The Archive

THE SENATE

Will the Senate GOP use supplemental to force a border security debate?

Congress’ ability to fund key national security priorities could hinge on clinching even a modest deal to address one of the most vexing political challenges in the last 50 years.

A key portion of President Joe Biden’s emergency funding request is dedicated to addressing the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, a decades-long problem that several generations of presidents and Hill leaders have failed to resolve.

Democrats reason that including funding to reduce illegal migrant crossings and stop the flow of deadly fentanyl through the border could help convince skeptical Republicans to back the overall package, which includes tens of billions of dollars in aid for Israel and Ukraine.

But GOP lawmakers in both chambers are already panning the idea of combining Israel and Ukraine aid into one bill, so the border provisions could come under even more scrutiny.

And Republicans will have tremendous leverage to demand more than just extra funding to beef up the border.

“This is a time for American strength, not just more money,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the GOP Conference chair. “That means a real change in strategy and policy when it comes to dealing with terrorists and lawless American borders.”

Democrats argue that a supplemental funding request — which, by its nature, carries urgency — isn’t the place to force broader policy debates, especially ones as complicated as immigration reform.

“It depends on whether Republicans are on board with doing an actual supplemental or whether they think this is a rider to settle all sorts of policy grievances,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “It’s just not clear to me that Republicans are serious about sticking to the numbers instead of layering a lot of additional policy on there.”

The risk here for Republicans is that they’d be standing in the way of priorities that nearly all of them support, such as new military assistance for Israel and Taiwan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have already endorsed the idea of tying the issues together into one package, so this is the direction the Senate will go in.

But McConnell has also said that the border provisions must be “serious” and “credible.” When Senate leaders craft a bipartisan funding bill based on Biden’s $100 billion-plus request, McConnell will have a major say in what that looks like — including the border provisions.

Recent history suggests that attempting to find something resembling a grand bargain on border and immigration policies won’t happen.

Just a few weeks ago, a group of Senate Republicans worked with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) to craft an amendment to the stopgap funding bill to address problems at the border. The hope was this would convince hardline Republicans to back the underlying funding bill.

This proved to be a fruitless effort. Not only did Congress go a completely different direction with the stopgap package, but the Senate group never came up with border policy changes that could pass both chambers — even amid mounting bipartisan frustration at Biden’s handling of the border.

The surest way to mitigate the crisis at the border as quickly as possible, Democrats argue, is a funding patch.

“The border is always difficult,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told us. “There’s a lot of debate about what some of the policies are, and that’s a fair debate. But it’s unlikely in the supplemental that there will be a lot of room to address that. And you do need security [at the border].”

— Andrew Desiderio

The House Financial Services Committee is back in business

The House Financial Services Committee will host its first hearings since September starting today — even with Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) a bit wrapped up with other stuff these days.

We’ll see a flurry of hearings in the next few days courtesy of the panel’s subcommittees on oversight, national security, financial technology and insurance. Topics will include new sanctions targeting Iran and Hamas and regulatory regimes for novel products and fintech partnerships.

House Republican lawmakers told us the activity shows that the Financial Services Committee is chugging along even as McHenry goes into Day 21 as speaker pro tem.

“Business as usual,” Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said.

But the big question hanging over HFSC these days is what will happen inside the panel if McHenry finds himself formally elected as speaker pro tem, even for just a few months.

Sources in McHenry’s orbit say the North Carolina Republican doesn’t want to abandon the chairmanship. But there’s little doubt being elected to speaker pro tem would take up a profound amount of McHenry’s time.

“We have a strong group of subcommittee chairs,” Hill said. “We have a strong, clear agenda and plan. All these decisions about the committee and its leadership are really in Patrick’s hands.”

Hill is the committee’s vice chair, and this wouldn’t be the first time the Arkansas Republican has stepped up to run the committee’s affairs. Sources close to the committee say Hill helped the panel stay on track while McHenry was consumed by excruciating negotiations over the debt limit back in May.

Most GOP lawmakers on the committee really don’t want to touch the leadership question. “It’s a hypothetical right now,” Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) said. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) told us the point was “moot.” Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said: “Everybody’s getting way over their skis on this.”

If McHenry does step back, we don’t expect much disruption. Hill is about as closely aligned with McHenry as two lawmakers can be on financial policy.

Even some Democrats on the committee sounded upbeat when we asked about the potential shift.

“The way the committee works has been bipartisan enough that there will be sufficient trust to go through and keep the committee functioning,” Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) said.

The more pressing problem will be finding a speaker.

“We just have to get this thing settled, because we don’t even know what kind of legislation might be brought up on the floor,” Foster said.

Meanwhile at the Federal Reserve: Agency officials will unveil the final version of a proposal to reform the Community Reinvestment Act this morning. Then, on Thursday, the Fed will unveil a proposal changing how banks charge fees on debit card transactions. Both are big deals that we’ll be following as the week progresses.

— Brendan Pedersen

FUTURE OF …

The race is on to sway cybersecurity policy, including through television and online ads and intense lobbying efforts.

In the latest edition of The Future of Cybersecurity series, we examine how the issue is getting amplified on K Street, in the states and in the tech world.

Mega tech companies including Meta, Amazon, Oracle, Google and others have poured tens of millions of dollars in recent months into lobbying Congress and the federal government on a wide range of cybersecurity issues, including data privacy and artificial intelligence. Meta alone spent nearly $10 million lobbying on those issues in the first two quarters of 2023, according to the Senate lobbying disclosure database.

States are also devising frameworks for action to tackle cybersecurity concerns — including protecting their electoral systems — rather than waiting for the federal government.

These influence campaigns come as lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer call for urgent action to safeguard the 2024 elections from bad actors. Collectively, these efforts will shape national cybersecurity policy outcomes, impact the way social media companies operate and affect how they handle user data.

Click here to read more about The Megaphone. You can also listen to the accompanying podcast here.

— Elvina Nawaguna

AND THERE’S MORE…

The Blue Dog PAC is endorsing Kathleen Riebe in the special election for Utah’s 2nd District, the centrist Democratic group’s first endorsement of the cycle. Riebe, who serves in the Utah state Senate, is running against Republican Celeste Maloy to fill the vacancy created by former GOP Rep. Chris Stewart’s retirement.

The New Democrat Coalition Action Fund is backing former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) in the primary for New York’s 3rd District. Suozzi was a New Dem when he served in Congress. Suozzi is currently seeking to emerge from a crowded primary field to flip the seat currently held by Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).

In other New Dem news, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks will speak to the group today.

— Max Cohen

MOMENTS

9 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his daily intelligence briefing.

11:30 a.m.: Biden will award the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. … House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, Vice Chair Ted Lieu and Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) and Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) will hold a post-meeting press conference.

1 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief.

6 p.m.: President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will welcome Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon to the White House.

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