Tommy Tuberville defends decision to miss Senate vote to support Donald Trump after indictment
On Wednesday, reporters spoke with U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville about his decision to miss a Senate confirmation vote on Tuesday to spend time showing support for former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted for allegations of mishandling classified documents. Tuberville defended the decision because he had counted votes, and President Joe Biden’s nominee to chair the Council of Economic Advisers – Jared Bernstein – would have been confirmed anyway. “We have dozens and dozens of votes a week, and yesterday there was a bad nomination that the Democrats and the Biden Administration put up in the financial realm, but I did my due diligence,” Tuberville told reporters in his weekly press call. “I went around, and we counted votes, and my vote wouldn’t have counted. It was going to pass anyway. It was pretty much going to be a pass.” Tuberville said it was a more beneficial use of his time to show his support for President Trump. “I thought it was much more beneficial for me, for the citizens of this country, the citizens of Alabama that like and support Donald Trump,” said Tuberville. “We need a strong person in the White House because this country is in trouble not just abroad, but within our country, especially financially, our economy. We need somebody who can stand up.” Tuberville admitted that he felt that Bernstein was a flawed nominee. “This nominee is not going to be very good,” Tuberville told reporters. “He is going to push the Biden policies that are not very good. I thought it was a lot more important to miss that vote out of very, very many and go support Donald Trump on a day in which he was indicted, a President for the first time in the history of our country, which is embarrassing.” Tuberville argued that if Trump is indicted for having classified documents at his home, then Biden should also be indicted for having classified documents from when he was a U.S. Senator at his home as well. “Joe Biden had thousands of documents that he got when he was a Senator, which if I had that in my house right now, I would be under the jail,” Tuberville said. “And they pretty much search you when you leave. I don’t know how in the world they got that many out of the Senate skiff. It’s really embarrassing to what this is, so number one, that is a huge, huge federal penalty. President Trump’s is not even close to that.” Tuberville insisted that President Trump is being treated differently from other ex-presidents. “President Trump, again, he is covered by the Presidential records act,” Tuberville continued. “As you look and see how this worked out. There are three or four Presidents that are still alive that have done much worse, much worse.” Tuberville said that other people should also be indicted under the precedent set by the DOJ’s indictment of Trump. “Whether President Trump did anything right or wrong, we will find out through this indictment, but there needs to be other people that get indictments very quickly since this one got handed out.” Tuberville voiced his view that there is a political agenda here and warned of possible payback. “We know there is a two-tier justice system,” Tuberville said. “We know what this is about. They don’t want President Trump to run. They don’t want him to win because when he runs, he wins, and when he wins, people are going to go to jail, and so they are fighting him tooth and nail, like they have done for the past six years.” Tuberville has already endorsed President Trump’s bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Current polling, despite the indictments, have Trump either dead, even with Joe Biden, or leading. One recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll has Trump leading Biden by as much as six percentage points – and as Trump showed in the 2016 election, he can lose the popular vote and still win an electoral college victory. Only time will tell if these indictments will make a dent in President Trump’s growing popularity. Bernstein was confirmed Tuesday night while Tuberville dined with President Trump in a 50 to 49 vote. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) voted with the Republicans against the nomination. Had Tuberville attended and voted no, then it would have ended in a 50 to 50 tie, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie to confirm Bernstein. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Katie Britt says confirming Jared Bernstein would cause more economic hardship for Americans
U.S. Senator Katie Britt on Monday released a statement expressing her concerns about confirming the nomination of Dr. Jared Bernstein to serve as Biden’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). “Make no mistake, Jared Bernstein has been one of the primary architects of the Biden Administration’s disastrous economic policies,” said Sen. Britt. “The last thing that he deserves is a promotion. While hardworking Americans are struggling to make ends meet amid persistent inflation, Dr. Bernstein has pledged to double down on the same reckless tax-and-spend policies that have caused crushing pain around kitchen tables nationwide. The Senate should overwhelmingly reject this nomination and send a message to the White House that it’s past time to restore American energy dominance, slash burdensome regulations, lower taxes, and onshore good-paying jobs.” Britt is a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During Dr. Bernstein’s appearance before the Banking Committee in April, Senator Britt questioned him about the direction he wanted to take the economy. As she noted in her line of questioning, Dr. Bernstein was satisfied with the direction of the economy and expressed no desire to change course on the current economic policies. Britt claimed that Bernstein’s insistence on advising the President to continue pushing what she called “an irresponsible, partisan tax-and-spend agenda” makes him unfit to serve as our nation’s chief economist – a role which traditionally is reserved for a nonpartisan, serious economic expert. Specifically, Britt is concerned with inflation. In response to Britt’s questioning, Dr. Bernstein asserted that categorizing inflation as “transitory” was “correct” but “too ambiguous.” Bernstein would not say that the term “transitory” should not have been used by the Administration. “The last thing the American people need is a continuation of crushing inflation,” said Sen. Britt immediately following Bernstein’s testimony in April. “Instead of owning up to this Administration’s failures and committing to a course correction, Dr. Bernstein used his testimony today to deflect blame, shirk responsibility, and even claim that this economy is a success. This is a stark departure from the harsh reality facing hardworking Alabamians around their kitchen table every day. Since President Biden took office, inflation is up 15.4%. As a mom of two school-aged children, I see this firsthand every time I walk the aisles at the grocery store or fill up at the gas pump: grocery prices are up nearly 20%, while energy costs are up 36%. Simply put, the American Dream is slipping further and further out of reach. Dr. Bernstein made it clear today that we can only expect more of the same under his counsel. He should be fired, not promoted.” It is common in American economic history for deficit spending to be utilized as an economic necessity during times of war or recession. The United States is in neither, but under President Joe Biden, the nation has borrowed trillions of dollars, largely for domestic programs, even though the economy is at full employment. The public sector is competing with both the private sector and even other public sector needs for labor, construction materials, capital, energy, etc. The Biden economic policies have yielded jobs and increased wages. Still, Republicans warn that wages have not kept up with inflation, while rapidly rising interest rates have effectively locked tens of millions of American families out of buying a home. The full Senate will soon vote on confirming Bernstein. Katie Britt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Katie Britt expresses her concerns about inflation in confirmation hearing
U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) spoke about her concerns with inflation on Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Britt questioned Dr. Jared Bernstein, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), on his steadfast support for the Biden Administration’s economic agenda items. Sen. Britt noted previous statements by Dr. Bernstein downplaying inflation by claiming it was merely “transitory.” Responding to Senator Britt’s questioning, Dr. Bernstein asserted that categorizing inflation as “transitory” was “correct” but “too ambiguous.” Bernstein would not say that the term “transitory” should not have been used by the Administration. Britt pressed the case that persistently high inflation has lasted longer than the Administration anticipated when they first used the “transitory.” Senator Britt also made the case that Dr. Bernstein, a current member of the CEA, simply wants to double down on the very policies that have fueled inflation since January 2021. Britt claimed that Dr. Bernstein’s insistence on advising the President to continue pushing an “irresponsible, partisan tax-and-spend agenda” makes him unfit to serve as our nation’s chief economist – a role which traditionally is reserved for a nonpartisan, serious expert. “The last thing the American people need is a continuation of crushing inflation,” said Sen. Britt. “Instead of owning up to this Administration’s failures and committing to a course correction, Dr. Bernstein used his testimony today to deflect blame, shirk responsibility, and even claim that this economy is a success. This is a stark departure from the harsh reality facing hardworking Alabamians around their kitchen table every day. Since President Biden took office, inflation is up 15.4%. As a mom of two school-aged children, I see this firsthand every time I walk the aisles at the grocery store or fill up at the gas pump: grocery prices are up nearly 20%, while energy costs are up 36%. Simply put, the American Dream is slipping further and further out of reach. Dr. Bernstein made it clear today that we can only expect more of the same under his counsel. He should be fired, not promoted.” Real wages, adjusted for inflation, have fallen for 24 consecutive months while rising prices cost the typical household approximately $10,000 in the same period. In 2022 alone, real disposable income fell more than $1 trillion nationwide, the largest drop since 1932. In a recent poll, just 16% of Americans consider economic conditions “excellent” or “good,” while 72% of the population thinks economic conditions are getting worse. White House Press Secretary Karine Jeane-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday, “We have always said it will take some time for inflation to come down. And we may see bumps in the roads, but that’s why lowering costs and fighting inflation remains the President’s top priority.” Katie Britt won a landslide election in November to win her first term as U.S. Senator. She is a former Chief of Staff for Sen. Richard Shelby, an attorney, and formerly the President and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
GOP lawmakers urge Joe Biden to meet with them on virus relief
Ten Republican senators on Sunday proposed spending about one-third of what President Joe Biden is seeking in coronavirus aid and urged him to negotiate rather than try to ram through his $1.9 trillion package solely on Democratic votes. In challenging Biden to fulfill his pledge of unity, the group said in a letter that their counterproposal will include $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment, and personal protective equipment and will call for more targeted relief than Biden’s plan to issue $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans. Winning the support of 10 Republicans would be significant for Biden in the 50-50 Senate where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaker. If all Democrats were to back an eventual compromise bill, the legislation would reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to overcome potential blocking efforts and pass under regular Senate procedures. “In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the Republican senators wrote. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.” The plea for Biden to give bipartisan negotiations more time comes as the president has shown signs of impatience as the more liberal wing of his party considers passing the relief package through a process known as budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only the backing of his Democratic majority. The Republicans did not provide many details of their proposal. One of the signatories, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, said that it would cost about $600 billion. “If you can’t find bipartisan compromise on COVID-19, I don’t know where you can find it,” said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who also signed the letter. The other GOP senators are Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Brian Deese, the top White House economic adviser who is leading the administration’s outreach to Congress, said administration officials were reviewing the letter. He did not immediately commit to a Biden meeting with the lawmakers. But Cedric Richmond, a senior Biden adviser, said the president “is very willing to meet with anyone to advance the agenda.” When asked about the senators’ plan, Richmond said, “this is about seriousness of purpose.” Deese indicated the White House could be open to negotiating on further limiting who would receive stimulus checks. Portman suggested the checks should go to individuals who make no more than $50,000 per year and families capped at $100,000 per year. Under the Biden plan, families with incomes up to $300,000 could receive some stimulus money. “That is certainly a place that we’re willing to sit down and think about, are there ways to make the entire package more effective?” Deese said. As a candidate, Biden predicted his decades in the Senate and his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president gave him credibility as a deal-maker and would help him bring Republicans and Democrats to consensus on the most important matters facing the country. But less than two weeks into his presidency, Biden showed frustration with the pace of negotiations at a time when the economy exhibited further evidence of wear from the pandemic. Last week, 847,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits, a sign that layoffs remain high as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage. “I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But the COVID relief has to pass — no ifs, ands or buts,” Biden said on Friday. In the letter, the Republican lawmakers reminded Biden that in his inaugural address, he proclaimed that the challenges facing the nation require “the most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.” Cassidy separately criticized the current Biden plan as “chock-full of handouts and payoffs to Democratic constituency groups.” “You want the patina of bipartisanship … so that’s not unity,” Cassidy said. Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Biden remains willing to negotiate but that officials needed to see more details from Republicans. At the same time, Bernstein pressed the administration’s argument that doing too little to stimulate the economy could have enormous impact on the economy in the near- and long-term. “Look, the American people really couldn’t care less about budget process, whether it’s regular order, bipartisanship, whether it’s filibuster, whether it’s reconciliation,” Bernstein said. “They need relief, and they need it now.” Portman and Deese were on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Deese also was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Cassidy and Bernstein appeared on ”Fox News Sunday” and Richmond was on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Infrastructure often embraced by both parties, to no avail
When it comes to trying to upgrade the country’s road, rail, water and broadband systems, Washington frequently veers off the tracks.
