(THU 6/9/22)

It’s 1/6 House panel day … Tune in at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific Thursday on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Fox Business to watch the House of Representatives’ Select Committee’s first public hearing on the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Tune in to Fox News to watch counter-programming on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where its host will likely try to cast the violent attack on the Capitol meant to force then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden for president as some sort of populist “tourism.” 

•••

House approves raising age to buy assault rifle … But it’s not likely to go anywhere in the Senate. 

The House voted 223-204 to raise the age required to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21 years old and to ban high-capacity magazines, NPR’s Morning Edition says. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attacked the measure as an effort “to destroy the Second Amendment,” according to The Washington Post.

The vote followed wrenching testimony to Congress by survivors and relatives of victims of the Robb Elementary school attack in Uvalde, Texas, and the attack on Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, last month. An 11-year-old girl who smeared blood from classmates at Robb Elementary to make the shooter think she was dead gave video testimony. 

And Dr. Roy Guerrero, of Uvalde, described seeing children so “pulverized” and “decapitated” by bullets “that the only clue as to their identities was their blood-splattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them” (WaPo). 

Meanwhile: President Biden took advantage of his attendance at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles Wednesday to appear on ABC-TV’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he told the host that gun regulation will be the primary argument Democrats candidates use against Republicans candidates in the midterm elections this November.

“You’ve got to make it clear you say it’s going to determine whether I vote for you,” the president told Kimmel.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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(WED 6/8/22)

Motorcade to 1/6 … Secret Service agents tried to secure a motorcade for then-President Trump so he could accompany his rally of 30,000 supporters to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, The Washington Post reports, quoting “two people briefed on witnesses’ accounts” to the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection. 

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” Trump told his supporters before their 1/6 march. The lame duck president had hoped to convince resistant Republican Congress members to overturn the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden.

District of Columbia police refused to block intersections for a Trump motorcade, WaPo says, and the president’s Secret Service detail leader determined that the request was “untenable and unsafe.”

Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy Thursday.

•••

Four of five Republicans who favored 1/6 panel win … Five of 35 House Republicans who voted to establish the Select committee to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection were up in Tuesday’s primaries, and four won outright, Politico reports. The fifth, Mississippi’s Rep. Michael Guest trailed challenger Michael Cassidy, 45.4% to 48.5%, and with neither reaching 50% will face each other in a runoff. The four winners are …

•South Dakota – Rep. Dusty Johnson, who took 59% of the vote in a race against Taffy Howard.

•New Jersey – Rep. Chris Smith, who took 58% of the vote.

•California – Rep. David Valadao won his primary.

•Iowa – Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks ran for the primary uncontested.

In Iowa’s Democratic primary for Senate, Michael Franken easily beat the presumed favorite, Abby Finkenauer, 55.1% to 40% to face seven-term Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley, who beat challenger Jim Carlin 73.4% to 26.4%. 

•••

California centered … San Franciscans voted 61.3% to 38.7% to recall progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Politicoreports. Former public defender Boudin took office following other progressive San Francisco district attorneys, but faced a campaign heavily financed by police unions that blamed him for an increase in the crime rate during the pandemic, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, while The New York Times notes that Boudin’s progressive initiatives included elimination of cash bail, a vow to hold police accountable and efforts to send fewer people to prison.

Mayor of Los Angeles: Republican billionaire developer-turned-Democrat Rick Caruso led the race for Los Angeles mayor with 41% to progressive Democratic U.S. Rep. Karen Bass’ 38%, the Associated Press reports. L.A. Councilman Kevin de Leon was a distant third with 7%, followed by nine other candidates. Caruso and Bass face off in a runoff this fall.

Governor: Incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom, who easily survived a recall last year after Boris Johnson-like pandemic partying, led 10 candidates in the non-partisan primary for governor, with 61.2% of the vote. This November Newsom will face Republican Brian Dahle, who scored 15.1% Tuesday, Ballotpedia reports.

U.S. Senate: Democrat Alex Padilla, appointed to fill Kamala Harris’ seat last year when Harris became vice president, will face Republican Mark Meuser in November. Padilla received 57.3% of the non-partisan primary vote to Mark Meuser’s 13%, according to Ballotpedia.

•••

FBI probes former general … The FBI has seized electronic data of former four-star Marine Gen. John R. Allen in connection with an investigation into efforts to help Qatar influence U.S. policy when the country faced a diplomatic crisis with its Middle-Eastern neighbors in 2017, the AP reports. Allen led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before leaving to become president of the Brookings Institution, also in 2017. Last week, Richard G. Olson, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the case, and political donor Imaad Zuberi is already serving 12 years in federal prison on corruption charges in the case, AP says.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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(TUE 6/7/22)

Proud Boys, Proud Boys, whatcha gonna do … Lead members of far-right group the Proud Boys are in federal custody on charges of seditious conspiracy for their planning of and participation in the January 6 Capitol insurrection (per NPR’s Morning Edition). Those charged include the group’s chairman, Enrique Tarrio, who did not attend the riot, but allegedly led planning on the effort to halt Congress’ certification of Joe Biden as 46^th president. 

The 33-page indictment, unsealed Monday, also charges Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola who allegedly used a group chat called “MOSD Leaders Group,” which Tarrio described as a “national rally planning committee,” and produced a document to occupy “crucial buildings” entitled “1776 Returns” (per The Guardian).

A hint of what’s to come?: The charge of seditious conspiracy is said to be very rare and very difficult to prove. Meanwhile, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Monday that the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection and scheduled to begin public hearings Thursday evening has found evidence against ex-President Trump of “a lot more than incitement.”

‘Discrete’ in Georgia: The Washington Post Tuesday scoops it has uncovered a December 13, 2020, email from the Trump campaign elections operations director for Georgia Robert Sinners that instructed fake Republican electors planning to cast votes for the former president to operate in “complete secrecy.” 

•••

Weaponizing food … Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya stomped out of a Security Council meeting Monday after European Council President Charles Michel accused the Kremlin of sparking a global food crisis with its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports. Russia and Ukraine normally supply nearly one-third of the world’s wheat supplies, and prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer have skyrocketed since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Michel also accused Russia in the meeting of the 15-member Security Council of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to Reuters. Speaking directly to Nebenzya as he stormed out, Michel said; “You may leave the room, maybe it’s easier not to listen to the truth.” 

•••

Democratic candidate on Fox News … Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee running for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Patrick Toomey, who is retiring, will air his first campaign advertisements on Fox News, Politico reports. Fetterman casts himself as a “political outsider who has pushed for pro-working-class policies,” according to Politico, which has previewed the ads. 

Facing a potential midterm slaughter, the hapless Democratic Party has otherwise shunned political ads on the right-wing news and commentary cable channel. Fetterman faces Dr. Mehmet Oz, Donald J. Trump’s candidate, in November after Oz’s primary opponent, David McCormick, conceded the razor-thin race last week.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

(MON 6/6/22 PM)

Johnson wins no-confidence vote ... British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won a no-confidence vote of his party's parliament members, 211-148, which means he remains in office despite scandals involving crowded, alcohol-infused parties and cover-up of the same during England's COVID-19 shutdown. The Guardian notes however that the vote means a full 40% of British Parliament's Tories failed to back Johnson. After three years as PM Johnson's short-term future is less than solid. (6/6/22 PM UPDATE.)

•••

Day 103 of Russia’s invasion … President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Ukrainian troops in the city of Lysychansk Sunday in the eastern Donbas region, just south of the fiercest fighting on the main battlefield of Sievierodonetsk, The Guardian reports. Zelenskyy spoke to Ukrainian soldiers and handed out awards, saying “What you all deserve is victory – that is the most important job. But not at any cost.”

•••

U.S. and G.B. … The Senate returns from Memorial Day recess Monday, the House of Representatives comes back to the Capitol on Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a no-confidence vote by his party’s members of parliament to be held 6-8 p.m. London time (1-3 p.m. Eastern U.S.). Johnson, who has lost much of his party’s confidence over parties he attended during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, needs 180 of 359 of Conservative Party MPs’ confidence to retain his job, the BBC says.

•••

Tuesday primaries … this week are in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Two-term Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-NY) said Friday he will not run for a third term, fearing a primary challenge from the GOP’s hard-right after he said he’d support a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity magazines following the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Roll Call reports. Jacobs believes he could not win an August primary challenge in his re-drawn 23^rd District, though he will remain in office to the end of his term in January, and thus will vote on gun regulation legislation expected on the floor of the House next week.

•••

Summit of the Americas … President Biden and Vice President Harris travel to Los Angeles Wednesday to attend the Summit of the Americas, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Biden has banned Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from attending because of their anti-Democratic regimes, which has prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador to boycott the summit.

•••

Prime Time Thursday … The much-awaited -- in some circles -- public hearings of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection begin at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific). The committee hopes to break through to a wide swath of Americans to show how close all The Donald’s men (and women) came to bringing down our democracy that day. 

ICMYI: The Justice Department announced last Friday it will not issue contempt of Congress charges against Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows or former aide Dan Scavino, prompting 1/6 panel chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and ranking Republican Liz Cheney (WY) to issue a statement that the decision is “puzzling” and asking for more clarity.

Also Friday former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro was charged by federal prosecutors on contempt charges and arrested by the FBI before he could get on a plane to Nashville. 

This came three days after a Washington jury quickly acquitted attorney Michael Sussman of making a false statement to the FBI under Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation of the 2016 Trump-Russia “witch hunt.” Durham was appointed by Trump Attorney Gen. William Barr days before the 2020 presidential election to overturn the narrative on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence on Trump’s presidential election victory. 

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) reacted to all this with this in an appearance on Newsmax (per Newsweek): “If you’re a Republican you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to the FBI or they’ll come after you.”

--Todd Lassa

COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Payroll employment adds 390,000 jobs in May … Nonfarm payroll rose by 390,000 jobs in May, as the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 3.6%, giving the White House an economic counterpoint to the high inflation rate, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports Friday. 

•••

The power of the NRA … loomed over President Biden’s impassioned speech reacting to mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa Thursday evening, as he called for changes to the nation’s gun laws, including banning assault weapons and limiting high-capacity magazines. It would be a claw-back to the U.S. assault weapon ban of 1994-2004. But without skipping a beat and in conceding that Senate Democrats would find 10 Republicans to join them in passing such a ban Biden said he would settle for raising the minimum age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21. 

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee advanced a gun control bill combining eight individual laws into one Thursday. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) argued the bill would be the first step toward stricter gun laws. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will bring the bill to the full House next week.

From Tulsa: The 45-year-old man who police say shot four people including his doctor before shooting himself at St. Francis Hospital purchased a semi-automatic rifle about three hours before his attack Wednesday, The Washington Post reports.

--Todd Lassa

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(THU 6/2/22)

Gun debate begins … The House Judiciary Committee began debate Thursday on a bill that combines six gun control provisions into one, Roll Call reports, including:

•Increase the minimum age to buy some rifles.

•Limit magazine sizes.

•Codify regulations banning bump stops and ghost guns.

•Provide standards for safe gun storage.

“Do we have the courage, right here in this body, to imagine the phone call parents across Uvalde received last week?” said Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), whose 17-year-old son was killed by a gunman in 2012. “The phone call that confirms our fear, our singular fear, that my child is dead and I was unable to protect them? Because I know that phone call.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) counter-proposed more school security investments and repealing gun-free school zones, and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) argued the bill could “run afoul” of the Constitution, citing a federal appeals court ruling against a California law that sought to raise the minimum purchasing age for guns at 21, and the Supreme Court’s 2008 District of Columbia v. Hellerdecision that mentioned home gun storage. 

Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) plans to finish the bill’s markup by the time the full House returns from its Memorial Day week recess next week.

--TL

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The Latest

Nine days after the last mass shooting, which was 10 days after the one before that, four people plus the suspected shooter are dead at a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The suspect, who apparently shot himself, reportedly carried a handgun and a rifle, The Washington Post reports. As for that fatal shooting 18 days earlier of 10 Black people at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, suspect Payton Gedron, 18, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 25 counts including domestic terrorism and murder as a hate crime (WaPo).

The House Judiciary Committee, in a special session Thursday, is scheduled to vote on the Protect Our Kids Act Thursday, as a bipartisan group of Senators continues to work to try and get the 10 Republicans necessary to pass compromise legislation. The compromise legislation centers on background checks and “red flag” laws, per The Guardian. Ten Republican Senators – don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile, our latest commentary on gun violence, by Ken Zino, is in the left column. 

Join the conversation with an email to editors@thehustings.news, and list yourself as “left” or “right” in the subject line.

--TL

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...meanwhile... (WED 6/1/22)

More advanced rockets to Ukraine … The U.S. will send Ukraine long-range rockets that can more precisely strike Russian targets on the battlefield, President Biden writes in a guest essay for The New York Times. [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/opinion/biden-ukraine-strategy.html]

These new weapons come in addition to the $39.8 billion package approved by Congress last month. Germany also will send an advanced air defense system, the BBC reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been asking for such weaponry for weeks.

In his essay, “What America Will and Will Not Do in Ukraine” Biden wrote; “We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression.”

The U.S. will send rocket systems carried on a truck chassis that can precisely hit targets 40 miles in the distance, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. 

The U.S. does not “seek a war between NATO and Russia,” Biden wrote for the NYT. “As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow.”

Upshot: Despite Ukraine’s success in pushing Russian forces back from Kyiv, Russian forces have taken over most of Severodonetsk, The Washington Post reports, a key city in the Luhansk region. It’s another case of whether such powerful, precise weaponry will come in time to reverse Russia’s success in Ukraine’s eastern region.

•••

Disturbing RNC Election Day plan … Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla has uncovered disturbing Republican National Committee plans to take control of the November midterm elections. She has obtained video recordings of GOP operatives assembling a “disturbing multipronged network of party loyalists” with plans to disrupt the elections to gain an advantage in the elections consisting of…

•Poll workers adherent to 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories who are being trained to contest votes, especially in Democratic-heavy areas.

•GOP lawyers the above poll workers can quickly contact to document alleged voter fraud.

•”Party-friendly” district attorneys who can intervene to block vote counts in certain precincts.

•Installation of GOP loyalists on the Board of Canvassers, which is responsible for certifying the election.

Read Przbyla’s special report here: [https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/01/gop-contest-elections-tapes-00035758]

Note: According to Politico, a version of the anti-democratic plan “has been discussed for months by prominent Trump loyalists,” including Steve Bannon and Trump himself. Even if they are not chalking up wins in all the key primaries – see Georgia -- these authoritarian forces continue to run the Republican Party.

--Todd Lassa

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(TUE 5/31/22)

Orbån and Russian Oil … European Union leaders have agreed to ban 90% of Russian oil by the end of 2022, though the ban largely covers Russian oil brought in by sea, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Oil delivered via pipeline remains exempt.

It’s a sort of victory for Hungary’s authoritarian president, Viktor Orbån, the lone ally among 27 EU nations of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orbån, as we’ve noted before, is a critic of Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy, who is fighting Putin’s army to preserve his country’s democracy. A week before the NRA convention in Houston, Orbån hosted a CPAC meeting in Budapest.

•••

Handgun ban comes to Canada … Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal liberals in Ottawa have introduced Bill C-21, to freeze the import, sale and transfer of handguns, though current owners would be able to keep their guns, The Globe and Mail reports. Asked why not propose an absolute ban, Trudeau told a news conference that C-21 would provide “significant tools” to protect Canadians from gun violence.

“This is a concrete and real national measure that will go a long way to keeping Canadians safe,” he said.

Canada’s ongoing reaction to the killing of 22 people at the First United Church in Nova Scotia in 2020, its worst-ever mass shooting, is being compared with New Zealand’s strict gun laws enacted after the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.

Upshot: Canada has no equivalent of the Second Amendment, and its lingering issue will be how to stem the smuggling of guns from across the world’s longest international border. Less than two weeks after the Nova Scotia shootings, Trudeau’s government banned more than 1,500 models of assault weapons. 

•••

Meanwhile, back in the U.S. … Though the House and Senate are officially on recess this week, the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled Thursday to mark up a package of eight gun-control bills under the umbrella Protecting Our Kids Act, Punchbowl News scoops Tuesday. 

According to the scoop, the package would:

•Raise the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.

•Ban the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines (though grandfathering existing possession). 

•Require existing bump stocks be registered under the National Firearms Act and bar new manufacture for civilian use.

•Amend the definition of “ghost gun” to require background checks in all sales.

•Beef up federal criminal penalties for gun trafficking and ‘straw’ purchases.

•Establish new requirements for storing guns at home, including a tax credit for purchase of storage devices.

House Democrats need to argue out whether to bring the provisions to the floor individually or as a package, which they plan to do next week. 

Upshot: It’s all an exercise in futility because virtually no one inside the Beltway expects significant gun control has any chance of gaining the 10 necessary Republican votes in the Senate, despite some bi-partisan discussions in that chamber. Instead, Democrats hope to use Republicans’ opposition, along with the abortion issue, as a political weapon in the November midterms.

--Todd Lassa

_____________________________________

(Memorial Day 2022)

Democracy Under Threat?

Analysis by Todd Lassa

The National Rifle Association convention in Houston this Memorial Day weekend appears to have been something of a success. Yes, there were huge crowds protesting the members-only confab across the street from the convention center, but the NRA expected those anyway even before the tragic shooting by assault rifle of 19 children and two teachers, just 300 miles away in Uvalde. 

And several key headliners and entertainment acts cancelled their appearances at the convention, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) as well as ‘70s two-hit wonder Don McLean and Gatlin Brother Larry. This gave the former president, Donald J. Trump, the opportunity to tell his adoring audience; “Unlike some, I didn’t disappoint you by not showing up,” according to NBC News.

But it was something else Trump said that was even more disturbing, if slightly more subtle, than his reading off the names of the 21 Ulvade victims at the beginning of his speech – an introduction that recalls his holding up a bible at St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., during protests over the murder of George Floyd. 

It was not Trump’s solution that the federal government “should take back every penny of unused COVID relief” funds from the states to “quickly establish impenetrable security at ever school all over our land” that made us take notice. (After all, what second grader doesn’t want to go to a school that’s locked down every day like a prison?) 

It was Trump’s argument, “If the United States has $40 billion to send to Ukraine, we should be able to do whatever it takes to keep our children safe at home.”

This was subtle, for the ex-president at least, because he didn’t flatly suggest we stop giving Ukraine military and humanitarian aid in its fight for democracy against Vladimir Putin’s totalitarian plans for the country.

But you can see how this will become a major talking point for Tucker Carlson, if not throughout the Fox News broadcasting day. Already, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who called Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke “a sick son of a bitch” for interrupting Gov. Abbott’s press conference on the shootings last week, has echoed Trump’s mental health vs. aid to Ukraine aid argument.

This comes about a week after the Conservative Political Action conference held a meeting in Budapest, where Hungarian President Viktor Orbån has close ties to the Kremlin and has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an “opponent.” 

The upshot is there is already plenty of white nationalist support in this country for Putin. 

Is this just an over-panicky reaction? Just Trump being Trump, putting the interests of Americans ahead of everybody else? Or is it another warning sign that American democracy is under siege, that it’s preparation for coup’ attempt part II, coming to a voting booth near you in 2024?

As Tucker Carlson might say, “hey, just asking the question.”

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Arlington Cemetery pictured, for Memorial Day weekend.

Uvalde timeline … The big question carrying though the weekend is how long did it take police to enter the Robb Elementary classroom (or classrooms, one of the many confusing pieces) where an 18-year-old with an AR-15 shot 19 children and 2 teachers? Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) has asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate the timeline and take the lead in the case, Castro told NPR’s Morning Edition.

Evidence so far suggests it took police more than an hour to storm the classroom and kill the suspect, which of course flies in the face of NRA President Wayne LaPierre’s comment following the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012 that “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” (It is, sadly, the second time in May LaPierre’s statement was disproven – first being a Tops security guard’s attempt to shoot the Buffalo mass-killing suspect only to be killed himself). 

Singer-songwriter Don American Pie McLean was to have provided entertainment for the National Rifle Association convention Memorial Day weekend in Houston, but has cancelled, the Portland Press Herald (Maine) reports, as has Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who will attend a vigil in Uvalde, and address the NRA by video, instead -- and coincidentally, avoid protesters in Houston. 

Donald J. Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are still scheduled to attend. Cruz suggests the solution is to have one lockable door as an entrance to every school – gun safety trumps fire safety, apparently.

As for any Senate action on gun control, it’s Standard Operating Procedure, with Democrats struggling to find any Republicans, let alone the 10 needed for cloture on significant legislation. However, a bipartisan group of senators is trying to do just that, according to Roll Call; Find 60 votes in order to forward a “Red Flag” law to allow courts to order the temporary seizure of firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are leading the push, but are having trouble finding sufficient Republican support.

Assault rifle rationale: Of the many rationalizations of the need for legal assault rifles made this week, the one by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to VICE News political reporter Elizabeth Landers played on Twitter is getting a lot of attention: “Well, if you talk to the people who use it, killing feral pigs in … wherever … the middle of Louisiana, they wonder why would you take it away from them.”

•••

Relief for veterans … In a rare act of bipartisanship the Senate is expected to pass next month a comprehensive $200 billion bill to cover military veterans who have suffered toxic exposure from the Iraq War, Afghanistan, the Gulf War and Vietnam, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized some exposure to Agent Orange since it was identified in 1962 in Vietnam as the source of some service-connected illness in U.S. troops. But the Senate bill will be the largest expansion of authority at the VA, says Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough.

--Todd Lassa

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(THU 5/26/22)

Graph: Debt is expected to rise in relation to GDP over the next decade, mainly because of increasing interest costs and growth in spending for Medicare and Social Security.

No relief from inflation … The sort of high inflation we have been suffering over the last year or so will continue into next year, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office predicted in a report released Wednesday (hat tip to WaPo). The CBO projects a federal budget deficit of $1.0 trillion in 2022, down from $2.8 trillion in 2021, and the deficit continues to decrease into 2023, though turning to rise thereafter through 2032.

This is not good news for the White House’s stalled Build Back Better plan, which looks to go nowhere through the midterm elections anyway. 

The CBO projects that inflation persists at 4.0% through 2022 due to a combination of strong demand and restrained supply in the markets for goods, services and labor. As the Federal Reserve tightens the money supply and interest rates rise rapidly, the U.S. economy slows, with inflation-adjusted Gross Domestic Product up 3.1%. The unemployment rate remains at a very low 3.8%, the CBO projects.

The Fed is expected to announce half-point interest rate increases at each of its next two meetings, in June and July, NPR reports Thursday.

Upshot: The unemployment rate remains a bright spot for the White House and the GDP level is about normal, but inflation and tight credit will hurt the Democrats in the November midterms, piling on to gridlock in the second half of the Biden administration.

•••

This might test Pence’s loyalty … The House Select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has heard accounts of Donald J. Trump’s positive reaction to chants about hanging his vice president, Mike Pence, for refusing to overturn the Electoral Vote count, according to The New York Times. The report says that the lame duck president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on January 6 left the dining room off the Oval Office and told colleagues that Trump was complaining about television coverage of Pence being guided away to safety.

Upshot: Pence lately has been easing up on sycophancy to his former boss. Before Tuesday’s primaries he endorsed incumbent Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over Trump’s candidate, David Perdue (who lost to Kemp), and is exploring a run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, potentially against Trump himself. 

Trump chose Pence as his 2016 running mate to shore up the conservative evangelical vote. Those voters remain among Trump’s fiercest supporters – can Pence claim them back?

•••

Oz v. McCormick recount … As expected since the dust cleared from the May 17 Pennsylvania GOP primary race for U.S. Senate, ballots for celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick are headed for a recount, The Washington Post reports. As of Thursday, Oz leads McCormick by 947 out of 1.3 million votes, within the 0.5% difference threshold to trigger an automatic recount. 

A reminder that this primary race plays into the tally of Trump’s endorsement success. Oz is his man.

Counties are to recount their ballots by June 7 and inform acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman of the final results June 8.

•••

Anticipating SCOTUS … Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, has signed into law the nation’s strictest abortion law to date, outlawing all abortions from any point in a woman’s pregnancy, except in the case of incest or rape (The Guardian). The Supreme Court is expected to overturn Roe v. Wade before its current-year calendar concludes at the end of June.

--Edited by Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Texas: Rep. Henry Cuellar (pictured), a moderate counted as the only Democrat in the House who opposes abortion rights, held off a challenge by progressive Jessica Cisneros in the Texas primary runoff for the U.S. House 28^th District, 50.2% to 49.8%, Ballotpedia reports.

Minnesota: In primaries for a special election to replace Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-MN), who died in office February 17, Brad Finstad narrowly defeated Jeremy Munson in the GOP primary, MPR News reports, while Jeff Ettinger easily took the Democratic primary. The special general election is August 9, and the winner will have incumbent advantage in the midterms three months hence.

Georgia: Second-term 6^th House district Rep. Lucy McBath beat first-term 7^th House district Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, 62.6% to 31% in the Democratic primary for the redrawn 7^th District. McBath’s Republican opponent in November has not been determined as of Wednesday morning.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, who won a Georgia runoff against David Perdue in January 2021, easily won the Democratic primary to face Republican challenger and Trump ally Herschel Walker in November.

--TL/CD

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news