The Hill’s Morning Report – Election year fights consume Capitol Hill

by Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver - 04/06/22 6:34 AM ET

If anyone needs evidence that the midterms are dictating everything in Washington, look no further than Tuesday’s events on Capitol Hill. There was name-calling, policy denunciations, blockades on pending legislation, more retirements, ennui, risk aversion and positioning for voters.

And to make matters worse, one lawmaker fought off a wild animal at the Capitol (more about that below).

The political maneuvering is clear on both sides of the aisle as lawmakers push to pass a $10 billion COVID-19 relief package by the end of the week. A day after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) announced a deal, its trajectory hit a GOP roadblock as Senate Republicans demanded a vote to reinstate Title 42 restrictions that had been used to deny migrants’ asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border during the pandemic.

Republicans on Tuesday blocked the upper chamber from advancing the relief deal, 47-52, over Democratic refusals to attach the immigration provision to the accord. Without an agreement, the bill would languish until after the Senate’s two-week break that starts at close of business on Friday. The vote on the COVID-19 relief vehicle needed 60 votes to pass (The Hill).

Multiple Senate Republicans predicted on Tuesday that a deal will be struck to allow amendments, including one on the Trump-era immigration rule. However, it’s not one Democratic leaders want to grant as moderate members intensely criticize President Biden’s move to nix the policy. At least seven Senate Democrats have sided with Republicans against the administration, including four who are up for reelection: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Maggie Hassan (N.H.), all of whom are considered vulnerable to some degree in November (The Hill).

Politico: Kelly’s breaks with Biden pile up.

The Hill: Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) asked the Biden administration for the science behind its Title 42 decision predicated during the Trump years on public health and COVID-19 precautions.

Schumer has teed up an initial vote on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday, setting the stage for a final floor vote for the first Black woman to become a Supreme Court justice (The Hill).

The waning moments of the confirmation process, however, has prompted a political warning from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Kentucky Republican cautioned Biden that if the GOP retakes the upper chamber in the fall, the president would need to select a centrist candidate as a Supreme Court nominee, should there be a vacancy before the 2024 elections (The Hill).

The Hill: Trump-era fight snags COVID deal.

Alexander Bolton, The Hill: GOP moderates send message on Supreme Court.

Politico: Build Back Center: Biden plows a revamped lane for the midterms.

The Hill: Questions grow about Biden’s position on a gas tax holiday.

Across the Capitol complex, Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.), an 18-term lawmaker who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeachformer President Trump last year, announced that he will no longer run for reelection.

Despite death threats, Upton defended his impeachment vote in the face of primary challenges and censures from county party leaders. Subsequently, the Michigan redistricting commission redrew the state’s political maps after the 2020 census, and Upton found himself in a new district with Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), who received Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement in the primary contest last month (Detroit News).

© Associated Press / Susan Walsh | Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

The Upton development was music to Trump’s ears.

“UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go. Others losing badly, who’s next?” he said in a statement.

As The Hill’s Cristina Marcos and Emily Brooks note, Upton joins Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.) in heading for the door. The other Republicans now face primary challengers who assert their loyalty to Trump.

Paul Kane, The Washington Post: Upton calls it quits, leaving a much different House.

The New York Times: Ivanka Trump testifies to House panel investigating Jan. 6 attack.

The Washington Post: 2020 election claims dominate lively night for Trump, allies at Mar-a-Lago.

The Hill: Proud Boys leader pleads not guilty to Jan. 6 conspiracy charges.

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LEADING THE DAY

Russia’s relentless attacks are heading east in Ukraine, the United States and the European Union are tightening economic pressure on Moscow, and Russia retained its supportive alliances with China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council on Tuesday.

The U.S. said it is poised this week to sanction Russian officials and ban new investments in Russia (The Hill), while the European Commission on Tuesday proposed banning Russian coal as part of a new round of sanctions against the Kremlin. Coal prices soared on world markets (CNBC).

In another move that makes Russian President Vladimir Putin a target of personal punishment, new European Union sanctions will target two of his daughters, The New York Times reported. At least one of the two women may have lived in the Netherlands in recent years, although the identities of Putin’s offspring and whereabouts are not discussed by the Kremlin.

The Hill: The Treasury Department and other U.S. agencies on Tuesday sanctioned the Russia-based darknet market known as Hydra Market in a coordinated effort to disrupt malicious cybercrime services, the selling of drugs and other illegal activities.

The Hill: The Pentagon late Tuesday announced the U.S. will send an additional $100 million in military aid and anti-armor systems to Ukraine.

A frustrated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine implored the U.N. Security Council in a virtual address on Tuesday to help his country by adopting a strong stance against Russia’s war or “dissolve yourself altogether, if there is nothing you can do besides conversation” (The Hill). Zelensky detailed atrocities using vivid images of dead civilians he said he saw for himself on Monday in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, and he demanded that Russia be held to account for war crimes he likened to barbaric slayings committed by ISIS (CNN).

China and the UAE — both members of the Security Council that have abstained on votes for resolutions against Russia — did not criticize Moscow and said the council should wait until investigators establish the facts. Russia denies its forces have committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians.

It would be possible for the U.N. Security Council to expel a member country, but it has never happened.

© Associated Press / Nariman El-Mofty | In Lviv, Ukraine, candles in the shape of the country commemorate war deaths.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage in his Memo writes that the gruesome images and eyewitness reporting from Ukraine, combined with Zelensky’s emotional pleas, challenge Biden and the West to do more.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey, who had previous experience with Russia as a diplomat, told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Tuesday that while the focus on Russia’s alleged war crimes is important to fortify alliances and marshal public opinion, prosecuting war crimes is not the West’s immediate goal.

He said the U.S. and all NATO nations are aiming to weaken Russia militarily and economically to force Moscow to a lasting cease-fire and permanent settlement that would include a peacekeeping mission. That, he said, could disincentivize Russia from seeking to seize such territory again.

“We have no way to bring President Putin and his generals to justice. That’s the reality. Let’s work on, first of all, stopping their military offensive, getting a cease-fire … and get a permanent settlement to this thing; that’s not impossible,” Jeffrey said.

The New York Times:The U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia announced an expanded partnership to develop hypersonic missiles, which travel faster than the speed of sound andpotentially evade missile systems.

CNN: In March, the U.S. military tested a hypersonic missile but kept it quiet as Biden traveled to Europe.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

The picture was the message.

© Associated Press / Carolyn Kaster | Vice President Harris, President Biden and former President Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

Former President Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since 2017 to lend some humor and support to an embattled friend and to champion a signature policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act, which took more than a year to enact, years to defend in court and even longer to be embraced by millions of Americans.

“Coming back here gives me a chance to say thank you and spend some time with an extraordinary friend and partner who was by my side for eight years. Joe Biden and I did a lot together,” Obama said while celebrating a concept that more than a few Democrats and retiring GOP lawmakers fear is going out of style.

The lesson from ObamaCare in 2010, Obama said, was that “we can improve the lives of this generation and the next … if you’re persistent, if you stay with it and are willing to work through the obstacles and the criticism” (The Hill).

That criticism a dozen years ago, however, contributed to the Democrats’ loss of majorities in the 2010 midterms, which Obama at the time conceded was a “shellacking.” Members of his party fear something similar will occur in November.

The past few weeks have revealed Biden’s eagerness to deliver to Democratic voters at least some versions of his 2020 campaign promises. The first Black woman is poised to join the Supreme Court by a narrow Senate vote later this week. Biden has proposed a version of a minimum tax on America’s wealthiest individuals, even as he knows it won’t become law anytime soon. He is also taking Republican opponents head-on and bowing to outspoken pressures from his base with a vow to lift a restriction put in place by his predecessor that virtually shut down U.S. borders to migrants during the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the White House made another move to try to shore up support from cash-strapped Democratic families with a decision expected to be announced this week to extend the temporary pause until Aug. 31 on federal student loan repayments (Bloomberg News and The Hill).

The action applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt held by the federal government, according to the latest data from the Education Department (The Associated Press). That includes more than 7 million borrowers who have defaulted on student loans, meaning they are at least 270 days late on payments. Borrowers will not be asked to make payments until after the new August deadline, and interest rates are expected to remain at zero percent during that period.

The Hill: The NAACP called on Biden to cancel rather than pause repayment of student loan debt.

➤ State watch: In North Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, viewed as a possible 2024 presidential candidate, on Tuesday signed an executive order banning the teaching of critical race theory in the state’s schools (The Hill). Other Republican-led states with versions of such educational prohibitions: Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee.

OPINION

How will inflation end? by William A. Galston, columnist, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3j7WUJd

Has Putin’s brutality finally hit a wall in Ukraine? by David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3LOb26V

Joe Manchin’s brand is not helping Democrats. But there’s a Republican who might, by Michelle Cottle, editorial board member, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3NP8NSC

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 10 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and will resume consideration of Jackson’s nomination.

The president receives the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. Biden will address a legislative conference held by North America’s Building Trades Unions at 12:45 p.m. The president signs the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 at 4:15 p.m. in the State Dining Room.

Vice President Harris will ceremonially swear in Randi Charno Levine to be ambassador to Portugal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Brussels for a gathering of NATO foreign ministers.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at 10 a.m. delivers annual testimony on international financial system conditions to the House Financial Services Committee. She will speak about U.S. and global contractionary economic effects resulting from sanctions on Russia and will be asked about the prospects of a U.S. recession, which some analysts predict will occur next year.

White House national economic adviser Brian Deese fields questions from journalists at 9 a.m. at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington.

Obama will be interviewed by The Atlantic at 3 p.m. CT (live streamed on its website HERE) as part of the magazine’s Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy event hosted with the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee meets virtually in open session at 8:30 a.m. to discuss “considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for COVID-19 vaccine strain selection to address current and emerging variants.” Info HERE.

The Federal Reserve at 2 p.m. will release minutes from its March meeting.

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2:30 p.m.

📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-staging.thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ CORONAVIRUS DATA: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that U.S. fatalities from COVID-19 have gradually fallen to an average of 537 a day. The total number of U.S. coronavirus fatalities as of this morning is 982,585, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker (which corrected its total on Tuesday based on some Kentucky data). … In the news: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) used Twitter to announce on Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 in yet another breakthrough case without serious illness (The Hill). … Boosts to the immune system added with fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Israel protected older people from infection and serious illness against omicron but waned rapidly, researchers report. A second Pfizer booster shot ebbed in protection within four weeks and almost disappeared after eight weeks (The New York Times).

➤ TECH: On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, would join Twitter’s board. Musk tweeted his intention “to make significant improvements” to the platform in the coming months. One possible clue: Late Monday, Musk polled his 80 million followers about whether they would like the option to edit tweets (CNBC). Analysts believe Musk’s aims, which he has indicated deal with free speech, are bigger than an editing function. The Hill’s Rebecca Klar reports that Musk could influence how Twitter moderates its content, which some critics describe as censoring information under the First Amendment. Trump, barred from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, owes much of his rise in politics and daily messaging to his conservative supporters to Twitter. The social media platform has about 38 million users in the U.S.

➤ ENVIRONMENT: The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed an import ban on chrysotile asbestos, the only type of asbestos that is currently imported to the United States. The move is an attempt to limit exposure to the carcinogen that kills 40,000 Americans each year and is found in car brakes and linings, gaskets, and other products (The Hill).

➤ AIRLINES: JetBlue Airways on Tuesday made a $3.6 billion all-cash offer for Spirit Airlines, raising questions about Spirit’s deal to combine with rival discount carrier Frontier Airlines. The competition for Spirit shows renewed appetite for consolidation in the airline industry as carriers dig their way out of two difficult pandemic years (CNBC).

THE CLOSER

And finally … Craziness on Capitol Hill is nothing new, but it took a critter crazy like an actual fox to stir things up.

After multiple reports from individuals who had been bitten or attacked by a fox around the Capitol complex, the U.S. Capitol Police announced the capture of the furry culprit. Among those attacked was Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), who told Punchbowl News that he suffered a leg bite Monday night and subsequently went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for seven shots, including tetanus and rabies inoculations.

“I expect to get attacked if I go on Fox News, I don’t expect to get attacked by a fox,” Bera said.