🚂 Trump's East Palestine embrace

Plus: New York's mega-million jackpot | Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By bp   Axios Sneak Peek By Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Feb 22, 2023 Welcome back to Sneak. Smart Brevity™ count: 997 words ... 3.5 minutes. ⚡ Situational awareness: Attorney General Merrick Garland has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, as special counsel Jack Smith reaches deeper into former President Trump's inner circle with subpoenas of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.     1 big thing: GOP's debt-ceiling spoilers Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   16 House Republicans have never voted to raise the debt ceiling — even under Trump — complicating Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) hand as he seeks to browbeat the Biden administration into spending cuts. Why it matters: The entrenched opposition means McCarthy could need Democratic votes for any package that ties a debt-ceiling hike to budget cuts, Axios' Stef Kight reports. Republicans already are divided over which government programs to cut — handing Democrats an opening to accuse them of wanting to slice into Social Security and Medicare. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has refused to negotiate while the debt ceiling is being held hostage — casting an increase as a bipartisan obligation that Congress has accepted under presidents of both parties. State of play: The unofficial caucus of 16 — identified with data from Quorum — includes only Republicans who have been in office since at least 2017. The ranks include three GOP "rebels" who initially refused to back McCarthy as speaker, demanding promises of spending cuts — Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). It also includes McCarthy loyalists such as Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and GOP leaders such as NRCC Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer (R-Ala.). Driving the news: In preparing for a summer slugfest on the debt ceiling, Democrats like to note that a Republican-controlled Congress voted to raise or suspend the debt ceiling when Trump was the one asking Congress to pay its bills. That's undeniably true, but there's a rump caucus of House Republicans who consistently have opposed raising the debt ceiling — regardless of who controls the White House. Zoom in: The group also includes Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). Rounding out the 16 are Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), Bill Posey (R-Fla.) and David Rouzer (R-N.C.). Share this story.     2. 🚂 Trump embraced in East Palestine Trump stands next to a pallet of water that he donated to the residents of East Palestine, Ohio. Photo: Michael Swensen/Getty Images   Former President Trump's visit today to the site of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, provided the former president with a fresh opportunity to tap into the populist message that vaulted him to the White House in 2016. "You are not forgotten," Trump told the rural community of mostly white, working-class voters — before accusing the Biden administration of abandoning them. The event provided exactly the kind of optics Trump's flagging campaign needed: Throngs of supporters praised the former president for making the trip and donating truckloads of water (which he dubbed "Trump water"), food and cleaning supplies. Why it matters: Republicans, including East Palestine's mayor, have hammered President Biden for visiting Ukraine and Poland this week while opting not to send a senior official to the site of the disaster. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — a top target of Republican attacks — announced he will travel to East Palestine tomorrow, after previously saying he would go "when the time is right." The other side: Democrats quickly launched a counteroffensive to Trump's visit by highlighting his administration's record on deregulation and the EPA, arguing his policies laid the groundwork for the disaster. "Congressional Republicans and former Trump administration officials owe East Palestine an apology for selling them out to rail industry lobbyists when they dismantled Obama-Biden rail safety protections as well as EPA powers to rapidly contain spills," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.     3. 👀 Pence's new battle lines Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images   Former Vice President Mike Pence broke with Trump and Republican leadership today by calling for cuts to Medicare and Social Security to be "on the table for the long term." "We're looking at a debt crisis in this country over the next 25 years that's driven by entitlements, and nobody in Washington, D.C., wants to talk about it," Pence said on CNBC. He floated options like raising the retirement age and instituting private savings accounts for younger Americans. Why it matters: As he prepares to launch his own presidential campaign, Pence is carving out a unique — but risky — lane as an unabashed pre-Trump conservative when it comes to fiscal policy. Pence's position on Social Security and Medicare will open him up to attacks not only from Democrats but also from his former boss. Trump, who has long seen any threats to these programs as a political loser, already is going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley over their past support for entitlement reform.     A message from bp bp is one of America's leading energy investors     The U.S. is home to bp's biggest workforce in the world and some big investments. Over the past 5 years, we've invested $10 billion in the Gulf of Mexico and plan to add $7 billion more by 2025. See how we are advocating for good policy to help us go further, faster.     4. 💰 New York's mega-million jackpot Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   House Democrats' top super PAC is planning to pour a stunning $45 million into New York's congressional races in 2024, going all in on a state that almost single-handedly cost the party the House majority last fall. Why it matters: Six of the 18 House Republicans representing districts Biden won in 2020 are from New York — a sign of how badly Democrats botched those races in 2022, an otherwise historic midterm year for the party in power. The record investment by House Majority PAC is part of an effort to seize authority from New York's state Democratic Party, which has been engulfed in a civil war in the wake of the midterm debacle. "The path to the majority runs through New York," House Majority PAC president Mike Smith told the New York Times. "It's not just us seeing it. It is the Republican Party seeing it. It's every donor around the country seeing it."     5. 🎈 Pic du jour Photo: Courtesy of the Pentagon The Pentagon released this remarkable selfie from the cockpit of a U-2 spy plane flying above the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by the U.S. military this month.     A message from bp bp is one of America's leading energy investors     The U.S. is home to bp's biggest workforce in the world and some big investments. Over the past 5 years, we've invested $10 billion in the Gulf of Mexico and plan to add $7 billion more by 2025. See how we are advocating for good policy to help us go further, faster.   📬 Thanks for reading tonight. This newsletter was edited by Zachary Basu and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich. 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