Today in summay
The House passed a debt limit deal with bipartisan support, just days before the US is set to run out of money to keep paying its bills. Now, the Senate will take up the debt limit deal – and both the Democratic and Republican leaders have said they want to get it passed.
Here’s what else happened:
Donald Trump was captured on tape acknowledging that he kept a classified Pentagon document regarding a potential attack on Iran, CNN reports. According to report, federal prosecutors obtained the recording which was made during a meeting in summer 2021 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump made comments that suggested that he would like to share the information but that he was aware of his post-presidency limitations surrounding classified records.
A new poll, released a week after Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign announcement, shows Donald Trump with a narrowing lead. The Florida governor shouldn’t get too excited, though: Morning Consult puts the former president up by 34 points, 56%-22% and notes that though “Trump’s lead has shrunk … by 10 points … since mid-May, much of that dip came before DeSantis officially began his bid”.
At a rally in Iowa yesterday, the Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis used as his walkout music a song long used for the same purpose by Hulk Hogan, one of the most famous names in wrestling. DeSantis’s recent memoir is called The Courage to be Free. At 44, the Florida governor is a member of Gen X whose childhood coincided with Hogan’s heyday as a star of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Mike Pence is expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid within the next two weeks, The Messenger reports. The outlet reports that Pence is scheduled to headline a CNN town hall, in Des Moines, Iowa (a crucial early-voting state) on 7 June. Four Republicans familiar with the matter told The Messenger that Pence’s team have begun ramping up their outreach two weeks ago and have told supporters that his presidential campaign launch is imminent and is set to take place in mid-June.
Seems the Senate won’t be wasting any time to get the process going…
MOMENTS AGO: Sen. Majority Leader Schumer arrived back at the Capitol and headed toward his office.
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) June 1, 2023
His office tells me @scrippsnews the Leader will take steps to begin consideration of the Fiscal Responsibility Act TONIGHT.
Updated
Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican minority leader, is echoing Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans’ line that this deal was a big win for their party – because Republicans brought Joe Biden to the negotiating table after he’d originally said he wouldn’t get involved.
House Republicans’ unity forced @POTUS to negotiate with @SpeakerMcCarthy and agree to cut government spending. Tonight’s passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act is an important step in the right direction. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn to pass this agreement without delay.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) June 1, 2023
That sort of messaging will likely continue. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who was seen on the House floor, has already indicated he’ll try to push through amendments and derail the bills passage.
“Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” said Joe Biden, in a statement reacting to the news.
He said:
This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy. It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
I urge the Senate to pass it as quickly as possible so that I can sign it into law, and our country can continue building the strongest economy in the world.
Ultimately the bill has passed with 314 votes.
More Democrats (165) than Republicans (149) supported the measure – something the rightwing may use as evidence that the bill was a bad deal for their side. Indeed, the Republican opposition to the bill is much louder than that of progressive Democrats.
The progressive caucus chair, Pramila Jayapal said the bill contained measures progressives were “seriously concerned about” like work requirement exemptions, and some have indicated that they won’t support it for that reason. Other progressives however, reluctantly supported the bill as a way to avoid catastrophic default. Underlying these conversations was the assumption that there would be enough support even without their votes for the deal to pass.
Debt limit deal passes
The bill has reached the crucial 218 threshold to pass, though members are still voting. Now it’ll advance to the Senate.
The leaders of both parties in Senate have signalled that they want to get the deal passed – though some Republicans may attempt to derail the process with amendments.
Members are taking a final vote
Some progressive Democrats and several right-wing Freedom Caucus members have already signalled they’re voting against the bill, but the bill seems to have a good chance of passing tonight.
Updated
The debate rolls on …
So far, members have voiced the concerns we expected them to. Moderate Republicans have talked up the deal as a major win for the party, touting historic cuts. Democrats have presented this as an imperfect, but crucial compromise to save the economy.
Updated
Kevin McCarthy took the floor to make remarks ahead of an upcoming vote. He claimed that this would be the “largest savings in American history”.
That’s not quite true – but the White House has tactically avoided pushing back against that line, as McCarthy needs to sell this deal to his party – with many hard right members already in opposition.
“Tonight, we’re gonna give America hope,” he said.
Updated
Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, praised party members for pushing back against “extreme Maga Republican efforts” to cut essential spending.
Updated
Debate begins on debt ceiling deal
The House is now debating the legislation to increase the nation’s debt limit until January 2025.
If the debt limit isn’t raised or suspended, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said that the United States will run out of money to pay its bills by 5 June.
Updated
An estimated 750,000 could lose food stamp benefits due to the new work requirements, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive thinktank.
Work requirements already exist for most able-bodied adults up to the age of 49. The bill would bump requirements for people up to the age of 54, but expand benefits for veterans and unhoused people. The congressional budget office estimates that due to those expansions, overall, more people would be protected by the benefits program.
But the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities contends:
It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of people aged 50-54 who would be newly subject to the requirement are not veterans or people experiencing homelessness.
The agreement would also restrict states’ discretion to mitigate the impact of the work-reporting requirement by reducing the cap on individual hardship exemptions and limiting carryover of unused exemptions.
It’s worth noting that several studies have shown that the work requirements for benefits do little to boost recipients’ employment or earnings.
Updated
US debt ceiling deal: what’s in and out of Biden and McCarthy’s agreement
With the details of the deal now clear, here’s what’s in and out:
Two-year debt limit suspension, spending limits
The agreement would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as suspend the debt limit until January 2025 – past the next presidential election.
For the next fiscal year, the bill matches Biden’s proposed defense budget of $886bn and allots $704bn for non-defense spending. It also requires Congress to approve 12 annual spending bills or face a snapback to spending limits from the previous year, which would mean a 1% cut.
Overall, the White House estimates that the plan would reduce government spending by at least $1tn, but official calculations have not yet been released.
Care for military veterans
The agreement would fully fund medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget blueprint, including a fund dedicated to veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards. Biden sought $20.3bn for the toxic exposure fund in his budget.
Unspent money from Covid-19 pandemic
The agreement would rescind about $30bn in unspent coronavirus relief money that Congress approved through previous bills, including federal programs for rental assistance, small business loans and broadband internet for rural areas.
The legislation protects pandemic funding for veterans’ medical care, housing assistance, the Indian Health Service and developing the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
Funding for the Internal Revenue Service
Republicans targeted money that the federal tax agency was allotted last year to crack down on tax fraud. The bill bites into some Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding, rescinding $1.4bn.
Work-for-benefits requirement
The agreement would expand work requirements attached to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Snap, formerly known as food stamps – a longtime Republican priority. But the changes are pared down from a hardline debt ceiling bill previously generated and passed in the House, which are a huge no for progressive Democrats.
Work requirements already exist for most able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The bill would phase in higher age limits, bringing the maximum age to 54 by 2025. But the provision expires, bringing the maximum age back down to age 49 five years later, in 2030.
Democrats also won some new expanded benefits for veterans, homeless people and young people ageing out of foster care. The agreement would also make a small boost to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which gives cash aid to families with children, making it harder for states to avoid paying.
Energy projects
The deal puts in place changes in the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time in nearly four decades that would designate “a single lead agency” to develop and schedule environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process for approval for energy projects – both involving fossil fuels and renewable energy.
The bill also gives special treatment to the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline, a West Virginia natural gas pipeline championed by pivotal Democratic senator Joe Manchin, and Republican senator Shelley Moore Capito, by approving all its outstanding permit requests.
Student loans
Republicans have long sought to reel back Biden’s temporary relief on student loans during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden has agreed that the pause in loan repayments will end in late August. Meanwhile, a GOP proposal to rescind the White House’s plan to waive $10,000 to $20,000 in debt for nearly all student borrowers is not in the debt ceiling package. The conservative-dominated US supreme court is due to rule next month on whether Biden has the power to waive the debt.
What’s left out?
House Republicans passed legislation last month that would have created new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, but the White House successfully blocked that from the deal. Also absent is a GOP proposal to repeal many of the clean energy tax credits Democrats passed in party-line votes last year.
– Guardian staff and agencies
Today so far
It is 6pm in Washington DC where House lawmakers are set to vote a final round on the debt ceiling bill tonight. Here is where things stand:
The House is now in recess subject to the call of the chair. The House will reconvene again at 7:15pm for one hour of debate that will be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats before voting on the bill.
Donald Trump was captured on tape acknowledging that he kept a classified Pentagon document regarding a potential attack on Iran, CNN reports. According to report, federal prosecutors obtained the recording which was made during a meeting in summer 2021 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump made comments that suggested that he would like to share the information but that he was aware of his post-presidency limitations surrounding classified records.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy has announced that he is putting together a commission to look into budget cuts in entitlement programs. In an interview with Fox News, McCarthy said: “I’m going to announce a commission coming forward from the speaker from…both sides of the aisle. We only got to look at 11% of the budget to find these cuts. We have to look at the entire budget.”
A new poll, released a week after Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign announcement, shows Donald Trump with a narrowing lead. The Florida governor shouldn’t get too excited, though: Morning Consult puts the former president up by 34 points, 56%-22% and notes that though “Trump’s lead has shrunk … by 10 points … since mid-May, much of that dip came before DeSantis officially began his bid”.
At a rally in Iowa yesterday, the Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis used as his walkout music a song long used for the same purpose by Hulk Hogan, one of the most famous names in wrestling. DeSantis’s recent memoir is called The Courage to be Free. At 44, the Florida governor is a member of Gen X whose childhood coincided with Hogan’s heyday as a star of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Mike Pence is expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid within the next two weeks, The Messenger reports. The outlet reports that Pence is scheduled to headline a CNN town hall, in Des Moines, Iowa (a crucial early-voting state) on 7 June. Four Republicans familiar with the matter told The Messenger that Pence’s team have begun ramping up their outreach two weeks ago and have told supporters that his presidential campaign launch is imminent and is set to take place in mid-June.
The debt ceiling bill will become law, Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday ahead of a final House vote later today on the bill which if passed, will move next into Senate. “It’s going to become law,” McCarthy told reporters, Reuters reports.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that she plans to vote against the debt limit bill. “My red line has already been surpassed … I mean, where do we start? [No] clean debt ceiling. Work requirements. Cuts to programs. I would never – I would never – vote for that,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
Updated
Republican representative Andy Biggs said that he is “concerned” about Kevin McCarthy’s speakership amid his dissatisfaction with the tentative bill.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Biggs wrote:
“I’m concerned about the trajectory of Speaker McCarthy’s term. The McCarthy-Biden debt ceiling deal represents a new coalition where Speaker McCarthy will go to Democrats more than his own party. That’s concerning to me and should be concerning to the GOP conference.”
Speaking with Fox News, McCarthy his concern, saying, that he is worried about the “trajectory of the term because does this represent a new coalition and a new trajectory where the speaker is going to go to the Democrats more and more to try to put forward what he thinks his agenda ought to be?
That’s really concerning to me and I think it should be concerning to members of our conference.”
I'm concerned about the trajectory of Speaker McCarthy's term.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) May 31, 2023
The McCarthy-Biden debt ceiling deal represents a new coalition where Speaker McCarthy will go to Democrats more than his own party.
That's concerning to me and should be concerning to the GOP conference. pic.twitter.com/0T60DIrsKd
Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg has weighed in on the debt ceiling deal debate, saying that “no one’s going to get everything they want when you have a negotiation like this”.
During an interview with NBC host Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, Todd asked Buttigieg what responsibility he believes Democrats have to pass the bill for president Joe Biden.
Buttigieg replied:
“Obviously, we all would have loved to see a clean bill that separated the budget conversation from the default conversation but also we’re in a moment of divided government where no one side, no one party is going to get everything that they want…
No one’s going to get everything they want when you have a negotiation like this, but this is one that we believe in that we think is the right way forward that also allows us to move on to the next conversation, putting the terrible and unacceptable specter default behind us.”
When asked whether Congress and the Biden administration are “mainstreaming” using debt ceiling as a budget negotiation tool, Buttigieg replied:
“Obviously, we didn’t ask for this situation that some of the more extreme voices in the House GOP put this country into … most reasonable people could agree, the best way to handle the budget negotiations is through the regular order process that the law and the Constitution set out.”
Updated
Donald Trump has promised to strip away birthright US citizenship if he gets elected into office again.
In a video posted onto social media yesterday, Trump said if he becomes president, he will sign an executive order that will make sure children of undocumented migrants “will not receive automatic US citizenship.”
He added that his order "will “choke off a major incentive for continued illegal immigration, deter more migrants from coming and encourage many of the aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully let into our country to go.”
Trump’s reiteration of birthright removal comes 125 years after the supreme court settled the issue.
During his first presidential run he condemned the right by inaccurately saying, “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States ... with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end,” as over 30 countries currently offer birthright citizenship.
Martin Pengelly has more:
House in recess subject to the call of the chair
The House is now in recess subject to the call of the chair.
The House will reconvene again at 7:15pm for one hour of debate that will be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats before voting on the bill.
Updated
The special counsel investigating former president Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results is looking into Trump’s firing of a cybersecurity official whose office called the election “the most secure in American history,” according to the New York Times.
Reuters reports:
The US special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat is examining his firing of a cybersecurity official whose office said the vote was secure, the New York Times said.
Jack Smith, who is also investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents, has subpoenaed former Trump White House staffers as well as Christopher Krebs, who oversaw the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) under Trump, the Times said, citing unnamed sources.
Trump fired Krebs in November 2020, days after Cisa issued a statement calling the 3 November election “the most secure in American history”, as the then-president made his unsupported accusations that the vote was rigged.
Cisa, part of the Department of Homeland Security, works to protect US elections. Krebs told associates at the time he expected to be fired.
Representatives for Smith declined to comment on the Times report. Representatives for Krebs and Trump could not be reached for comment.
For more, click here:
The debt ceiling bill has passed the first procedural hurdle in the House, with 52 Democrats bailing out the Republican lawmakers.
In addition to 52 Democrats voting yes for the rule governing debate in the chamber, 189 Republicans voted yes. Voting no were 158 Democrats and 29 Republicans.
One more hour of debate is left before the final voting round commences later tonight.
The debt limit bill clears the first procedural hurdle on the House floor, as 52 Democrats bailed out the GOP. Still come, one hour of debate and a final vote. pic.twitter.com/Ujx8voQUJh
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) May 31, 2023
Updated
Trump remarks on classified document reportedly caught on tape
Donald Trump was captured on tape acknowledging that he kept a classified Pentagon document regarding a potential attack on Iran, CNN reports.
According to report, federal prosecutors obtained the recording which was made during a meeting in summer 2021 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump made comments that suggested that he would like to share the information but that he was aware of his post-presidency limitations surrounding classified records.
The report also cited sources saying that the meeting attendees did not have security clearance. Attendees included two people working on the autobiography of Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, in addition to former Trump aides including communications specialist Margo Martin.
According to sources, the recording is an “important” piece of evidence in a potential case against Trump over his handling over classified documents following his presidency.
Updated
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell echoed similar sentiments alongside Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, saying that he will support the debt ceiling bill once it reaches the Senate chamber.
“House Republicans’ unity gave them the upper hand, they used it to secure a much needed step in the right direction. When this agreement reaches the Senate, I’ll be proud to support it without delay,” said McConnell.
“When this agreement reaches the Senate, I'll be proud to support it without delay.”
— The Recount (@therecount) May 31, 2023
— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the debt ceiling deal pic.twitter.com/q4nebYC6s6
Texas governor Greg Abbott has declared John Scott as the state’s temporary attorney general following the state House’s vote to impeach Republican attorney general Ken Paxton.
The decision to impeach Paxton comes as a result of years of allegations including corruption, bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust.
According to the Texas Tribune, investigators testified at the state House general investigating committee, saying that they believed Paxton wrongly used official funds and abused his authority to assist a friend and financial backer.
In response to the impeachment, Paxton said it was an attempt to “overthrow the will of the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state” and that the charges are based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims,” the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, Abbott, who has largely been silent during the whole ordeal, said in a statement, “John Scott has the background and experience needed to step in as a short-term interim Attorney General during the time the Attorney General has been suspended from duty,” the Associated Press added.
Updated
New York Republican representative Marcus Molinaro hailed the tentative bill, calling it “an agreement [that] will move this nation forward.”
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act takes important action, not at all to punish our most vulnerable. In fact, it takes real steps to ensure those most vulnerable among us are protected and served and have access to the support that they deserve, and by the way, find their way to work.
This bill hold states like New York and others accountable for waving restrictions, expanding access, not to help the most vulnerable, but to bloat and to grow and to increase state government. Because of action states have taken, the most vulnerable are left to fend for themselves…
States like New York increased their infrastructure, their government and leveraged federal taxpayer dollars, not to benefit those who need the help the most but to benefit state government. And this bill starts a very important step of holding states accountable…
We have an opportunity here to make a measurable difference in the lives of those who struggle the most. And this is an effort to ensure that that happens.”
Updated
Texas Republican representative Chip Roy lashed out against Democrats over the tentative bill during the House debate, saying:
“I don’t wanna hear a whole hell of a lot about what we’re doing to devastate American families with rampant inflation, because we keep spending money we don’t have.
To my colleagues on this side of the aisle, my beef isn’t that I don’t understand the struggle with the negotiators against that kind of reasoning. My beef is that you cut a deal that shouldn’t have been cut...”
House of Representatives begin debate on debt ceiling bill
The House of Representatives has started its debate ahead of the chamber’s final vote on the debt ceiling bill.
We will be bringing you all the latest details.
Here are excerpts from our explainer on the ins and outs of the tentative debt limit bill reached following negotiations led by House speaker Kevin McCarthy and president Joe Biden:
Two-year debt limit suspension, spending limits:
The agreement would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as suspend the debt limit until January 2025 – past the next presidential election.
Care for military veterans:
The agreement would fully fund medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget blueprint, including a fund dedicated to veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards. Biden sought $20.3bn for the toxic exposure fund in his budget.
Unspent money from Covid-19 pandemic:
The agreement would rescind about $30bn in unspent coronavirus relief money that Congress approved through previous bills, including federal programs for rental assistance, small business loans and broadband internet for rural areas.
Work-for-benefits requirement:
The agreement would expand work requirements attached to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Snap, formerly known as food stamps – a longtime Republican priority. But the changes are pared down from a hardline debt ceiling bill previously generated and passed in the House, which are a huge no for progressive Democrats.
Energy projects:
The deal puts in place changes in the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time in nearly four decades that would designate “a single lead agency” to develop and schedule environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process for approval for energy projects – both involving fossil fuels and renewable energy.
Student loans:
Republicans have long sought to reel back Biden’s temporary relief on student loans during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden has agreed that the pause in loan repayments will end in late August. Meanwhile, a GOP proposal to rescind the White House’s plan to waive $10,000 to $20,000 in debt for nearly all student borrowers is not in the debt ceiling package. The conservative-dominated US supreme court is due to rule next month on whether Biden has the power to waive the debt.
What’s left out:
House Republicans passed legislation last month that would have created new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, but the White House successfully blocked that from the deal. Also absent is a GOP proposal to repeal many of the clean energy tax credits Democrats passed in party-line votes last year.
For full details, click here:
The Oklahoma supreme court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in most cases.
The Associated Press reports:
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said the two bans are unconstitutional because they require a “medical emergency” before a doctor can perform an abortion.
The court said this language conflicts with a previous ruling it issued in March. That ruling found the Oklahoma Constitution provides an “inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life.”
The laws struck down Wednesday both included a civil-enforcement mechanism that allowed citizens to sue someone who either performed or helped someone perform an abortion.
“Despite the court’s decisions today on SB 1603 and HB 4327, Oklahoma’s 1910 law prohibiting abortion remains in place,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.
“Except for certain circumstances outlined in that statute, abortion is still unlawful in the state of Oklahoma.”
McCarthy announces commission to look into cuts to entitlement programs
House speaker Kevin McCarthy has announced that he is putting together a commission to look into budget cuts in entitlement programs.
In an interview with Fox News, McCarthy said:
“I was elected to help lead this nation. So the first thing we did, open the House up. The bills, you get to see them before you ever vote on them and now we’re cutting…
I’m going to announce a commission coming forward from the speaker from…both sides of the aisle. We only got to look at 11% of the budget to find these cuts. We have to look at the entire budget.”
When asked why the entire budget was not seen, McCarthy said that president Joe Biden “walled of all the others,” adding, “The majority driver of the budget is mandatory spending. It’s Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announces he is assembling “a commission” to look at potential cuts in entitlement programs:
— The Recount (@therecount) May 31, 2023
“The president walled off all the others. The majority driver of the budget is mandatory spending. It’s Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt.” pic.twitter.com/vm3jUuL6fO
Updated
Trump lead over DeSantis narrows slightly, poll suggests
A new poll, released a week after Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign announcement, shows Donald Trump with a narrowing lead.
The Florida governor shouldn’t get too excited, though: Morning Consult puts the former president up by 34 points, 56%-22% and notes that though “Trump’s lead has shrunk … by 10 points … since mid-May, much of that dip came before DeSantis officially began his bid”.
Mike Pence, yet to announce his bid, took third in the poll, with a less-than-whopping 5% support, one point ahead of Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tim Scott, another declared contender, was a point further back. Asa Hutchinson, also declared, attracted a princely 1% support. Chris Christie, whose announcement next week was trailed today, must be content with his unknowable share of the 1% who plumped for “Someone else”.
Other interesting primary findings from Morning Consult, some of them perhaps in the straw-clutching lane of the race:
Scott is struggling to get anyone to hear anything about his candidacy, with 56% of respondents saying they’d heard nothing.
That said, those who had heard something about the South Carolina senator were 31 points more likely to have heard something positive than negative.
In terms of the general election last year, the poll contains a mild rejoinder for DeSantis, who while channeling his inner Hulk Hogan and claiming to be ready to “destroy leftism in this country” has also said only he can beat Joe Biden.
“Biden leads DeSantis, 43% to 40%, in a hypothetical general election matchup,” Morning Consult says, “while Trump is tied against the incumbent Democrat. Trump’s standing against Biden has improved five points since the beginning of May, while DeSantis has hovered around the same place.”
Updated
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has said that once the debt ceiling reaches the Senate, he will bring it to the floor as soon as possible, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
In a letter addressed to his fellow lawmakers, Schumer wrote, “When the bill passes the House, I will move to immediately begin consideration of the agreement in the Senate. Due to the time it may take to process the legislation in the Senate without cooperation, Senators should prepare for potential Friday and weekend votes,” the Hill reports.
He went on to warn senators of the 5 June deadline, saying, “As you are aware, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has notified Congress that the United States will no longer be able to meet all of its obligations on time by June 5.”
Meanwhile, Republican Utah senator tweeted last week that he will do everything in his power to delay the bill.
“I will use every procedural tool at my disposal to impede a debt-ceiling deal that doesn’t contain substantial spending and budgetary reforms. I fear things are moving in that direction. If they do, that proposal will not face smooth sailing in the Senate,” he said.
I will use every procedural tool at my disposal to impede a debt-ceiling deal that doesn’t contain substantial spending and budgetary reforms. I fear things are moving in that direction. If they do, that proposal will not face smooth sailing in the Senate.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 25, 2023
Donald Trump has lashed out at his former White House press secretary over “wrong” poll numbers, the Hill reports.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote:
“Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up,” using a nickname he made for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, his current chief opponent in the presidential race.
Trump’s comments come after McEnany said on Fox News that according to polling in Iowa, DeSantis was “closing the gap” on Trump. It remains unclear which poll McEnany was referring to.
“While 25 is great, it’s not 34… She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!” added Trump, referring to Republicans In Name Only, a pejorative used to describe Republicans who are seen as insufficient to the GOP.
DeSantis channels his inner Hulk (Hogan)
At a rally in Iowa yesterday, the Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis used as his walkout music a song long used for the same purpose by Hulk Hogan, one of the most famous names in wrestling.
Lyrics to Real American by Rick Derringer include “I am a real American/ Fight for the rights of every man” and “I’ve got something deep inside of me/ Courage is the thing that keeps us free”.
DeSantis’s recent memoir is called The Courage to be Free. At 44 the Florida governor is a member of Gen X whose childhood coincided with Hogan’s heyday as a star of World Wrestling Entertainment.
However, further reading suggests DeSantis may be advised to consider changing his tune.
In March, Abraham Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, discussed with Politico “How Pro Wrestling Explains Today’s GOP”.
The interview focused on the long relationship between Donald Trump and McMahon, the WWE owner, and how it shaped Trump’s political persona. But the piece also contained discussion of how Trump’s primary battle with DeSantis might be thought of in wrestling terms.
Politico said: “It might be more useful, Riesman suggests, to think in terms of roles: heroes and villains – in industry lingo, faces and heels – and the fluidity of such positioning.”
Asked “who’s the face and who’s the heel?” in Trump v DeSantis, Riesman said that to Republicans, they were two faces.
But she also said that in 1990, when DeSantis was 11, “Vince executed a very risky maneuver, which was that he had in his biggest match of the year, the main event at WrestleMania, the two faces going against each other.
“Hogan and [The Ultimate] Warrior were both faces. And Hogan was the champ and Warrior was an up-and-comer who was very popular. And they were going to have this match. And it was mind-blowing for fans.
“Hogan and Warrior, right after that, both of them – their careers tanked.”
Some say DeSantis’s campaign is already tanking, his polling numbers falling while Trump capitalises on unprecedented legal jeopardy to fire up supporters. Trump leads most polling averages by more than 30 points.
In Clive, Iowa on Tuesday, DeSantis took a tentative jab at Trump over attacks about his handling of Covid, saying: “I’m going to fight back. Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?”
One attendee told the Associated Press she voted for Trump twice but could switch.
DeSantis is a “little softer” and “more appealing to the masses”, said Kim Riesberg, 59, adding: “At some point, I would like to see them on the same team.”
Riesman had a warning for such voters. Hulk v Warrior, she said, “was kind of the last gasp of that era … because it sort of broke the system.
“Fans had to pick a side. You can’t just cheer for both guys. You have to cheer for one. And that means somebody is getting written out of the story. Someone has to lose. Someone has to look bad in your eyes. And that kind of confusion [can be] very damaging to … both participants.”
President Joe Biden has nominated a highly decorated Marine officer who has been involved in the transformation of the force to be the next Marine Corps commandant.
The Associated Press reports:
The nomination of Gen. Eric Smith, now the assistant commandant, had been widely expected and has been forwarded to the Senate. The current top Marine, Gen. David Berger, is wrapping up his four-year term and preparing to retire.
Smith, a career infantry officer, has commanded at every level, serving multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, including time in Fallujah and Ramadi during heavy combat in 2004 and 2005 in Operation Iraq Freedom. He later was the senior military adviser to Defense Secretary Ash Carter and in in 2019 took over as the deputy commandant for combat development.
In that post, Smith worked with Berger on a broad campaign to transform the Marine Corps to better be able to fight amphibious wars in the Pacific after years of battling terrorist groups in the Middle East. The plan was lauded by many in the Pentagon and Congress as a critical way for the Marines to prepare for a potential conflict with China.
Smith and Berger argued that the changes will improve the Marine Corps’ ability to fight in contested areas, particularly within striking range of an enemy. That element is critical in the Indo-Pacific, where thousands of U.S. and allied forces are easily within missile — or even rocket — range of both China and North Korea.
But some of the moves, including the transfer of Marine tanks to the Army, triggered sharp criticism from a group of retired Marine generals.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has hailed the tentative debt ceiling bill and president Joe Biden in a news conference ahead of the House’s vote on the bill.
Speaking to reporters, Jeffries said:
“Some things that were incredibly important to the American people, all of which were on the chopping block because of the extreme MAGA Republicans and their ransom demands…
But because president Biden held the line, some very important things were protected in this resolution. President Biden protected social security…Medicare…Medicaid…veterans…the Inflation Reduction Act…the clean energy tax credits that will be transformational…billions of dollars in funding to combat environmental injustice. And president Biden protected the American people from the types of devastating cuts proposed by right-wing extremists that would have hurt millions of everyday Americans.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed his support for the debt ceiling bill expected to go up for a vote Wednesday, crediting Pres. Biden with negotiating a deal that helps protect Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, and more pic.twitter.com/EFFXUawwy6
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 31, 2023
Hakeem Jeffries urges Democrats to vote for bill
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has urged divided Democratic lawmakers to vote for the debt ceiling bill, a source familiar with the matter told CNN correspondent Manu Raju.
In closed meeting with WH officials this morning, Hakeem Jeffries strongly urged the divided Democratic caucus to back the debt ceiling bill, according to a person in the room. Dem votes will be needed to pass the bill
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 31, 2023
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Former vice president Mike Pence to launch presidential bid: reports
Mike Pence is expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid within the next two weeks, The Messenger reports.
In a screenshot of an email sent by former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to delegates of the Georgia Republican Party, Lake wrote:
“Vice president Mike Pence was originally slated but has been forced to re-schedule because of a televised national town hall at which he will be making an announcement regarding his future plans.”
The outlet reports that Pence is scheduled to headline a CNN town hall, in Des Moines, Iowa (a crucial early-voting state) on June 7.
Former GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is weighing a 2024 Senate bid, will headline the Georgia GOP convention's Friday night event. She has refused to concede her narrow election defeat, and she's become a favorite among Trump supporters. #gapol pic.twitter.com/oSSbfewIeG
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) May 31, 2023
Four Republicans familiar with the matter told The Messenger that Pence’s team have begun ramping up their outreach two weeks ago and have told supporters that his presidential campaign launch is imminent and is set to take place in mid-June.
Should Pence join the race, he will be facing off against several Republican heavyweights including his former boss and current chief contender Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis began his presidential campaign in Iowa yesterday, telling a crowd of several hundred reporters:
“The tired dogmas of the past are inadequate for a vibrant future. We must look forward, not look backwards,” DeSantis said. “We must have the courage to lead, and we must have the strength to win, because the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Des Moines Register reports.
“I wish the elites in Washington, D.C., would take a page out of the Iowa playbook, but instead, they have ignored what works and they have continued to plunge this nation into the abyss,” he added.
DeSantis’s visit to Iowa comes weeks after he visited the crucial early-voting state earlier this month after he secured 37 endorsements from Republican Iowa state senators and representatives.
As a result of a state supreme court ruling that allows partisan gerrymandering, North Carolina residents will likely be put into congressional districts that will be in favor of GOP, despite the state having less registered Republicans than Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
Daniel Walton reports:
The ruling will permit the state’s legislature, which is controlled by Republican supermajorities in both chambers, to draw new congressional district maps in advance of the 2024 election. North Carolina’s congressional delegation is likely to go from its current even split to 10-4 or 11-3 in favor of Republicans, despite the state having fewer registered Republicans than either Democrats or unaffiliated voters.
“It’s hard for me to think of a more consequential decision,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University.
In February 2022, the court had ruled that maps drawn for partisan advantage by GOP lawmakers in 2021 were “unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt”, and North Carolina’s 2022 elections were held using district lines drawn by a panel of court-appointed experts. Those districts resulted in a congressional delegation of seven Democrats and seven Republicans, mirroring the roughly even split of state voters between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
But elections for the supreme court itself, also conducted in 2022, switched its makeup from a 4-3 Democratic-Republican split to 5-2 in favor of the GOP. The new Republican majority agreed to take up the gerrymandering case again – an unusual move, as the court had previously agreed to rehearings just twice over 30 years – and overturned the previous decision, with both Democrats in dissent.
The Republican-controlled legislature now has no legal barrier to creating congressional lines that concentrate Democratic voting power in a handful of districts, thus tilting the scales for GOP candidates in more parts of the state.
For more, click here:
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expected to announce his presidential bid next Tuesday, Axios reports.
Christie, who will be joining a race including former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, is expected to deliver his announcement at a 6.30pm town hall at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
According to an adviser, Christie, a former Trump ally, will be delivering a “a non-traditional campaign that is highly focused on earned media, mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump… Will not be geographic dependent, but nimble.”
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Another far-right Republican lawmaker who condemned the tentative bill is Colorado representative Lauren Boebert.
In a video posted on Twitter yesterday, Boebert said the debt limit deal is bad for the country.
“The bill Biden negotiated fuels inflation, adds trillions to our debt and leaves a blank check for more of the same nonsense I came here to stop. I am not for an unlimited debt ceiling increase,” said Boebert.
“I am voting no,” she added. “That’s why I am pushing right now to make sure this new bill is allowed to be debated and amended, if not killed entirely.”
The debt limit deal is a bad deal for America.
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) May 30, 2023
As the bill is currently presented, my vote will be NO on tomorrow's anti-deal. Unit then, I hope the House will either amend it or kill it entirely. pic.twitter.com/6vdXFsevTV
Kevin McCarthy: debt ceiling bill 'going to become law'
The debt ceiling bill will become law, Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday ahead of a final House vote later today on the bill which if passed, will move next into Senate.
“It’s going to become law,” McCarthy told reporters, Reuters reports.
Updated
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Republican Florida representative Byron Donalds urged Republican lawmakers to vote against the bill.
“To my Republican colleagues, do not vote for this bill… Your voters back home are going to look at you and say, ‘Why did you vote for a bill that keeps all of Joe Biden’s policies in place and all you did was raise the debt ceiling?’” he said.
To my Republican colleagues: DO NOT vote for this deal.
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) May 31, 2023
Your constituents will ask you why you voted to keep ALL of Biden's policies intact while all you did was raise the debt ceiling.
They'll ask why you didn't STAND UP & DEMAND renegotiation.
Now is the time to weigh in. pic.twitter.com/5vfLIS6EUR
“Now it’s time for Republican members of Congress to weigh in on the negotiations. That is why I am a ‘No,’” he added.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to vote against debt limit bill
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that she plans to vote against the debt limit bill.
“My red line has already been surpassed … I mean, where do we start? [No] clean debt ceiling. Work requirements. Cuts to programs. I would never – I would never – vote for that,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
Democratic Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib echoed similar sentiments, telling reporters that she would “absolutely not” support a bill that includes tougher work requirements.
Meanwhile, an aide to a progressive lawmaker in the Congressional Progressive Caucus told Axios anonymously, “My boss is leaning no and we think a good number of [CPC] members will follow suit.”
Updated
Republican-led House to hold final vote on debt ceiling bill amid far-right pushback
The House is set to convene today to hold a final vote on the debt ceiling bill amid opposition from far-right lawmakers, including members of the House Freedom Caucus who have vowed to vote against the bill (some Freedom Caucus members previously opposed House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid in January).
The tentative deal reached by McCarthy and President Joe Biden would raise the debt ceiling until 2025 and includes measures such as rescinding Internal Revenue Service funding and expanded work requirements.
With the House scheduled to convene at 2pm today, the first round of votes is expected at 3.30pm and the last round of votes is expected at 8.30pm.
Over 20 Republicans have vowed to vote against the bill, with Pennsylvania Scott Perry, chair of the Freedom Caucus saying on Tuesday, “We had the time to act, and this deal fails – fails completely … We will do everything in our power to stop it and end it now.”
Texas representative and Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy called the deal a “turd sandwich” as it did not include spending cuts demanded by far-right lawmakers.
North Carolina representative and Freedom Caucus member Dan Bishop predicted that the majority of House Republicans will oppose the bill, saying, “This is a career-defining vote for every Republican … This bill, if it passes, must pass with less than half of the Republican conference.”
Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries emphasized the importance of Republicans providing the majority of the 218 votes required to approve the bill.
“This is an agreement that, at their insistence, they negotiated with the administration,” Jeffries said. “It’s our full and complete expectation that they are going to produce at least 150 votes,” he said.
Should the bill pass, it will move on to the Senate where lawmakers will have only a few days to approve it before the 5 June default deadline.
Updated
House to hold final vote on debt ceiling bill
Good morning, US politics readers. The House is expected to hold a final vote on the debt ceiling bill as opposition from far-right Republicans continue to grow.
Last weekend, talks spearheaded by House speaker Kevin McCarthy and president Joe Biden culminated in a tentative deal to raise the $31.4tn US debt ceiling.
Speaking to reporters, McCarthy said that the bill was “the most conservative deal we’ve ever had”, referring to the two-year agreement which includes spending freezes and slashing Internal Revue Service funding.
As the deal heads into a chamber vote in the Republican-led House today, more than 20 Republicans have vowed to vote against the deal. On Tuesday, Texas representative Chip Roy, a member of the powerful House rules committee which met to review the deal, told Fox News, “This is not the deal that we should be taking.”
The House will convene at 2pm today, with the first round of votes expected at 3.30pm, and the last round of votes expected at 8.30pm.
Here are other developments in US politics:
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expected to announce his presidential bid next Tuesday in new Hampshire, Axios reports.
Former president Donald Trump has repeated his pledge to strip birthright US citizenship if he becomes president again.
President Joe Biden will meet with leaders of his federal emergency preparedness and response team today to receive annual briefing on extreme weather preparedness.
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