1) The general read on CapHill is that Trump will announce his SCOTUS pick on Saturday. There is concern about alienating Jewish voters. Thus, the family of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would sit Shiva (the seven day mourning period) through this coming Friday evening.
2) Nothing is etched in stone, but it’s possible the Senate Judiciary Committee could try to conduct a confirmation hearing either the week of Oct 4 or Oct 11. The nomination would not hit the floor for debate and a final vote until either the week of Oct 18 or Oct 25
3) The House Rules Committee today is prepping an interim spending bill which runs through December 11. The government is only funded through September 30. The House plans to consider the bill this week.
4) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already balked at the plan. The Democratic measure removes some agriculture provisions which didn’t go over well with McConnell. McConnell says the legislation is a slap in the face to farmers and the agriculture community
5) To be clear: Not all is lost…yet. There are ten days yet to fund the government. But, if they aren’t careful, the House and Senate could quickly find themselves in a parliamentary Ping Pong match where they are bouncing back different versions of the legislation – w/o time
6) Keep in mind that the House and Senate will not be here on Monday due to Yom Kippur, which runs from sundown Sunday until sundown Monday.
7) The sides are very concerned about a government shutdown in the middle of the pandemic. Some government shutdowns are “stumbled into” when the sides run out of track.
8) And, keep in mind that the government funding issue, to say nothing of any effort to tackle a coronavirus relief measure, has been shuffled to the side now as the sides conduct a cage match battle over a Supreme Court vacancy.
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1) User's Manual to how control of the House could flip to the Democrats before the election.
Control of the House has never changed in the middle of a Congress. But if it’s going to happen, the 118th Congress is as ripe for that possibility.
2) House Republicans face chaos in their conference. Members who planned to retire next January are now ditching Capitol Hill early. The House is an acrimonious place with yet another move afoot to dethrone the Speaker.
3) Fox is told that other Republicans are angling to get out as soon as they can. A big payday in the private sector could lure some members to cash in their voting card early.
First, let’s talk about the length of a given “Congress.”
A) From colleague Kelly Phares. There is sparring between Cotton and Tester about who is holding up an agreement to vote on the minibus spending bill.
B) Off the Senate floor, the two men came face to face while speaking to separate groups of reporters. Sen Cotton yelled at Tester over all the reporters: "Why don't you ask Senator Tester why we aren't voting?"
Sen Tester yelled back: "You can ask me anything you want!"
C) Tester then spoke to reporters: "Did Cotton say that they're holding amendments because of Jon Tester? Because if he did, he might be full of something that comes off the back of a cow"
1) There is no agreement between senators on a voting on a host of amendments related to border, migration and the Laken Riley Act. The mood in the Senate has grown increasingly dark over the past two hours and time slipping off the clock.
2) Even if the sides were to get a deal now, it would be hard to finish up before the 11:59:59 pm et deadline to align with the House.
3) “I thought we’d have it by now,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), looking at his watch, noting that deals like this usually come together around the 7 pm et hour.
When asked what the Republicans were offering, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) replied “nothing good.”
1) Fox has learned that the Attorney General for the District of Columbia has dropped charges against Steve Nikoui for disrupting Congress during the President’s State of the Union speech earlier this month.
2) Nikoui is the father of Kareem Nikoui who was killed during the Biden Administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Fox learned of the decision this evening. The decision to drop the charges was confirmed by the Speaker’s Office.
3) Fox was told the DC AG’s office decided not to prosecute in this case just as they have in the cases of protesters in the past.
Steve Nikoui was a guest of Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) for the speech and interrupted the President, shouting “Abbey Gate!”
1) House GOP and could mean the House is down to a one-seat majority soon, not long after Buck resignation
It is ALWAYS about the math.
That is augmented by the resignation of Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) next week.
2) Buck tells me he will remain a member until the end of the day on March 22.
That is also the deadline for the next batch of spending bills to avoid a shutdown.
Also, the GOP majority could even shrivel more before it gets better.
3) The next special election is for the seat occupied by former Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) on April 30. If that seat stays in Democratic hands, the new breakdown is 432 members with 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats.
A) Jordan on Fox on Hur testimony: He also said that he couldn't remember when he was elected vice president, how long he served as vice president during the interview that they had over a two day time period. So the memory concerns, I think are evident.
B) Jordan: The American people see that all the time. But I think there's also remember, this is over five decades. There was classified material found clear back in the early days when Joe Biden was senator from Delaware. So this is a 50 year process.
C) Jordan: And I think a fundamental point here is two is Joe Biden was totally familiar with how you are supposed to handle classified documents 50 years in public service.