differences,” Rove said in comparing the Biden documents with ex-President Trump’s apparent hoarding of classified and top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, (per Mediaite) “but you can’t make this stuff up.

“For example, how many documents in Biden’s case, there appear to be about 10. In the case of President Trump, hundreds.

“How did they get there? We didn’t yet know how the documents got to the Biden office connected with his activities on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania. We know that President Trump ordered the removal of documents to Mar-a-Lago.”

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House GOP Votes to Rescind IRS Funds

Tuesday 1/10/23

In the 118th Congress’ first bill, the House with its new Republican majority voted along party lines, 221-210, to rescind about $71 billion of $80 billion in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service included in the Inflation Reduction Act signed late last year by President Biden. If not for the Senate’s Democratic majority that will assure the bill will go nowhere, it would reduce an estimated $186 billion in federal tax revenues, and add $114 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade, according to The Hill.

New Rules – The House also passed Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) rules package, Roll Call reports, which includes concessions made to far-right members of his caucus in order to secure the speaker’s gavel in an historic 15th ballot early last Saturday. The rules package vote was 220-213, with Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas the only Republican voting with Democrats, and includes:

•Return of a controversial rule to allow a single House member to introduce a motion to vacate the speaker. 

•Limitation of bills to a single subject, preventing the attachment of amendments that are not germane to the bill.

•A rule to prevent McCarthy from waiving an existing rule to release bill language at least 72 hours before a floor vote.

•A rule setting up a separate vote on a resolution that would create a select Judiciary Committee to centralize investigations into the executive branch (let’s call this the “Hunter Biden” rule). 

•Term limits for the Office of Congressional Ethics board members and requiring the office to make hiring decisions within 30 days. These provisions would effectively gut the office, Roll Call says.

--TL

Enter your Comments below or in the right column, as appropriate for your leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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On the Left

(The government of leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pictured, has survived a January 6th-like attack on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace by supporters of right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.)

Let us know your thoughts in the Comment section of this column or the one on the right, as appropriate, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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…meanwhile…

Brazil’s 1/6 on 1/8 -- Inspired by the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in support of Donald J. Trump’s Big Lie, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right populist ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congressional building, federal supreme court and presidential Panalto Palace in Brasilia (Semafor, NPR and AP) Sunday, demanding military intervention to return the government to the ex-president. Security forces have since regained control, says NPR’s Morning Editon. Leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro for the presidency in a close runoff last October. 

He’s Gone to Disney World!: Bolsonaro, who has long made claims of “election fraud,” much like ex-President Trump begun well prior to the 2020 U.S. election, did not attend da Silva’s inauguration, and has been in Orlando, Florida, since at least last December, Morning Edition reports. 

•••

McCarthy’s Next Fight – Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) next battle was set to begin Monday night, as he faces potential opposition – this time from moderate Republicans -- against his rules package for the 118th Congress. Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are concerned over the concessions McCarthy had to make to hard-right MAGA House Republicans in order to get the majority vote for the speakership, including gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, NPR’s Morning Edition says.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

On the Right

(Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, pictured, violently stormed Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace Sunday in an attack that very much resembled the January 6th attempted siege of the U.S. Capitol.)

WSJ Op-Ed on House Rules – Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the House Freedom Caucus’ “spiritual leader” confirmed to Fox News that defense spending is on the chopping block as a component of the deal House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reached with the hard-right in order to secure his gavel after 15 roll calls late last week, according to the reliably hard-right op-ed section of The Wall Street Journal. But the op-ed section is not behind Freedom Caucus rhetoric on this one.

Jordan told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream that House Republicans will look at cutting excessive defense general officers and public relations jobs, “and maybe focus on getting rid of all the woke policies in our military…” WSJ says.

The op-ed counters that “woke training is a matter of culture, not money,” and warns “If the GOP rebels honor their demand for ‘regular order,’ defense hawks may have more votes. But it’s worrisome that some Republicans are joining the progressive calls to shrink the military when the world grows more dangerous.”

Left Unsaid: This is really about warnings by some House Republicans that U.S. military aid to Ukraine for its defense against Russian aggression will not be a “blank check” under its thin majority.

•••

Let us know your thoughts in the Comment section of this column or the one on the left, as appropriate, or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

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Two Years

Pictured: Parents of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after suffering two strokes the day after he helped defend the Capitol from insurrectionists following then-President Trump on January 6, 2021. Sicknick’s partner has filed suit against Trump for wrongful death. 

Click The Gray Area to read the report by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol by clicking The Gray Area.

To voice your opinion, please go to the Comment form in this or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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After 15 Rounds, McCarthy, Finally, is House Speaker

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected House speaker early Saturday morning on the 15th roll call for the leadership position as five Republicans voted “present” to lower the majority threshold to the 216 he received. Six Republicans voted “present” and all 212 Democrats voted for their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Never-Keveners Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) had switched to “present” votes on the previous ballot. 

The 15th round immediately followed a rollicking 14th roll call, in which Boebert and Gaetz voted “present” to lower McCarthy’s threshold. But it wasn’t enough with Gaetz and Boebert the only “presents” on that round, making McCarthy’s 216 votes one short of a majority. Two votes going to Rep. Jim Jeffords (R-OH) and two to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). When Gaetz refused McCarthy’s apparent plea to change his vote, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) confronted Gaetz – as briefly shown on camera before an unidentified interloper subdued Rogers. After McCarthy lost his 14th round, a motion to adjourn until noon Monday was about to pass until a number of Republicans reversed their votes just as the vote clock wound down, to push for the 15th roll call ‘round midnight.

•••

UPDATE VIII – Kevin McCarthy finally flipped the erosion of votes for his House speakership with roll call XII Friday afternoon, adding 13 votes for 213 – after having slipped from 202 to 200 supporters earlier in the week -- but still short of taking the gavel. In roll call XIII, McCarthy added one more vote as Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who had voted “present” in several previous ballots, backed the California Republican. Democratic support for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) remains unwavered at 212 votes. Rep. David Trone (D-MD) even showed up after undergoing surgery Friday morning in order to maintain the unanimity. The House was to return 10 p.m. Friday to take up a 14th ballot.

•••

Two Years -- Congress members memorialized the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol on its second anniversary Friday (above), led by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) and his predecessor, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). 

•••

Good Jobs Report, But – The economy added 233,000 new jobs in December, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 points to 3.5%, and the news spurred the stock market to a rally. However, the unnaturally low unemployment rate indicates that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes have not cooled the economy sufficiently to curb high inflation.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

McCarthy’s Concessions

Would-be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has agreed to concessions he previously rejected in his effort to garner the 218 votes needed to take the gavel, The Washington Post reports. McCarthy reportedly has agreed to reduce from five members to a single member required to sponsor a resolution to force a vote to remove the speaker and will appoint members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus to the all-important House Rules Committee. McCarthy also agreed to provisions on certain term limits and to push border policy legislation.

Will it work? The House finds out Friday afternoon with the 12th ballot to elect its speaker. Since voting began Tuesday, McCarthy’s support has gone from 202 members down to 200.

To voice your opinion, please go to the Comment form in this or the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Meanwhile, in Kentucky …

It’s as if the Senate GOP and House GOP were two different political parties. Wednesday, President Biden travels to Kentucky and Ohio with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – yes, the Senate minority leader – to tout the bipartisan infrastructure plan. Biden and McConnell are to be joined by another mixed couple; Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, according to The Hill

They will tout Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill and its $1 billion earmarked for replacement of the Brent Spencer bridge connecting Cincinnati with Covington, Kentucky.

Nikki Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, and ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump has derided all this bipartisan comity as a “publicity stunt.” (Perhaps she might consider dropping her likely bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination for a House seat for South Carolina?)

Those in the barely-kicking “traditional” branch of the Republican Party will recall the relationship between President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news