The Archive

THE SENATE

GOP senators bridge Ukraine divide with push for oversight of U.S. aid

News: The Republican Party’s competing factions on U.S. aid to Ukraine clinched a rare agreement this week on an amendment to the annual defense policy bill.

GOP senators who differ dramatically on sending military aid to Ukraine came together on a proposal that would stand up a new office dedicated to auditing U.S. assistance to Kyiv and regularly updating Congress.

It’s unclear if the amendment will get a vote. But proponents are optimistic because it was included in a list of amendments that the Senate leadership is considering offering on the floor this week.

And given the rare GOP unity and Democrats’ openness to it, there’s a real possibility that this could pass — whether the vote is held at a majority or 60-vote threshold.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has consistently opposed U.S. assistance for Ukraine, worked with Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would authorize $10 million for an office of around 30 staffers to conduct full-time Ukraine oversight.

The amendment allows the president to decide who leads the office; it could be an existing inspector general or someone new. And it requires regular reporting to Congress.

“The billions of dollars in spending on Ukraine needs real oversight,” Hawley told us. “This is a step in the right direction.”

Risch and Wicker — the top Republicans on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees respectively — have long insisted there’s more than enough oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine. But the two have been open to efforts to centralize it. Congress has authorized more than $100 billion in both military and non-military assistance for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“We’ve got like 54 different [oversight] enterprises going on over there, all kinds of IG types that are looking at that,” Risch said. “But most people are willing to say, ‘Well, we can always do a little bit more.’ And I think that’s where we ended up.”

Kennedy’s involvement stemmed from a separate proposal he’d introduced with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) on Ukraine aid oversight.

“We’ve spent over $100 billion in Ukraine. I’ve been very supportive of that,” Kennedy told us. “But the money didn’t just fall from heaven. It came out of people’s pockets.”

Kennedy added that Wicker and Risch “wanted to soften up our proposal, and we have resisted that but we have reached some middle ground.”

The effort came together relatively quickly, with Hawley approaching Wicker and Risch and looping in Kennedy last week, according to a person familiar with the talks. Hawley had forced a vote on an independent inspector general for Ukraine aid as part of the Senate’s debate last year on legislation to repeal the Iraq war authorizations. That vote failed in part because it wasn’t directly related to the underlying bill.

In many ways, this is a difficult vote for senators. For those who back more aid for Ukraine, it risks validating the position of Hawley and other Ukraine skeptics who have called for a different approach to U.S. foreign policy. On the flip side, it’s tough to make the case against more oversight, even if those calling for it are on the opposing side of the issue.

It’s possible that the Senate will vote on a competing amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) this week as a “side-by-side” with the Hawley-Risch-Wicker-Kennedy proposal. Paul’s amendment would appoint John Sopko, the IG for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and his existing team to handle Ukraine oversight.

— Andrew Desiderio

IN THE STATES

Hochul, Cooper talk state of play, 2024

LOS ANGELES — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper joined Punchbowl News founder Anna Palmer on stage Tuesday at the Westin Bonaventure for the Democratic Governors Association summer policy conference. The confab brought together more than 300 operatives, fundraisers and donors ahead of the 2024 election.

Top takeaways from the conversation:

– Strike watch: Both Hochul and Cooper said they stand with the actors and writers in the strike that has brought Hollywood to a standstill. “We’re there to support them,” Hochul said, noting that she’d met with union leaders in New York.

A separate hotel workers strike forced the DGA to move locations for the conference. The meeting was originally supposed to be held at the Beverly Hilton, where hotel employees have been taking part in walkouts.

— Redistricting: Both North Carolina and New York face big issues when it comes to redistricting. Cooper said the system is broken and noted he’s in favor of “independent redistricting commissions in every single state.” While Hochul acknowledged the ongoing legal challenges to the New York congressional map, the former House member said she was very optimistic of what will happen in the courts. Hochul also noted that she’d raised $1.5 million for the coordinated committee to help elect Democrats in New York.

— Cooper’s future: Cooper, who is term-limited out of the governorship after two terms, was noncommittal about his political future. Instead, Cooper said he was focused on winning North Carolina for President Joe Biden, getting North Carolina’s Attorney General Josh Stein elected as governor and breaking the Republican supermajority in the state legislature during his remaining time in office.

NDAA UPDATE

Marshall signals progress on credit card reform push

News: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) appears to be backing off threats to hold up the NDAA in order to force a vote on his credit-card fee reform proposal with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin.

Senate Republican leaders ran a hotline Tuesday afternoon for an amendment list that didn’t include Marshall’s proposal. Several GOP senators had previously placed a hold on the Durbin-Marshall credit card bill during the amendment process. That number has dwindled a bit in recent days, we’re told, but it only takes one objection.

For his part, Durbin — who is absent this week due to a Covid-19 diagnosis — doesn’t want to tie up the defense policy bill with the Credit Card Competition Act.

Here are three significant developments:

No. 1: Marshall’s staffers have continued to tell K Street that their boss will object to moving ahead on the NDAA, effectively derailing the process, if he doesn’t receive a vote on the credit card fee proposal.

Last week, after we first reported that Marshall had threatened to hold up the NDAA proceedings, the Kansas Republican issued a statement saying he had “no desire” to obstruct the must-pass defense package.

But as of Tuesday, the message from his camp to downtown was that Marshall was willing to grind out a hold if getting a vote on CCCA was possible.

No. 2: Marshall is keeping his options open. When we caught up with Marshall on Tuesday night, we asked directly if he was planning to block the NDAA debate. The Kansas Republican refused to answer.

“We’re trying to figure out a path forward,” Marshall said. “We’re negotiating right now, and I’m not going to negotiate in the press.”

A couple hours later, however, Marshall sent us this statement:

The reference to “assurances” could be a sign that Marshall has backed off. But we’re not going to say that definitively until a consent agreement is reached.

No. 3: Some GOP operatives are already targeting Marshall at home over his support of credit card fee reform. The attack ad effort, directed at local Kansas Republicans, is coming from a new 501(c)(4) called the “Conservative Accountability Foundation.”

The mailer being sent out by the group isn’t remotely subtle, accusing Marshall of working with Democrats to “take away your credit card rewards points.” It features a Pride flag and a rainbow version of Target’s logo — “Marshall’s bill gives them billions” — as well as a Chinese flag. You can find the full mailer here.

Brent Robertson, Marshall’s chief of staff, responded in a statement, saying: “When low-rent DC grifters come out of the woodwork with a big bank-funded (c)4 like this, we know we’re doing something right for the working family.”

— Brendan Pedersen, Andrew Desiderio and Heather Caygle

As Fed eyes another hike, fewer lawmakers want to weigh in

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to increase the federal funds rate by another 25 basis points this afternoon — a move that may be remembered as the central bank’s last major step to quash pandemic-era inflation, if the recent strong U.S. economic data holds.

As the inflation picture has improved, some lawmakers have become more reluctant to hold court on how exactly the Fed handles inflation. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) gave us a good snapshot after we asked about it.

“Oh, I’m not on the Board of Governors,” Daines said.

Other Republicans are more circumspect, though they still want to give the Fed political cover if harder decisions on inflation are needed down the line. Here’s Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.):

But other GOP lawmakers, particularly in the House, have few quibbles about asking the Fed to keep on the pressure if that’s what the central bank thinks it must do.

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) said he believed the pause in rate hikes in June “might have been despite the data,” adding that the Fed has “has got to live with the bed they’ve created. The problem is that all of America is paying the price for it.”

Democrats have increasingly aligned in asking the Fed to hold off on hikes as inflation shows signs of slowing. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told us back in March that a “pause would be appropriate” for interest rates. Now, with the June pause behind us, Warner said he had “concerns” about more hikes.

“I actually do worry about a quarter point increase, whether you’re on the credit side or in commercial real estate,” Warner said. “I have concerns. I feel like we could probably be over” with hikes.

“I wish we could have stayed with the pause for another month,” Warner said, “but I’m feeling this from the cheap seats.”

— Brendan Pedersen

MOMENTS

9 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his intelligence briefing.

10 a.m.: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik and other House Republicans will brief reporters after their closed party meeting.

10:15 a.m.: House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, Vice Chair Ted Lieu, DPCC Chair Joe Neguse and Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) will brief reporters after their party meeting.

12:15 p.m.: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) will hold a news conference on the Inflation Reduction Act.

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

2 p.m.: Senate leaders will talk to reporters after their closed-party lunches.

CLIP FILE

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