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THE UPPER CHAMBER

GOP national-security hawks slam ‘two-tiered’ justice system — not Trump

The Senate Republican Conference’s national-security hawks largely declined to criticize former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Justice Department’s allegations that he mishandled sensitive classified intelligence material.

Instead, defense-minded GOP senators Monday were critical of what they said was a “two-tiered” system of justice that’s been weaponized against Trump.

“People shouldn’t be doing what they’ve all done,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said, referring to Trump and the other elected officials found to have retained classified documents after leaving office. “But to me, the bigger issue right now is the two tiers of justice. That’s not a talking point.”

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, declined to answer reporters’ questions about the national-security implications of what’s alleged in the Trump indictment.

But Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), also a top Armed Services Committee member and vocal national-security hawk, decried “classified documents getting out into areas where they shouldn’t be.” But Ernst said Americans see “two systems of justice — one for President Trump and one for everybody else that has had classified documents.”

It’s the “weaponization of government” argument that many conservatives have been advancing not just in the wake of the Trump indictment, but in many cases for years. At the same time, they’re refusing to comment on the merits of the indictment and Trump’s alleged behavior.

On the House side, where conservatives are seeking to go after the DOJ prosecutors, there was a focus on what a presidential indictment does to the U.S. political process.

“Obviously this is an unprecedented move, and I worry, quite frankly, about the ramifications for our political system. It’s undeniable that it’s going to create a lot of chaos,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who chairs the China select committee. “Any perception that there’s a double standard in our legal system erodes confidence in our institutions.”

To be sure, there’s a solid chunk of Republicans who aren’t engaging in what they call “whataboutism” over the Trump documents case. And they’re arguing that the key difference with Trump — in comparison to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Mike Pence — is that the former president repeatedly refused to turn over the documents when he was asked to by the National Archives and other agencies.

Here’s Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — a longtime Trump critic — venting his frustrations:

Other Trump critics reiterated what they see as a massive liability with Trump at the top of the GOP ticket in 2024.

“I don’t think it is good for our Republican Party to have a nominee — and, in fairness, the frontrunner — under a series of indictments,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told us.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune put it this way, with a laugh: “As you know, I’ve endorsed Tim Scott.”

— Andrew Desiderio and Max Cohen

INSIDE THE LEADERSHIP

McCarthy, conservatives agree to open the floor — but trouble awaits

Speaker Kevin McCarthy and conservatives have agreed — for the moment — to reopen the House floor, ending an embarrassing week-long episode that put a finer point on hardliners’ sway over the Republican Conference.

GOP leadership canceled House votes Monday evening. Members were slated to try to vote on the rule for two gas stove bills that lawmakers defeated last week. Instead, McCarthy and the House GOP leadership will combine five bills into one procedural vote this afternoon.

The five bills include the two gas-stove bills, the REINS Act, a bill to limit the power of federal agencies and a resolution barring ATF from regulating pistol braces.

In addition, House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas), after balking at this idea last week, announced on Monday night that the panel will mark up FY2024 spending bills at FY2022 levels. That’s a cut of more than $100 billion.

This isn’t what was called for under the recent debt-limit deal between McCarthy and President Joe Biden, and it puts House Republicans on a collision course with Senate Democrats over the annual spending bills. Senate Republicans won’t like it either, nor will the 18 House Republicans in districts that Biden won in 2020.

But it’s what the House Freedom Caucus wanted, and McCarthy has given in on this as well. Here’s Granger:

Again, let’s be clear — while a catastrophic debt default was avoided, the possibility of government shutdown this fall is now back on the table given the expected gap between the House and the Senate’s spending bills.

The other big problem for McCarthy is that by agreeing to open the floor and make preemptive spending cuts, Republicans are just pushing off internal battles for another day. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters in the Capitol Monday he expects McCarthy to renegotiate the “power-sharing agreement” that allowed the California Republican to become speaker back in January.

Conservatives have several issues with McCarthy and his leadership of the House. They loathed the debt-limit deal with Biden, especially the fact that more Democrats voted for it than Republicans.

Several of the conservative lawmakers who scuttled the House floor last week met with McCarthy on Monday and pressed him on his plans to curb spending.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who attended the meeting, seemed mollified afterward:

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said that he told McCarthy he opposed the speaker criticizing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

But Norman called Monday’s meeting cordial. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who is eyeing a run for North Carolina attorney general, said it was a “good discussion.”

However, everything coming up in this Congress will require cutting deals with Democrats — the annual spending bills, the farm bill, FAA and FISA reauthorization. If conservatives don’t want McCarthy to compromise at all, the remainder of this Congress will be an unproductive disaster.

Norman put McCarthy’s challenges this way: “The speaker is going to have to solve this. He wanted the job. He’s going to have to bring our so-called family together.”

House Republicans will have a closed party meeting this morning where all of this will be discussed.

— Jake Sherman, Mica Soellner and John Bresnahan

Your guide to a whirlwind financial day on Capitol Hill

It’s going to be a long day for financial policy enthusiasts. Here are the events you should watch and what to know before you do.

No. 1: Yellin’ about Yellen

The House Financial Services Committee hosts Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at 10 a.m. for a conversation about the U.S. economy and international finance.

It’s the first time Yellen has testified to Congress since a deal was reached to raise the debt limit. As we wrote Monday night, that won’t stop Yellen from issuing a stern warning about future brinkmanship.

“This cannot be normalized as the way we do business in Washington,” Yellen will tell the panel in prepared remarks.

Expect lawmakers to press the former Fed chair on a broad — perhaps unwieldy — spectrum of topics. We’ll see questions on the future of sanctions and financial aid tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) told us he’ll quiz Yellen on “ESG regulatory policy that’s being imposed in Europe on not only asset managers but also on public companies.”

Lawmakers including Hill and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) told us they have some crypto questions prepared as well. Most major crypto efforts have been Republican-led in recent weeks, and we’re looking for signs of bipartisan pickup.

No. 2: Chopra in the Senate

Over at the Senate Banking Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra will appear for a semi-annual oversight hearing. It’s also at 10 a.m., so have your splitscreens ready and closed caption software primed.

With all the debt limit and regional bank drama of the last few months, news coming out of the CFPB has taken a bit of a back seat — even in financial policy circles. But at least one initiative from the agency has seen hardcore lobbying from the bank sector: sharp new limits on credit card fees.

A letter circulated this week by the Consumer Bankers Association, which you can read here, accuses the CFPB of making policy with “minimal input from the industry it is responsible for overseeing.” We expect Senate Republicans to echo complaints along those lines.

But Democrats will punch back hard. Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will argue in opening remarks that “no other agency fights for consumers – or stands up to corporate power – like the CFPB does.”

No. 3: Democrats’ juicy fight on GOP tax cuts

The Ways and Means Committee will mark up a number of tax bills this morning — also at 10 a.m. — and Democrats hope they can turn the issue into a political piñata.

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) has said GOP bills like the Tax Cuts for Working Families Act and Small Business Jobs Act “will provide relief for working families, strengthen small businesses, grow jobs, and protect American innovation and competitiveness.”

But Democrats see trillions of dollars in tax cuts in the works that will largely benefit corporations and the wealthy while adding to the deficit. The White House, led by National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, circulated this memo Monday that accuses Republicans of laying the groundwork for as much as $3 trillion in tax cuts, including by extending temporary cuts introduced in the Trump-era tax reform.

More from Brainard:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants in on the action, too. He took to the floor Monday night to argue “this tax giveaway by the Republicans will mean next to nothing for too many Americans who aren’t among the top percentage of earners.”

— Brendan Pedersen

MOMENTS

8:30 a.m.: The May 2023 Consumer Price Index will be released.

10 a.m.: A bipartisan group of lawmakers will hold a news conference on the effort to lift the perimeter at Washington Reagan National Airport.

10:15 a.m.: House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu will hold a news conference after their party meeting.

1 p.m.: President Joe Biden will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

1:30 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief.

2 p.m.: Senate leadership will hold their post-lunch stakeout.

3 p.m.: Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) will speak about his pistol-brace bill.

5:15 p.m.: Biden will speak at the Chiefs of Mission reception.

7 p.m.: Biden will host a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn. Vice President Kamala Harris will participate.

CLIP FILE

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