New - House conservatives strategize with Trump and Pence (along with Rudy) an effort to overturn election on House floor on Jan. 6. Effort will fail, but House members say they have at least one senator’s support and want to extend debate into Jan. 7. cnn.com/2020/12/21/pol…
Pence's involvement in the meeting is significant because he will preside over the joint session of Congress that would count the electoral votes that day. Brooks told me that Pence was at “different parts” of the meeting
Brooks said he saw Sidney Powell at the WH but they didn’t meet with her. GOP planning as many as 72 five-minute floor speeches that day and believe they have a senator’s support for challenges to six states, making debate 12 hours long. House GOP leadership NOT dissuading them
Another incoming senator, Roger Marshall, wouldn't say if he would join House conservatives' effort to contest a state's election results. (He signed GOP brief backing Texas suit.)
"Jan. 6 seems like a long times away yet," Marshall told me when asked if he’d join the effort.
Thune to me: “I think the thing they got to remember is, it’s not going anywhere. I mean in the Senate, it would go down like a shot dog. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”
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The House is setting up a convoluted process to finalize votes on the covid relief package and the omnibus funding bill. It's mainly due to concerns among progressives about supporting funding for ICE and defense spending, so they are splitting up the votes on the floor.
The House will vote first to approve the rule governing floor debate. That rule will also include a seven-day stopgap to keep government open. That will give Congress time get to paperwork to the WH without risking a government shutdown. The Senate then would have to approve it
Under the rules, the massive spending-covid relief package will be divided in two.
There will be one floor vote on funding for Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Defense and Homeland Security.
Then there will be another floor vote to approve the rest of package
Pelosi wouldn’t answer my question about why the $900 billion deal is more acceptable to her than the $1.8 trillion offer Mnuchin made to her this fall.
Pelosi wouldn’t call on me at the press conference, which is becoming a pattern, even though just five reporters were there. She left the press conference as I asked her the question. And she ignored my question in the hallway as well.
Asked again in the hallways why this proposal is more acceptable than the Mnuchin plan, Pelosi didn’t respond. But Schumer, who was walking with her in the hallway, said: “Ask Mitch McConnell.”
New - Rand Paul told me he will let stop-gap pass today, could avoid shutdown. Said his main point was to delay the defense bill for a day over his objections.
“Our main point in filibustering the defense authorization bill was to point out that the president should have the prerogative to end a war, not just to start wars,” Paul said.
“The neoconservatives like Liz Cheney are inconsistent in saying they want ' oh I'm going to give commander and chief powers to begin war but then they want to restrain and hamstring a president from ending a war,” Paul said.
New - GOP senators ready to acknowledge Biden’s win next week but confront Trump’s refusal to concede. “It is unhealthy for the well-being of our country, and our relations around the world if we spend time debating the outcome of the election,” Moran says cnn.com/2020/12/09/pol…
Thune, No. 2 Senate R: "I don't know that he's ever going to concede. ... I think the Electoral College obviously brings some finality to this. And I think that with all the kind of tumult and swirl we've had for the past several weeks, it'll be good to get things settled down."
"I think every indication is that unless something dramatic changes, the Electoral College is going to elect Joe Biden next week," Rubio said. "At that point, I would expect the President to acknowledge that even if he doesn't agree with the way we got there."
Sen. John Cornyn, the senior GOP senator from Texas, is critical of his state’s lawsuit challenging the election results in several battleground states, telling me: "I frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it.”
“You know, it's very unusual because when a state sues a state, the Supreme Court of the United States has original jurisdiction, so you don't have to go through the ordinary procedure. I read just the summary of it, and I frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it.”
“Number one, why would a state, even such a great state as Texas, have a say so on how other states administer their elections,” Cornyn said. “We have a diffused and dispersed system and even though we might not like it, they may think it's unfair...
GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is retiring at year's end, told me that President Donald Trump should congratulate Joe Biden and "put the country first" after electors vote on Monday to make Biden's win official.
Asked if Trump should concede after Monday, he said: "I think the votes are being counted, and states are certifying them and resolving disputes. And it's apparent when electors meet on Monday, Joe Biden is very likely to be the President-elect.”
“And if he is, I hope the President will put the country first, congratulate Joe Biden and take pride in his considerable accomplishments, and help him off to a good start,” he added