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July 18, 2023
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PRESENTED BY
THE TOP
Happy Tuesday morning.
This was supposed to be a simple week for the House of Representatives.
Congress is slated to welcome Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a joint address celebrating Israel’s 75 years of independence Wednesday. Herzog holds a largely ceremonial role and is far less divisive than his former political rival, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But instead, the Capitol has devolved into a pit of partisanship over the Jewish State days before Herzog’s visit.
1) Let’s start with today. We scooped Monday night that House Republican leadership will put a resolution on the floor today that forces lawmakers to cast a vote as to whether they condemn antisemitism — and believe that Israel is not “a racist or apartheid state.”
The resolution, penned by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), is already giving some House Democrats heartburn. Condemning antisemitism is easy for almost every elected official. But staunch critics of Israel — and there are a number in the House Democratic Caucus — believe Israel systematically disenfranchises Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
2) Democrats and Republicans continue to scuffle over Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s (D-Wash.) remark that Israel is, indeed, a racist state. Speaker Kevin McCarthy went as far as to suggest Monday that Democrats remove Jayapal as chair of the Progressive Caucus.
Some Democrats are still angry at Jayapal for actions last Congress, including progressives holding up some bipartisan legislation as they pushed for a sweeping reconciliation package. In other words, there isn’t a ton of goodwill between Democratic moderates and Jayapal.
Forty-three House Democrats issued a statement late Monday about Jayapal’s remarks, saying they will “never allow anti-Zionist voices that embolden antisemitism to undermine and disrupt the strongly bipartisan consensus supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship that has existed for decades.”
3) Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) have all said they’d skip Herzog’s speech altogether. All five have been critics of the Israeli government. But boycotting the speech shows, once again, that the bipartisan support for Israel continues to fray.
4) Tangentially related: House Democrats will send a letter to McCarthy and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) later this morning asking the two to disinvite Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from testifying before Congress on Wednesday. We have the letter exclusively here.
Dozens of Democrats who signed on attacked Kennedy over his recent comments that claimed Covid-19 had spared Jews and Asians.
The letter was led by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.). Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), who co-chairs a bipartisan task force to combat antisemitism, also pushed the effort.
As we reported Monday, the lawmakers said Kennedy Jr. had “nonexistent” credibility as a witness, even likening him to Adolf Hitler.
McCarthy and Jordan both publicly said they would move forward with Kennedy Jr., although they disagreed with his comments.
Chu called it “hypocritical” for Republicans to hold a vote on an antisemitism resolution without canceling Kennedy’s appearance.
“What they are doing is giving RFK this big platform to spread these very ugly and racist theories,” Chu told us.
As we’ve reported before, Congress has begun to splinter on Israel. It’s worth noting that during this week — which was supposed to be celebratory for the U.S.-Israel relationship — the House has broken out into a nasty partisan squabble.
Also, an FAA update: The House Rules Committee set up a vote on an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would add flights to Ronald Reagan National Airport.
For decades, Congress and the Department of Transportation have restricted airlines from offering flights longer than 1,250 miles. That restriction has been peeled back over the years.
The amendment — penned by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) — would give seven airlines at DCA another flight that they can choose to use for short-haul or long-haul flights.
The interesting dynamic here is that lawmakers supportive of the amendment say that American Airlines has softened its opposition to the amendment. One lawmaker described American as “neutral.” United Airlines, American and Alaska Airlines had been working hard to kill any effort to add flights to DCA, while Delta Airline has supported it.
Here’s American spokesman Amy Lawrence on the amendment:
The Delta-backed Capital Access Alliance is backing the amendment.
Here is the full list of amendments to the FAA bill that the House will consider.
Two more things:
1) Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) has threatened to vote against the rule for the FAA bill if it raises the pilot’s retirement age to 67, as the bill currently does. The leadership seems to think Bergman, a former commercial pilot, will back off here.
2) One thing to watch here is whether there is an uprising over changes to the Essential Air Service, the government program that helps support rural airports. Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) have an amendment to wipe out the authorization for the program.
— Jake Sherman and Mica Soellner
NATO SUMMIT 2023
Jeanne Shaheen’s unusual path to foreign-policy influencer
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) isn’t a household name in the United States outside of New Hampshire.
A former governor and one-time short-lister to be Al Gore’s running mate, Shaheen, 76, lays low in the halls of the Capitol, where she’s often spotted with her head down in briefing materials.
When she travels overseas, it’s an entirely different story. Shaheen’s influence in American foreign policy has been cultivated over a decade-plus of global engagement in ways that might seem unusual for a three-term Democratic senator.
Shaheen doesn’t engage in news-of-the-day punditry, sometimes angering reporters looking for quotes. She prefers to stick with her pet issues even when she appears on cable news — which is rare. And she hardly ever takes a proverbial blowtorch with her to the Senate floor, save for some recent disputes with Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that made for must-see TV.
That’s why it might be jarring to see Shaheen mobbed by foreign journalists as she so often is at international gatherings like the annual NATO summit. It’s because her foreign-policy forays over the years — beginning with the dozens of congressional delegations she’s led all over the world — have attracted an entirely different audience. It rivals those of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), though without the McCain-esque boisterousness that grabbed headlines back home.
“Relationships are so much of what we do, whether it’s in foreign policy or in policy in general on the Hill,” Shaheen said in an interview walking along Vilnius’ characteristic cobblestone streets. “The longer you’re around, the more opportunities you have to do these kinds of trips, the more opportunities there are to meet other world leaders.”
For several years, Shaheen was the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She’s the No. 2 Democrat on the Armed Services Committee and will soon reach that status on Foreign Relations — climbing the Senate ladder by bucking contemporary expectations of how a senator gains power and influence.
Throwing rhetorical grenades on the Senate floor is often the preferred tactic, with the knowledge that you won’t have to deal with the consequences like the executive branch does. Shaheen openly shuns that type of strategy, preferring to deal directly with leaders in ways that the State Department, not a member of Congress, might.
“She has a real feel for these issues, and not in a senator-like way, but almost in a more practical way. Almost like an executive-branch senior official,” said Peter Van Praagh, president of the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering that Shaheen has been attending since her first year in office.
Shaheen’s influence with her colleagues, though, faced its most grueling test earlier this year when she unsuccessfully pushed for the confirmation of a New Hampshire native, Michael Delaney, to serve as a federal judge. The White House had to withdraw Delaney’s nomination over a lack of united Democratic support, and Shaheen had staked a lot on Delaney’s confirmation. In short, it was a big loss.
But since arriving in the Senate in 2009, Shaheen has been one of the most active lawmakers on foreign policy, working across the aisle to force administrations of both parties to more directly address national-security threats from Russia to ISIS. Shaheen’s work on a Russia sanctions package, for example, prompted the Kremlin to deny her an entry visa in 2017.
And she has preferred to engage directly with opposition figures like Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the rightful winner of Belarus’ presidential elections, who embraced Shaheen here in Vilnius after several meetings back in Washington and elsewhere.
Shaheen is sometimes the only Democrat on a given CODEL, believing that partisan engagement with foreign leaders yields very little. Her friendships over the years with Republicans like McCain and former Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio have helped highlight bipartisan support for initiatives like military assistance for Ukraine — especially when debates rage back home about the utility of continued U.S. involvement.
One of Shaheen’s partners in that effort, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), helped her restart the Senate’s NATO Observer Group in 2018. This small Senate caucus has helped maintain congressional support for the alliance as well as the admittance of new members.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told us he counts on Shaheen to help make that happen.
Here’s what Stoltenberg said:
At times, Shaheen’s independent streak has put her at odds with members of her own party, many of whom opposed President Joe Biden’s controversial decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. And she has joined Republican hawks in calling on him to send other advanced weapons and equipment like F-16 fighter jets.
“By the way,” said a frustrated Shaheen, “Russia’s been using these [cluster] munitions throughout the war. So let’s get Russia to stop. And then Ukraine will stop.”
Shaheen’s hawkishness on foreign policy also extended to Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021. She was the lone Democratic senator who spoke out against the move, arguing it was premature and would harm Afghan women in particular.
— Andrew Desiderio
ISRAEL X WASHINGTON
Herzog to address Abraham Accords Caucus following Hill address
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will speak with the bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus following his address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.
The caucus, founded in 2022 by a group of members of both the Senate and the House, celebrates the recent steps toward normalization between Israel and Arab states.
During the conversation with Herzog — convened by caucus co-founder Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) — the group will hail the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding and express support for the Abraham Accords. The treaties were agreed under the administration of former President Donald Trump and led to Morocco, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan formally launching diplomatic ties with Israel.
The bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus has emerged as a leading congressional voice on Israeli issues. In January, caucus members made headlines during a trip to Israel when Rosen asked not to meet with extreme-right members of the Israeli government.
Here’s who will be at the meeting with Herzog: Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rosen, along with Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) and David Trone (D-Md.).
Herzog’s visit has, once again, brought the U.S.-Israeli relationship to the forefront. And the upcoming speech has shone a spotlight on fissures within the Democratic Party on how the United States should view its Middle Eastern partner, as we touched on earlier.
— Max Cohen
THE CAMPAIGN
VoteVets bashes Tuberville on the Alabama airwaves
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is facing heat on the Alabama airwaves for his continued blockade of senior military promotions. VoteVets, the liberal veterans group, is out with an ad bashing Tuberville for “playing political games with our national security.”
Tuberville has placed holds on hundreds of promotions to express his opposition to the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members receiving abortion care.
“For months, one lone senator — Tommy Tuberville — who never served in uniform himself, has held hostage hundreds of military assignments just to force his social agenda on women in the ranks,” the ad’s narrator says.
Check out the minute-long spot, which is running in the Montgomery-Selma media market, here.
Tuberville spoke last week with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, but has shown no willingness to drop his holds. Senate Republicans have increasingly gone public with their criticisms of the holds’ impact on military readiness. Several Republicans have privately tried to get Tuberville to change his tactics to little effect.
— Max Cohen
AI WATCH
New Dems, RG2 to hold joint meeting on AI
The center-left New Democrat Coalition and the center-right Republican Governance Group are holding their first joint lunch meeting today with a focus on artificial intelligence.
The two groups will hear from Miriam Vogel, the chair of the National AI Advisory Committee, Scale AI Founder and CEO Alexandr Wang and Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, an AI expert and data scientist.
We’re fascinated by how Congress is reacting to the rapid advancements being made in the field of AI. The joint meeting between the bipartisan group of lawmakers is the latest data point on members of Congress getting up to speed on artificial intelligence.
The collaboration between New Dems and RG2 is an interesting development between two groups who seek to represent the moderate wings of the two parties.
Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Kevin McCarthy are striving to ensure Congress isn’t behind the curve on AI. They have both recently convened meetings of industry leaders.
The Senate held a classified all-senators briefing on AI last week. And Schumer has promised to work with other senators and outside experts to develop legislation regulating AI in the coming months.
— Max Cohen
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Presented by The Electronic Payments Coalition
Millions of Americans love using their credit cards and rely on them for rewards that help cover gas, groceries, and travel. The Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill puts these rewards in jeopardy. Congress: oppose the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill!