The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

House GOP Oversight misses Biden, but his allies pay the price

Senate conservatives expand their blockade of Biden nominees

Babin to seek gavel at House Science Committee in next Congress

Republicans crush Democrats 31-11 in Congressional Baseball Game rout

Hickenlooper on Hunter Biden, IVF and AI

THE TOP

House GOP Oversight misses Biden, but his allies pay the price

Happy Thursday morning.

House Republicans have impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. On Wednesday, they voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. Earlier this year, they threatened to do the same to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

GOP committee chairs have handed out subpoenas like Halloween candy. They’ve referred Hunter and James Biden to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. Their investigations even played a role in the Justice Department’s prosecution of Hunter Biden for lying on a gun purchase application.

Just about the only person the House GOP’s oversight hasn’t really touched is President Joe Biden — much to the chagrin of former President Donald Trump, who will meet with Hill Republicans today. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from trying.

With less than five months until Election Day, the sprawling GOP probes have yet to uncover conclusive evidence that Biden did anything illegal or improper.

According to Democrats, GOP committee chairs have issued more than two dozen subpoenas related to the Biden impeachment inquiry, amassed 150-plus hours of testimony from 32 witnesses and received more than 3.8 million pages of documents.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, complained that House Republicans have spent “$20 million taxpayer dollars in a desperate search to find something — anything — that they can use to damage President Biden and to protect Donald Trump.”

This is a bit of hyperbole. But there’s real frustration among House GOP hardliners that the top Republican investigators — Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (Ky.), Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (Mo.) — have only been able to produce the kind of evidence that gets picked up by Fox News and Newsmax.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who inherited the Biden impeachment inquiry from Kevin McCarthy, is no fan of the criticism that his conference is wasting taxpayer dollars on futile, politically motivated probes.

“If they consider the fulfillment of our constitutional responsibility to be a waste of funding, I think it says more about their priorities than ours,” Johnson told us in a brief interview.

Johnson said he doesn’t know if House Republicans will impeach Biden. The speaker added he was seeking “final accountability” for why members of the Biden family were receiving “millions of dollars in some cases from foreign adversaries and other nations.”

Comer, in particular, has been fixated on the Biden family since taking the Oversight Committee gavel. There are sections on the committee’s website titled the “Biden Family Investigation” and the “Biden Family Influence Peddling Timeline.” His panel has issued more than 130 press releases on the Bidens alone. Comer has all but accused Biden of taking bribes, although he’s offered no proof of that claim.

Reflecting on Biden so far escaping direct consequences, Comer said it was part of a “cover-up.”

“It was bizarre that the VP’s family were getting all these wires from foreign nationals,” Comer said of Biden. “The whistleblowers were told to stand down [from investigating Joe Biden].”

The House GOP has landed some punches, especially on those in Biden’s orbit.

Thanks in part to two IRS whistleblowers who approached the Ways and Means Committee, Hunter Biden’s plea deal fell apart last summer, leading to a conviction in the gun case in Delaware. Those proceedings put the entire Biden family on trial in some ways. And Hunter Biden still faces a September trial on federal tax charges in California. The White House hasn’t ruled out a commutation of the charges, however.

“They’ve been able to inflict damage even though they have been unable to meet the goals they set out for themselves,” acknowledged Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on Oversight. “Yes, they have not been a major wrecking ball. But they have been a mini wrecking ball. And they have wasted tremendous resources and time.”

“The only thing [Republicans] seem to agree on is they want to try to attack the president,” added Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was both censured and barred from the Intelligence Committee by House GOP leaders. “So they’ve literally thrown everything against the wall. All of it has failed. Some of it has failed spectacularly … They’ve just made a mess of the House.”

Mayorkas’ impeachment case was dismissed in one day by the Senate, which infuriated House Republicans. The Garland contempt fight — which centers around audiotapes of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with Biden — will end up in federal court and won’t be decided before Election Day.

Two news bites:

→	House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is hosting a meeting today with the chairs and GOP members of the AI task force to talk about the party’s position on AI. We’re extraordinarily focused on how both parties are positioning themselves on this issue moving forward.

→

The White House will announce today its intent to nominate CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Kristin Johnson, another CFTC commissioner, will be nominated to be the Treasury Department’s next assistant secretary for financial institutions. This sets up a potentially bruising confirmation fight over the next few months.

— Max Cohen, Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Brendan Pedersen

THE SENATE

Senate conservatives expand their blockade of Biden nominees

News: A group of conservative Republicans is unveiling a new effort to jam up the Senate floor in protest of former President Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York hush-money trial.

Five of Trump’s closest Senate allies are slated to announce Thursday that they’ll block swift confirmation of nearly four dozen of President Joe Biden’s nominees to various positions throughout the federal government.

This represents a significant expansion of an existing pledge by Trump allies to stall Democratic-led initiatives — both legislation and nominations — on the Senate floor.

The new blockade will require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to burn floor time on nominations that would typically be confirmed via unanimous consent. It includes nominees to serve on nonpartisan federal boards and commissions or represent the United States at international gatherings.

The impacted nominations also include U.S. attorneys, federal judges, and sub-Cabinet positions. Most of these, however, are already subject to GOP holds that force Schumer to use multiple days of floor time and hold roll-call votes.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential Trump running mate, is spearheading the effort. Four other GOP senators signed the pledge: Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Roger Marshall (Kan.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.).

The announcement comes as Trump is slated to huddle separately with House and Senate Republicans today. Trump is sure to rail against his recent conviction as well as the other indictments he’s facing and urge GOP lawmakers to do more to punish Biden and Democrats.

In a joint statement, the Vance-led group vowed to “defend against attempts to fast-track” around four dozen nominees. The senators are billing it as “a continuing response to the current administration’s persecution of President Donald Trump.”

The blockade, per the joint statement, will apply to individuals who “supported lawfare or censorship” of Trump, “suggested the Trump prosecutions were reasonable,” or endorsed Trump’s guilt — among other criteria.

Here are some examples of the nominations that will require floor time and roll-call votes for confirmation:

→	Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-Calif.) nomination to represent the United States at the U.N. General Assembly.

→	Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s nomination to represent the United States on the World Health Organization board.

→	Christopher Schroeder’s nomination to serve on the board of trustees for the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation.

→	Former Rep. Charlie Crist’s (D-Fla.) nomination to serve as U.S. representative to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

→	Leslie Bluhm’s nomination to serve on the board of directors for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

→	Jeffrey Gural’s nomination to serve as chair of the Public Buildings Reform Board.

You get the point. These nominees, while they have either direct or indirect connections to the Democratic Party, would usually be confirmed in no more than a few seconds on the Senate floor.

Vance’s group will maintain the blockade through the election. The impact is unclear, but Schumer is unlikely to use floor time on non-judicial nominations or key posts. Many of them could lag for several months as a result. In Lee’s case, the U.N. General Assembly takes place in September, so she may not be confirmed at all.

The senators’ hardball move resembles Tuberville’s months-long blockade of senior military promotions, which senators from both parties said damaged U.S. national security.

— Andrew Desiderio

GAVEL WATCH

Babin to seek gavel at House Science Committee in next Congress

Rep. Brian Babin will formally seek the gavel at the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in the next Congress, potentially putting yet another Texas Republican in charge of a House panel.

“Throughout my near decade in Congress, I’ve learned the importance of supporting those on your committee and being a team player,” Babin said in a statement to Punchbowl News. “As various committee chairs have demonstrated for me in the past, looking out for your GOP team members strengthens your committee and conference.”

The 76-year-old Babin was first elected to Congress in 2014. NASA’s massive Johnson Space Center is located in his district. More than 11,000 people work at that facility. Babin currently chairs the subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics for the SST panel.

Babin — a former dentist and local mayor before coming to Congress — also has forged a close relationship with SpaceX, the Texas-based space exploration giant founded by mega-billionaire Elon Musk.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), who currently chairs the Science panel, wants to take over the Financial Services Committee in the next Congress, which provides an opening for Babin to seek this gavel.

Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, a fellow Texas Republican, said Babin was “the perfect choice” for SST chair.

“On the policy front, on the political front, in terms of his leadership skills, his credibility, and having the science, space and technology assets in our state, I don’t see anyone on that committee would be able to compete with what he could bring in terms of value, not just for our conference but the country,” Arrington said.

Right now, Texas Republicans — the largest GOP delegation in the Republican Conference — wield several gavels. These include Budget, Foreign Affairs, Rules and Small Business. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the Rules Committee chair, is retiring at the end of the year. And Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who is also retiring, stepped down as chair of the Appropriations panel back in March.

— John Bresnahan

PLAY BALL!

Republicans crush Democrats 31-11 in Congressional Baseball Game rout

Congressional Republicans dealt their Democratic counterparts a drubbing in a lopsided 31-11 win at the Congressional Baseball Game on Wednesday night.

Democrats led briefly in the second inning, 5-4. But their advantage didn’t last and the GOP ran away with the game thanks to a combined total of 15 runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

To add insult to injury, Republicans ran up the score in the top of the seventh inning, putting up a whopping 10 runs. The pick of the bunch was a three-run inside-the-park home run by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas).

There was some disruption early on when climate protesters interrupted the game by running into the outfield. U.S. Capitol Police officers quickly tackled the demonstrators. And for the rest of the game, law enforcement encircled the outfield to protect the members.

According to organizers, this year’s game raised over $2 million for local charities.

— Max Cohen

PUNCHBOWL NEWS EVENTS

Hickenlooper on Hunter Biden, IVF and AI

Did you miss our event with Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) yesterday?

Hickenlooper expressed sympathy for Hunter Biden following his conviction, called for a vote to protect IVF treatments and shared his views on the promises of artificial intelligence.

You can watch the full recording here.

— Elvina Nawaguna

MOMENTS

CLIPS