The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Zients’ State of the Union

Inside the massive Trump fundraiser – and the big-name dinner after

GOP leadership hopefuls use McConnell as a foil — though not by name

‘A gift to Putin’: Yellen to hammer Johnson on Ukraine

Britt steps into the spotlight

THE TOP

Zients’ State of the Union

Happy Thursday morning.

Sneak Peek: We spent some time Wednesday talking to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients about President Joe Biden and the administration’s goals for the State of the Union tonight.

Biden enters this evening with sub-40% approval ratings while facing an extraordinarily challenging domestic and international landscape. Biden also faces questions about his age and vigor. The stakes are very high when the president enters the House chamber.

The full Zients interview will be in our State of the Union Special Edition, out at 10 a.m. EST.

But here’s what Zients told us about the White House’s key focus and what frustration Biden is trying to overcome:

Aside from the State of the Union, there’s a lot of other action in the Capitol today. Speaker Mike Johnson will hold an off-the-record brunch with on-air television personalities.

TikTok’s challenge: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will do something pretty unusual today for the storied panel — it will hold a classified hearing, then follow that up with a full committee mark-up on a bill introduced just a few days ago.

The issue under discussion is the future of TikTok, one of the world’s most popular social media apps. There’s a new bill to ban it from the United States unless ByteDance, the parent company, sells it. Here’s the bill that will be marked up.

Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair and ranking member of the China select committee, are the authors of this legislation. They have a wide array of bipartisan cosponsors for their proposal, formally called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

Officials from the FBI, Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence will testify and answer questions from members during the classified briefing. This may take several hours. The markup could also be lengthy.

It’s worth noting that the bill — which singles out TikTok and ByteDance by name — is going to be a huge lift if it ever reaches the House floor. It’s not clear this legislation can make it through the Rules Committee, so it will likely have to be brought to the floor under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

The backers of this bill have moved quickly, but complaints are already coming from on and off the Hill. There are First Amendment concerns, as well as a general hesitancy to disrupt an app that’s exceedingly popular with young voters during an election year. TikTok has an estimated 170 million users each month in the United States alone.

TikTok bans have repeatedly stalled out in the Senate as well due to bipartisan opposition.

Yet there’s some momentum in the House right now. Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) told us she met with Johnson about the bill on Wednesday. During that meeting, Johnson indicated that he’s inclined to support the legislation, according to a source close to the situation, but the speaker hasn’t made a public statement yet.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is lobbying members in favor of the bill and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik is a cosponsor.

Across the aisle, Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), top Democrat on the panel, hasn’t told his members how he’s going to vote. Pallone said Democrats must make up their own minds on this issue, we’re told.

House Democratic leaders haven’t taken a position yet either and are waiting to see how Pallone and their committee members vote.

McMorris Rodgers and Pallone also have a bipartisan bill (H.R. 7520) to ban “data brokers from selling, transferring, or giving access to such data to certain foreign adversaries or entities controlled by those foreign adversaries,” according to a committee memo.

— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle

THE INNER CIRCLE

Inside the massive Trump fundraiser – and the big-name dinner after

News: Former President Donald Trump’s campaign raised more than $2 million at a fundraiser in D.C. Wednesday night, according to sources familiar with the haul.

The fundraiser — thrown and organized by GOP mega lobbyist Jeff Miller — featured Donald Trump Jr. and more than 100 members of Congress. The total raised is especially notable given that the candidate himself didn’t attend the event, which was held at the JW Marriott Hotel.

But here’s another interesting part: After the fundraiser, Arthur Schwartz and Cliff Sims — two GOP political operators with close ties to Hill leadership and Trump Jr. — organized a high-level dinner with top Republican senators and members of the House.

The dinner, held in a private dining room at the Conrad, included: Schwartz, Sims, Speaker Mike Johnson, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso and his top aide Arjun Mody, NRSC Chair Steve Daines and executive director Jason Thielman, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). Former Trump Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Congressional Leadership Fund President Dan Conston were also in attendance as well as Raj Shah, the deputy chief of staff to Johnson.

Also in the room: David Sacks, the venture capitalist and host of the “All In” podcast; Miller; Morgan Ortagus; Tommy Hicks, the former co-chair of the RNC and a Texas-based venture capitalist; and Todd Walker, Altria’s head of government affairs.

An interesting tidbit from the steak-and-rockfish dinner: Johnson sat across from Don Jr. and discussed 2024 strategy.

— Jake Sherman

THE RACE FOR THE TOP

GOP leadership hopefuls use McConnell as a foil — though not by name

Senate Republicans vying for top leadership spots in the post-Mitch McConnell era are promising dramatic changes to how their conference is run, in what amounts to a semi-rebuke of the Kentucky Republican’s 17 years of iron rule.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who’s running to replace McConnell, wants term limits on the party leader and an end to leadership-negotiated spending bills. Senate Minority Whip John Thune, also running for leader, said the race is a “chance for a reset.” And GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso, who’s running for whip, told colleagues he wants to see a “break from where we are now.”

On top of that, some of the Senate’s hardline conservatives — knowing their odds are slim to install one of their own as leader — are looking for changes to the super PAC at the heart of McConnell’s fundraising operation, the Senate Leadership Fund.

Conservatives could be the swing votes in the GOP leader race, so emphasizing a departure from the McConnell era is a strategic benefit for leadership hopefuls. Thune told us he doesn’t see this as a criticism of the way McConnell ran the conference — though to many, that’s certainly the implication.

“Clearly this is a transition,” Thune said. “You’ve had somebody in the leader job for [17] years — that’s a long time. And I think anytime you go through a transition, there’s a pivot that comes with that.”

Term limits: Every position in the Senate GOP leadership is term-limited with the exception of the leader. Cornyn knows this well; he was term-limited out of the No. 2 job under McConnell after three Congresses. Thune is term-limited at the end of this Congress.

Cornyn came out in favor of term limits for the leader post, saying it was part of his push to empower individual senators. Cornyn wouldn’t say whether these represent criticisms of McConnell’s record-breaking tenure as party leader.

“There’s a couple of reasons why people are so frustrated with the Senate as it currently operates,” Cornyn said, naming the “crazy idea” of a leadership-driven, closed-door government funding process. “I think we can do better.”

McConnell later panned the term-limits idea as “totally inappropriate.”

“We have term limits now — they’re called elections,” McConnell said, noting he faced a challenger following the 2022 elections. “I think the conference ought to be able to be free to choose whoever.”

Senate Leadership Fund: The McConnell-aligned super PAC has long been a thorn in the side of conservatives, who believe the group has undermined their preferred candidates in Republican primaries over the years.

McConnell’s guiding principle is what he calls “candidate quality” — the idea that the party should work to ensure that the most electable Republicans win their primaries. The end result of this strategy is that some more conservative candidates — who are likely to fare worse in a general election — sometimes get boxed out.

“I’ve always felt that the Senate Leadership Fund certainly was not helpful to the NRSC in terms of the NRSC’s ability to raise funds,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told us. “So I think it’s an issue that needs to be discussed.”

When asked if there should be new leadership at SLF, Johnson replied: “In some way, shape or form.”

We’ll note right here that SLF poured $26 million into Johnson’s razor-tight 2022 win. SLF also boosted Johnson in his 2016 upset victory.

Yet we overheard a trio of conservative GOP senators openly complaining the other day about the need for changes at SLF. It’s clearly an issue that bothers them since they see it as an extension of McConnell’s power.

Steven Law, SLF’s president and CEO — and a former McConnell chief of staff — told us in a statement: “We’re pretty busy around here working to win back the Senate majority. That’s my sole focus through November.”

Law also has the backing of NRSC Chair Steve Daines: “When Republicans take the majority in November, [SLF] and Steven Law will have played a critical role. We’re lucky to have Steven at the helm of the Senate Leadership Fund.”

SLF has become a fundraising juggernaut thanks to its ties to McConnell. SLF and its affiliated groups have raised nearly $1.7 billion since it was set up after the 2014 elections.

“It’s one of the things [McConnell] did do very well,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who’s aligned with conservatives. “Say what you want about Mitch McConnell… I really do think he was trying to pick candidates that he thought could win.”

— Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

‘A gift to Putin’: Yellen to hammer Johnson on Ukraine

News: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will bash House Republicans today over the chamber’s inaction on aid to Ukraine, according to a copy of Yellen’s remarks we obtained.

The comments will come as Yellen hosts a bilateral meeting at the Treasury Department this morning with German Federal Minister for Economics Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck. It also comes just hours before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

Yellen will call on Speaker Mike Johnson “to swiftly pass the Senate’s bipartisan national security supplemental to provide Ukraine with vital military and economic assistance.“

More:

The former Fed chair will also invoke the death of Russian opposition leader and democratic activist Alexei Navalny and “the courage of thousands of Russian people who stood up to Putin” to attend his funeral earlier this month.

“The House must act and show the strength of the U.S support for Ukraine in the face of Putin’s aggression,” Yellen will say.

Meanwhile in the credit card wars: Leaders representing every commercial airport in South Carolina wrote to Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urging them to reject the Credit Card Competition Act.

Read the letter here, signed by representatives of the Charleston International Airport, Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Florence Regional Airport, GSP International Airport, Hilton Head Island Airport and Myrtle Beach International Airport.

Scott and Graham are an interesting pairing — not least because they both happen to be the top Republicans on each of the committees with a theoretical hand in credit card reform. Scott is the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, and Graham is the ranking member on Senate Judiciary.

— Brendan Pedersen

THE SENATE

Britt steps into the spotlight

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) has largely shunned the spotlight since being sworn into the Senate 14 months ago.

That’s about to change.

Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate, will deliver the GOP response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address tonight.

In many ways, Britt was a natural choice for party leadership here. The role typically elevates someone viewed as a rising star in the party. Britt fits that bill. And choosing the 42-year-old Britt allows Republicans to draw a contrast with Biden, whose age is an issue for voters in his reelection bid.

Britt is also one of the few parents of school-aged children in the Senate, an institution where the median age is 65. She has bonded over this with fellow young parents, Sens. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).

“She knows this place well. She knows the issues,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told us of Britt. “Us old white guys aren’t as popular as we used to be.”

Senate GOP leaders gave Britt two high-profile platforms that are rare for a freshman. Britt was tapped to serve on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s leadership team and given a coveted spot on the Appropriations Committee.

At the same time, Britt — a one-time chief of staff to former Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) — has been cautious throughout her nascent Senate tenure. Britt isn’t a bomb-thrower and hasn’t sought out media coverage. This makes Britt a truly unusual breed in the Senate — someone liked by conservatives, establishment Republicans and even Democrats.

“She’s a very effective communicator, and they would do well to elevate her. So I’m torn between rooting for my colleague and my own partisan instincts,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told us. “Suffice to say, I think she was a smart choice.”

Among freshman GOP senators, Britt has been an outlier. While her colleagues are regularly going on TV and otherwise trying to elevate their public profiles, Britt is growing her influence behind the scenes.

In December, we reported that Britt served as a key intermediary between her fellow Alabamian, GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, and Republican leaders as they tried to resolve the impasse over Tuberville’s military promotions blockade.

That’s a markedly different approach from that of other GOP senators who took to the Senate floor to publicly hammer Tuberville and pressure him to relent.

Britt won’t publicly comment on her long-term aspirations, but senators in both parties have remarked to us that they see a future role for her in leadership, maybe even party leader at some point.

— Andrew Desiderio

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