Identifying the Implications of the 2024 Mexican-Brazil Interaction for Replacing Impeachment in the 2020 House Speaker’s Campaign
On the eve of his expected announcement for a third presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump has been privately encouraging allies to support House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker, according to two sources familiar with the effort, believing that the California Republican will be an asset down the road should the former president find himself in a contested 2024 primary.
The Biden administration relies on a Title 42 emergency rule to allow border authorities to turn people away at the Mexican border. In fiscal year 2022, amid mass migration in the Western hemisphere, US border encounters topped 2 million, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. More than 1 million were turned away.
McCarthy said that they will never use impeachment for political purposes. That doesn’t mean anything wouldn’t be used at any other time.
McCarthy tried to clarify his commitment to Ukraine, despite the GOP’s vow not to abandon the country in the midst of its war with Russia.
McCarthy declined to name how many seats he thinks Republicans will pick up on Tuesday, but said he was confident it will “be at least enough to win the majority.” McCarthy did say that, in his eyes, “anywhere over 20 is a red wave.”
McCarthy personally called and asked for Norman’s support, but he wouldn’t commit. He told McCarthy there’s a group of them that wants to meet in person, which he said McCarthy was amenable to.
What do we have to do if we stay in Mexico and not leave the United States, and why do we need to do that? The case for a resolution of the immigration crisis
“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.
McCarthy said it was possible to stop the flow of Fentanyl across the border by attacking China and giving the resources that the border agents needed.
Most bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.
“If you’re going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say you should change your behavior, so you just don’t keep raising and all the time?” he said. You need to be careful not to say that I am going to let you keep spending money. No household should do that.”
McCarthy acknowledges Republicans were willing to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but he said it would be difficult now because Democrats spent a lot of money.
McCarthy refused to say whether he would risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. You don’t risk a default.”
Corresponding to McCarthy on the Phenomenology of the 2016 Incendiary Reaction of Senator Paul Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy on Border Security
McCarthy has worked hard to court Greene, from having weekly meetings with her in his office to promising her better committee assignments after Democrats kicked her off committees for incendiary remarks.
When asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” Greene has previously told CNN she wants a seat on the House Oversight Committee, which will play a key role in GOP-led investigations in a majority.
Like every other member, she will have committees to serve on. He said that members request different committees and that he would look at it when he was on the steering committee. She can put through any of the committees she wants, just like any other member in our conference.
Greene is not the only member who has spouted conspiracy theories or incendiary rhetoric. Most recently, some Republicans have mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, or peddled fringe conspiracy theories about the incident.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/politics/kevin-mccarthy-interview-border-security/index.html
Getting More Power in the House from the Freedom Caucus: A Brief Report from Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2015
“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. The speaker will start it.
During a meeting of the House Freedom Caucus in Washington, DC last week, Biggs said they need to discuss whether or not he should be the speaker. I would like to have a honest discussion about where we are going in the future.
Some members of the Freedom Caucus are opposed to making that a hard line for congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
The Freedom Caucus, a group that includes dozens of hardline members, have been meeting in Washington, DC, this week for their new member orientation, where they have begun to plot out their strategy for the speaker’s race. They plan to use their leverage to get more power in the GOP-led House after a slimmed-than-expected majority.
Tensions within the party have increased because of the group’s push to extract concessions from McCarthy. One senior GOP lawmaker said they are a bunch of selfish, diva a**holes who want attention. They are working towards the warm embrace of their social media followers.
Republicans are projected to have an advantage over the Democrats in controlling the House of Representatives, according to CNN.
Do we need a delay in the next week’s internal leadership elections? Rep. Mark Norman tells the media that he’s not going to run for the presidency
Norman said that the group would like to have a longer list of rules changes. They are also pushing to delay next week’s internal leadership elections, though there is no indication McCarthy plans to do so.
When asked if McCarthy should be given credit for delivering the majority, Norman said taxpayers should receive the credit.
There is at least one member who said there wasn’t much McCarthy could have done to get him to vote for him. Gaetz said on his show that McCarthy was not the first choice of the congressman and that he was not in his top 100.
“With a slim majority, we shouldn’t be starting the C team,” Gaetz said. We need to put our stars in a position to shine, so that we can attract more people to our policies and ideas.
House and Senate Republicans will be meeting secretly this week to discuss the GOP’s response to the disappointing election results and to decide the political fate of their current leaders.
A small, but vocal, group of GOP senators has been calling to delay their leadership elections so they can have a “family discussion” about why the GOP underperformed. Josh Hawley has said he would oppose McConnell’s bid for GOP leader.
But Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a former chairman of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, is considering mounting a long-shot challenge to McCarthy during the House GOP’s internal leadership elections on Tuesday, according to GOP sources familiar with the matter. McCarthy’s team is prepared for this possibility.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is among those calling for a delay in the Senate leadership election scheduled for Wednesday, saying it “doesn’t make any sense” to have them this week.
Scott said that a lot of people had called him to see if he would run. Is we still going to win Georgia? I am not going to remove anything from the table.
Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Emmer, House Minority Causality Committee Chairman Jim Banks, and the Senate Majority Leader Tom McConnell
Tom Emmer, boss of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is being privately criticized by members of the Trump team, who are unhappy with the GOP’s lackluster gains. CNN has not yet projected which party will control the lower chamber, though Republicans appear on track to gain a narrow House majority. Both Emmer and Jim Banks are vying for the position of House GOP whip.
They have put forth an agenda, they have been measuring the drapes. They haven’t won it yet,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “After the election is concluded, depending on who was in the majority, there’ll be judgments made within their own party, in our own parties, as to how we go forward.”
The finger pointing has already begun, and those conversations are likely to accelerate as the full Senate and House return to Washington this week.
McConnell has been accused of spending recklessly in states where Republican candidates face significant odds of winning against them in more competitive contests, by Trump and his allies.
The correlation between big losses and the rise of the populist right is very high according to Pat Toomey. If fealty to Donald Trump is the primary criterion for selecting candidates, my party is probably not going to do well.
McConnell and Scott have also been publicly at odds all election cycle when it comes to strategy, with McConnell sounding the alarm about candidate quality while Scott opted to take a hands-off approach in the primaries.
When pressed on whether he would challenge McConnell for the top spot, Scott didn’t rule it out — even though he would have little chance of succeeding.
While McCarthy has been willing to hear out his critics and the potential hold outs, so far, he is not giving in to any of their demands for more power and promises of investigations into the Biden administration.
According to one senior Republican, political physics says you cannot appease moderates and HFC at the same time. You better hope that is not barbed wire, if you straddle that fence.
The next Democratic Caucus Chair: Running for the Post-Circumsented Congressional Post-McGrawley Seat
Trump and McCarthy have spoken multiple times since the midterm elections, sources said, and McCarthy’s camp is hoping Trump’s endorsement will help win over some of the staunchest Trump supporters who have been critical of McCarthy.
Trump has been eager to lock up public support from Republicans for his third presidential bid, with a separate GOP source saying he has been asking to see which GOP lawmakers have endorsed him in the media. So far, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been the highest-ranking Republican to officially back Trump’s 2024 bid.
Whoever is elected for the top leadership spot in the House Democratic caucus would serve as their party’s Speaker nominee. If Republicans had a majority, they will likely be able to pick a nominee who will fall short in the vote of the full House and become House Minority Leader.
Pelosi was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday whether she would make a decision on running for leadership before the party’s leadership elections.
The GOP is going to have a candidate forum on Monday evening, followed by leadership elections on Tuesday, according to the schedule shared with CNN.
The first election on November 30 will be for the next House Democratic Caucus Chair and whoever is elected to that role will administer the rest of the leadership elections.
To be elected to any position in Democratic leadership, a candidate needs to win a majority among those present and voting. If more than two candidates run and there is no majority, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and the second round of voting will take place. That process continues until one candidate wins a majority.
When I Was Going to Run for Governor, Amalgamated. I’m All You Need, but I Can’t… Or Will I Have to Give Up
If the Freedom Caucus does not support him, he could be forced to make deals to weaken the speakership, something that he has resisted for many years.
Emmer told reporters Tuesday he still plans to run and that he doesn’t know if a smaller majority impacts his bid. McCarthy talked about “we delivered.” His pitch to members was the same.
Emmer is in a race against Jim Banks of Indiana, Drew Ferguson of Georgia and the Republican Study Committee Chair.
It’s definitely true. The California Democrat told Bash that he wasn’t asking anybody, because people were campaigning. I’m not asking anyone for anything. My members are asking me if I’d do that. But, again, let’s just get through the election.”
The House Freedom Caucus: Investigating the Treatment of the D.C. Jail Without Bail for the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol
Currently, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer serves as the No. 2 House Democrat, in the role of House majority leader, and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn serves in the role of House majority whip. New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is the Democratic caucus chair.
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, who currently serves as the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, has announced his run for caucus chair to replace Jeffries who is term limited.
The race to lead the party’s campaign arm is starting to take shape, after the chair was lost by a democrat.
On Friday, Rep. Tony Cardenas of California announced his candidacy for the spot, as well as Reps. Ami Bera and Sara Jacobs.
Several members of the Freedom Caucus met with McCarthy in his office Monday as they seek to extract concessions from him in exchange for their speaker votes.
Rep. Bob Good, who said McCarthy faces “an uphill climb” to the speakership, said they’ve asked McCarthy to bring to them his proposal for running the House.
Perry said that while their primary focus has been seeking rules changes that would empower individual members – and weaken the speaker – that is “not the limit” of their issues.
He wants to see the place change to reflect the people’s will and acknowledge how bad it is. It is up to anyone that wants to lead to laying out their vision and how they would change their portion of it.
Republicans were able to get promises and apologies from their would-be leaders. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has said she will support Mr. McCarthy and predicted he would give her a significant amount of power in a Republican-led House, asked Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the party’s No. 2, whether he would commit to investigating Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Justice Department for their treatment of defendants being held at the D.C. jail without bail in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“No, I’m not going to get into speculation,” Scalise told CNN. We’re focused on getting it resolved by January 3. And there’s a lot of conversations that everybody has been having, Kevin, surely, with the members who have expressed concerns.”
Mr. Scalise apologized and said he should have waited until he had more facts to comment, according to two people familiar with the exchange who described it on the condition of anonymity.
McCarthy in the White House: The Disruption of a SuperPAC Candidate in the Collapse of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The turmoil underscored how Republicans were still trying to figure out a way forward after disappointing results, and still grappling with the influence of Mr. Trump. It happened as Mr. Trump received a torrent of blame for the string of losses by candidates he had put in place.
Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma said it would be a narrow one. “It makes it really critical that you’ve got somebody with superb political skills. There’s a person that knows everything about this conference.
Kevin McCarthy is hoping to pass a test on Tuesday in order to become the speaker of the House, despite an unsuccessful election performance that sparked a search for a challenger.
Idaho Republican congressman Mike Simpson said he would support McCarthy for leader. Simpson said that he had done a good job.
McCarthy has warned his critics for some time that if Democrats don’t unify, then they could band together and replace a few Republicans to be the next speaker.
During a closed-door leadership candidate forum on Monday, Virginia Rep. Bob Good, a McCarthy critic, complained that a Super PAC aligned with McCarthy opposed some pro-Trump candidates, and criticized McCarthy for not calling to congratulate him when he won his primary, according to a source in the room. McCarthy replied that he directed $2 million to Good for his race. The source said Good had to be given down in order to cut him off from speaking.
Sources familiar with the conversation say that McCarthy’s allies are trying to convince the moderate Democratic congressman to switch parties. Heflatly rejected the idea. McCarthy’s spokesman said that if these conversations took place, he was not involved and this was unrelated to their strategy or speakership bid.
Still, McCarthy and Scalise appear to be in command of their leadership races, while the No. 3 House GOP position remains up for grabs, which would be the role of House majority whip, if Republicans win control of the chamber.
A source in the room says that at a private forum, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer was pressed on his vote in favor of a bill to codify same-sex marriage. His response: “These divisive social issues shouldn’t be brought to the House floor.”
But in the case of a doomsday scenario – where neither McCarthy nor Biggs can get 218 votes on January 3 and neither drops out – some pro-McCarthy Republicans are signaling support for a different approach. Some said they would be willing to work with Democrats to find a moderate Republican who can get the 218 votes to clinch the gavel – a long-shot idea that underscores the uncertainty looming over the speaker’s race.
“Our initial plan is vote for Kevin and let him fight this out repeatedly. … But if they think they’re going to use this to infinity to drive him out, well, we’re not going to bend to their will,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican.
“If at some point, if Kevin did take his name out, then you would have good people (running). One lawmaker said that he would probably be the guy.
If McCarthy can’t get the votes, he would not jump into the race but would support him, even if it meant putting up a fight.
Even though Gaetz and other hardliners had urged him to seek the speakership, Jim Jordan wouldn’t jumping into the race even though he would become the chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
After leaving a meeting in McCarthy’s office on wednesday, the Republican said that he would vote for Andy for speaker. He later added: “All this is positive. Regardless of what happens, we are having good change. You will see more of it.
Their list of demands – which shows the work McCarthy needs to do to get to 218 – includes a promise that leaders won’t play in primaries, restoring the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, placing more conservatives on key committees, giving members at least 72 hours to read bill text before a vote, and committing to using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to demand more spending cuts, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN.
But McCarthy still has additional levers he could pull. The House Rules Committee is a powerful panel that decides how and when bills can come to the floor. McCarthy was urged to take a hard stance on policy issues next year during a private meeting with a member of the House Freedom Caucus according to a person familiar with the matter.
McCarthy has been adamantly opposed to restoring the “motion to vacate the chair,” and a majority of the House GOP voted against the idea during a during a closed-door meeting last month. McCarthy laughed when he was asked if he would visit the issue.
“I think that’s one of the reasons that we didn’t see a red wave … the idea that people are sick and tired of the noise, and they’re sick and tired of the fighting,” Rep. David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said of the impact of a January 3 floor fight. “And I know I get that wherever I go in my district is, ‘why can’t you guys just get things done?’”
McCarthy delayed the GOP’s internal elections for committee chairmanships in order to prevent the speaker from getting his votes. The speculation that one of the members competing for a givenl, Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, might retire early if he doesn’t win is bad news for McCarthy. But Buchanan vehemently disputed the notion.
Some Democrats have said they would entertain the idea, including Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas who told CNN some of his GOP colleagues have approached him “informally” about it.
Joyce also said some members have reached out to him about potentially running, but he dismissed it. “At the end of the day, Kevin’s going to be the new speaker.”
New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the next House Democratic leader, said, “there are no behind-the-scenes conversations” that he has had with Republicans to put up an alternative candidate. But he refused to rule out a scenario where his caucus would help elect the next speaker if McCarthy couldn’t get the votes.
Jeffries said the Democrats were in the process of organizing the conference. Republicans are working to organize the Republican Conference. Let us see what happens on January 3.
Some of the potential consensus picks that have been floated included retiring Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and John Katko of New York, who both voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the Capitol insurrection; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus; and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran lawmaker and incoming head of the House Rules Committee.
But that would require agreement from every single Democrat and the help of five Republicans – no easy feat. He said he would be skiing, and that he wouldn’t be in Washington that day.
Bruce Westerman is a Republican and he said it happened in his state in the past where minority Democrats in the legislature joined forces with a few Republicans toelect a speaker of their choice. Westerman privately made this case to his colleagues at a closed-door meeting this week.
Reply to Westerman’s “Path Complaint on House Rules and Measures of Procedure in the General Relativity”
Westerman is worried that they won’t be able to form a congress and organize committees before January 3, and that they won’t push their policy objectives.
The discussion about changing House rules is beneficial to the party. He said that he wasn’t excited about any destructive movement.