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May 22, 2024
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THE TOP
Another high-ranking Johnson aide eyes the exit
Happy Wednesday morning.
Will the last one left please turn out the lights?
The fourth member of Speaker Mike Johnson’s senior staff is leaving the Capitol, another noteworthy departure from the Louisiana Republican’s office in the months leading up to an election.
Raj Shah, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, is likely to leave the speaker’s office in the coming weeks. Shah has told the speaker and Johnson’s top aides of his plans.
Shah has discussed his departure with multiple people inside and outside Johnson’s operation. The news has been bouncing around the House Republican leadership.
In fact, we were going to bring this scoop to you in Punchbowl News’ Midday edition Tuesday, but held off at Shah’s request. News leaked out following our request for comment. Axios reported Shah’s departure late Tuesday night.
Shah isn’t the only staffer heading for the exits in Johnson’s operation. We scooped in the Tuesday AM edition that Brittan Specht, Preston Hill and Jason Yaworske — three of Johnson’s top policy staffers — were leaving by the end of the month. Johnson, in a statement, said that the trio, who all worked for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, had committed to helping for just six months. Shah made the same commitment to Johnson. So, in essence, Johnson had a huge chunk of his senior staff slated to leave six months into his speakership.
Johnson said he appreciated Shah’s service, adding “Raj has fulfilled his commitment to us and I wish him continued success.”
Here’s Shah: “It’s an honor to serve Speaker Johnson, especially through such an historic time. He has shown tremendous leadership navigating the conference through difficult issues.”
This role was a Capitol Hill debut for Shah. He previously worked at the RNC for Chair Reince Priebus. And later, he was the White House deputy press secretary under former President Donald Trump when Priebus was chief of staff. Shah also worked at the Fox Corporation after leaving the White House.
We’ll be watching very closely who Johnson eyes for both the policy roles and the comms job. There are just seven months until the end of this Congress, and Johnson’s future as the top House Republican is far from certain.
NEW … Scalise looks to 2025: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise will present his plans for how House Republicans would use budget reconciliation in 2025 if they control the House, Senate and White House come next January. He’ll make the presentations to a Republican Study Committee lunch and a Conservative Action Project breakfast. Here’s more from a GOP source:
With the Trump tax cuts expiring next year, reconciliation will be a major issue for Republicans provided they’re in control of Congress and the White House.
On the floor today: The FIT for the 21st Century Act, a major piece of crypto legislation that will provide the sector a high-stakes litmus test of its political support in the House. The bill would empower the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to regulate more of crypto and restrain some of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority here. This briefing from Davis Polk is a good rundown of the particulars.
Leadership aides on both sides of the aisle say they anticipate a big vote, with between 30 and 50 Democrats voting yes.
— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Brendan Pedersen
Ways and Means slated to release Hunter Biden testimony
House Ways and Means Committee Republicans are preparing to release more confidential information related to the Hunter Biden case. The move is the latest step in the floundering impeachment case against President Joe Biden, which right now doesn’t appear likely to receive a full House vote.
Ways and Means will enter into executive session later this morning and vote on releasing material connected to Hunter Biden’s February closed-door testimony, according to a source close to the committee.
The panel, led by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), has taken an active role in the House GOP probe into whether Biden improperly acted as vice president to benefit his family’s business deals. Most notably, the committee facilitated testimony in 2023 from two IRS whistleblowers who probed Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes. The younger Biden also faces a federal gun charge.
Today’s committee vote will center around documents that are protected under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. Because of Section 6103 constraints, it’s not entirely clear what they’ll contain.
— Laura Weiss and Max Cohen
The Vault: Top senators back Yellen’s G7 REPO strategy
STRESA, Italy — The Senate’s top proponents of a law allowing U.S. authorities to use Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine are backing Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s approach to the policy at the G7 Finance summit, even if it’s not quite what they envisioned.
The REPO Act, enacted in late April, gives the United States sweeping authority to seize Russia’s sovereign assets and use them to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction. U.S. officials need to get European leaders on board to make the regime effective, and that’s a top focus for Yellen going into today’s G7 conference.
Instead of asset seizure, Treasury officials have been pushing their international counterparts to embrace a plan that securitizes the forward interest earnings of those assets, which could help back a loan to Ukraine worth tens of billions.
There are between $200 billion and $300 billion in Russian assets frozen inside the European banking sector. And while the European Union’s member states approved a plan Tuesday that would allow the bloc to embrace Yellen’s approach, the real goal is a joint agreement from the G7.
Congress is watching: For now, REPO’s top backers in the Senate are comfortable with Yellen’s approach.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said in an interview Tuesday that coordination with Europe has always been a crucial element, whatever form the effort takes.
“We made that pretty clear with the language we put in the bill — that we need to leverage United States leadership with action from those who have the most assets, which is Europe,” Cardin said.
The committee’s top Republican, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, said he appreciated Treasury’s creativity to date.
“They’ve come up with some innovative ideas, which I support,” Risch said. “And so I think it’s all positive.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also thrown his weight behind the approach, telling the Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday that officials are “looking at ways to collateralize the principal and to use that as the basis for a loan, for a bond — that’ll create a lot more resources for Ukraine up front.”
Risch isn’t surprised by the resistance Europeans have shown to outright seizure so far, and he seems to think they’ll come around to more ambitious plans involving Russia’s sovereign assets.
Other Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), are feeling a bit less patient.
“This is a golden opportunity to open up another front against Russia,” Graham said. “The Europeans are OK with interest on the account, but I want to go after the principal.”
Trump factor: A quiet undercurrent of this G7 finance summit — like almost everything else the Biden administration does overseas — is what happens to U.S. engagement abroad if former President Donald Trump returns to power next January.
As Treasury rallies G7 leaders around the interest securitization idea, there is plenty of lingering concern about what a second Trump administration could do to undercut that effort or future attempts to back Ukraine.
Is it possible to structure this plan in a way that Trump-proofs it? Lawmakers aren’t counting on it.
“We’ve done things out of concern as to how a president like President Trump can act. I am concerned about that. But I don’t know if we can do that with REPO,” Cardin said.
“There are some things you can do,” Cardin added, “but the bottom line is that Congress can’t be the president.”
— Brendan Pedersen in Stresa and Andrew Desiderio in Washington
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Our primary takeaways
Here are our takeaways from Tuesday’s elections.
Bynum triumphs in Oregon’s 5th District Democratic primary. State Sen. Janelle Bynum, the DCCC-backed candidate, beat 2022 nominee Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic primary for Oregon’s 5th District. Bynum’s victory is a big relief for Democratic leaders who had heavily bet that the center-left Bynum was a better candidate to knock off Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.).
McCarthy’s hand-picked successor is heading to the House. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed state legislator Vince Fong to succeed him in the House. Fong won a special election in California’s 20th District on Tuesday and will serve the remainder of McCarthy’s term.
Dexter beats Jayapal in Oregon’s 3rd District Democratic contest. Maxine Dexter defeated progressive Susheela Jayapal in the primary to succeed retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). Jayapal is the sister of Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
Trump’s pick fails to avoid a runoff in Georgia’s 3rd District. Brian Jack, former President Donald Trump’s political director, fell just short of a majority in the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.). Jack advances to a runoff with Mike Dugan, the former majority leader of the state Senate. Whoever emerges from the runoff is the heavy favorite to win in the general election.
— Max Cohen
THE CAMPAIGN
The cavalry comes for Cole, plus Casey’s new ad
Cole gets backup: Defending Main Street is running a $500,000 ad campaign to shore up support for House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) in his primary.
The jolt of support from the political arm of the center-right Main Street Caucus is a sign that top Republicans are pouring in money to help Cole.
Cole is facing a challenge from political newcomer and Illinois businessman Paul Bondar. The Defending Main Street ad rips Bondar as a Texas resident who is trying to buy Cole’s House seat. Bondar is expected to spend as much as $7 million to try to win the seat.
The spot also features a local news interview Bondar conducted when the candidate admitted he was in Texas during the exchange.
In an interview Tuesday, Cole told us this:
Casey hits on CHIPS: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is airing a new ad touting his work to pass the bipartisan bill that boosted domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
“We’re doing right by our consumers and our country,” Casey says in the ad, hailing the bill as a way to lower costs.
Casey’s November matchup against Republican Dave McCormick will be one of the most competitive Senate races of the year.
— Max Cohen and John Bresnahan
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