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November 16, 2023
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PRESENTED BY
THE TOP
Happy Thursday morning.
The Senate cleared the House-passed stopgap funding bill late Wednesday night, averting a potential government shutdown after last-minute GOP objections forced a frantic round of negotiations over the annual defense authorization bill.
The blowout 87-11 vote came after several hours of closed-door talks over Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R-Miss.) ultimately successful effort to force lawmakers into a formal House-Senate conference on the National Defense Authorization Act. Congress has enacted this must-pass legislation every year since 1961.
While the immediate priority was preventing a shutdown, senators will have their work cut out for them when they return to Washington in early December, especially on the massive national security supplemental package.
“Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told senators before the vote on the CR. “We cannot do half of our job here.”
While much of Congress’ to-do list is kicked into January, there are a few items lawmakers want to — or must — address by the end of 2023. The supplemental for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will require a bipartisan deal on border policy changes in order to secure enough GOP support. Then there’s the FAA reauthorization, FISA surveillance reauthorization and, of course, the NDAA.
“I’m happy we get to go home and have Thanksgiving, that’s great,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said. “[But] I think it’s nuts… Even Israel. We’re now punting on Israel? When has this country ever done this?”
Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, believed this was his last chance to trigger a formal conference committee on the NDAA, which is traditionally how the two chambers reconcile their competing versions of the bill.
Wicker’s counterparts atop the House and Senate Armed Services panels were agnostic on the issue, especially considering the condensed timeline for finishing the legislation.
But GOP defense hawks have long criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over how he has handled the annual defense policy bill over the years, arguing the New York Democrat hasn’t prioritized it highly enough. Wicker’s push was a reflection of that.
Senate Democrats ultimately were fine with acceding to Wicker’s demands, but they warned that a formal House-Senate conference, with all of its machinations, would significantly increase the risk that the bill doesn’t get done in time. Democrats also expect the conference itself to be a messy process given the polarizing issues at play in the House’s NDAA package.
In the end, Wicker insisted that he and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) were in agreement.
“You can rest assured that Sen. Reed and I are both OK with this process,” Wicker said.
Reconciling the two chambers’ approach to the NDAA will be especially difficult because the House bill includes several culture-war provisions demanded by conservatives. These cover everything from the Pentagon’s abortion policy to transgender medical care for troops, DEI initiatives and climate change.
The House passed its bill largely on party lines, which is highly unusual for the NDAA. Only four House Democrats, all in tough districts, voted for the legislation. The Senate’s version is more of a bipartisan product, as nothing can clear that chamber without getting 60 votes.
The late-night Senate drama over the CR — which now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk — showed the vast majority of senators have no interest in shutdown gamesmanship.
Yet across the Capitol, the debate over FY2024 funding bills — and threats by hardline conservatives to use a shutdown to seek spending cuts and policy concessions — exposed once again the huge fissures inside the House Republican Conference.
Speaker Mike Johnson, in office for just a few weeks, hatched this plan to stagger funding deadlines for federal agencies in January and February.
However, this infuriated conservative Republicans who helped propel Johnson into the speaker’s chair only weeks ago. Just over half of the House GOP conference backed Johnson’s proposal on Tuesday, while Democrats overwhelmingly voted yes.
And on Wednesday, moderate and conservative House Republicans defeated the rule for the Commerce-Justice-Science funding bill, handing Johnson and other GOP leaders another stinging defeat even as members streamed out of the Capitol for the holiday recess. The leadership faced similar setbacks on the Agriculture, Transportation-HUD and FSGG funding bills. Labor-HHS, another hugely controversial spending package, hasn’t gotten a floor vote yet.
Yes, House Republicans have passed some of the less controversial bills during Johnson’s tenure, including the Legislative Branch and Energy and Water measures. The House also passed a $14 billion Israel package offset by IRS funding cuts, which the White House strongly opposes and isn’t going anywhere in the Senate.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), policy chair for the House Freedom Caucus, went to the House floor and angrily bashed the GOP leadership after members had bolted out of town on Wednesday, a bitter ending to a grueling 10-week marathon for the chamber.
“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing — one — that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” Roy yelled during a speech in an otherwise empty House chamber.
— Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan
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THE NEW SPEAKER
Johnson is quietly working to build a donor list
Speaker Mike Johnson has launched a blitz to grow his donor list.
Here’s an example:
Since the beginning of November, Johnson has sent out two fundraising appeals for Rep. Jen Kiggans (Va.), one of the most endangered House Republicans.
One appeal says this:
But when a potential donor goes to shell out some money to Kiggans, 1% of the contribution is routed to “Mike Johnson for Louisiana,” the speaker’s reelection campaign.
Johnson takes a meaningless sliver of the contribution – 1% each time – but is then able to get access to the members’ donor lists for his own political purposes.
This tactic isn’t illegal or improper. But it highlights one of the realities of having a speaker with little to no political operation or assets. Johnson is relying on a broad swath of the House GOP to grow his national contact list to raise money.
Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, had his own national donor network that was developed over years in leadership positions. Johnson is having to do this overnight.
Other entities that are helping Johnson by issuing fundraising solicitations that steer 1% to Johnson, and by dint, give him access to the email list: the NRCC, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, the Republican National Committee and Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).
Johnson’s political team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
As we reported Wednesday night, Johnson and McCarthy attended a Congressional Leadership Fund event with donors, the first time they’ve done such a session together. It was part of the GOP effort to introduce Johnson to donors, this time focused on wealthy supporters.
— Jake Sherman
THE SENATE
Tuberville waits as Dems weigh next move
At this point, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is just waiting for his colleagues to roll him.
The Alabama Republican, whose nine-month blockade of military promotions has sparked backlash from all corners of the Senate, insists he’s seriously considering several off-ramps that could end the standoff.
But Tuberville isn’t in a hurry, even as fellow Republicans escalated their attacks on the Senate floor overnight and Democratic leaders say they won’t wait much longer before forcing a vote on a resolution that would effectively crush the blockade.
“I wish my Republican colleagues could importune Sen. Tuberville to drop his reckless holds. But it has not happened,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday. “There is still some ray of hope… that maybe at the last minute my Republican colleagues… can persuade [him] to back off.”
To be sure, Tuberville is weighing a number of GOP-proposed ideas that would allow him to challenge the Pentagon’s abortion policy while lifting his unprecedented holds.
One option, as we scooped Tuesday, is to have conservative attorney Jay Sekulow and Speaker Mike Johnson file a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the policy.
The lawsuit idea, which Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is organizing with Sekulow, would require the speaker’s buy-in because it increases the chances of success. Graham plans to speak with Johnson about it.
“There’s a real strong possibility we could win this thing in court,” Graham said. “Holding up military nominees who are innocent of all of this is not the right answer.”
Graham said Sekulow told him that the House speaker would have strong legal standing to challenge the abortion policy on the grounds that Congress never appropriated the use of funds for this purpose.
Johnson’s staff is discussing the idea but also may be wary of the politics of aligning with Tuberville on an issue — abortion — that has been blamed for Republicans’ recent election losses. Graham says he’ll pursue it regardless of Tuberville’s decision.
Tuberville called the lawsuit a “good option” but added: “It’s going to take a while.”
Latest on the Rules resolution: At the same time, Tuberville appears to have resigned himself to the idea that enough Senate Republicans will support the Democratic-led resolution, which would allow promotions to be approved en bloc.
Tuberville told us he doesn’t view the timing of a floor vote on the resolution as his deadline to make a decision, even though Republicans have privately indicated they’re using this to force his hand.
“I couldn’t care less about that,” Tuberville said. “If they pass it, it passes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
But letting it get to that point, one GOP senator said, would allow Tuberville to portray himself as a “victim” who was steamrolled by his colleagues, rather than a rogue lawmaker who gave up in the face of pressure and got nothing in return. Tuberville has expressed a desire in recent days to put this episode behind him — but that doesn’t mean he’ll just fold.
The resolution, approved Tuesday by the Rules Committee along party lines, doesn’t yet have GOP supporters. It needs at least nine Republican backers to pass. But GOP senators are losing patience.
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who opposed the resolution in committee, left the door open to backing it eventually. Some Republicans are already laying the groundwork for backing what they view as an extreme step — temporarily tweaking the Senate’s rules — after exhausting all other options.
Schumer isn’t telegraphing the exact date for a vote, but Democrats want to resolve this before the end of the year. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said bluntly: “This has gone on far too long.”
— Andrew Desiderio
PRESENTED BY CHEVRON
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HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Spanberger keeps leadership role despite governor run
Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-Va.) official announcement this week that she was running for governor of Virginia got us thinking – would the outspoken Democrat continue as the battleground representative in House Democratic leadership?
The answer? Spanberger isn’t going anywhere and intends to remain in her role as she finishes her term in Congress.
“Listen, I’m serving my term the same as anyone else who might be leaving at some point,” Spanberger said.
The Virginia gubernatorial elections are in the fall of 2025, so Spanberger announced she wouldn’t run for reelection to the House in 2024. But the three-term lawmaker isn’t stepping down from her seat early, either.
The Virginia Democrat was elected by her Frontline and Red-to-Blue seat peers as their voice at the Democratic leadership table in late 2022. The newly created role was the brainchild of Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), who wanted to ensure the most vulnerable House Democrats had a member advocating for their perspective inside the leadership.
Some Democrats remarked to us that Spanberger’s lack of a reelection campaign may free her up to better focus on helping fellow endangered members. This line of thinking was behind the decision to select a non-vulnerable member — Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) — for DCCC chair following former Chair Sean Patrick Maloney’s 2022 defeat.
Spanberger defeated Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) in the internal election for battleground leadership representative last year. Spanberger’s job performance has earned positive reviews from her colleagues, and her fellow Frontliners are wishing her well in her run.
“She’s done an awesome job,” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) told us. “I couldn’t think of somebody better to go kick ass in Virginia.”
“I hope she wins for governor,” Cartwright said. “She’ll be terrific. This is a born leader and I’m really pulling for her.”
— Max Cohen
THE CAMPAIGN
Here’s a new anti-Speaker Mike Johnson ad. The spot, which is running in D.C., highlights Johnson’s position on abortion and has Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and other conservative hardliners praising the Louisiana Republican. This ad is paid for by P Street, which is linked to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
— Jake Sherman
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Learn how Apollo is rethinking retirement income to last the modern lifespan. Think It New.