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PRESENTED BY
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THE TOP
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Happy Tuesday morning.
News: Speaker Mike Johnson met with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Monday night, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Johnson has been fundraising in Florida and made the trip to Mar-a-Lago, where Trump lives. The former president is facing more than 90 felony counts in criminal cases in four states while still being the clear frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 White House nomination.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) was holding an event at Trump’s club on Monday night, we’re told.
We asked both the Trump and Johnson camps for comment about their interaction but there was no response.
Like his GOP predecessors as speaker — Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy — Johnson is figuring out that he badly needs Trump if House Republicans are going to have any hope of retaining their slim majority.
Johnson publicly endorsed Trump a week ago during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“I’m all in for President Trump,” Johnson said. “I expect he’ll be our nominee, and we have to make [President Joe] Biden a one-term president.”
Johnson added that he’s one of the “closest allies President Trump has in Congress.”
The now speaker played a key role in Trump’s 2020 Electoral College challenge, helping round up support for an amicus brief backing a long-shot lawsuit by Texas officials that looked to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. The Supreme Court rejected that lawsuit. Johnson, like McCarthy, voted against certifying the Electoral College results on Jan. 6.
Yet the Louisiana Republican wasn’t always a Trump backer either, as Annie Karni and Steve Eder of the New York Times disclosed recently.
Back in 2015, Johnson — still a state lawmaker at that time — wrote on Facebook: “The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House.”
More Johnson:
“I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.”
House GOP money woes: There was a lot of fear — a deep apprehension, in fact — inside House Republican circles that the NRCC’s fundraising was going to hit rock bottom in October due to the chaos following McCarthy’s ouster and Johnson’s ascension.
It didn’t.
The NRCC reported raising $5 million in October while spending $3.8 million. Roughly $1.2 million — almost one-quarter of that total — came from House GOP members transferring campaign funds to the NRCC, which they can do in unlimited amounts.
But $5 million is a respectable number given that the House Republicans were in the midst of embarrassing themselves for several weeks. The NRCC raised $9.7 million at this point in the 2022 cycle and $10 million in October 2019.
Still, not everything is great for the NRCC. They’re getting obliterated by the DCCC, which raised $8.1 million last month and has $47 million on hand. The NRCC has $37 million in its campaign account
Also: Corinne Day is now officially the director of media affairs for the speaker’s office. Day was previously Johnson’s communications director in his personal office and handled his press as conference chair.
Before coming to the House side, Day served as deputy communications director for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). She’s also an alum of the Republican National Committee and the R Street Institute, a conservative think tank.
— Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan
PRESENTED BY CENTER FORWARD
A new proposal from the Federal Reserve would have unintended consequences – driving up costs and making everyday goods and services even more expensive. Increasing mortgage, credit card, and student loan payments – even heating and energy bills. Hurting hard-working Americans and harming American competitiveness. That’s the last thing we need right now. Tell the Fed: Protect our economy.
IMPLEMENTATION
Dems bet infrastructure can turn around Biden’s fortunes
Democrats still don’t think voters are giving them enough credit for their big accomplishments during the 117th Congress when the party had full control of Washington.
And with President Joe Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in early 2024 polling, top Democrats are aggressively leaning into selling the sprawling infrastructure bill to turn the story around.
That’s why White House senior adviser Mitch Landrieu was recently on Capitol Hill, visiting Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the working group tasked with overseeing implementation and messaging on Democratic legislation.
Landrieu’s visit to the Hoyer-led Regional Leadership Council marked the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a $1.2 trillion investment in the nation’s roads, bridges, transportation and internet systems.
Hoyer and Landrieu — two politicians with boatloads of experience — are teaming up to make sure voters get the memo that it was Biden who delivered what Hoyer labeled a “generational, transformative” bill.
Democrats are betting that the tangible effects of the nationwide infrastructure overhaul — which many people are just now starting to see — will hit home for voters. Traveling to ribbon-cutting ceremonies is one thing, but the end game of an easier commute and faster internet is the real political and practical boon for Americans.
“Two years ago, there was nothing. We started off from ground zero,” Landrieu, whose role is to coordinate the infrastructure implementation, told us in an interview. “Now there’s $1.2 trillion — $400 billion of which has been pushed out of the door already. Two years ago, no projects. We now have 40,000 projects, cutting across 4,500 communities in every state.”
But despite consistent Democratic messaging for the last two years, voters still aren’t crediting the party with these benefits. Hoyer cited a high-profile Washington Post poll from February where 62% of Americans said Biden accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” in his presidency.
Biden also signed into law the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act last Congress — the products of a Democratic-controlled government.
“They thought we didn’t do much in the last Congress. In fact, it was probably one of the most impactful congresses in history,” Hoyer said. “The American people need to know the consequences of the actions taken in the last Congress because it’s going to make such a difference over generations.”
Hoyer’s role in helming the Regional Leadership Council — a team of House Democrats representing a dozen geographic zones of the country — is to ensure a coordinated effort exists between the White House and Congress in implementing key legislation. The RLC traveled to the White House in March to discuss messaging strategy.
Landrieu, for his part, said “It doesn’t surprise me at all that the public doesn’t really know or understand” the infrastructure law’s impacts yet, “because this thing is massive.”
“The reason I’m 100% comfortable is when they know about it, they’re going to know exactly where it came from,” the former New Orleans mayor said. Landrieu pointed to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection victory in deep-red Kentucky this month, arguing the incumbent focused on construction progress on the long-stalled Brent Spence Bridge.
“When you put money on TV, and you tell them a story, and you show them to people and you bring the receipts, they like what you’re trying to sell them,” Landrieu said. “They go, ‘OK, I’m going to buy that.’”
Both Hoyer and Landrieu insisted that Biden will bring the “receipts” to the electorate in 2024, creating a clear contrast with Republicans who largely opposed the infrastructure plan.
“We’re building jobs and communities so people don’t have to choose between living with people that they love and going to find someplace else to work,” Landrieu said. “As that vision comes into clearer focus for people, I think that the president is going to benefit tremendously.”
— Max Cohen
HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Gabe Amo on his first week, Biden and ceasefire
Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) experienced quite the first week in office. The House passed a bipartisan continuing resolution, pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the DNC and there were numerous verbal and physical alterations between members.
We spoke with the newest House Democrat about his initial impressions of Congress, his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s dismal polling and whether there should be a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden: Amo, a former White House staffer, centered his successful campaign around his close ties to Biden. Why does Amo think Biden’s poll numbers are currently well below where they need to be?
“Right now, people are not necessarily engaged with the alternative,” Amo said. The Rhode Island Democrat added that Biden’s policies poll well and it’s up to Democrats to “put forward the narrative of progress.”
“We have lots of time,” Amo said. “Remember President Biden has similar poll numbers to what President Obama had at the same point in his first term.”
Ceasefire: Amo’s first committee assignment is to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We wondered how Amo viewed the growing push from progressive Democrats to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
“I personally don’t believe that there should be [a ceasefire],” Amo said. “I do think thoughtful, strategic humanitarian pauses to reduce the loss of innocent life is really important to put forward and we have to encourage Israel to be strategic in their engagement.”
A growing list of progressive lawmakers are calling for an end to hostilities, citing the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Amo said some have “gotten stuck in the ‘Instagramification’ of our foreign policy, which is not helpful.”
The majority of Hill Democrats support Israel’s campaign to root out Hamas terrorists following the group’s brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
“My hope is we can work towards the reduction of human lives being lost while also dealing with the terror that Hamas performed on Oct. 7,” Amo said.
His first week: Amo said the chaos on the floor during his initial days as a member showed him “firsthand the challenges that we have driven by a House Republican majority that is really rudderless.”
Amo added he wants to focus on gun violence prevention measures, including banning assault weapons, while in Congress. Amo was realistic that “we might have to wait until we win the majority and get a Speaker Jeffries to make the more dramatic change that we’d like to see.”
The future: Amo is already seen as a rising star in Rhode Island politics. Would he consider running for Senate one day?
“I just got elected,” Amo replied. “I’m thinking about how I’m going to serve in the 1st District… These people put their trust in me so the most important thing I can do is pick up the shovel and get to work.”
— Max Cohen
PRESENTED BY CENTER FORWARD
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If the Fed adopts its Basel III endgame, our economic landing will be anything but soft. Tell the Fed: Protect our economy.
2024
Will Trump-skeptical GOP senators find a new 2024 candidate?
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was the only GOP presidential candidate not named Donald Trump to have endorsements from Republican senators who aren’t from the candidate’s home state.
Now that Scott has suspended his campaign, the South Carolina Republican’s two backers in the Senate aren’t in any rush to find a new candidate to support.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), both vocal Trump skeptics, tell us they’re not planning on endorsing anyone at this point, even as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis show that they’re the only somewhat viable alternatives to Trump.
“I assume there are going to be some other alternatives that emerge,” Thune said. “Nikki Haley’s making a nice run right now… She and DeSantis are going to be duking it out there to be the alternative to the former president. We’ll see where that lands. But I’m not prepared to say anything just yet.”
It’s a reflection not only of Trump’s dominance in the GOP primary thus far but also the failure of any of the other candidates to convince Trump-skeptical Senate Republicans that they can knock off the former president. It could also be viewed as an acknowledgment that there’s no longer any hope of preventing Trump from becoming the party’s presidential nominee.
“If you’re spending a lot of money right now convincing people when they’re not ready to be convinced at this point, you’re better off to save your money, suspend your campaign, and then wait and see what happens,” Rounds told us on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum.
In theory, it shouldn’t be that difficult to win over at least some GOP senators, especially since so many of them have publicly doubted Trump’s ability to win in a general election. Some have also openly blamed Trump for squandering the Senate majority to Democrats the past two consecutive cycles.
But recent polls have shown Trump could be a strong general election candidate against President Joe Biden. So they may reason that it’s not worth taking a risk on someone else — especially with Trump on an apparent glide path to the nomination.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) on Monday became the 13th GOP senator to endorse Trump. And now that Scott is out of the race, no other presidential candidate can boast endorsements from the Senate GOP Conference other than North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has the backing of that state’s two senators.
— Andrew Desiderio
… AND THERE’S MORE
Roy fundraises on Republican leadership being inept, plus fundraising numbers
You don’t see this too often. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a conservative irritant of the GOP leadership, is raising money saying Republicans haven’t done anything worthwhile since winning the House in January.
This echoes Roy’s angry House floor speech last week, where he said “give me one thing … that I can go campaign on and say we did.” This speech got under the skin of Speaker Mike Johnson’s staff, several of whom complained to us about Roy’s diatribe.
Here’s the fundraising email from Roy:
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November monthly numbers: The DSCC, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, raised $5.3 million in October and has $15.3 million on hand. The NRSC, its GOP counterpart, raised $5.3 million and has $6.9 in the bank.
— Jake Sherman
MOMENTS
10:15 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his daily intelligence briefing.
11 a.m.: Biden will hold a meeting on progress to counter the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
5:10 p.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will depart the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews.
5:40 p.m.: The Bidens depart Joint Base Andrews en route to Nantucket, Mass. They will arrive at 6:50 p.m.
CLIP FILE
CNN
→ | “Appeals court strikes down key tool used to enforce Voting Rights Act,” by Fredreka Schouten |
WaPo
→ | “Here’s how many fossil fuel lobbyists have attended U.N. climate talks,” by Maxine Joselow |
Bloomberg
→ | “Hamas Says Gaza Hostage Talks Progress And Could Yield ‘Truce,’” by Fadwa Hodali and Henry Meyer |
WSJ
→ | “Israeli Military, Border Residents Press Netanyahu to Eliminate Hezbollah Threat,” by Dion Nissenbaum and Ari Flanzraich in Lehavot Habashan, Israel |
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. Political ads courtesy of AdImpact.
PRESENTED BY CENTER FORWARD
Will our economy achieve a soft landing? Not if the Federal Reserve further tightens access to credit and weakens financial markets.
It’s hard to get ahead — or even keep afloat — in this economy. The last thing we need is for the Federal Reserve to adopt new, overreaching capital rules that will further tighten access to credit and hurt financial markets. Making it even more expensive for a family to buy a house, send their kids to college, and save for retirement. Even harder for small and mid-size businesses to get the loans they need to expand and innovate. Increasing the cost of life insurance, plane tickets, home energy bills, and shipping. Raising prices and reducing employment.
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