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February 21, 2023
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PRESENTED BY
THE TOP
Happy Tuesday morning.
President Joe Biden’s historic trip to Kyiv on Monday was only one of the high-profile overseas trips we’re watching with Congress on recess. And they’re all geared toward strengthening international alliances against Russia, Iran and China.
Dozens of senators and members from both parties traveled to the Munich Security Conference last week, including delegations led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Vice President Kamala Harris spearheaded a contingent of administration officials that included Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
From Munich, Schumer’s CODEL headed to India, where the group met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Schumer’s first CODEL as majority leader, and just the second in more than 24 years in the Senate.
For Schumer, a longtime China hawk, boosting U.S. ties with India is imperative:
Biden also spoke with Modi last week following the announcement that Air India would purchase 220 Boeing-made aircrafts, a deal worth $34 billion. The White House says the agreement could support as many as million jobs in more than 40 states.
The Indian government is looking to buy billions of dollars worth of new fighter aircrafts as well, with U.S. F-16s and F-18s in the mix. Russia has been a longtime supplier of military equipment to India, although the ongoing war in Ukraine has made that problematic. India was already facing potential sanctions for continuing to purchase that equipment after Congress passed the CAATSA sanctions package, intended to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 elections.
Separately, McConnell is leading a group of Republicans in the United Arab Emirates today, according to a source familiar with the trip. The GOP senators are expected to meet with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
McConnell’s delegation includes freshman Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), among others.
The U.S. relationship with the UAE — similar to that with Saudi Arabia — is centered heavily on a security partnership for the purposes of countering Iran’s influence in the region.
Republican leaders have long defended these relationships in the name of helping to counter Iranian proxies in the region. This is a top priority for Republicans in particular, who have defended Biden’s retaliatory airstrikes even amid criticism from the president’s own party.
Many Democrats have questioned the benefits of those ties given poor human-rights conditions in those nations, especially Saudi Arabia following the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. You’ll also recall the blow-up over the decision by OPEC+ to cut oil production amid the global supply shortage brought about by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Iran, meanwhile, is aiding Russia in its continued assault on Ukraine, sending armed drones to Moscow that have been used in the war. This is going to be an important point for Schumer to make when he visits Israel later this week, where that country’s leaders have been hesitant to more fully align their Ukraine posture with that of Western nations.
Iran has also begun enriching uranium to near weapons-grade, further raising concerns in the West and Israel about the country’s nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has enjoyed major support from Republicans over the years, is facing heavy criticism over his plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system, and there are ongoing disputes over settlements.
Schumer, though, joined Netanyahu in opposing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, bucking the vast majority of his party and then President Barack Obama. The pair is reportedly expected to meet this week when Schumer is in Jerusalem.
Some Republicans criticized Biden’s Kyiv trip, saying he should’ve gone to East Palestine, Ohio – the site of a recent toxic train derailment – or the U.S. border with Mexico.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that his country would suspend its participation in New Start, the last remaining nuclear arms accord it has with the United States. This comes as Biden is prepared to speak in Warsaw today.
Yet perhaps more than any other president in recent memory, Biden has benefited from high-level bipartisan support on the Hill for his foreign-policy agenda.
Lawmakers see it as an important part of their job description to reaffirm certain policy objectives, including support for Ukraine. That especially goes for GOP leaders seeking to stamp out the more isolationist voices within their party, many of whom have called for cutting off U.S. funding for Ukraine.
— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio
LEADER LOOK
CBC honoring Jeffries next week
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will honor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries next week during an event at the National Building Museum. Jeffries, the first Black party leader ever, is a member of the CBC and draws a significant amount of power from his support from the caucus.
– Jake Sherman
CONSUMER WATCH
GOP reprises bill targeting CFPB as court battle looms
House Republicans are gearing up to reintroduce a bill in the coming weeks that would overhaul the structure and funding of a key consumer finance watchdog agency.
Even with GOP control of the House, the legislation offered by Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) faces slim odds of enactment with a White House and Senate controlled by Democrats.
But unlike previous sessions, the 118th Congress will contend with a distinctly different legal environment for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Last October, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the CFPB’s funding structure was unconstitutional, leaving the agency with an existential threat to its authority.
This is a fight that is widely expected to end at the Supreme Court, where the conservative majority has consistently ruled against the independence of federal regulators. It remains unclear exactly how the Supreme Court would resolve the current challenge facing the CFPB. But few court watchers expect the agency’s powers to emerge unscathed.
So what House Republicans are really counting on with this iteration of Barr’s bill – titled the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act – is that the Supreme Court might pressure or even force Congress to tweak the 2010 statute that created the CFPB in order to preserve the agency’s authority. If that happens, the TABS Act is effectively House Republicans’ starting offer.
Barr, a subcommittee chair on the House Financial Services Committee, told us in a statement that the TABS Act would empower Congress “to use its most powerful tool – the power of the purse – to ensure this CFPB is actually about consumer empowerment.”
As we’ve written in the past, having the CFPB’s funding structure outside the traditional appropriations process isn’t an accident. Lawmakers wanted to make the consumer watchdog as independent as possible to prevent hard policy swings with every shift in White House control. One way that’s worked is mandating that the agency’s funding run through the Federal Reserve. But years of litigation might culminate in that approach becoming unworkable.
The latest version of the TABS Act is being finalized now and will be reintroduced in the coming weeks. According to a draft we reviewed, the legislation would change the CFPB’s name to the Consumer Financial Empowerment Agency and officially make the agency subject to direct congressional appropriations.
There are few federal regulators that Republicans love to hate as much as the CFPB, and this change would almost certainly usher in fierce fights about the agency’s budget for years to come. Don’t expect Democrats to embrace that unless the alternative they’re handed by SCOTUS is having no CFPB at all.
Even then, a divided government all but ensures the fight to determine the agency’s future would be a brutal one.
– Brendan Pedersen
PRESENTED BY ALIBABA
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THE CAMPAIGN
| → | Voters in Virginia’s 4th District are heading to the polls in a special election today to fill the late Rep. Donald McEachin’s (D-Va.) seat. Democratic state Sen. Jennifer McClellan is the heavy favorite to win in the staunchly blue Richmond-area seat. McClellan faces Republican Leon Benjamin in today’s election. |
| → | Future Forward USA is running an ad touting President Joe Biden talking about how billionaires should be paying more in taxes than a “school teacher” and a “firefighter.” The 15-second spot is running in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. |
– Jake Sherman and Max Cohen
THE MONEY GAME
It’s January monthly filing time. Here’s where the committees stand.
| → | The NRSC raised $4.5 million and has $8.8 million on hand. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) transferred $100,000 to the committee. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Bluegrass Committee PAC transferred $105,000. Related Companies’ Stephen M. Ross gave $36,500. |
| → | The DSCC raised $4.6 million and has $7.9 million in the bank. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) transferred $125,000. Big-time Democratic donor Fred Eychaner donated $255,000. The committee also paid off a $2 million loan. |
| → | Club for Growth Action PAC has $6.2 million in the bank. Thomas Klingenstein and Richard Uihlein both gave $2.5 million. |
– Jake Sherman
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