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Happy Friday morning.

This is interesting: CPAC’s Matt Schlapp has sent a letter to House Republicans warning that his organization won’t endorse any candidate for a leadership race unless they vow to reject meetings with “woke” corporations.

Here’s a bit of the letter, which you can find in full here:

The CPAC letter doesn’t specify which corporations have “gone woke,” although there are links featuring stories on Walmart, Meta, Delta, and Disney, among others.

Still, it’s unrealistic for party leaders or senior members to say that, as a blanket promise, they won’t meet with any corporation or any of their lobbyists. These are some of the largest corporations in America. Furthermore, these corporations’ lobbyists often sign up for fundraisers. Should lawmakers reject checks from them as well?

And endorsements from CPAC don’t necessarily mean that much directly for leadership contests. These are under the dome races, by and large.

Schlapp told us that “We just sent the letter a few hours ago. I believe that many will take it,” meaning the proposed pledge on woke corporations.

Corporations and their representatives are major funders of House Republican lawmakers, their campaign committees and leadership PACs. Walmart’s PAC, for instance, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars this cycle to GOP lawmakers, including the NRCC. Individual Republicans House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), the top Republican on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, are just some of the dozens of GOP lawmakers who’ve received campaign donations from the company this cycle. And this doesn’t include their lobbyists or employees, who have donated directly to the lawmakers.

But House Republicans are a much different breed from even four years ago when they lost their majority, despite the fact that many of their top leaders are the same. They’ve been changed by the Trump era and the Covid pandemic. They have much less allegiance to Corporate America, especially Big Tech, which they see as working hand-in-hand with Democrats to suppress conservative speech and ideas online.

The GOP as a whole is much less deferential to C suite pronouncements. Look at Delta’s experience in Atlanta over the state’s voting rights law. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis went after Disney – once an unthinkable move for a Sunshine State pol – due to the company’s criticism of the state’s “Don’t say gay” bill. Texas has a new law that prohibits state and local agencies from doing business with any company that “boycotts” fossil fuels. ESG – environmental, social and governance – is the new CRT for some Republicans.

Schlapp is chair of the American Conservative Union, and his wife Mercedes was director of strategic communications in the Trump White House. The Washington Post reported last week that the Schlapps are going to fundraise for some Senate GOP candidates, including Blake Masters and Mehmet Oz.

There’s one other factor to look at here. Pair these efforts with the increasingly aggressive tone from the House Freedom Caucus toward McCarthy and the leadership that we reported on the other day. Conservatives see a win coming in November and they’re flexing their muscles now, trying to stake a claim to what happens next year. This isn’t much different, in a way, from what happened to the message the left sent to Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi after Democrats won in 2018 and 2020. And look at how progressives won that agenda fight.

– Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

FUNDING FLAP

Ukraine aid waits while permitting fight drags out

New U.S. aid for embattled Ukraine will have to wait at least another week as an unrelated fight over federal permitting reform slowed down work on a short-term government funding bill.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has scheduled a key procedural vote for Tuesday night. Schumer is planning to move ahead at that time with a legislative vehicle to fund federal agencies beyond the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

The government funding package will include roughly $12 billion in new military and economic support for Ukraine, although final details are still being hammered out, according to House and Senate appropriators.

Schumer wants to attach a controversial permitting reform proposal from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to the government funding measure, despite the fact that Senate Republicans and a number of progressive Democrats are opposed.

But Schumer promised Manchin he’d do so in order to get Manchin’s backing for the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature legislative achievement. And Schumer is sticking to that deal with Manchin so far. Democratic aides insist that Schumer isn’t making any changes to the funding package – expected to keep federal agencies open through mid-December – until after Tuesday’s cloture vote.

The Senate is out on Monday for Rosh Hashanah, which will push the Senate procedural vote back another day.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said there is broad support for additional Ukrainian aid, although she noted that the details are still being worked out between the White House, State Department, Pentagon and Hill lawmakers.

“The whole package is still under discussion,” DeLauro told us on Thursday night. “No, it’s not final.”

“Honestly, it’s still being negotiated,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) added. Tester chairs the Defense subcommittee for the Senate Appropriations Committee. “What level for military, what level for the State Department.”

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on Senate Appropriations, acknowledged those discussions were ongoing. “We’re talking a little about the Ukraine numbers,” Shelby said.

The war in Ukraine has reached a critical moment, making this latest round of American support even more vital.

Following a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin has mobilized 300,000 more troops, spurring protests inside Russia. Putin also warned the United States and the Western allies that he was prepared to defend Russia’s territorial integrity by any means necessary. “It is not a bluff,” Putin said.

The dispute over permitting reform remains the biggest obstacle to finishing up the government funding measure. Senate Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to Manchin’s proposal, which has deeply frustrated the West Virginia Democrat.

Manchin also faces opposition from progressives, however. A block of eight Senate Democrats led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) wants to see the permitted proposal separated from the funding bill.

The group includes Merkley and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Yet other than Sanders, these Democrats haven’t said what they’re going to do on Tuesday’s motion to proceed. So Schumer isn’t going to change course until he’s forced to do so. Which means for now, the majority leader is planning to move ahead with Tuesday’s procedural vote.

– John Bresnahan

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