The Hill’s Morning Report — Lassoed by GOP on crime bill, Biden returns to budget politics

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 03/09/23 6:25 AM ET

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

Republicans in the Capitol on Wednesday got the better of Democrats over the volatile issue of crime. President Biden today wants to turn the tables on Republican lawmakers with a budget designed to reveal what conservatives seek to take away and the potential U.S. default they are threatening.

In a period of divided government amid high stakes for the economy and the 2024 elections, a political battle has been joined.

The Senate voted 81-14 Wednesday in favor of a GOP-led resolution to nullify a Washington, D.C., crime reform law that would have eased punishments for some violent crimes including carjacking. Thirty-three Democrats, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), joined every Republican senator to back the measure.

Faced with accusations that Democrats are soft on crime, Biden tacked to the right in favor of the GOP push to block D.C.’s law, and in the process enraged House Democrats who had already voted the other way. The controversy divided politically vulnerable Democrats, a plus for the new House GOP majority.

The Hill’s Al Weaver notes that Republicans will return to crime and public safety to undercut Democratic candidates in 2024, especially in cities and suburban areas where voters of all stripes say they’re fed up with lawbreakers, illegal drugs and a sense that the public is less safe. Ahead of last year’s midterms, 61 percent of registered voters in one poll said violent crime was important as they made their candidate selections. Eight in 10 conservative Republican voters said they saw crime and safety as very important to their votes.

“It’s not a made-up issue. Our critics will raise that point every time,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters. “I think that, in fairness, we want criminal sentencing that’s tough, it’s smart, and just throwing the book at somebody isn’t always the right issue.”

Biden today will attempt to flip the political dynamics in Philadelphia with a speech that will highlight what he thinks Democrats stand for when it comes to investments and taxes to accelerate economic strides and protect the planet — while arguing that his plan will simultaneously lower deficits.

He’ll argue that Republicans want to unwind programs Americans overwhelmingly support. The GOP has insisted on a spending deal in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, even as they maintain they do not want the country to default.

“Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage unless I agree to their economic plans,” Biden said during his State of the Union address. “I ask my Republican friends to offer their plan. We can sit down together and discuss both plans. My plan will lower the deficit. … I won’t cut a single Social Security or Medicare benefit. In fact, I will extend the Medicare Trust Fund by at least two decades. … And I will pay for the ideas … by making the wealthy and big corporations begin to pay their fair share.”

The president’s blueprint will not become law. It’s an opening bid at the start of lengthy negotiations heading into the summer and fall — to beyond into next year’s elections. Republicans are still talking among themselves about an alternative outline.

Biden is set to detail what goes into the nearly $3 trillion in proposed measures that he says would reduce deficits over 10 years, a significantly higher goal than he outlined in his State of the Union speech (ABC News/AP). It’s a bow to the GOP’s focus on reducing red ink. As expected, proposed tax increases, opposed by conservatives, play a big role in the president’s revenue math (The New York Times).

“When we started the process, we had a goal of $2 [trillion],” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young told Punchbowl News. “The budget is a long process, and [Biden’s] policies actually overperformed. That’s not a bad thing.” She said a mix of tax increases, economic growth forecasts and other policy changes account for the additional $1 trillion in projected deficit reduction.

Under House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), GOP leaders plan to present a competing budget in the coming weeks that is expected to cut as much as $150 billion in the upcoming fiscal year from domestic programs, sparing defense. They’ve promised steep cuts beginning next fiscal year in a blueprint that could erase the deficit within a decade. To do that, they need to identify roughly $16 trillion in savings.

Some conservatives are pushing for greater savings in fiscal 2024, perhaps as much as $200 billion, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Washington Post, adding that lawmakers have started assembling potential cuts targeting “woke” policies under Biden.

▪ The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports how the president seeks to lay down the first marker in fiscal talks looming with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

▪ The Hill: Here’s what to watch for during Biden’s budget rollout.

Biden will travel next week to the West Coast. He’ll confer on Monday in San Diego with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, talk about curbing gun violence during an event on Tuesday in Monterey Park, Calif., and speak about lowering drug costs on Wednesday in Las Vegas, the White House announced.

👉 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 81, was hospitalized Wednesday night after falling at a Washington hotel, Punchbowl News, NBC News and other outlets reported. “This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” McConnell spokesman David Popp said in a statement. McConnell, who was majority leader until early 2021, was first elected in 1984 and is serving a seventh Senate term. Also absent from the upper chamber for health reasons: Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Related Articles

▪ The Washington Post: Biden wants a 5.2 percent pay raise for federal workers. It would fall short of the 8.7 percent raise called for in legislation introduced in the House and Senate and backed by several Democrats and federal employee unions.

▪ Bloomberg News: Biden to urge 25 percent billionaire tax, levies on rich investors and companies.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: The president’s budget plan today includes hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed savings through lower drug prices, some higher business taxes, anti-fraud vigilance and less “wasteful” spending, according to White House aides.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS

Democrats see abortion as an electrifying issue heading into 2024 amid signs voter energy hasn’t abated in the months since Roe v. Wade was overturned, writes The Hill’s Caroline Vakil. Democrats and abortion rights activists credit the issue with keeping competitive races in play for them this year, including Virginia’s upcoming state Senate special election and last month’s Wisconsin Supreme Court primary. Members of the party now warn against writing off abortion as a key issue heading into 2024 as states like Florida, where a six-week abortion ban was filed in the state legislature this week, keep the issue top of mind for voters.

▪ The 19th: A proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida could threaten access for the entire South.

▪ FiveThirtyEight: What happens if North Carolina bans abortion? Or Ohio? Or Florida?

House Republicans held their first hearing on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, with the select subcommittee delving further into the theory that the virus originated from a research lab in China. As The Hill’s Joseph Choi and Nathaniel Weixel report, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, gave consideration to both the lab leak and the natural origins theories in his opening remarks. The congressman indicated a higher interest in the former origin theory, however, in his admonishing of those who dismiss the theory as well as the three witnesses invited to testify.

“There is no smoking gun proving a lab origin hypothesis, but the growing body of circumstantial evidence suggests a gun that, at the very least, is warm to the touch,” Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former State Department official, said at the hearing (The New York Times).

NBC News: House Republicans highlight COVID-19 lab leak theories in hearing on virus origin, while Democrats focused much of their questioning on the failings of the Trump administration to respond to the pandemic.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson‘s conflicting feelings about former President Trump and his supporters have been on full display this week, writes The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo. Carlson has dedicated two nights of his widely watched prime time program to defending the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, portraying the incident as “mostly peaceful chaos” — comments that sparked widespread backlash from critics in Congress and the media. But the anchor’s private communications with friends and colleagues, brought to light through an ongoing lawsuit Fox News is engaged in, paint a very different picture of how the right’s most influential media figure views the GOP’s standard-bearer and odds-on favorite to claim the party’s nomination for president in 2024.

▪ The New York Times: The Biden administration rarely criticizes conservative media stars by name, but a deputy press secretary declared that Carlson “is not credible.”

▪ USA Today: Carlson said he hates Trump “passionately.” Takeaways from Dominion-Fox News lawsuit documents.

▪ The Washington Post: Inside the simmering feud between Trump and Fox News.

▪ The Hill: House GOP organizing trip to see jailed Jan. 6 defendants, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

Biden has narrowed his choices to run his 2024 presidential campaign. Sam Cornale, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee, and Jenn Ridder, who served as national states director for Biden’s 2020 bid, are among the top contenders to be campaign manager, The Hill’s Amie Parnes scoops. Sources caution it’s still an ongoing process and others are in the mix.

In typical Biden fashion, the search has “taken forever” as one source put it, as the president and his team of senior advisers try to select the right person for the position. In 2020, Biden brought in Jen O’Malley Dillon to run his general election campaign, after struggling to win key states in the Democratic primary including Iowa and New Hampshire. The position is fraught with complexities because Biden has been known to rely primarily on a close circle of longtime advisers for his counsel, creating a tricky situation for the incoming campaign manager.

Two official 2024 GOP presidential candidates, Trump and Nikki Haley, previously announced their respective campaign teams.

▪ Forbes: Trump-Lake 2024? He’s reportedly considering Kari Lake as a vice presidential pick — but she says she’s still focused on her failed Arizona gubernatorial bid.

▪ CNBC: Miami’s popular Republican Mayor Francis Suarez weighs GOP challenge to Trump for White House in 2024.

➤ ADMINISTRATION

The Department of Justice on Wednesday issued a scathing report of its investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department, finding that the department and the local government have engaged in a pattern of discriminatory behavior against Black citizens in the years leading up to the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor.

The probe found that officers carried out unlawful and unconstitutional policing, including executing search warrants without knocking and announcing their presence, conducting searches that were based on invalid warrants, making unlawful stops, and targeting those who spoke out against abusive policing. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a Wednesday press conference that the police’s conduct was “unacceptable” and “heartbreaking,” and “erodes the community trust that is needed for effective community policing” (The Hill and The Washington Post).

Ben Crump, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said the findings “will help protect the citizens of Louisville and shape its culture of policing” in hopes of preventing “future tragedies like the one that took the life of Breonna Taylor and the countless others who have been killed unnecessarily by law enforcement.”

A court order on Wednesday delayed the release of more video from the January Memphis, Tenn., traffic stop that led to the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols, as the Justice Department announced it would perform a review of the Memphis Police Department after Nichols’ death. The order followed a motion filed by Blake Ballin, a defense attorney for Desmond Mills Jr., one of the former officers accused in the brutal encounter with Nichols.

Officials were expected to release about 20 more hours of video from the night of the beating, along with some records from the city’s now-finished internal probe into 13 police officers and four fire department personnel (CNN).

Advocacy groups that led the charge for the Senate to confirm Biden’s nominee to the Federal Communications Commission, Gigi Sohn, slammed Democrats over the failure to confirm her, leaving the agency with a 2-2 partisan split. As The Hill’s Rebecca Klar reports, Sohn announced Tuesday that she asked Biden to withdraw her name after facing “unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks” on her character and career, ending a two-year battle over her nomination.

While Sohn focused her ire on cable and media lobbyists, the advocacy groups that spent the past couple of years backing her said Democrats — who had control of the Senate the entire time — share a brunt of the blame.

➤ MORE IN CONGRESS

Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are set this morning to question Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and federal environmental officials about a toxic spill on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, following a freight train derailment. The company has experienced two additional accidents in Ohio since then. Here are five things to watch as the questioning gets underway at 10 a.m. (The Hill).

Shaw got a jump on his testimony with an op-ed in The Washington Post pledging to help East Palestine recover. “We have a responsibility to safely move every rail car that travels on our network, regardless of who owns it, who made it or where it comes from,” he added.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday in favor of former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to become ambassador to India, sending the nomination to the full Senate for a vote after an uncertain period that began with his nomination in the summer of 2021 and his renomination at the start of this Congress (The Hill).

The panel voted 13-8 to forward his credentials to the full Senate. Two Republicans, Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, joined all their Democratic colleagues to support Biden’s nominee. Garcetti’s diplomatic future has been in limbo for a year following allegations that he knew about sexual misconduct that one of his former top advisers committed but that he had not taken action. A report that the city of Los Angeles commissioned found that Garcetti had not engaged in any improper conduct. A Senate probe led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the former mayor “likely knew or should have known” about a staffer’s alleged harassment.

Also on Wednesday, the same Senate panel voted, after two controversial decades and four presidents, for a bipartisan bill that would repeal the authorization for the use of military force that became the underpinning of the Iraq war as well as subsequent military operations. The panel’s action occurred ahead of the anniversary of the 2003 “shock and awe” U.S. invasion under former President George W. Bush. The Foreign Relations Committee voted 13-8 (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: House Foreign Affairs Committee examined what it asserted was the “stunning failure” of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

▪ The New York Times: Personal identifying information of potentially thousands of lawmakers, their spouses, dependents and employees (including senators and their staff members) was potentially compromised as part of a hack into the D.C. Health Link insurance marketplace, according to the FBI and Capitol Police.

▪ The Hill: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to “shut your mouth” during an argument at a Wednesday hearing.

▪ Roll Call: The staff serving union-friendly Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will be the first in the Senate to unionize. The boss reacted with a thumbs-up. “I am proud of my staff for embodying the commitment not to agonize, but to organize,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to engaging with them and the Congressional Workers Union.”

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Russia launched a huge wave of missile strikes across Ukraine overnight into Thursday, killing at least six civilians, knocking out electricity and forcing a nuclear power plant off the grid. The first big missile strikes since mid-February shattered the longest period of comparative calm since Moscow launched its attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure five months ago (Reuters).

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a Senate committee Wednesday that, after battlefield setbacks, Russia could shift to a hold-and-defend strategy in Ukraine, prolonging the war. Moscow is making “incremental progress” in Bakhmut, the city in eastern Ukraine that has experienced the most intense fighting in recent weeks, she said, but Haines added the city was not a “particularly strategic objective.” Russia faces critical morale challenges and ammunition shortages in addition to troop challenges. Haines said if it wants to push forward in Ukraine, Russia will need to identify ammunition supplies from other countries and increase the size of its military (The New York Times).

“Even as the Russian offensive continues, they are experiencing high casualty rates,” Haines said. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is likely better understanding the limits of what his military is capable of achieving and appears to be focused on more limited military objectives for now.”

▪ CNBC: U.S. intel chiefs warn Putin is expanding his nuclear weapons arsenal as the war in Ukraine drags on.

▪ Reuters: Studying Ukraine war, China’s military minds fret over U.S. missiles, Starlink.

▪ CNN broadcast a report by an independent journalist about Putin’s secret, lavish lifestyle and reputed girlfriend (and their children) and his insistence on secrecy. Never-before-seen images inside Putin’s opulent home may also provide a lens into his values and how he views the war against Ukraine.

Mexican and U.S. authorities are searching for the armed men who kidnapped four Americans in the border city of Matamoros last week. Two of the victims were found dead Tuesday; the two others returned to Brownsville, Texas, where they were receiving medical care. Mexican officials say they detained a 24-year-old man suspected of being in charge of guarding the victims. Meanwhile, the U.S. departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security are working with their Mexican counterparts to find others.

While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised a thorough investigation with “no impunity” for those responsible, he said Mexico would work with the United States but not allow foreign intervention in national issues (The Washington Post).

▪ France 24: Tens of thousands protest in Greece over country’s deadliest train disaster.

▪ The Atlantic: A month since the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

▪ The New York Times: For women in Afghanistan, the war’s terror gives way for new fears.

▪ Reuters: India’s oil deals with Russia dent decades-old dollar dominance.

➤ TECH

Deepfake apps being advertised on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram use actress Emma Watson’s face superimposed on video suggesting a sex act to sell the marketability of manipulating video to achieve a result that seems real. The ad campaign on Meta nods to the fact that the technology has rapidly spread to readily available consumer applications being advertised on mainstream parts of the internet. Despite many platforms prohibiting manipulative and malicious deepfake content, apps like the ones reviewed by NBC News have been able to slip through the cracks (NBC News).

In 2019, both former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg were targets of deepfake disinformation created by critics to go viral. Pelosi asked Facebook to remove the manipulated video but the company refused. The deepfake featuring Zuckerberg, in which Facebook’s founder appeared to describe “world domination,” also remained on the platform.

▪ The New York Times: The chatbots are here, and the internet industry is in a tizzy.

▪ CBS News: These 20 jobs are the most “exposed” to AI, ChatGPT, researchers say.

▪ The Washington Post: What’s a scanner? Gen Z is discovering workplace tech.

OPINION

■ Skullduggery at the FCC, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board. https://on.wsj.com/3kT4bkR

■ What Biden’s deeply troubling asylum limit means for the economy, by former Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3ykYjnw

WHERE AND WHEN

📲 Ask The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will convene at 10 a.m. A House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee at 2 p.m. will probe the government’s COVID-19 relief funds during questioning of federal inspectors general.

The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Daniel Werfel to be Internal Revenue commissioner for the term expiring in late 2027.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will travel to Philadelphia to unveil elements of his fiscal 2024 budget during a 2:30 p.m. speech delivered at the Finishing Trades Institute.

Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public schedule.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Israel today and cut short his trip there because of mass demonstrations that impacted the security of his planned route to Tel Aviv. “At the request of the Israeli ministry of defense, the location of secretary Austin’s bilateral meetings on Thursday in Tel Aviv with Israeli leaders will be relocated from the ministry of defense to a location near the airport,” a Pentagon spokesman said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (via helicopter) were to travel to the airport area to meet with Austin (Axios). The secretary is scheduled to end his four-nation Middle East itinerary this week with meetings in Egypt.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will participate in a fireside chat at the first-ever White House Jewish Women’s Forum at 1:10 p.m. At 8 p.m., he will deliver remarks to honor Pelosi at “Thank You Madam Speaker,” a tribute reception hosted by various gender equity organizations at The St. Regis Hotel in Washington.

Economic indicator: The Labor Department will report on filings for unemployment benefits in the week ending March 4.

The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) will host a renewable energy policy forum in Washington from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with remarks from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), White House senior adviser John Podesta and the Energy Department’s director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity Shalanda Baker. Information is HERE.

ELSEWHERE

➤ NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN

🤔 A few headlines that are head shakers:

■ Tesla steering wheels have fallen off. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it is investigating steering wheels that can detach from the Tesla steering column on as many as 120,000 Model Y SUVs (ABC News).

■ Greenland is hot. Temperatures surged up to 50 degrees above normal this week, setting records. Ice is now extra vulnerable to summer melting, which is not good (The Washington Post).

■ Foxes are infected with avian flu near Paris and at least three have been found dead. France reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu among red foxes northeast of the capital, the World Organization for Animal Health said Tuesday. The spread of the virus to mammals is raising concern globally (France24).

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH

As the world staggers into the fourth year of COVID-19, conservative and libertarian forces have defanged much of the nation’s public health system through legislation and litigation. At least 30 states, nearly all led by Republican legislatures, have passed laws since 2020 that limit public health authority. Public health experts warn the result is a battered patchwork system that makes it harder for leaders to protect the country from infectious diseases (The Washington Post).

🏃 What running does to hips and knees, according to a large study of marathon runners (spoiler alert: good news!) (NBC News).

After announcing it wouldn’t dispense abortion medication in 20 states — including some where the pill is legal — Walgreens’s effort at damage control this week appeared to leave no one satisfied, marking a stark lesson in the dangers ahead for the multibillion-dollar chain drugstore industry that has been dragged headlong into the issue. Walgreens scrambled to find a safe middle ground based on using legal criteria — a delicate task on such a divisive issue, especially with rapidly shifting state laws and rules (The Washington Post).

▪ CNN: Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says California will shut Walgreens out of state business following the company’s abortion pill decision. His office announced the state would be “pulling back” a renewal of a $54 million contract with the national chain, which would have taken effect May 1, 2023.

▪ The New York Times: The Food and Drug Administration seemed poised to rescind approval of the drug Makena, after studies over time indicated the treatment did not halt early childbirth for many women.

▪ The Atlantic: How people with dementia make sense of the world.

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,123,299. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 2,290 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by Women’s History Month, we’re eager for some smart guesses about women trailblazers on Capitol Hill.

Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com and kkarisch@digital-staging.thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

In 2022, which state elected its first woman to Congress — and became the last in the Union to do so?

Maine
Louisiana
Vermont
New Hampshire

What year was dubbed the “Year of the Woman” due to the number of women elected to the Senate?

1980
1992
1976
2000

Women weren’t permitted to wear trousers on the Senate floor until 1993.

True

False

Who was the first woman elected to Congress?

Jeanette Rankin
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
Alice Mary Robertson
Hattie Caraway

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!