It wasn’t long after MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell held a “Cyber Symposium” in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in early August that the Idaho secretary of state’s office started receiving calls.
Continue reading “Mike Lindell Alleged Nationwide Fraud. Then The Calls Started Rolling In To The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.”Something’s Very Wrong with the Times
I see myself as a friendly critic of The New York Times. It has all its shortcomings, which are many. But it also produces day in and day so much that, were it not to exist, we would be deeply impoverished as readers, as a country. Here though is an article which is so comically wrong in its basic understanding of events that I really do have to wonder what’s wrong with the publication’s DC bureau. Something there and really in the whole operation right up to the top is seriously wrong for this piece to have been published.
Let me republish the first three grafs …
Continue reading “Something’s Very Wrong with the Times”Progressives Form The Firewall For Biden’s Agenda
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things
Let’s Get Down To Business
After hours of negotiations with progressive and centrist Democrats on Thursday that dragged on late into the night, House Democratic leadership ultimately decided to pull the plug on the planned vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill (which was always an arbitrary deadline).
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters there’ll be a vote on BIF today, which … I mean don’t hold your breath. Progressives made it crystal clear yesterday that they’re holding the line and voting against BIF unless the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill gets passed in tandem (a timetable that was originally agreed to by all factions of the Democratic caucus), and their resolve paid off.
- Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) gave a shout out to her colleagues. “I have never seen our caucus so strong,” she told CNN.
- The New York Times is framing this as a huge blow for Biden, but how is that the case? Yesterday was an arbitrary deadline for BIF (as was Monday before Pelosi pushed it back), and sticking to it risked killing both that legislation and the President’s much more expansive social benefits plan–an infinitely bigger disaster for Biden’s agenda.
- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has finally given Biden and Democratic leaders something to work with after only vague announcements about how he doesn’t like the $3.5 trillion price tag for reconciliation. The West Virginia Democrat said yesterday that his top line is at $1.5 trillion.
- Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NY), who predicted that he and his fellow moderates would be “drinking a nice glass of champagne” yesterday, seemed less sunny late last night after he left a meeting with Pelosi.
Congresswomen Open Up About Their Abortions During A Hearing
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Cori Bush (D-MO) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) gave striking testimonies in front of the Oversight Committee on Thursday on their experiences of getting an abortion as red states, most notoriously Texas, wage war on Roe v Wade.
- Each congresswoman shared different circumstances for their procedures, particularly as women of color. Jayapal spoke on having health problems that made her abortion a medical necessity. Bush revealed that she had been raped. Lee described how she had to obtain a back alley abortion in Mexico because Roe hadn’t been established at the time she needed the procedure.
- Bush closed her testimony with a powerful message: “To all the Black women and girls who have had or will have abortions — know this: we have nothing to be ashamed of. We live in a society that has failed to legislate love and justice for us. But we deserve better. We demand better. We are worthy of better.”
You can read Jayapal and Bush’s speeches in full and listen to Lee’s testimony.
Lewandowski‘s Fall From Grace Continues
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), a potential 2024 contender, has ditched Trump foot soldier Corey Lewandowski as one of her top advisers after he was accused of repeatedly touching a Trump donor without consent and following her around during a charity event on Sunday.
- Lewandowski was “never paid a dime” and “will not be advising” Noem, said the governor’s spokesperson, Ian Fury.
- The dump comes after Lewandowski was unceremoniously kicked out as the chair of Trump’s superPAC, Make America Great Again Action, on Wednesday.
Must-Read
“He Ran Over BLM Protesters—but Apparently That’s Not a Crime” – The Daily Beast
17,000 Police Killings Over The Last 40 Years Were Uncounted
A new study by researchers at the University of Washington found that about 55 percent of police killings between 1980 and 2018 were mislabeled.
Slightly Out Of His Element
During a Senate hearing with Facebook head of safety Antigone Davis, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) demanded to know if she would “commit to ending Finsta.”
- The bemused Facebook official tried to explain that a finsta is slang for a “fake Instagram” account where a user posts content that they don’t want to share on their regular account, not an actual product that Facebook (which owns Instagram) provides.
- Blumenthal still didn’t follow. “Will you end that type of account?” the senator asked sternly.
Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
About Last (This) Night
So Joe Manchin says he doesn’t think there’s going to be a deal tonight.
That’s fine. I’d say it’s actually good. What we’re talking about here is a vast and historic legislative package. Scrambling to hash it together in the wee hours of night for no reason makes no sense. This deadline was always arbitrary.
The good news is that, based on Manchin’s comments, they seem now actually to be negotiating. That’s good. There’s no reason not to let it take a couple days to get it right. That’s completely okay.
As Kate Riga notes here, having blown through not just the deadline but the backup deadline, this puts a bit more slack into the system.
It’s worth stepping back and seeing what appears to have happened here.
Continue reading “About Last (This) Night”The Day Of Reckoning Over BIF And Reconciliation Is Upon Us
Strap in, folks. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
The House is scheduled to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill today amid protests from progressive Democrats who are furious over the de-coupling of the legislation from the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. The progressives have sworn to shoot down BIF if it gets put to a vote today without reconciliation–and an agreement with moderates over reconciliation doesn’t seem to be close at hand.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters yesterday evening that the “plan” is still to hold the vote today, but she’s taking it “one hour at a time” after House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said he wasn’t sure if BIF had the votes needed to pass yet.
The good news is at least Congress is on track to pass a government funding bill today and avoid the shutdown that would’ve begun at midnight tonight.
Follow our coverage live:
Where Things Stand: Durham Issues More Subpoenas
John Durham is still digging in deep to find proof of some sort of anti-Trump origin of the Russia probe. So far, his findings haven’t produced the kind of damning evidence Republicans and Trump allies were hoping for. But a new report suggests he may be trying to expand the case he’s been trying to build for two years.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Durham Issues More Subpoenas”Top Biz Lobbyists Sing Song of WTFs and Woe Over BIF In the Balance!
There’s a fascinating peek into one aspect of the sausage production process in tonight’s Politico Influence, their newsletter about the lobbying world. The headline says it all: “Lobbyists’ frustration with BIF uncertainty spills out into the open.” The account is chock full of the heads of the big industry lobbies tossing WTFs at the House Progressive caucus. But the fascinating part is a bit more than that. They’re pissed at the Progressive Caucus. No mystery there. What’s clear – and this matches what I’ve been hearing nonstop – is that the big business and manufacturing lobbies want the BIF really, really bad. What also galls them though is that House Republicans won’t save it for them.
Continue reading “Top Biz Lobbyists Sing Song of WTFs and Woe Over BIF In the Balance!”Idaho’s Secretary of State Physically Recounted The Vote To Prove Mike Lindell Wrong. Lindell’s Still Not Convinced.
Mike Lindell, the pillow magnate who’s sunk months and millions of dollars into pushing the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, is now officially a thorn in the side of multiple Republican secretaries of state.
Continue reading “Idaho’s Secretary of State Physically Recounted The Vote To Prove Mike Lindell Wrong. Lindell’s Still Not Convinced.”Reconciliation Negotiations Resurrected As Manchin Finally Talks Specifics
The reconciliation package is risen.
The package has died and come back to life multiple times, amid growing anger at Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) for seemingly objecting to the bill without naming what exactly about it they don’t like.
A Thursday Politico report showed that while the press corps and much of Manchin’s Democratic cohort were in the dark, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had received a short memo of Manchin’s requirements back in late July. They involved a $1.5 trillion topline and a demand not to begin debate on the reconciliation bill before October 1.
Both men signed the bottom, though Schumer also appeals to have scrawled “I will try to dissuade Joe on many of these” underneath his signature.
Manchin confirmed today, surrounded by dozens of reporters, that $1.5 trillion continues to be his starting point in the negotiations.
While that’s much too low for progressives — Sen. Rich Blumenthal (D-CT) called it “problematic” — at least it’s a number for the caucus to work with.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said after the news of what he called the “secret communication” broke that Manchin’s figure “will be changed.”
Not to be upstaged, Sinema blasted out a statement asserting that she too has shared her specific demands with Schumer and the White House, though she did not detail them publicly.
Over on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has already discussed Manchin’s new position with her worried progressive members.
“The Speaker has committed to us that nothing will be agreed to, because she knows we have to sign off on it,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), spokesperson for the progressive caucus, told reporters. “There’re just too many of us that have been very clear that we are going to deliver on the entirety of the President’s agenda.”
For days, the reconciliation process has stalled out amid Manchin and Sinema’s tight-lipped refusal to say what topline price tag they’d accept. Meanwhile, House moderates had eked a concession out of Pelosi to hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan, initially slated for Monday and now still tentatively planned for Thursday. That date rushed closer as the reconciliation package spun its wheels in the mud.
Those conditions set up the showdown now forming around the bipartisan infrastructure vote. If it does happen today as scheduled, it seems unlikely to pass — Jayapal told reporters that at least half of the 96-member House progressive caucus plans to vote it down, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that his whipping had not revealed enough Republican defectors to make up for that deficit.
But Manchin’s numbers have injected new life into the reconciliation negotiations. House progressives have long said that as soon as the Senate passes a reconciliation package, they will happily also vote for the bipartisan infrastructure plan, maintaining the two-track scheme that Democratic leadership has long seen as the surest path to both bills passing.
“All kinds of things could happen very quickly,” Jayapal said. “All I can say is we said that we’re gonna stay here all weekend if we need to to see if we can get to a deal, but if we can’t, then we’ll have to continue to work on it until we do.”
Apocalypse Now?
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the current congressional morass and announce the winner of the JMP theme song competition!
Watch below and email us your questions for next week’s episode.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.