Can Speaker McCarthy save Christmas?

A play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news

Aug 15, 2023 View in browser   By Sarah Ferris, Jordain Carney, Natalie Fertig, Anthony Adragna and Daniella Diaz Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Republicans on Monday that he does not want appropriations negotiations to butt up against the holiday season at the end of the year. | Francis Chung/POLITICO CHECKING IN ON HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ SPENDING CALL Speaker Kevin McCarthy wants to save Christmas. At least that was his message to his House GOP colleagues on a Monday night conference call about the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline that looms large on Congress’ calendar. McCarthy, as we first reported minutes after the call, acknowledged the reality that the House will need to pass a short-term funding patch sometime next month. That’s an endgame plenty of Hill denizens have long seen coming after the House GOP’s less-than-stellar summertime record approving spending bills on the floor. (Reminder: 1 out of 12 bills have passed.) What he promised: Instead of Washington’s dreaded days-before-Christmas funding cliff, McCarthy vowed that any stopgap funding measure he pursues would last no later than early December, according to two Republicans familiar with the GOP call. In fact, McCarthy said he’s told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that the patch would not go near the holidays — a bid to avoid the calendar crunch that we’re all a little too familiar with after the last few years. Still ahead: Besides that stopgap bill, McCarthy said he still plans to bring some of the House GOP’s individual spending bills to the floor, though he didn’t lay out a specific list of which ones. According to both Republicans familiar with the call, he emphasized his confidence that Congress could avoid an Oct. 1 shutdown — though other members of his conference spoke up to say they were a bit more pessimistic. (Not mentioned, by the way, was any emergency aid for Hawaii wildfires — since Congress is likely still months away from that kind of damage assessment.) GOP grinch? At least one Republican later took to social media to voice his doubts that Congress can avoid an implosion. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) warned the country to prepare for a shutdown in the coming weeks: “It’s clear President Biden and Speaker McCarthy want a government shutdown, so that’s what Congress will do after we return in September. Everyone should plan accordingly.” Something else to watch: House Republicans also got a well-timed investigative update from Oversight Committee Chair James Comer on the party’s sprawling investigation into President Joe Biden and his family. A third person familiar with the call said the Kentucky Republican laid out “results achieved so far and next steps.” That portion of Monday night’s call briefly revived the conference’s debate about a potential impeachment inquiry into Biden — something McCarthy has put on the table as a possibility. Such a move gives heartburn to House GOP centrists, however, and the call also underscored that the conference doesn’t yet have the votes to pull the trigger on a formal impeachment investigation. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told us his message during the call: “The committees are doing a great job. It's premature to do [an] inquiry unless we see evidence of [the] president doing a high crime or misdemeanor. Let's not be like Pelosi and cut corners.” Please hold: The Justice Department fired a warning shot Monday night at House Republicans, who have vowed to push forward with their Biden family investigation despite U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s elevation to special counsel status in his Hunter Biden probe. It’s a sign of the potential friction to come between the legislative and executive branches. Comer and two other GOP chairs had previously requested information about the unraveled Hunter Biden plea deal. But in a letter, a copy of which we obtained, the DOJ noted its policy for protecting information about ongoing investigations and prosecutions. The department vowed to supplement its brief letter, but added that, “our duty to ensure the integrity of an investigation applies regardless of whether it is led by a United States Attorney or Special Counsel.” – Sarah Ferris and Jordain Carney GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, Aug. 15, where we’re wishing Comer a speedy recovery.   STEP INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: POLITICO’s California Playbook newsletter provides a front row seat to the Golden State’s political power centers, from inside the state Capitol and governor's mansion in Sacramento, to the mayor’s office and City Council and Los Angeles, to the influence of Silicon Valley. Authors Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner bring you exclusive news, buzzy scoops and behind-the-scenes details that you simply will not get anywhere else. Subscribe today and stay ahead of the game!     TRUMP INDICTED IN GEORGIA Former President Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted overnight on racketeering charges by a Georgia grand jury for attempting to subvert President Joe Biden’s win in the state in the 2020 election. Among the former president’s 18 co-defendants was former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the onetime chair of the House Freedom Caucus who resigned to become Trump’s White House chief of staff. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the current Freedom Caucus chairman, is also briefly mentioned in the indictment as the recipient of a text message from Meadows, who was seeking contact information for Pennsylvania state legislative leaders. Former Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) both testified before a special grand jury impaneled by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, though neither were mentioned in Monday’s indictment. Trump’s fourth indictment seems to have done little to alter the political fires surrounding his legal woes. McCarthy reacted with anger, saying “justice should be blind” but nonetheless accusing Willis of charging Trump and others for the benefit of her political career. “Today’s indictment is just the latest political attack in the Democrats’ WITCH HUNT against President Trump,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a tweet. Not unexpectedly, perhaps, there was not much of an immediate reaction from Senate Republican leadership, where support for Trump has long since dissipated. “The American people can decide whether they want him to be president or not. This should be decided at the ballot box, not in a bunch of liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail,” Graham said on Fox News late Monday. Capitol Hill’s two senior-most Democrats — Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — said the indictment indicated “a repeated pattern of criminal activity by the former president” and urged Trump and his supporters to allow the legal process to play out without interference. MGP’s PATH-BREAKING PITCH ON WILDFIRES UNDERWOOD, Wash. – As Maui reels from a devastating blaze — the deadliest in U.S. history — one up-and-coming Democrat is urging her own party to change the way it thinks about wildfires. Blazes like Hawaii’s and one earlier this summer in Canada that doused the East Coast in dangerous levels of smoke have focused national attention on the heavy toll of wildfires. But for first-term Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), they were already an acute and increasing annual problem for her Southwest Washington district. And Gluesenkamp Perez is ready to see Democrats talk about out-of-control wildfires in a new way. The newly minted Blue Dog Democrat, who recently joined Republicans in voting to roll back the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, took a subtle but unmistakable jab at the hands-off approach to the environment that’s popular among green groups. “I think that one of the downfalls of the modern environmental movement is conceptualizing nature as a terrarium — [that] it's something that you can't interact with, or you're going to ruin it,” Gluesenkamp Perez said from a roadside lookout over the Columbia River Gorge, about 45 minutes from her home in Washington’s Skamania County. She spoke while standing above the charred remains of trees where a handful of homes burned in the Tunnel 5 Fire in July. Political risk factor: Gluesenkamp Perez, who won her battleground seat by emphasizing her background as a small business owner and tradesperson alongside and her support for abortion rights, has become one of the 118th Congress’ most highly scrutinized first-termers. Slate and The New York Times recently reported on backlash she’s received for her occasional tendency to buck her party — and Fox News at the same time honed in on comments she made about rebuilding the Blue Dogs as an “antifascist rural” group. So her call for a more all-of-the-above approach to wildfire management, combining pure conservation with better forest management, may attract outsized attention. When asked if authorities’ hands-off approach to forests after more than a century of logging has contributed to the problem, Gluesenkamp Perez agreed. “You can't stick your finger in something for generations and then walk away from it and pretend like you absolved yourself because you're not going to touch it anymore,” she said. A blend of both parties: Democrats traditionally have treated wildfire prevention and management in the larger context of long-term efforts to prevent climate change. Republicans, however, have started pushing for better forest management — such as the National Forest Service’s practice of using prescribed burns to prevent or lessen the severity of fires. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), for example, told Fox News in June that Canada “needs to focus on forest management,” adding that it wasn’t the moment to “lecture people about the science of climate change.” Redrawing the lines: Driving through Skamania County, Gluesenkamp Perez pointed out more patches of burned trees that were scattered between homes with foot-wide strips of peeling paint. The paint melted during last month’s fire, she explained. Asked about the partisan lines forming in Congress on wildfire prevention and climate change, Gluesenkamp Perez suggested that the issue breaks down less by party affiliation and more about a lawmaker’s home district. The divide occurs between rural and urban areas, she said, and between regions that do and do not experience fires on the regular. “If it's your baby that can't go outside during wildfire seasons, you feel a little bit differently about the time horizon that's acceptable to address our woods going up in smoke,” she said. To that point, Idaho Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher and Colorado Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse are two lawmakers she said are also thinking critically about how the federal government can address the issue. Fulcher and Gluesenkamp Perez introduced a forest management bill in March that has already unanimously cleared the House Agriculture Natural Resources Committees. A granddaughter of loggers, Gluesenkamp Perez proposed the immediate solution of getting people who live and work in the woods involved with preserving them. That might look a bit different from what some of her urban- and East Coast-based Democratic colleagues want. “I want to see a world where loggers are the vanguard of environmentalism,” she added. “These are people that love the woods, and that's why they choose to make their living there.” – Natalie Fertig   GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.     HUDDLE HOTDISH Greg Hach, a lawyer and Air Force veteran, announced his challenge to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). The chef from Ratatouille was once again spotted in the Rayburn House cafeteria. John Fetterman is still making memes about David McCormick amid renewed residency issues for the latter. A reminder that Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s block on military nominations is directly affecting the Pentagon. QUICK LINKS  Bodycam video shows confrontation between U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson and law enforcement, by the Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek Marjorie Taylor Greene is out but not down, by Brittany Gibson ‘Tip of the spear’: Kustoff, Miller carry Jewish GOP torch in Congress, from Gabe Fleisher at Jewish Insider ‘Age happens,’ Congressman David Scott says but vows to keep doing job, from Tia Mitchell at The Atlantic Journal Constitution House Republicans schedule twice the town halls this recess, from Keturah Hetrick at Legistorm TRANSITIONS  Samantha Power is now military legislative assistant for Sen. Tommy Tuberville. She is a Navy Reservist and was previously MLA for Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.). She is a Rick Scott and Ted Yoho alum. TODAY IN CONGRESS The House convenes at 11 a.m. for a pro forma session. The Senate convenes at 10:45 a.m. for a pro forma session. AROUND THE HILL Still August crickets. Trivia MONDAY’S ANSWER: Frank McDougall was first to correctly identify Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev as the winners of a Grammy Award in 2004 for their recording of Peter and the Wolf alongside actress Sophia Loren. TODAY’S QUESTION: Which former president once appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to huddletrivia@politico.com. GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Anthony and Daniella on X at @AnthonyAdragna and @DaniellaMicaela.   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.