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IN THIS EDITION

House GOP leadership struggling with funding bill as deadline nears

Harry Dunn suspended from USCP in 2012 after gun incident

Biden campaign leans on CHC to build Hispanic support

McLeod-Skinner campaign manager departs after three months

THE TOP

House GOP leadership struggling with funding bill as deadline nears

Happy Friday morning.

This will come as no surprise, but House Republicans are struggling to round up enough votes to help pass the $1.2 trillion FY2024 minibus funding bill.

These aren’t hair-on-fire concerns quite yet — but it’s approaching that level. The whip count at Thursday’s early afternoon vote series came in softer than the House Republican leadership would’ve liked. Leadership aides, however, expressed confidence they’d be able to deliver enough votes to hit the two-thirds needed to pass this 1,000-page measure. A partial government shutdown begins at midnight, although it won’t be fully felt until Monday.

There are numerous House Republicans concerned with the package’s lack of strict border security provisions, the huge price tag, the secretive negotiating process and even the lack of a pay hike for members of Congress. The unrest is especially acute among conservatives, who dislike spending bills anyway but are deeply upset with Speaker Mike Johnson here.

The math is simple: House Democratic leaders believe roughly 10 to 15 of their members will vote no. That means Republicans have to put up roughly 100 votes to get this legislation to the needed 290 votes. That’s a pretty low bar for Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. But it’s still proving difficult.

This is not good for the leadership: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), chair of the Labor-HHS subcommittee, said Thursday night that he’s a no on the package because of earmarks. Aderholt resisted earmarks on the House side, yet senators from both parties inserted hundreds into his bill. Aderholt complained that these are “directed toward services for illegal immigrants and facilities providing routine abortion services, including late-term abortions.”

Senior members of the House Republican leadership say they are nearly certain Johnson won’t be able to garner a majority of the majority on this vote. On the last minibus, 132 Republicans voted yes. That’ll be tough to match this time around.

As of now, the House is planning to vote on the package at 11 a.m.

The Senate: We’ll start off by noting that pretty much every senator wants to get out of here in a timely fashion for the looming two-week recess. The FY2024 appropriations process has been long and arduous, so there’s little desire to drag things out any further.

Even conservatives like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are pushing for a time agreement that would allow senators to pass the package before the midnight deadline tonight.

However, around two dozen Republican amendments have already been submitted for consideration, so that number will have to be whittled down before any deal is reached on the floor procedure.

And Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is again threatening to hold up final passage in protest of the months-long delay in new military aid for Ukraine. Bennet said Thursday that he wants to better understand if and how the House will act on Ukraine aid before signing off on any time agreement.

“It’s horrendous for us to go home for two weeks with this unresolved,” Bennet said. “Obviously it gets harder to resolve as the week goes on. But Ukraine is out of bullets and ammunition.”

With Congress finally — thankfully — wrapping up the FY2024 appropriations process, here are some winners and losers.

Winners

Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine): The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up all 12 funding bills, and the final FY2024 package hewed more closely to the Senate’s bipartisan product. Sorry, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)!

Earmarks: Earmarks are back in a big way. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) got $17.5 million for the Eisenhower Library. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) got $11.2 million for AnMed Health.

Retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was a winner. He and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) locked in $15 million for the Charleston Area Medical Center and $15 million for Marshall University. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) procured $15 million each for Lyon College and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Collins, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, has a strong earmark game. She and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) partnered on a number of projects.

A quiet earmark champ — Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). Baldwin, an appropriator up for reelection this year, inserted dozens of earmarks across numerous bills.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), ranking Democrat on House Appropriations, won bipartisan praise from members for her work over the last month.

Israel: The supplemental is stuck, but Israel is getting $3.8 billion in funding as part of the package, including $3.3 billion in foreign military financing over the next 30 days.

Neutral

Kevin McCarthy: The former speaker’s Fiscal Responsibility Act is alive. But McCarthy is no longer the speaker. You win some, you lose some.

Losers

Virginia: Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) got $200 million for the FBI headquarters. If you fund it, they will come.

The House Freedom Caucus: When you complain about everything, no one listens to you about anything.

Also news: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) released a fact sheet about his Ukraine bill. It’s subject to change, but here’s a one-pager on what he’s thinking.

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

THE CAMPAIGN

Harry Dunn suspended from USCP in 2012 after gun incident

Harry Dunn, the former U.S. Capitol Police officer running for Congress in Maryland, received a suspension without pay from the force in 2012 because he improperly handled his department-issued gun.

The suspension took place after Montgomery County Police investigated an alleged incident of domestic violence at Dunn’s Maryland home the previous year. While no charges were filed against either Dunn or his then-wife, a U.S. Capitol Police investigation resulted in Dunn’s suspension for mishandling his service weapon.

A top Capitol Police official wrote in 2012 that Dunn stored his service weapon in a home lockbox with a broken lock for more than a month, according to a letter obtained by Punchbowl News. Here is the three-page letter in three PDFs.

In denying Dunn’s appeal to reduce the suspension, then-acting U.S. Capitol Police Assistant Chief Matthew Verderosa concluded that Dunn “handled his weapon in a careless or imprudent manner” during the incident.

In a comment for this story, Dunn and his ex-wife insisted there was never any violence between them.

Here’s Dunn and his ex-wife, Danyel on the 2011 incident:

Dunn also expressed regret for how he stored his weapon.

“Thirteen years ago, the lock on my home lockbox broke, and I didn’t get it fixed right away,” Dunn said in a statement. “That was wrong, I got a four-day suspension because of it, and I learned the lesson.”

The three-page letter from the U.S. Capitol Police assistant chief — which served as justification for denying Dunn’s appeal to shorten his suspension — quotes from a Montgomery County Police report.

Responding officers concluded both Dunn and his then-wife were victims of “mutual battery,” but again, no charges were ever brought.

Citing from the Montgomery County police report, Verderosa said after Dunn’s then-wife “wiggled a paring knife” in his direction, Dunn went to a spare bedroom to retrieve his service weapon and rifle. Dunn carried his weapons past his then-wife in the kitchen and secured them in the basement. Dunn reportedly told police at the scene he did this to “remove weapons from the equation.”

In the letter, Verderosa wrote that Dunn’s then-wife was on the phone with her sister when Dunn passed her in the kitchen with his guns.

“Oh, so now he is getting his guns,” Dunn’s then-wife reportedly said to her sister, according to the letter.

“His and my sister’s marriage had ups and downs, but Harry was never threatening toward anyone, and he’s one of the most responsible people I know,” Danyel’s sister, Nneka Williamson, said in a statement.

Dunn’s ex-wife didn’t speak with Capitol Police about Dunn’s suspension, we’re told.

The Montgomery County attorney’s office declined to prosecute Dunn. Verderosa wrote that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to suggest that Dunn threatened his then-wife.

But Verderosa also concluded that Dunn’s service weapon “was unsecure and accessible to anyone” and found Dunn violated a number of USCP statutes.

Dunn is a leading contender in the Democratic primary in Maryland’s 3rd District and has massively outraised every other candidate in the race to succeed retiring Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). The Democrat that wins the May 14 primary will almost certainly succeed in the general in the deep-blue seat.

A Capitol Police officer for 15 years, Dunn’s harrowing testimony of how Jan. 6 rioters abused him with racist and physical attacks captivated the public during the first Jan. 6 committee hearing.

The 40-year-old Dunn unsuccessfully ran for president of the Capitol Police union in November 2021.

He also published a best-selling memoir titled “Standing My Ground” in 2023.

— Max Cohen, John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle

BIDEN CAMPAIGN WATCH

Biden campaign leans on CHC to build Hispanic support

After months of behind-the-scenes tensions, Bidenworld is trying to make amends with Hispanic Democrats ahead of the election.

Hispanic voters will be critical to President Joe Biden winning in November. And the campaign has recently stepped up its outreach to Hispanic voters, despite Latinos trending away from the party.

As part of that, the Biden campaign is seeking the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ input on how to turn out Hispanic voters in November.

“It is a positive step,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a Biden campaign co-chair, told us. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment for us, especially with Latinos.”

News here: Members of BOLD PAC, the CHC’s campaign arm, met with Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez, former White House director of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell and Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters last week.

“Members had an opportunity to share with the campaign what the concerns are with individual states,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) told us. “The Latino vote is critically important, and I think the campaign understands that.”

Bold PAC Chair Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) requested the meeting. The group is also working to secure a one-on-one meeting with Biden, viewing this as the first step to achieving that.

Remember: The CHC remains frustrated with the Biden administration after the group was excluded from Senate negotiations last year over the bipartisan border security package.

It didn’t help when Biden ad-libbed in his State of the Union speech, referring to an undocumented immigrant accused of killing a Georgia college student as “an illegal.” Biden later apologized, which the administration flagged to CHC leadership.

But the Biden campaign recognizes it needs Hispanic voters to turn out for him, especially as Republicans hammer Democrats on the southern border.

Biden announced the new outreach program, Latinos con Biden-Harris, in Arizona this week as he made a plea to Hispanic voters to help him defeat former President Donald Trump.

The campaign spent $25 million on an ad buy last fall to target Hispanic voters and invested another $30 million on an ad buy this week that will tout Biden’s accomplishments in Spanish, English and Spanglish.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have also done numerous interviews with Hispanic media, including six this week alone, according to a Biden campaign aide.

“[The Hispanic vote] is not a freebee,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) said. “He’s got to go out there and earn it, but I think most people are pretty happy.”

More to be done: Some CHC members are pushing for even more investment into Hispanic outreach, warning Biden not to take the vote for granted.

→	Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) urged the campaign to hire more Hispanic workers who can best understand their communities. “It’s time they actually hire culturally competent people in the different aspects of the campaign where they want to address those voters,” Cardenas told us.

→	Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) said Biden should sharpen his rhetoric against Republican attacks and focus more on what he will do to boost Hispanics. “Something we want is for him to be more aggressive and more prominent on some of these issues to protect our communities,” Garcia told us.

→

And Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who has criticized Biden for being too soft on border security, said the president should take a more hardline stance on curbing illegal migrant crossings. “In border states, he’s got to talk about the border,” Cuellar told us. “He’s got work to do, but he still has time.”

— Mica Soellner

OREGON DISPATCH

McLeod-Skinner campaign manager departs after three months

The former campaign manager for Jamie McLeod-Skinner, the Democrat running in the competitive primary in Oregon’s toss-up 5th District, left his role in March after less than three months in the job.

Steve Voltaire joined McLeod-Skinner’s team as campaign manager in late December and started a new role on March 13 as a campaign services director for Future PAC — the organization supporting Oregon Democrats in the state House.

Voltaire told us he remains “steadfastly supportive of the Jamie campaign and its mission” and said he left the job as part of his “health journey.”

“Steve was doing great work, and when he approached me with his health concerns, my first concern was for his well-being. I extended an offer of medical leave, which he accepted,” McLeod-Skinner told us in a statement. “FuturePAC made a great hire, and I wish them and Steve all the best.”

Voltaire isn’t accusing McLeod-Skinner of any improper treatment, attributing his departure to personal health reasons.

The backstory: The staffing update is the latest development in what’s perhaps the most interesting Democratic primary of the cycle. McLeod-Skinner advanced to the general in 2022 by mounting a successful progressive primary challenge to moderate former Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.).

Now McLeod-Skinner — the former city manager of two Oregon locales — is running again. But the DCCC and many other national Democratic groups are backing her primary opponent, state Rep. Janelle Bynum, this time around.

Voltaire was McLeod-Skinner’s first campaign manager this cycle, meaning the position was vacant from her launch in July 2023 until December 2023.

McLeod-Skinner, who lost to now-Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) by two points in one of the closest House races of 2022, has a history of allegations of mistreating staff.

In October 2023, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported that five former employees “described her as a nightmarish boss, who yelled at and berated her staff.” And in January, three former staffers alleged to the Willamette Week that McLeod-Skinner “twice made physical contact with her campaign driver.”

McLeod-Skinner’s campaign has vigorously denied all the charges made by former staffers.

The matchup between McLeod-Skinner and Bynum is a rare instance of a competitive primary in a race the DCCC is targeting as a top flip opportunity. McLeod-Skinner has accused “outside power brokers and D.C. insiders” of meddling in the primary to boost Bynum.

— Max Cohen

THE CAMPAIGN

The Electronic Payments Coalition is running a new spot in D.C. on the credit card bill sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). The ad says the bill would “end credit card rewards as we know it.”

— Jake Sherman

MOMENTS

CLIPS