The economy slowed to a 1.1% GDP annual growth rate, the Commerce Department reported this week, off from +2.6% annually for the fourth quarter of 2022. Are we entering a recession?
Russia Strikes Central Ukraine – At least 17 Ukrainian civilians, including three children, were killed when two Russian missiles hit an apartment building in Uman, AP reports. Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at central and eastern Ukraine early Friday.
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Pence Speaks to Grand Jury – Former Vice President Mike Pence has been reluctant to speak out against his former boss, even as the ex-veep ponders a run against Donald J. Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. But on Thursday, he appeared before a federal grand jury investigating ex-President Trump’s actions leading up to the January 6th Capitol insurrection. Trump had tried to block Pence, who refused the former president’s demands to overturn the election on January 6, from testifying about potential illegal actions.
Pence “spent hours” before the panel in Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reports, after Trump tried to block the ex-veep from testifying about any potential illegal acts.
Irony Alert: One floor above the grand jury room in Washington federal court where Pence appeared, six leaders of the Proud Boys (“Stand back and stand by,” Trump advised them in the first 2020 presidential debate) were standing trial for their alleged involvement in the January 6th insurrection, according to NBC News.
Meanwhile, in New York: E. Jean Carroll “sparred” with Trump attorney Joe Tacopina in the second day of the trial of her civil lawsuit against the former president, in which she says that in the mid-1990s Trump raped her in a clothing store dressing room in Manhattan (WaPo).
Reminder: Trump remains leader of the GOP eight years after he descended the golden escalator.
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Not if DeSantis Can Help It – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues his pre-presidential-campaign campaign to grab support from the former president. After a stop in Japan that launched his multi-country tour “to foster economic relationships with Florida” – it is a small world, after all – DeSantis landed in Israel Wednesday, where he touted his advocacy of relocating the U.S. embassy there to Jerusalem and recognizing it as the nation’s capital, Semafor reports. Trump had counted the relocation in 2018 during the 70th anniversary of Israel as one of his key international policy victories.
DeSantis told a Celebrate the Faces of Israel event in Jerusalem this week he has been “an outspoken proponent and advocate of relocating our embassy” and felt he had played a “key role” in its move while he was serving in the U.S. Congress.
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THURSDAY 4/27/23
GDP Cools to +1.1% – Real gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 1.1% for the first quarter of 2023, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, primarily reflecting “an increase in consumer spending that was partially offset by a decrease in inventory investment.” The GDP increase is off from a healthier 2.6% annual increase in the fourth quarter of 2022, though reflects the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow inflation with constant interest rate increases. The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ second estimate of Q1 GDP is due May 25.
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McCarthy Wins Round 1 on Debt Ceiling – House Republicans pushed through Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) bill to cut the deficit by nearly $4.8 trillion in exchange for a $1.5-trillion debt-limit increase (per Roll Call). The bill passed with no votes to spare – 217 of 222 Republicans to 215 Democrats, after the bill restored ethanol tax credits to appease members from the Midwest.
The four Republican “no” votes were not Problem Solvers Caucus members, but instead hard-right and MAGA Republicans who want deeper deficit reductions. They are Tim Burchett (TN), Matt Gaetz (FL), Ken Buck (CO) and Andy Biggs (AZ). One holdout who ultimately voted for the bill, South Carolina’s Nancy Mace, is calling for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
Provisions of the bill, according to Roll Call:
•A $1.5-trillion debt-ceiling hike in exchange for $1.47 trillion of discretionary spending cuts for the next decade, with an increase cap of 1% annually.
•Repeal of most energy tax credit priorities for climate grant fund provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act passed by a Democratic Congress last year, plus return of unspent COVID-19 relief funds.
•Cancellation of the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program.
•Expansion of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and new rules for Medicaid beneficiaries.
•Overhaul of infrastructure permitting and other energy-related laws and regulations to spur domestic production, mostly of fossil fuels.
The thin-Democratic-majority Senate will not consider the bill, and Biden repeatedly has said he will not negotiate for the debt ceiling increase, that an increase must come in a “clean” bill.
Note: Yes, it has been repeated many times: The debt ceiling must be raised to pay federal spending already approved or it will probably tank the global economy, and Democrats voted with Republicans to raise the limit during the Trump administration. This is coming down to Republican House members attempting to put a stop to the Biden administration’s work to reverse 40-plus years of “trickle-down” Reaganomics, which had reversed about 48 years of FDR’s New Deal.
Meanwhile, at the White House: The White House held a ceremony Wednesday with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to cement U.S. commitment to supporting the Asian country in the region. After the meeting between Biden and Yoon, the White House announced the U.S. will send initially unarmed nuclear submarines to South Korea (per NPR).
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Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It’s Off to Court We Go – The Walt Disney Company filed suit against Florida’s Republican governor and presidential-candidate-in-waiting Ron DeSantis, saying the company has been subjected to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation,” The Guardian reports. Disney filed suit “within minutes” of a DeSantis-appointed oversight board voted to override agreements made in February to allow Disney to expand its World and maintain control over land neighboring the Happiest Place on Earth.
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...meanwhile...
WEDNESDAY 4/26/23
Republicans Wobble on Debt-Limit Bill – GOP House leaders agreed after 2 a.m. Wednesday to restore biofuel/ethanol tax credits to regain support from Midwestern lawmakers and to speed up expanded work requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid programs in an effort to shore up the Republican votes necessary to raise the debt ceiling, according to CQ Roll Call. President Biden has repeatedly rejected Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) demand for steep budget cuts in exchange for the debt-ceiling increase, and the bill would certainly be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate.
A House vote on the Republican package was expected as early as Wednesday.
Republican leaders’ change to the debt limit bill came after Midwestern Congress members rejected cuts to the biofuel credits, The Hill reported, which are part of Democrats’ 2022 climate and health care budget reconciliation package.
The GOP needs 218 of its 222 House members to pass the debt limit package.
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..meanwhile...
TUESDAY 4/25/23
Biden Announces Re-Election Run -- President Joe Biden made it official Tuesday morning with a slickly produced 3:04-minute video announcing his 2024 re-election bid. It begins with images of January 6 and warns the opposition party wants to cut Social Security and taxes for the wealthy, has taken women's reproductive rights, has banned books "while telling people who to love" and is trying to take away voting rights. Biden's single Supreme Court appointee so far, Ketanji Brown Jackson, also gets a few prominent scenes. You can see the video at joebiden.com.
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Fulton County Indictments Coming July 11-September 1 – Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will issue indictments from her investigation of former President Trump’s alleged tampering with Georgia’s 2020 Electoral College vote between July 11 and September 1. Willis outlined her deadlines in a letter to a “top local law official,” says The New York Times. Willis earlier had outlined a more aggressive schedule, but her timetable was delayed when a number of local witnesses sought to cooperate in her investigation near its end.
Also, local law officials needed more time to prepare for potential security threats, according to NYT. On top of all that, Willis last week filed a motion to remove an attorney representing 10 Republicans who were part of a slate of fake electors who had sought to turn over Georgia’s Electoral College vote.
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Meanwhile, This Week
MONDAY 4/24/23
Rice Out as White House Domestic Policy Advisor – Susan Rice is stepping down in May as the White House senior domestic policy advisor, NBC News reports. Rice has overseen some of the most polarizing issues for the Biden administration, including gun control, student loan relief and immigration, The New York Times notes. Last week, the NYT reported that Rice’s team was warned in 2021 of migrant children working alongside their sponsors in the U.S., a sign of human trafficking, and did not take sufficient action. The White House disputes that Rice was aware of the warning.
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WaPo: U.S. Dissuaded Kyiv Plans to Attack Moscow – U.S. intelligence dissuaded Major Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate the HUR, from plans to attack Moscow just two days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to an exclusive report by The Washington Post Monday. WaPo quotes a classified report by the U.S. National Security Agency revealed in the Discord Leaks, allegedly by 21-year-old National Guard member Jack Teixeira, that Budanov instructed his officers “to get ready for mass strikes on 24 February … with everything the HUR had.”
On February 22, 2023, two days before the anniversary, the CIA issued a new classified report that HUR “had agreed, at Washington’s request, to postpone strikes” on Moscow.
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Proposal Would Limit Power Plant Emissions – Fewer than 20 of the U.S.’s 3,400 coal and gas-fed power plants currently use carbon capture technology to reduce greenhouse gases. Those remaining power plants would be compelled to adapt the technology in a new rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, The New York Times reports. The White House is poised to propose the rule after review is completed by its Office of Management and Budget. The fossil fuel industry, power plant operators and allies in Congress are sure to oppose the rule, NYT reports.
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Poll: Majority, Including Republicans, Oppose Medical Abortion Ban – A majority of Americans, 64% – including 57% of Republicans -- say they oppose laws that ban medical abortions, according to an NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist National Poll released Monday. This follows last Friday’s 7-2 Supreme Court decision to keep in place for now the FDA’s approval of such a medication, mifepristone.
Earlier, a federal judge in Texas overturned the FDA’s 23-year-old finding that the drug was safe for use in medicated abortions and for miscarriages. The poll finds that 61% do not think a federal judge should be able to overturn the FDA’s approval of a prescription drug, while 36% believe a judge should have that power. Those in the “do not think” column includes 75% of Democrats, 62% of independents and 45% of Republicans.
Only 37% of Americans have confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, with 15% saying they have a “great deal,” and 22% “quite a lot” of confidence, the poll finds.
Meanwhile: Declared 2024 presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and undeclared candidate Mike Pence touted the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned Roe v. Wade, at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Des Moines, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) was there, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and declared candidate Nikki Haley were not.
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Jury Selection Begins – The federal trial of Robert Gregory Bowers, accused in the killing of 11 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh begins with jury selection Monday, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. An AR-15 and three pistols were used October 27, 2018 in what is considered the worst attack on the Jewish faith in U.S. history.
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Up on the Hill – Both the full Senate and full House of Representatives are in-session Tuesday through Friday.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa
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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news