WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Former acting Defense Sec. Christopher Miller and former acting Attorney Gen. Jeffrey Rosen testify today before the House Oversight Committee about federal response to the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection. Miller will tell the committee he was concerned that sending troops to the Capitol could “fan the flames” of a military coup and repeat the National Guard response to student protests at Kent State University in 1970.
Used Cars and Trucks Lead Biggest Inflation Since 2008 – The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2% for the 12-month period ending in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday morning. This marked the largest 12-month CPI increase since a 4.9% hike for the 12-month period ending September 2008, the BLS says. The CPI-U, for all urban consumers, was up 0.8% in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with an 0.6% increase in March.
Used cars and trucks led price increases. That index was up 10.0% in April, the largest one-month increase since the series began in 1953, the BLS says, and accounts for more than one-third the seasonally adjusted all-items increase. The Food Index was up 0.4% in April, and the energy decreased slightly. All consumer items less food and energy rose 4.2% for the 12 months ending in April, the BLS says.
Note: Republicans will use this jump in inflation as a cudgel against President Biden’s $2.3-trillion infrastructure package, as negotiations with leaders of both parties in the House and Senate meet with the president at the White House today. You may have noticed that the April 12-month inflation rate was highest since September 2008, when the country was on the precipice of The Great Recession. The year after that, the Obama administration responded with its $800-billion stimulus package, which coincidentally is about equal to the Republicans’ current infrastructure counter-offer, not adjusted for inflation. Biden’s bigger-than-life package is in part a response to criticism that the Obama stimulus bill was not big enough and resulted in slow but steady growth leading up to the Trump administration. It’s the economic cycle of life.
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Truth & Consequences – Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, was ousted as the Republican House Committee chairwoman Wednesday morning, by voice vote The Hill reports, meaning there will be no tally of the colleagues who supported her, versus former President Trump.
In her remarks following the ouster vote, Cheney said she would do everything she can to assure that Donald Trump doesn’t get anywhere near the Oval Office again, the BBC reports. Tuesday night, Cheney said on a near-empty House floor: “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”
It is unclear whether the GOP caucus will also vote by this week on Cheney’s replacement as chair of the Republican House Committee. The lead candidate is Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who is considered far less traditionally conservative than Cheney, though she has the endorsement from the Office of the Former President in Mar-a-Lago.
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Don McGahn to Testify? — The hearing for COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APPELLEE v. DONALD F. MCGAHN, II is likely not to be heard next week, as lawyers for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and the Justice Department have reached an agreement with McGahn about how the subpoena provided the former White House counsel during the Trump Administration, in 2019, will be handled, The Washington Postreports. Or more to the point, McGahn will testify on the Hill regarding issues related to the Mueller probe and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Note — There are several things to unpack here. Certainly, there must be some concern about the separation of powers: No one wants Congress to be able to subpoena those in the executive branch willy-nilly. That said, there was certainly a pattern among many in the Trump Administration to treat subpoenas like the fliers you might find under a windshield wiper blade announcing a chimney repair service or a new coney dog restaurant when you’re parked at a Walmart. Funny thing: While there was substantiated interference with the 2016 election, there was little in the way of apoplectic Republicans responding to that.
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NRA Denied Bankruptcy, Faces Potential Dissolution – A federal court judge has denied the National Rifle Association a bankruptcy filing that would move the organization from New York to Texas, saying the gun rights advocacy group did not file in “good faith,” NPR reports. The ruling means the New York Attorney General’s office will continue its investigation into the non-profit NRA’s misuse of resources under President Wayne LaPierre, who remains the group’s chief after nearly 30 years, and that it may face dissolution.
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Arizona Governor Signs Bill Cutting Early Voting Lists – Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed SB 1485, a bill that converts the state’s “permanent early voting list” to an “active early voting list.” The new law removes voters from the early voting list if they do not vote early at least once in a primary, general or municipal election during two consecutive cycles. Election officials must send such voters a notice they are going to be removed from the early rolls, and those voters have 90 days to respond to remain on the list. Registered voters remain on the rolls however, and the bill does not prevent voting in person.
Note: SB 1485 would seem to potentially affect as many Republican voters in the state as Democratic voters. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash
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TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2021
The Hustings is now on Substack. Go to thehustings.substack.com … and if you’re reading this on Substack, please go to https:/thehustings.news to read our latest debate, on everything you need to know about the return of Congressional earmarks.
Pelosi Pushes on January 6 Commission – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has “deputized” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS, to lead negotiations with Republicans in establishing a January 6 commission to study the MAGA-backed insurgency on Capitol Hill, Punchbowl News reports. Thompson will work with the GOP’s designated point person, Rep. John Katko of New York, as House Republicans are otherwise distracted by their own efforts to replace Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming with Elise Stefanik of New York as conference chairman over their reactions to the very same insurgency.
Katko and Cheney are two of 10 House Republicans who voted with Democrats in late January to impeach former President Trump over inspiring insurgents with the “Big Lie” to attack Capitol Hill.
Note: For what was supposed to be an obvious agreement among the two parties to hold a “September 11 attack-style” investigation, Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, have turned it into one of those “whatabout?” pivots, equating last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests across the country with the MAGA-hatted attempt to overturn the election of President Biden.
Whatabout GOP Cancel Culture? – Turning on its ear a charge that conservatives usually aim at Democrats, Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa, the only woman on the Senate leadership team for her party, compared the House GOP’s impending ouster of Cheney expected Wednesday to “cancel culture” and argued the party should be unifying ahead of 2022, The Hill reports.
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DarkSide Pipeline Attack Was Extortion – Federal investigators say all indications so far are that Eastern Europe-based DarkSide’s cyberattack was a “simple act of extortion,” The New York Times reports. President Biden said Monday that the U.S. will “disrupt and prosecute” the group for its attack last weekend on the pipeline that Alpharetta, Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline operates, which provides some 45% of petroleum and jet fuel to the East Coast. The FBI has formally blamed DarkSide for the attack, while suspecting no connection between the criminal group and the Kremlin. A portion of the pipeline already is up and running, NPR says.
Note: Already, criticism has emerged that so much of the East Coast’s fuel supply relies on one pipeline, although AAA told NPR that gas prices could rise 3-6 cents per gallon this week, a fairly modest increase considering the pipeline’s importance. The disruption also bolsters Biden’s infrastructure proposal, although to Republican opposition, only adds the need for more robust, secure broadband Internet connectivity to roads and bridges.
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Biden Administration Touts ACA Sign-Ups – One million Americans have signed up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act during special 2021 enrollment that commenced in February and extends to August 15, the Biden administration has announced. Enrollment is available at healthcare.gov.
The White House also has opened the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 15. The vaccine already was available to those 16 and older.
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California Racks Up Budget Surplus – The State of California is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with an eye-popping $75.7 billion budget surplus, Politico says, which Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to return to taxpayers as a rebate ahead of a recall election this year. The surplus, coming as other states face deficits after a year of economic shutdowns, is a key argument against President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, says Sen. Mitt Romney, R-UT. The most high-profile Republican candidates looking to unseat Newsom in the recall include Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympic athlete-turned-reality TV star, Kevin Faulconer, former mayor of San Diego, and John Cox, who lost the state’s 2018 gubernatorial election to Newsom.
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China Influencing U.S. — In 2016, Chinese foreign agent spending as part of “its efforts to sow discord and disinformation in the U.S.” totaled $10 million. In 2020, that number had surged to reach nearly $64 million, according to Axios. Last week, the site reports, Xinhua, the Chinese news service, filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act — a good thing — but as “an independent legal entity” when, as Axios reports, it is “owned by the Chinese government, run by senior Communist Party officials and widely seen as a Beijing mouthpiece.” Not a good thing.
Note — After the evident success that the Russians have had vis-à-vis sowing disinformation at the previously highest levels of government in the U.S., to say nothing of the trolls that managed, in part, to convince MAGA zealots of things like “the election was stolen,” why wouldn’t the Chinese do their bit?
Vatican Warns American Bishops on Biden Rebuke – The Vatican has warned the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to “deliberate carefully and minimize divisions” when they meet to discuss a rebuke of American Roman Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights, Politico reports. Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, told Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference, they should seek unanimous support for any censure of American politicians, potentially including President Biden, and should extend any such rebuke to all churchgoing Catholics. – Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods
MONDAY, MAY 10, 2021
Our pundit from The Villages in Florida, Jim McCraw, comments on the “America First” rally held in his community, in the left column, while a reader comments on our home page debate on Congressional earmarks, in the right column.
McConnell: Up to $800-billion in Infrastructure Paid by Gas Tax Increase – Republican wiggle-room on President Biden’s $2.3-billion American Jobs Act is between $600 billion and $800 billion total, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, told Kentucky public television in an interview broadcast last weekend. He cited Shelley Moore Caputo’s, R-WV, proposed $800-billion infrastructure bill. Caputo will discuss her counter-proposal with Biden in a White House meeting Thursday, Punchbowl News reports – the day after the president meets with the Senate and House leaders of both parties. Caputo’s Republican infrastructure plan strips away all of what McConnell calls “liberal daydream” proposals of the American Jobs Act.
The biggest gulf between the two parties is how to pay for infrastructure programs, whether limited to $800 billion, or not. Republicans will not support Biden’s proposed rollback of the Trump administration’s 2017 tax bill, which among other business-friendly provisions, reduced the corporate tax rate to 21% (Biden wants to restore the 28% rate established during the Bush 43 administration).
“That’s not going to get any support in my caucus, from Susan Collins to Ted Cruz,” McConnell told KET TV’s Connections.“And they don’t have a huge margin to play with,” he added, referring to Sen. Joseph Manchin III’s, D-WV, reluctance to consider the Biden package. The best way to pay for infrastructure, McConnell says, is to use a tax provision the federal government already has; the gas tax. That is a big change for Republicans, who for decades have resisted any consideration of a federal gas tax hike. It has been stuck at 18.4-cents per gallon since 1993.
Note: It appears that to attempt “unity,” the Biden White House will have to accept a bridges-and-roads-only infrastructure package close to Republicans’ limit of roughly a third of the American Jobs Act. The remaining $1.5-trillion or so of Biden’s proposal may be reconstructed into a separate package passed via filibuster-proof reconciliation, whose fate once again will rest with Sen. Manchin.
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Speaking of Gas Taxes – The nationwide average price of regular unleaded gasoline has gone up by 6 cents per gallon, to $3.02 according to the Lundberg report, a small increase so far, after a cyberattack Saturday struck a pipeline that supplies 45% of the Eastern U.S.’s petroleum supply. Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline is in the process of restoring some of its IT systems, as the Department of Energy coordinates the federal response to the attack, according to the AP, which cited sources as saying it appears a criminal gang known as DarkSide is responsible. Colonial Pipeline has not revealed whether a ransom was demanded or paid. DarkSide thrives on a “Robin Hood” image of holding big business hostage and distributing a share of its ransom to charity.
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McCarthy Makes it Official – Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California replied with an anti-climactic “Yes, I do,” when Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked whether he officially backs New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s bid to replace Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference Committee. The House Republican caucus is expected to vote on whether to remove Cheney from the post this week.
Note: This leaves Cheney about 17 months to organize what’s left of never-Trumpers in the GOP to fight off the former president’s choices to defeat them in the primaries. It will be a bumpy, so far unpredictable year-and-a-half.
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Putin Shows Off Military — On May 9, 1945, the Soviet government announced victory against the Nazis. “Victory Day” was celebrated once again yesterday in Moscow as it is annually, with more than 12,000 troops, 76 fighter jets and helicopters, and 190 weapons including the MSTA-S self-propelled howitzer, the RS-24 Yars ballistic missile and the T-34 tank, according to The Washington Post.
Note: Although Donald Trump seemed to have thought that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was his pal — someone more forthright than, say, the U.S. intelligence community — this annual event in Red Square should be a cautionary reminder. You may recall that in July 2017 Trump saw a similar Bastille Day celebration in Paris and wanted to have one in Washington. As presidential historian Douglas Brinkley told The Washington Post in January 2018 about the proposed Trumpian parade, “It smacks of something you see in a totalitarian country — unless there is a genuine, earnest reason to be doing it.” Which put the ball in the then-administration’s court.
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Obit: Pierre DuPont IV – Pierre “Pete” DuPont IV, who briefly ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, died Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware, at age 86. A scion of the chemical giant DuPont’s founder, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware in 1970 and served three terms, until he was elected governor of the state in 1976. In 1980, DuPont became the first incumbent governor in 20 years to be re-elected to a second term. Term-limited, DuPont briefly ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, which was clinched by George H.W. Bush. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash