Latest Newsletter – Punchbowl News
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Happy Friday morning.
We have a bunch of news to catch you up on.
Debt limit: The Biden administration is aiming for a debt-hike extension into 2025 during talks with House GOP negotiators, according to multiple sources involved in the discussions.
Remember: House Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act only lifted the debt limit through March 2024 — a roughly $1.5 trillion hike — while generating savings of nearly $5 trillion. Republican negotiators will seek major policy concessions and/or spending cuts in return for a debt hike that runs through the presidential election.
That said, it’s in everyone’s interest to avoid another debt-limit fight this Congress. But nothing is ever easy.
Also: Negotiations are moving slowly and quite deliberately, sources tell us. A White House official said “steady progress is being made.” It’s still possible the two sides reach a deal by Sunday or Monday, but legislative text is unlikely to be ready by then.
Some news on stock trading: A bipartisan group of senators is teaming up to make another run at banning lawmakers from owning and trading individual stocks while in office.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are piecing together a coalition of senators based largely on Warren’s proposal from last year with Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
You’ll recall that there was a lot of bipartisan interest in this issue during the previous Congress, and several freshman lawmakers made this a key 2022 campaign plank. It’s also a topic that transcends partisanship, as you can clearly see by the odd-couple group here. And there’s broad public support as well.
“It’s important that we ensure that lawmakers are focused on the people they’re sent here to represent, and that that’s not in conflict with their financial interests,” Warnock told us.
There’s a House companion to the Warren-Daines bill from Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.). There’s also a similar but less stringent proposal from Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas).
Hawley told us he wants the Senate product to be as strict as possible in order to prevent even the appearance of financial conflicts of interest.
“This is an issue that’s got energy… I hope we’ll get something bipartisan that is really tough, and I think there’s a good chance for that,” Hawley said. “If you get a good, robust, bipartisan bill, I think it’d be hard to say no to bringing that to the floor and voting on it.”
Remember: The discussion last Congress centered around legislation that forced lawmakers to put their assets in a blind trust and banned them from trading stocks.
That this group of lawmakers is involved gives this push new heft.
Biden’s nomination troubles: It’s been a very rough stretch for some of President Joe Biden’s high-profile nominees for both executive-branch positions and the federal bench.
Just this year, disunity among Senate Democrats and solid GOP opposition resulted in Gigi Sohn withdrawing from consideration for the FCC. And Phil Washington bowed out before the Commerce Committee could even consider his nomination to become FAA administrator.
On Thursday, it was Michael Delaney, Biden’s pick for the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Delaney withdrew from consideration after failing to win support to advance out of the Judiciary Committee. It’s been clear that Delaney’s nomination was in deep trouble for weeks. Progressives took issue with his record on abortion and legal work for a prep school in a sexual-assault case. Republicans were firmly opposed as well.
With a 51-49 Senate, it was supposed to be slightly easier for Democrats to confirm Biden’s nominees, especially if Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) were to break from the party, as he often does. But the latest nomination troubles for the White House have extended well beyond Manchin.
It wasn’t immediately clear who on the Judiciary Committee was prepared to vote against Delaney. The nomination was kept on the panel’s backburner while Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was absent.
“We diligently consider any concerns or controversies that are raised about nominees. I think all of us take that responsibility seriously,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), a Judiciary Committee member. “There are always issues [with nominees] that merit discussion.”
Senate Democrats with whom we spoke after Delaney withdrew declined to say whether there was a systemic problem with the White House’s nomination process, given the failures of Sohn, Washington and now Delaney.
“After today, I’m looking forward to talking to the White House counsel about the path forward,” said an exasperated Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a Biden ally who was prepared to vote for Delaney. Coons declined to comment further.
Plus, there’s another high-profile nominee who’s hanging by a thread — Julie Su, Biden’s pick for Labor secretary.
Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Manchin are all undecided on Su, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has yet to file cloture on the nomination.
“I don’t know what their thinking is right now,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said of the White House. “They’re very busy trying to make sure we don’t default. I think that’s the first priority at this point.”
— Andrew Desiderio and Jake Sherman
