Working for the weekend: President Biden meets with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House today amid a new U.S. intelligence assessment that says Afghanistan would fall within six months after U.S. troops complete withdrawal, which is expected within the next two weeks. (The U.S. now will keep about 650 troops in the country after full withdrawal, per the AP.) … Vice President Harris visits a Border Patrol station today in El Paso. … Donald J. Trump has promised to visit the southern border before the end of the month, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. … Derek Chauvin faces sentencing of up to 40 years today for the murder of George Floyd. NPR reports that Chauvin’s attorneys may ask for probation without prison time.
Biden and Group of 10 Reach Infrastructure Compromise – President Biden and the Group of 10 moderate Republican and Democratic senators have agreed to a $973-billion, five-year infrastructure package that grows to $1.2 trillion if extended to eight years, The Wall Street Journal reports, with $579 billion in new spending. Perhaps most importantly, it would not be funded by corporate tax hikes nor gas tax increases, but instead a hodgepodge of sources, including about $100 billion from fortified Internal Revenue Service enforcement (leans Dem), repurposed COVID-19 relief funds (leans GOP), plus $70 billion recovered from unemployment insurance fraud and “a bunch of other sources” according to NPR’s Marketplace.
“What we agreed on,” Biden said Thursday, “is about what we could agree on. There’s no agreement on the rest. … If this is the only (infrastructure bill) that comes to me, I’m not going to sign it.”
That seems to give Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, more opportunity to throw a wrench into the works.
Between AOC and a Hard Place – Will the compromise lose Democratic support in the House of Representatives? As Punchbowl News notes, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, tweeted her displeasure with the infrastructure package, saying it “perfectly conveys which communities get centered and which get left behind when leaders prioritize bipartisan dealmaking over inclusive lawmaking … (getting the) GOP on-board doesn’t do much/anything for the working class and low-income, or women, or poc (people of color) communities, or unions, etc. We must do more.”
Note: Welcome to Capitol Hill, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. Holding a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, while occupying the White House does not amount to a commanding majority. Everyone must move to the center, and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to do so when a large portion of the latter remains controlled by ex-President Trump.
In the final analysis, though, Biden and the Democrats aren’t really trying to deal with their own moderates, Joe Manchin III and Krysten Sinema – they’re just trying to get something past McConnell, who has been the most powerful anti-Democratic force since the beginning of the Obama administration.
Perspectives: “It is an attempt for the president to have it both ways – compromising with Republicans in pursuit of a bold and aggressive agenda – just as he promised Democratic voters he would during the 2020 primary campaign.” – News analysis by The New York Times.
“Joe Biden basks in bi-partisan glow, if but for a fleeting moment.” –Politico headline.
“Shares of machinery giant Caterpillar Inc., building material supplier Martin Marietta Materials Inc. and construction aggregate producer Vulcan Materials Inc. moved higher.” – The Wall Street Journal.
The Hustings debates: We’ve argued over various infrastructure proposals, beginning with the Biden administration’s initial $2.3-trillion proposal three times since April:
https://thehustings.news/whats-left-of-infrastructure-negotiations/
https://thehustings.news/whats-left-of-infrastructure-negotiations/
https://thehustings.news/does-bidens-infrastructure-plan-have-a-chance/
Note II: The Wall Street Journal’s take may be most salient. If the “hard” package is successful economically, the second package will be easier for moderates to swallow.
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1/6 Committee Skirts Republicans – After Republicans refused to go along on a 9/11-style bi-partisan commission to study the January 6 Capitol Hill riots spurred by then-President Trump’s claims the November election was stolen from him, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has announced a select committee to investigate the siege. Pelosi did not name a chairperson nor a fixed timeline for the committee, The Hill reports.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, meets today with Capitol Police officer Michael Fannone, one of the officers injured in the riots. Fannone had requested the meeting.
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Giuliani Law License Lifted—
• Who: Rudolph W. Giuliani
• What: New York law license suspended
• How: Decided by a five-judge New York Supreme Court appellate panel
• Why: "We conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020," the panel said, according to Politico.
Note: Giuliani has gone in his once-impressive career from a lauded U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York to a sad shill who evidently has a stash of expired Grecian Formula and a penchant for stridently stuttering lies at volume.
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Pence on Trump – Former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated that he did not have constitutional authority to stop the count of electoral votes favoring Joseph Biden on January 6, in a speech Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. His refusal to do so drew chants of “hang Mike Pence” by pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol that day.
“The Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority before the joint session of Congress,” Pence told the library’s audience.
In the speech, Pence said Donald J. Trump has much in common with Reagan: “He too disrupted the status quo,” Pence said of Reagan. “He challenged the establishment. He invigorated our movement and set a bold new course for America.”
Note: Is Pence vying for a spot on Fox News’ evening lineup? He’ll have precious little support from the pro- and anti-Trump wings of the GOP for a 2024 presidential run, and if/when Trump runs for a second term, his likely running mates are either Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-GA.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods