Morning Memo: Pelosi Takes Things Into Her Own Hands

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.

Will Any Republicans Play Along With The Speaker’s Jan. 6 Committee?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday unveiled a resolution to create a 13-member select committee appointed by her to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection. The resolution requires her to consult with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on five of the appointees. The odds of Republicans getting involved seem to be mixed.

• Rep. John Katko (R-NY), who helped craft the resolution on creating a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission that was ultimately killed by Senate Republicans, doesn’t want to be a part of it. He told CNN that “I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where I would participate, if asked.”
• Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), having lost her leadership position for acknowledging the reality that Trump lost the election, left the door open for joining the commission, telling CNN that it’s “up to” Pelosi.
• Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), another Trump critic, echoed Cheney. His spokesperson said that “our party blocked that first opportunity” for a bipartisan commission “and now we need answers,” so “[w]hether Congressman Kinzinger serves on the Select Committee is up to Speaker Pelosi.”

The New Normal

Portland broke yet another all-time heat record yesterday, reaching a jaw-dropping 116 degrees last evening, according to the National Weather Service.

pic.twitter.com/rzdelAkhJn

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) June 28, 2021

New Pre-Collapse Photos Of Miami Condo Tower

A pool contractor took several alarming photos two days before the collapse showing corroded rebar, deteriorating concrete and standing water in the parking garage and pool equipment room directly under the pool deck.

• The confirmed death toll is now at 11 and about 150 people are still missing on day five of the rescue mission.

Key Analysis On Infrastructure

• Biden touted the bipartisan infrastructure proposal in an op-ed for Yahoo News that highlighted key aspects of the deal, which he described as a “signal to ourselves, and to the world, that American democracy can work and deliver for the people.”
• “Washington Isn’t Used to the Left Setting the Agenda” – The American Prospect

An Unexpected Glimmer Of Hope For Weed Advocates In SCOTUS

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative justices on the high court, on Monday blasted the federal ban on marijuana, whose enforcement has has been shaky as states continue to legalize it.

• What he argues: “Once comprehensive, the Federal Government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana. This contradictory and unstable state of affairs strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary.”
• The key point: “A prohibition on intrastate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the Federal Government’s piecemeal approach.”

People Are Good

Volunteers in New York and Philadelphia have been setting up community fridges in the city streets that provide free food to anyone who needs it, also known as “freedges.”

• Hunger is on the rise in the U.S. More than 20 million people say they aren’t getting enough to eat, according to the Washington Post, and the numbers get even worse for Black and Hispanic communities, whose hunger levels are at a startling 15 and 16 percent, respectively.

California Fires Back In GOP’s Newest Culture War

California will ban state-funded travel to five states that’ve enacted cruel laws aimed at stripping trans kids of access to gender-affirming health care and sports teams that align with their gender identities: Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia.

Neo-Confederate Watch

Several elected officials, including a Virginia House delegate, and military officers have been revealed to be part of the neo-Confederate Sons of Confederate Veterans, according to membership data reported by the Guardian.

Duly Elected President Of Self-Ownia

a tragedy in four acts pic.twitter.com/hGgBWGTdp0

— ? (@samthielman) June 28, 2021

The Ballad Of Andrew Giuliani

Andrew Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s son who was last seen in a video shouting about “leftist judges” while peeping at the bottom of the camera frame, did not get a single vote in a closed-door straw poll among local GOP leaders on the New York 2022 gubernatorial race against embattled incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

• Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who emerged as one of Trump’s top bulldogs during the first impeachment process, raked in a whopping 85% of the vote.

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