The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Johnson’s Kenyan snub

NRSC’s Trump strategy put to the test in battleground Nevada

The curious AIPAC money dump

How AI is changing education and the workforce

THE TOP

Johnson’s Kenyan snub

Happy Friday morning.

News: Speaker Mike Johnson has decided against inviting Kenyan President William Ruto to speak to a joint meeting of Congress during his state visit to Washington later this month, bucking not only the leader of an important ally but also key lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Ruto would be the first Kenyan leader to address a joint meeting of Congress and the first African leader to do so since Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke in the House chamber in 2006.

Ruto, elected president in 2022, will be in Washington on May 23 to mark the 60th anniversary of U.S.-Kenyan diplomatic relations.

Johnson’s decision also is a direct rebuke of the top two lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and ranking Democrat Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) urged Johnson on April 30 to extend an invitation for Ruto to address a joint meeting.

“Such an invitation would underscore the importance of the U.S.-Kenya relationship and send a valuable signal to the people of Africa,” McCaul and Meeks wrote.

Indeed, Kenya is a linchpin in heading off Russia’s influence in eastern Africa. It’s a stable democracy and a gateway to the region. The United States is its largest export market.

Furthermore, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, first approved in former President Bill Clinton’s last year in the White House and renewed by former President Barack Obama, expires this year. AGOA “provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for most exports from eligible sub-Saharan Africa countries,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

Raj Shah, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, said this about Johnson’s decision not to invite Ruto to address lawmakers:

To be fair, a joint meeting takes up a lot of energy on Capitol Hill. The chamber closes for hours. It’s a security hassle. And the House leadership loses a big chunk of a day’s floor time. But the floor schedule isn’t exactly jam-packed; Republicans are pushing messaging bills on home appliances, for example.

Several foreign leaders have appeared before a joint meeting of Congress lately. Most recently, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed lawmakers and a slew of aides who were called in at the last minute to fill empty seats. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have all spoken to a joint meeting during the last couple of years.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also supportive of Ruto addressing Congress.

FAA update: With little fanfare, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the five-year FAA reauthorization bill Thursday night, 88-4. The Senate later cleared the House-passed weeklong extension to avert a lapse in the FAA’s authority.

The four “no” votes were from the Virginia and Maryland senators, who ultimately failed to scrap a controversial provision in the bill that adds new flight slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

It goes without saying that there’s a lot of frustration right now within the DMV-area delegation. They got rolled by a Senate process that prevented votes on amendments to the massive FAA package in part because the chamber was once again pressed by an imminent deadline.

“It’s really outrageous,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told us as he walked into the chamber to vote against the bill. Van Hollen told us he was considering keeping his hold on the bill, but it eventually became clear that the result would’ve been the same — with an FAA lapse on top of that.

As if the result wasn’t cruel enough for the Marylanders and Virginians, it was Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) turn to preside over the chamber while the eventual time agreement was being locked in. At one point, when Kaine had to go through the motions of asking who was opposed to proceeding, Kaine himself immediately blurted out a “No!”

But the ayes had it.

One more quick thing on the FAA: The House rolled the Senate here. We didn’t think it would happen. But it did. The House GOP passed a weeklong extension, the Senate had to eat it and now they control the fate of the FAA reauthorization bill. Even though the House voted against the DCA slots last summer, the vast majority of House Republicans voted for it.

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and Max Cohen

THE TALLY: ELECTIONS 2024

NRSC’s Trump strategy put to the test in battleground Nevada

Former President Donald Trump is staying on the sidelines in a critical Senate primary that’s pitting the Senate GOP campaign arm against Trump loyalists.

The Nevada primary is just a month away. And GOP frontrunner Sam Brown has yet to secure Trump’s endorsement despite a recent trip to Mar-a-Lago and separate efforts by top Republicans to convince the former president to back him.

Brown, who has the support of the NRSC and most Republican senators, is going up against Jeff Gunter, a self-funder who served as Trump’s ambassador to Iceland. Trump’s hesitancy to endorse Brown is raising fears that Gunter could be a spoiler in a state Republicans believe is in play. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (Nev.) is seeking a second term in November in a state that President Joe Biden won by just two points.

A shift: The dynamic is prompting Brown and his allies to cozy up to Trump and bash Gunter. Just this week, a pro-Brown super PAC started airing an ad hitting Gunter as a California Democrat who’s not sufficiently pro-Trump. And Brown himself has upped his appearances on right-wing media.

Gunter, for his part, argues in his ads that Brown is “owned by McConnell” and “owned by the swamp.” Gunter’s supporters include Trump loyalists like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

Gunter’s big-money ad buys, combined with Trump’s formal neutrality in the race, are forcing Brown to tack to the right and devote more attention to a primary he once shrugged off.

When we interviewed Brown in Nevada last summer, he refused to say whether he was comfortable sharing a ticket with Trump and dismissed the idea of a competitive primary.

Still, Brown is polling well ahead of his GOP challengers, which include Gunter and far-right former state Rep. Jim Marchant.

Are Senate Republicans worried? NRSC Chair Steve Daines told us that Trump “thinks the world of Sam Brown,” but he was noncommittal on whether a formal endorsement is coming.

“We’ll see. It’s President Trump’s decision on that,” Daines said. “Sam Brown is the Senate candidate that President Trump will want to have beside him when he’s doing rallies in Nevada as this election closes out.”

Thanks in part to Daines’ urging, Trump has shown a willingness to be a team player in Senate elections this cycle. Trump has notably endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in the Wolverine State, despite Rogers previously teasing a run against Trump.

Daines, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has employed an aggressive endorsement strategy aimed at getting Trump on board with establishment-blessed candidates. The tactic has paid dividends, helping avoid the messy GOP primaries that dominated the disastrous 2022 cycle.

But Nevada is one area where the pressure campaign hasn’t broken through. McConnell described Brown in a recent interview with Politico as “a quality candidate in Nevada who’s got a tough primary apparently.”

Democrats are seizing on Brown’s posture in the GOP contest to paint him as too extreme in a general election matchup against Rosen. Still, Republicans feel confident about Nevada in part because the GOP nominee in 2022, Adam Laxalt, came within 9,000 votes of defeating Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

Don’t miss: All our 2024 election coverage here.

— Andrew Desiderio and Max Cohen

PRIMARY SEASON

The curious AIPAC money dump

United Democracy Project — AIPAC’s super PAC — is spending millions of dollars in a safe-blue Maryland House primary. And nobody will say why.

UDP has spent $3.5 million on ads since April to boost state Sen. Sarah Elfreth in the 3rd District Democratic primary, according to AdImpact data. Elfreth’s top opponent on Tuesday is former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn. But unlike other primaries where pro-Israel groups spend heavily, there are no distinguishable differences between the main candidates on Israel.

The investment from UDP massively eclipses what the group has spent this cycle to oust some fervently anti-AIPAC candidates. On the Hill, Dunn’s own supporters — in addition to neutral Maryland House Democrats — told us they were in the dark as to why UDP is laying out millions to support Elfreth.

Dunn, who rose to prominence after delivering stirring testimony about his experience protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, raised a staggering $3.75 million in Q1. Elfreth has lagged behind Dunn in the money game, but she has benefited from a plethora of UDP ads hailing her as an effective legislator on abortion rights and the environment.

By the numbers: UDP’s $3.5 million spend to boost Elfreth on the airwaves has eclipsed Dunn’s $2.1 million investment, per AdImpact data. Elfreth’s campaign itself has spent $817,000 on the air.

Notably, the UDP cash drop is orders of magnitude more than the group spent to oust Squad member and AIPAC antagonist Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) this spring. In Lee’s April primary, which she won by over 20 points, UDP spent just $65,000 on ads, per AdImpact.

And in New York’s 16th District, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) is facing a challenge from George Latimer, UDP has spent just $67,000 on ads to date. Bowman has long been critical of Israel.

Dunn has publicly expressed his support for Israel throughout the campaign. Earlier this year, Dunn told Jewish Insider that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” And Maryland Matters reported that during a campaign event this week, Dunn told a progressive activist that, “Israel is our ally and that’s what I’ll stand by.”

It’s hardly rhetoric you’d expect to anger the Israel lobby.

UDP’s stance: UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton said in a statement that Elfreth is “the strongest candidate who most reflects the views of the district.” Dorton noted Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and key teachers and firefighters unions are behind Elfreth in the race.

Dunn has a star-studded list of endorsers of his own, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Whip Jim Clyburn and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. J Street, the left-wing group in favor of a two-state solution, is also backing Dunn.

“I definitely think that there’s a hypersensitivity to try to get specific types of candidates that are going to be focused on their specific issues,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who endorsed Dunn, told us. “But overall, I knew Harry as one of my protectors in this building and I look forward to him continuing to have my back as a colleague.”

Lee, who has beat a pro-Israel Democratic challenger two cycles in a row, bemoaned UPD’s spending as “detrimental to democracy.”

“It’s incredibly problematic to have a group that seems to hyper-focus on Black and brown districts,” Lee said. “People in those communities are more deserving of their own representatives, but they have little opportunity to do that because they’re not able to compete.”

— Max Cohen

THE AI IMPACT

How AI is changing education and the workforce

The fourth and final segment in our series, The AI Impact, launched earlier this week. We explored the way AI is reshaping education training and the workforce, as well as how policymakers are approaching the issue. The series is presented by Google.

The prospect of AI displacing humans in the workplace is a real fear for many. However, educational institutions and nonprofits that serve at-risk populations see AI as a new tool to enhance learning and boost the skills of a new generation of workers.

While the technology advances fast, regulatory efforts in Washington continue to drag as the White House and Capitol Hill seek more information on how AI will affect the future of work.

In the meantime, nonprofits like Camden, N.J.-based job training organization, Hopeworks, would like Congress to step up its efforts to provide regulatory clarity and support as they use AI to equip underprivileged young adults with skills that will help them land gainful work.

This segment on how AI is changing education and workforce wraps up our two-month-long series, The AI Impact.

Since March, we’ve explored how the technology is changing the way the government, industry, the scientific world and nonprofits conduct their most important tasks. We’ve previously reported on AI’s impact on cybersecurity and how the technology is transforming health care and scientific discovery. We’ve also written about its impact on small business.

Read the full project here and listen to the accompanying podcast here.

… AND THERE’S MORE

SHEIN, the Chinese-founded fast-fashion giant, has hired Forbes-Tate to lobby. SHEIN also has Akin Gump, Missy Edwards Strategies, Navigators Global, Venture Government Strategies and an in-house lobbying team.

Hill sports report: Did you know that there’s a Senate staff softball league? Well, there is. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s “Press Hits” team defeated Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “Old Crows” team by a score of 14-12 Thursday night.

– Jake Sherman

MOMENTS

CLIPS