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Manu Raju

@mkraju

24 Mar

Joe Manchin, whose opposition to Neera Tanden's nomination as White House budget director stemmed largely from her partisan tweets, told me the situation was different with Colin Kahl, the Pentagon policy chief nominee, who also came under sharp criticism over his past tweets.

Manchin says that Kahl's tweets weren't as "pointed" at specific individuals and senators and were focused much more about policy.

"Tanden's was much more prolific than that -- and pointed," he told me. "It wasn't about policy, it was more about a person. There is a difference."

Still, Manchin said supporting Kahl was "not an easy decision" and said that he had "many phone calls" with the nominee -- and also spoke with Lloyd Austin and Bob Gates. He didn't speak with Biden. He said he made his decision to support the nomination on Wednesday morning.

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Manu Raju

@mkraju

23 Mar

Tammy Duckworth just told me she’s voting NO on Biden nominees until President makes commitment/ appoints AAPI picks to key executive branch positions. She said found it “insulting” that a senior WH aide last night pointed to Harris’ South Asian roots when asked about AAPI picks

Duckworth said she has informed the White House she will oppose the nomination of Colin Kahl as the Pentagon's top policy chief, whose nomination was already hanging by a thread.

Duckworth says Asian-American lawmakers were told the USTR and White House budget director would be Asian-American. But after Neera Tanden's nomination collapsed, she said it appears the White House is going in a different direction.

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Manu Raju

@mkraju

23 Mar

At their retreat last night, Mazie Hirono criticized White House for a lack of Asian-American representation in the Biden Cabinet and attention to AAPI community in polling, telling me that she wasn't satisfied with the response of White House deputy chief Jen O'Malley Dillon.

"I shared the position that AAPI community has that there hasn't been a significant number of AAPIs at the cabinet level," Hirono told me. "I realize that we have Katherine Tai, but I don't think the trade representative is what the community understands as a cabinet level."

Hirono also said she raised concerns that the White House was sharing polling about the views of voters on Biden and his agenda but that polling did not adequately represent the views of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

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Manu Raju

@mkraju

23 Mar

On call with Biden tonight, Warnock argued that passing voting legislation is more important than keeping filibuster, per source. Biden contended that the bill is important but they need to pressure GOP and get votes to pass it (which they don’t have). cnn.com/2021/03/22/pol…

Manchin, who opposes reducing the 60-vote filibuster threshold and is the lone Democrat to not sign onto his party’s voting bill, told me on Monday night that "there are a lot of good things in the bill that we can work on," but added that "we have to do a bit of work" on it.

Despite Biden’s comments, Susan Collins said she opposed to S1 in its current form, while Romney said it's "very unlikely" he would support the bill. "That's nothing but a pretense or cover for their real goal, which is to install a permanent Democratic majority,” Cornyn said

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Manu Raju

@mkraju

20 Mar

“What shocked me at the time was the number of my own colleagues that had never heard the remarks. And I played it for them," Steve Womack said of Mo Brooks’ remarks at Jan. 6 rally as they weighed kicking him off committees. "There were jaws dropping." cnn.com/2021/03/19/pol…

In a recent interview, Brooks offered no regrets for his January 6 remarks.
"I did my duty for my country," Brooks then pointed to his full remarks, asking: "Did you see this sentence right before? You guys have done a great disservice to our country by distorting the truth."

Yet in the sentence before, he said: "Regardless of today's outcome, the 2022 and 2024 elections are right around the corner, and America does not need and cannot stand, cannot tolerate any more weakling, cowering, wimpy Republican congressman and senators who covet the power..

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Manu Raju

@mkraju

18 Mar

New: Dems defend review of IA race with certified GOP winner, with Lofgren saying she wants it done soon and Ds rejecting comparisons to Trump. “We can't be concerned about optics," per Butterfield. Ernst tells us it puts lone D in delegation “in jeopardy” cnn.com/2021/03/18/pol…

Grassley: “They were complaining because Republicans wouldn't tell people that Biden won the election on November 4, the day after the election, and now they're playing this game.”

Ernst: “Where is Cindy Axne saying, 'This is an outrage and the Iowa voters have spoken?' "

Some Dem uneasiness in the ranks. "I want to see what compelling reasons there are for the feds to get involved in this," Lou Correa said. "I think these are issues that right now are probably best left at the state level."

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