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Chance of a government shutdown grows [1]
['Leigh Ann Caldwell', 'Theodoric Meyer']
Date: 2023-08-22
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In today’s edition … Trump to surrender Thursday in Fulton County case... Congress goes back to school — literally... Raimondo heading to China... but first...
On the Hill
Chance of a government shutdown grows
We knew a government shutdown was possible.
But that possibility increased dramatically this week.
The far-right House Freedom Caucus escalated the stakes Monday by releasing a list of demands to support a short-term, stopgap funding bill that will likely be needed to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
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Neither chamber is close to finishing its annual appropriations work, let alone striking a deal on what the final spending bills should look like, so the extra time will almost certainly be needed.
But providing that time is proving to be another source of tension among House Republicans.
A conference divided
Before supporting a continuing resolution (CR), the Freedom Caucus is demanding the legislation include:
A House-passed border security bill;
A way to “address the unprecedented weaponization” of the Justice Department and the FBI; and
Provisions that would put an “end” to the “woke polices in the Pentagon.”
The group didn’t specify how to address Justice Department “weaponization” or how to end “woke policies” in the military.
CRs generally extend existing funding levels and are usually free of such big policy provisions, but the group is seeking to leverage House Republicans’ razor thin majority to force a shutdown showdown right from the start.
The group’s escalatory and “unrealistic” tactics are becoming an increasing source of frustration for some of their GOP colleagues.
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Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a centrist Republican from a swing district, told The Early that the Freedom Caucus is making “unrealistic demands that never have a chance in the Senate nor with President Biden.”
“The voters want to see reduced deficits but also common sense and good government,” Bacon added, suggesting that Republicans might soon need to stop trying to pass bills with Republican votes only.
One of the Freedom Caucus’s own members, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), said in an interview that he didn’t support the group’s move. (The group needs support from an overwhelming majority of its members to take an official position.)
“They’ve locked themselves into not voting for the CR if those things aren’t met,” Buck said, adding that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) might need to start looking for Democratic votes.
Buck, who often votes against CRs, said the Freedom Caucus should be focusing its efforts on reducing the top-line spending amount.
He said he told his colleagues that using every spending fight to change policy is far less effective than working to elect a Republican president.
“I don't think a government shutdown is going to advance those goals,” Buck said.
McCarthy’s dilemma
But with more than four dozen HFC members and only a four seat Republican majority, McCarthy has yet another challenge on his hands.
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He could turn to Democrats to support a CR, which would provide overwhelming support for a short funding extension.
But when McCarthy did that to pass legislation lifting the debt limit earlier this year, some far-right revolted and blocked all action in the House for one week. Do it again and HFC members could make bigger problems for the speaker.
McCarthy is working to convince his colleagues that a CR is a simple tool and not where the spending fight should happen and that they should seek to change policy and funding priorities in the appropriations process.
“As the Speaker told the conference last week, we don’t support any kind of play to jam against the holidays that would allow Senate Democrats to gain leverage, an omnibus, or a long-term continuing resolution that would lock in Democrat priorities,” McCarthy spokesperson Mark Bednar told The Early.
Democratic support?
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said Democrats will help Democrats pass a CR if it doesn't include any new Republican policy changes.
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“We'll evaluate what legislative proposal is put before us by Speaker McCarthy ,” he told reporters in California late last week. “What we will not do is agree to extreme ransom demands.”
There is no chance the Democratic-led Senate will accept the Freedom Caucus' demands.
“The only way we’re going to avoid a government shutdown is by bipartisan support in both Houses. You cannot keep the government open if you just want to do it with one party. It just won’t work the way our government is structured,” Schumer told reporters last week.
Thanks to Marianna Sotomayor for her help reporting.
From the courts
Trump to surrender Thursday in Fulton County case — and probably swallow any news of GOP debate
Mark your calendar: Former president Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, Monday evening that he plans to travel to Atlanta on Thursday where he will surrender at the Fulton County Jail for processing — more than a week after being indicted on a charge of criminally conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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His surrender will also come a day after the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential cycle. By turning himself in to Fulton County authorities on Thursday, Trump is likely to dominate the news cycle the day after the debate at a time when his GOP challengers are trying to find any way to break through the tsunami of news the former president generates and catch the attention of voters. Maybe next time.
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Trump and his 18 co-defendants have until noon on Friday to surrender.
Trump will be released on a $200,000 bond with these conditions:
“The former president is not allowed to communicate with witnesses or co-defendants about the case, except through his lawyers, and he is barred from intimidating witnesses or co-defendants,” communicate with witnesses or co-defendants about the case, except through his lawyers, and he is barred from intimidating witnesses or co-defendants,” our colleague Holly Bailey reports . “He is also forbidden from making any ‘direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community,’ including in ‘posts on social media or reposts of posts’ by others on social media.”
But experts told our colleagues Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu and Isaac Arnsdorf enforcing these requirements “will be a tricky — perhaps impossible — task, especially in a criminal prosecution in which politicians or their aides are the alleged perpetrators, witnesses and victims, and the defendant is running for president.”
On the Hill
Congress goes back to school — literally
It’s not just voting, campaigning and fundraising. Some members of Congress are going back to school.
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For the past three years, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that funds the Department of Homeland Security has been taking night classes at what is considered to be the “Home of Thought” for the U.S. Navy.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) is in his third and final year of night classes at the U.S. Naval War College where he is pursuing a master’s degree in defense and strategic studies.
Cuellar, who is also a member of the House appropriations subcommittee on defense, called the program “rigorous but enjoyable” and noted that the curriculum has helped him with his work on the defense subcommittee.
“Upon completion of his degree, Congressman Cuellar will be the first Congressional Representative to start and graduate from the program while serving as Member of Congress,” his office said in a statement.
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Rep Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) (R-Fla.) earned a master’s degree in defense and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College in 2018 — three years before she was elected to office.)
There is a history of lawmakers going back to school for graduate education. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is pursuing a master’s degree in artificial intelligence at George Mason University. Earlier this month, hundreds of congressional aides attended a three-day boot camp on the pros and cons of AI at Stanford University.
Cuellar said he isn’t the only lawmaker taking classes at the Naval War College.
Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Jake LaTurner (Kan.) are now enrolled in the program, according to Cuellar.
Stefanik and LaTurner did not respond to requests for comment.
School ties
Cuellar, who calls himself “the Naval War College’s Congressional recruiter,” told us the three would discuss the graduate program on the House floor. Cuellar pressed LaTurner to look into the program, while Stefanik, who had heard about it before, would ask Cuellar questions about his experience, Cuellar’s office said.
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It’s unclear why Stefanik and LaTurner are taking classes at the U.S. Naval War College, but their committee assignments offer some clues.
Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and three of its subcommittees: intelligence and special operations; military personnel and strategic forces. She represents the 21st Congressional District which is home to the Fort Drum military reservation and the 10th Mountain Division
Meanwhile, LaTurner is a member of the House Oversight subcommittee that oversees national security, U.S. borders and foreign affairs. He is also a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department and several international programs and agencies, including the Agency for International Development.
Lawmakers may find the program worthwhile because it “expands critical and creative thinking and develops problem-solving skills as they pertain to decision-making and leadership in the maritime domain,” a Navy spokesperson told us.
About the program
The U.S. Naval War College’s graduate degree program is only open to students who are currently enrolled in or have graduated from the military academy’s fleet seminar program for distance learners. Active duty or reserve officers in the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, as well as federal employees and congressional staffers can apply.
Of the total 877 students enrolled in the fleet seminar program, just three are members of Congress, the Navy spokesperson said. The courses offered through this program are free of charge, they added.
Students meet once week for three hours, from the first week of September until the third week of May. Students who live in the Washington metro area can attend classes at six locations, including Capitol Hill, the Government Accountability Office and the Pentagon.
The three core courses — Strategy and War, Theater Security Decision Making and Joint Maritime Operations — are designed to develop decision-making and leadership skills, per the program’s website.
In the agencies
Raimondo heading to China
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will take her first trip to China next week since joining the Biden administration where she'll meet with government officials and business leaders.
Her trip comes as the United States is working to stabilize its relationship with China amid growing tensions over Taiwan, an expanded U.S. domestic microchip manufacturing industry and export controls.
“Raimondo looks forward to constructive discussions on issues relating to the U.S.- China commercial relationship, challenges faced by U.S. businesses, and areas for potential cooperation,” a statement from the Commerce Department said.
President Biden met with President Xi Jinping nine months ago and Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in China in June and Climate Envoy John F. Kerry met with Chinese officials in July.
Raimondo will visit Beijing and Shanghai from Aug. 27-30.
The Media
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Happy #TakemebackTuesday:
Martin Luther King writes to supporters from Fulton County Jail, Georgia, October 1960: pic.twitter.com/yjffEjJx8z — Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) August 22, 2023
Thanks for reading. You can also follow us on Twitter: @LACaldwellDC and @theodoricmeyer.
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