Senate GOP welcomes first woman to leadership in years
Senate Republicans welcomed the first woman to their leadership team in years Wednesday as they sought to address the optics of the GOP side of the aisle being dominated by men. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst called her selection to the leadership ranks “a great honor.” “It’s a great opportunity for those of us that are in some of the younger classes (of senators) to have our voices heard,” Ernst said. Senators chose Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for another term leading Republicans and Chuck Schumer for Democrats in closed-door party elections Wednesday that lacked the high drama underway on the House side in the midterm election fallout. McConnell said he’ll be talking with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, after Democrats took control of the House from Republicans in last week’s election, on ways to work together. Pelosi hopes to become speaker in the new Congress. “We’ll be looking for ways, now that we have divided government again, to make some progress for the country,” he said. Both McConnell and Schumer were chosen as leader by acclamation, according to those familiar with the private caucus meetings. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who expanded GOP ranks in last week’s midterm, faced no contest for the job. Democrats returned Schumer’s entire leadership team, despite the failure to capture the majority in the midterms. The only contested leadership position was Ernst’s race down-ballot race for vice-chair of the Republican conference. It’s the first time Republicans will have a woman in leadership since 2010, something GOP leaders wanted to remedy. The stark gender divide for Republicans was highlighted during the Supreme Court hearings for Brett Kavanaugh and an election that ushered in more than 100 women to Congress, most of them Democrats. Ernst, a military veteran in her first term, beat Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer in closed-door voting. During a brief photo op in McConnell’s Capitol office ahead of voting, McConnell presented his newly elected senators who will take their seats in January. Among them was Florida’s Rick Scott, the Republican governor whose race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson remains undecided. McConnell said later he was confident Scott would become the 53rd senator in the GOP majority. Schumer said President Donald Trump is lying when he claims voter fraud in Florida’s election. Schumer said he was confident Nelson would return as Florida’s senator, as long as every vote was counted. “President Trump and Gov. Scott have just lied,” Schumer said. “They’ve said there’s fraud when their own Republican officials in Florida have said there’s no fraud.” Schumer portrayed Senate Democrats as emboldened, despite midterm losses, by an election he characterized as a rejection of the GOP tax cuts and Republican efforts to end the Affordable Care Act. Even in the minority, Schumer said Senate Democrats will push for the party’s broader congressional agenda of lowering health care costs, investing in infrastructure and implementing good government reforms to put a check on the Trump administration, which he called “the most ethically challenged in history.” “We will be relentless here in the Senate,” said Schumer, flanked by his leadership team. “Senate Democrats are committed to fighting to make those ideas a reality in this upcoming Congress.” In the House, the elections were unfolding differently, after Democrats won control of the chamber, putting Republicans in the minority. Republican Kevin McCarthy is poised to take over the shrunken House GOP caucus in closed-door elections. The race for minority leader is McCarthy’s to lose, but the Californian must fend off a challenge from conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, who has support from the right flank and outside groups as a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus. “We’ve got a plan,” McCarthy told reporters as he ducked into a closed-door meeting of House Republicans late Tuesday. Trump has stayed largely on the sidelines ahead of elections that will determine party leadership. On Wednesday, Jordan told “Fox & Friends” the GOP lost its House majority because it didn’t deliver on promises to Americans to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, fund Trump’s wall and replace the Obama health care law. “Some key things we told them we were going to do, we didn’t,” Jordan said. At Tuesday’s meeting, McCarthy and Jordan encountered frustration, finger-pointing and questions as lawmakers sorted through an election defeat and began considering new leadership for the next congressional session. Republicans complained about the unpopularity of the GOP tax law they blamed for losses in New York and other key states, some attendees told reporters after the meeting. Some in the meeting said Republicans should have tried harder to fulfill Trump’s priorities, like funding for the wall with Mexico. They also warned that they need a new fundraising mechanism to compete with the small-dollar online donors that powered Democrats to victory. “There’s a little rawness still,” Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., who is running unopposed for a down-ballot position as vice chair of the GOP conference, told reporters outside the meeting room. “But there’s an opportunity for us to come together and get single-focused on the message.” Most GOP lawmakers, though, prefer McCarthy’s more affable approach, and he remained favored to win Wednesday. GOP Whip Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who was gravely wounded in last year’s congressional baseball practice shooting and is running unopposed for another term in leadership, said McCarthy “knows what he needs to do” to win over his colleagues — and win back the majority — and is well-positioned to do both. “You always look in the mirror and see what you can do better,” Scalise said as he entered the room. Republicans, he said, “need to do a better job of letting people know what we stand for.” Rounding out the GOP leadership team will be Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who wants to bring a more aggressive stance to the GOP’s communications and messaging strategy in the No. 3 spot. The biggest leadership race is for Pelosi’s return as speaker and a group of House Democrats seeking to stop her
Evangelicals push Senate Republicans to confirm Brett Kavanaugh
Evangelical activists want Republican leaders to act more forcefully to send Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, expressing skepticism about the decades-old allegations of sexual assault levied against the federal judge. The political flashpoint is playing out only weeks before midterm elections in which conservative voters will be critical to the GOP drive to maintain control of Congress. Kavanaugh’s nomination was a prime topic Friday at the annual Values Voter summit as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, faith leaders and others vowed that President Donald Trump‘s nominee would win confirmation. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, the organizer of the conference, said Republicans needed to “move much more aggressively,” contending the Senate had been “very accommodating” to California college professor Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and offered to testify under oath to the committee. Republicans and Ford were negotiating Friday on whether Ford will testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Gary Bauer, the president of American Values and a former policy aide to President Ronald Reagan, told the summit that he was praying for Ford but cast doubt over the allegations. To make his point, he re-enacted what a conversation might be like between Ford and law enforcement. “If you walked into a police station, or an FBI agent, if you walked in anywhere and said ‘I want to report a sexual assault.’ ‘Yes, ma’am.’ ‘When did this happen?’ ’36 years ago.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ’36 years ago. Yes.’ ‘Do you have any eyewitnesses?’ ‘Well, there are two eyewitnesses but they both deny it happened,’” Bauer said, drawing laughter from the audience. “‘Where did it happen?’ ‘It was at a house but I don’t know whose house.’ ‘How did you get there?’ ‘I don’t know how I got there.’ ‘How did you get home?’ ‘I don’t know how I got home.’” McConnell was quick to reassure the crowd of core Republican supporters. “In the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court,” the Kentucky Republican said. “Keep the faith, don’t get rattled by all of this. We’re going to plow right through it and do our jobs.” Bauer added that he doesn’t know Ford. “I don’t know her values but what she’s saying is unproven and I would argue it’s unprovable,” Bauer said. “There’s reasons why most laws and most crimes have statutes of limitation. Because a week after a crime, it is difficult to reconstruct what happened. Thirty-six years later? Now look, we can’t prove what she said. But there is something we can prove and that is Judge Kavanaugh’s character.” Perkins said McConnell had been methodical in attempting to win Kavanaugh’s confirmation “but you’ve got to look at what he’s working with. He’s working with some Republicans who look like they grew up on a boneless chicken ranch. They don’t really have much backbone and when it comes to the pressure, they hide.” Perkins said Senate Republicans should allow Ford to speak. “If she says, ‘I can’t do it this day,’ and they give her another day, ‘I can’t do it.’ Look, move forward. The American people deserve a vote as well. Their voice needs to be heard in this process.” Evangelical leaders said if Kavanaugh failed to win confirmation, that could drive up turnout among Republican voters in November, when the party is defending its House majority and a narrow edge in the Senate. But a collapse of the nomination also would direct finger-pointing at Senate leaders and derail a top priority for Trump, who is seeking to cement a conservative imprint on the court for decades. Michele Bachmann, a former Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said the 36-year-old allegations against Kavanaugh had “come out of nowhere and I think the Senate has bent over backwards to take this woman’s allegations seriously and to give her a hearing.” “She’s been back-peddling, her allegations have actually been falling apart, they haven’t gotten stronger,” Bachmann said in an interview, adding: “We’re probably going to hear her make allegations and he will deny them. Then it’s really up to the senators to vote. That’s what this is about.” “This whole rollout of this fight against Brett Kavanaugh has been nothing but Kabuki theater and really a disaster on the part of the Democrats,” Bachmann said. “From the very first day when all of their paid people came in and were screaming throughout this hearing. This had nothing to do with order and decorum and getting to the truth.” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Senate GOP announces “Fighting for Alabama” 2018 legislative agenda
The Alabama Senate Republican Caucus announced their legislative priorities for the 2018 legislative session at a press conference on Thursday morning at the Statehouse. Anniston-Republican and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, Jasper-Republican and Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, and other Republican state senators presented four legislative priorities, in addition to their primary objective of passing balanced budgets, for the new year. The “Fighting for Alabama” agenda will focus on legislation to spur economic growth, encourage infrastructure improvements, and protect children. “An efficient and accountable state government is in the best interest of all Alabamians,” said Marsh. “We want to focus on good governance that will positively impact the lives of Alabamians.” According to the news conference, bills accomplishing these goals will be given priority as they move through Senate committees, along with top placement on the calendar when debated on the Senate floor for final passage. “Our top priority is passing balanced, responsible budgets. Beyond that, we have an agenda that’s focused on cutting taxes and bringing job growth to every part of Alabama,” stated Reed. “We are going to continue to focus on common-sense, conservative solutions to the challenges facing Alabama.” The “Fighting for Alabama” Senate Republican Agenda includes the following items: Provide an Income Tax Break Expanding the adjusted gross income range for a maximum standard deduction on Alabama income tax would provide a significant tax break for hardworking Alabama families. Grow Broadband and Telecom Services in Rural Alabama By providing incentives to telecom companies to invest in rural Alabama, we will ensure all of our citizens have fast and reliable access to the internet. Studies show that faster internet leads to more investment and higher paychecks. Make Child Sex Trafficking a Capital Offense This Legislature is committed to protecting the most vulnerable Alabamians. Making child sex trafficking a capital offense will help ensure that predators are never allowed to harm children again. Save Money in Alabama’s Biggest Budget Item – Medicaid The Alabama Legislature has worked diligently to be good stewards of the budgets we manage. Federal law requires state Medicaid agencies to recover from the estates of deceased recipients, but Alabama is the only state without a Medicaid estate recovery process – establishing a streamlined process for Medicaid to place liens on property to recover medical assistance payments will protect taxpayers’ dollars. Watch the caucus unveil their agenda:
Senate Republicans slowly turning their backs on Donald Trump
There wasn’t a dramatic public break or an exact moment it happened. But step by step, Senate Republicans are turning their backs on President Donald Trump. They defeated an Obamacare repeal bill despite Trump’s pleas. They’re ignoring his Twitter demands that they get back to work on the repeal measure. They dissed the White House budget director, defended the attorney general against the president’s attacks and passed veto-proof sanctions on Russia over his administration’s objections. They’re reasserting their independence, which looked sorely diminished in the aftermath of Trump’s surprise election win. “We work for the American people,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Tuesday. “We don’t work for the president.” Those are surprisingly tough words from a Republican whose state Trump won easily less than a year ago. But after six months of controversies and historically low approval ratings, it’s clear Trump isn’t commanding the fear or respect he once did. Some Republicans no doubt are giving voice to long-held reservations about a man whose election was essentially a hostile takeover of their party. But it is notable that the loudest criticism is coming from the Senate, where few Republicans are burdened with facing an electorate anytime soon. The situation is different in the House, where most Republicans represent conservative districts still loyal to Trump. For those lawmakers, the fear of facing a conservative primary challenger, possibly fueled by angry Trump followers, is real. In the most remarkable example of public Trump-bashing, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is taking aim at the president and his own party in a new book, writing that “unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication” and marveling at “the strange specter of an American president’s seeming affection for strongmen and authoritarians.” The criticism from Flake is especially striking since he is one of just two GOP senators facing competitive re-election races in next year’s midterm elections, the other being Dean Heller of Nevada. The other 50 Senate Republicans are largely insulated from blowback from Trump’s still-loyal base, at least in the short term, since many of them won’t face voters for several years. That is likely contributing to their defiance, which is emerging now after an accumulation of frustrations, culminating in the failure of the health care bill Friday. In particular, senators were aghast over Trump’s recent attacks on their longtime colleague Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator who is now attorney general and facing Trump’s wrath over having recused himself from the investigation into possible collaboration between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina deemed Trump’s treatment of Sessions “unseemly” and “a sign of great weakness on the part of President Trump.” The comments were echoed by other Republican senators. Then, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former House member, suggested on a Sunday show that the Senate must pass health care before doing anything else. No. 2 Republican John Cornyn didn’t hesitate to go after him. “I don’t think he’s got much experience in the Senate as I recall, and he’s got a big job,” Cornyn said. “He ought to do that job and let us do our jobs.” The ill will flows both ways. At Tuesday’s White House briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pointedly blamed lawmakers for the president’s failures to deliver. “I think what’s hurting the legislative agenda is Congress’ inability to get things passed,” she said. Trump has been ignoring past warnings from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stay out of the Senate’s business, tweeting relentless commands in the wake of Friday’s failure on health care that the Senate should eliminate the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to move forward on much major legislation. “Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT’S TIME!” the president said over Twitter. That ignored the fact that Republicans tried to pass the health care bill under rules that required only a simple majority. So Republicans, in turn, ignored Trump. “It’s pretty obvious that our problem on health care was not the Democrats,” McConnell said drily on Tuesday. “We didn’t have 50 Republicans.” Some Republicans say Trump and his administration only made it harder to pass health care by ineptly pressuring Sen. Lisa Murkowski with threats from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about consequences for her state, which rankled the Alaska senator. She proceeded to postpone votes in the Energy committee she chairs on a group of administration nominees, while saying it was for unrelated reasons, and voted “no” on the health bill. “I think most Republican senators have their own identity that’s separate from the president,” said Alex Conant, a GOP strategist and former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. “If you look at the elections last fall, almost every Republican senator who was up for re-election ran ahead of Trump and that’s not a fact that’s lost on Congress.” The House has been a friendlier place for Trump. Republicans there pushed through a health care bill in May. “For the most part our caucus is still in support of the president,” said Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. “That doesn’t mean we agree with everything he says and does, but we still support his agenda, his presidency, and we’re not going to fumble the ball.” In the Senate, though, lawmakers and the president appear to be going their separate ways, with some senators talking as though Trump is almost irrelevant. “Ever since we’ve been here we’ve really been following our lead, right?” said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. “Whether it was the Supreme Court justice or the Russia sanctions bill, attempting to do health care and obviously we did so unsuccessfully, and now we’re moving on to tax reform, but most of this has, almost every bit of this has been 100 percent internal to Congress.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Senate GOP health bill prescribes tax cuts for the rich
Senate Republicans’ new health bill cuts taxes by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, mostly for corporations and the richest families in America. It uses a budget gimmick to comply with Senate rules against adding to the federal government’s long-term debt. Senate Republican leaders unveiled a draft of their bill to repeal and replace President Barack Obama‘s health care law on Thursday and argued it would eliminate job-killing taxes enacted under the 7-year-old health law. Democrats countered that the bill is a giveaway to the rich at the expense of middle- and low-income families who will lose health insurance. And in a Facebook post, Obama said: “The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America. It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else.” Senate Republicans released only a draft of their bill, with no analysis and no cost estimates. However, the tax cuts are very similar to those in the House bill passed last month, though some would be delayed to pay for more generous benefits. The major tax provisions in the bill would: -Delay a new “Cadillac” tax on high-cost health insurance plans until 2026. This is a budget gimmick to ensure that the bill complies with Senate rules that forbid the legislation from adding to the federal government’s long-term debt. The tax was part of Obama’s health law, and it has long been unpopular among Republicans, as well as business groups and labor. On paper, the tax would take effect in 2026, generating billions of dollars in revenue every year after. However, Congress has already delayed the tax once, until 2020, making it unlikely lawmakers will ever let it take effect. Of course, in 2026, it will be somebody else’s problem. – Repeal a tax on wealthy investors, saving them about $172 billion over the next decade. Obama’s health law enacted an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income for married couples making more than $250,000 a year and individuals making more than $125,000. The Senate bill would repeal the tax this year. About 90 percent of the benefit from repealing the tax would go to the top 1 percent of earners, who make $700,000 or more, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. -Repeal a new Medicare payroll tax on high-income families, saving them about $59 billion over the next decade. Obama’s health law enacted an additional 0.9 percent payroll tax on wages above $250,000 for married couples and above $125,000 for individuals. The Senate bill would repeal the tax in 2023. -Repeal a new annual fee on health providers, based on market share, saving them about $145 billion over the next decade. -Repeal a 2.3 percent excise tax on companies that make or import medical devices, saving them around $19 billion over the next decade. The Senate bill would repeal the tax in 2018 – a year later than the House bill. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Congressional Republicans’ drive to repeal the 2010 health care law
Congressional Republicans’ drive to repeal the 2010 health care law has financial and political repercussions for GOP leaders in the states and gives Democrats potential openings as they struggle to reclaim power lost during President Barack Obama‘s tenure. Some Republican governors, in particular, are wary about what their Washington colleagues might do with Obama’s signature law, exposing a fissure in a party that has consolidated control in the nation’s capital and dozens of statehouses around the country in accompaniment with President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in November. “I think they talk a lot about repeal. I haven’t heard a lot about replace,” Ohio’s GOP Gov. John Kasich said last week in Cleveland, as he warned against making fast, sweeping changes. “The fact of the matter is we have a lot more people covered.” He asked “what happens to these people” in the event of a full repeal. Democrats, meanwhile, bemoan the possibility of stripping insurance from some 20 million Americans who lacked it before the law was passed in 2010. But they also see a political opportunity after six years of being blamed by Republicans – and often by voters – for every insurance premium or deductible increase, coverage denial or long wait for a specialist. “You bought it, you own it,” said pollster Paul Maslin of Wisconsin, who has worked for federal and state Democratic campaigns around the country. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who embraced the Affordable Care Act in a GOP-leaning state, said the repeal attempts offer another chance to explain the complex law – something even Obama has said he didn’t do as well as he could. “It’s easy in Washington to say what you’re going to do and not do,” Bullock said. “Outside Washington, this is about communities and people’s lives, and from that perspective, I think good policy also happens to be good politics.” Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and others have yet to offer details beyond their promise “to repeal and replace Obamacare.” The law’s main features are insurance exchanges where middle-income consumers buy private policies. Many get premium subsidies financed by taxes on the most generous insurance policies. Secondly, the law expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poorest and many disabled Americans. Among the regulatory changes were requiring insurers to cover more healthcare services; preventing insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing health conditions and limiting lifetime caps on coverage. Changes to the law could quickly impact states’ Medicaid budgets, the financial standing of public and private hospitals, and the estimated 20 million Americans who have gained health insurance under the law. Ripple effects would reach health-care providers from pharmacies to physical therapists. State elected officials in both major parties focus on practical effects, but acknowledge that voters’ reaction will help shape the midterm elections that will serve as the first electoral barometers of the Trump era. Democrats have high hopes in governor’s races: 38 seats will be on the ballot in the next two years, with Republicans defending 27, and 16 open by term limits or retirements. Several of those open-seat elections will occur in presidential battleground states like Ohio and Michigan, where Republican governors largely embraced the Affordable Care Act. The cycle also will give Democrats a shot at winning back some of the 900-plus state legislative seats they lost since Obama was elected, perhaps rolling back supermajorities the GOP now enjoys in many state capitals. Joe Schiavoni, a Democratic state senator in Ohio, already is eying the 2018 governor’s race. Kasich is term-limited, and Schiavoni said it’s likely the Republicans vying to succeed him will be pushed by a conservative primary electorate to abandon the outgoing governor’s health care positions. Meanwhile, Schiavoni says, he’s traveling the state focusing on the law’s benefits for newly insured patients. “If we rip up this law, all that goes by the wayside,” he said, framing the law as a net positive for the economy. At the federal level, Democrats face a tough path back to a Senate majority, because their caucus must defend 25 seats, including 10 in states Trump won; in the House, Democrats still face district boundaries that favor Republicans nationally. Yet the party hopes health care is important enough to drive a wave election if the GOP inflames the electorate, a reverse of what occurred in 2010 when Republicans rode anger about the law to the House majority. Bullock and other Democrats say the GOP boxed itself in by promising a full repeal even as many Republicans, including Trump, embrace those more popular – but expensive – provisions. The law, Bullock said, “is not a buffet line.” Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, another Republican who accepted Medicaid expansion and is now Trump’s choice for ambassador to China, is counting on Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s experience as Indiana governor to help ease the way. “That is kind of reassuring to us that we’re going to be able to make a transition,” he said. Still, he added: “They also have the responsibility to replace it with something that is affordable and sustainable.” Republish with permission of The Associated Press.
Senate GOP leader’s right moves may not be enough with Donald Trump
Republicans nervously eyeing the White House race are learning a lesson with Donald Trump that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell painfully learned in 2010 and 2012. Faulty outsider candidates blew several perfectly winnable Senate elections those years. Since then, the crafty Kentuckian has tried to make all the right moves. McConnell, the top fundraiser and field general for the Senate Republicans, helped orchestrate the 2014 midterm romp that delivered the Senate back to his party. McConnell and national Republicans aggressively swung behind incumbents and favored candidates while crushing the chances of tea partyers and far-right hopefuls unlikely to prevail in the general election. McConnell-backed candidates swept this year’s primary cycle. He helped convince Sen. Marco Rubio to run for re-election after the Floridian’s failed presidential bid, boosting the GOP chances of holding the seat. Just two weeks ago, the GOP was cautiously optimistic that the party would retain control of the Senate despite defending 24 of the 34 seats up for grabs this year. It all may prove futile. Trump was already sinking in opinion polls after his poor performance in his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton last month. His crude, predatory comments about women in a 2005 videotape that leaked on Friday threatened to scuttle his campaign altogether and take the GOP’s Senate majority with it. McConnell is a disciplined politician, and when it comes to Trump, the senator has kept as quiet as possible after a brief statement in May signaling his support for the presidential nominee. On Monday, as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., stoked controversy by vowing never to campaign for Trump, McConnell simply kept his own counsel. “If some of you are here thinking I’m going to elaborate on the presidential election, let me disabuse you of that notion,” McConnell said in an address to the Danville, Kentucky, Chamber of Commerce. “If you are interested in the presidential election you might as well go ahead and leave because I don’t have any observations to make about it.” For Republicans, Trump is reminiscent of Senate candidates like Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Todd Akin of Missouri, who defeated establishment favorites in GOP primaries in 2012 only to make politically stupid remarks about rape and lose by wide margins in states swept by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. In 2010, bad tea party candidates lost in Nevada, Delaware and Colorado, enabling Democrats to hold those seats in spite of that year’s Republican wave. “The biggest lesson that the Senate side had learned that perhaps the rest of the party has lagged on is that in order to win general elections you need to win primary elections with candidates who have a broad mainstream appeal,” said GOP consultant Josh Holmes, a McConnell confidante and former campaign manager. “What manifested itself in Senate elections in ’10 and ’12, that was subsequently corrected in ’14 and ’16 and has for the first time hit the national stage.” McConnell, however, has more sway over his domain on Capitol Hill than Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, whose laissez-faire approach to the presidential field helped produce Trump. For instance, McConnell himself led the charge against conservative groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund, and he beat back a tea-party challenger in his own re-election campaign two years ago. This year, tea party challenges to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., all fizzled. McConnell also swung behind the decisive primary win of Rep. Todd Young, a more viable general election candidate, over Rep. Marlin Stutzman for an open GOP-held seat in Indiana. “Having aggressively beaten some of the professional conservative groups last cycle was really important in terms of drying up their money and ability to cause mischief,” said GOP consultant Brian Walsh of Rokk Solutions. “They just didn’t have the resources to seriously make trouble for incumbents this cycle.” McConnell, allies say, is aggressive in urging incumbents to not get caught napping – either when facing a tea party primary challenger or an unexpectedly tough fall campaign. Not a single GOP seat fell to Democrats two years ago. Senate races, however, have increasingly moved in synch with national trends, and Democratic Senate candidates have done particularly well in presidential years. So regardless of how strong a campaign McConnell allies like Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania are running, if Trump loses a state by 10 points instead of, say, five points, there’s very little they can do to save themselves. That’s why Trump’s sinking poll numbers have Republicans so alarmed. Advisers say McConnell almost certainly won’t withdraw his endorsement of Trump. To do so could put endangered candidates, especially in states where the billionaire nominee has an avid following – like North Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana – in a difficult spot. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
State Senate Republicans identify jobs, education and families among top priorities
Senate Republicans announced their agenda for this year’s legislative session, calling it “Continuing Positive Progress,” during a brief news conference Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed (R-Jasper) and Senate President Pro-Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) were on hand with others from the Senate Republican Caucus to discuss the group’s priorities for this year, which include spurring economic growth, protecting children and families and encouraging education excellence. “While addressing our primary goal of passing balanced, responsible budgets, Senate Republicans will also tackle our legislative priorities,” Reed said in a news release. “The people of Alabama elected us to focus on jobs, education, and families – and we’re doing just that.” In an effort to “spur economic growth,” Republicans plan to create “more flexibility to craft responsible, pay-as-you-go incentive packages” to create more jobs in the state. Further, Republicans plan to provide economic incentives to have companies use Alabama’s ports to ship products to the state – such products are often shipped to other ports and then brought into Alabama – which “will generate exponentially more tax revenue and jobs.” In its effort to “protect children and families,” Senate Republicans plan to pass both child abuse bills brought up in this morning’s judiciary hearing in an effort to protect Alabama’s “most vulnerable victims of abuse.” Republicans also plan to equip K-12 teachers with the tools needed to curb the rate of youth suicide in the state, which they say is a significant problem in the state. In its efforts to “encourage education excellence,” the Republican Caucus will support a pay raise for Alabama’s teachers, per Gov. Robert Bentley‘s proposal, and “incentivize accountability, specialized hiring and retention” by finding ways to rid the sate of ineffective educators and reward those who go above and beyond. During the press conference, Marsh commented on his RAISE Act, which has received a lot of negative attention from educators claiming it links teacher raises to test scores and student achievement. Marsh said the act does not link the two, it simply creates a five-year tenure track that can be reversed if teachers prove ineffective in preparing students. “We’re doing things I think are very positive,” Marsh said. “At the end of the day, we all want our children to do better.” Asked whether a proposal by Bentley to move Education Trust Fund dollars into the General Fund would gain traction in the Legislature, Reed said he didn’t know whether “there is a significant appetite” for such a move. In reference to a question on whether the repeal of Common Core curriculum standards would make it to the floor this year, Marsh said he is “not convinced those votes are there,” adding that it should be up to the state school board to make that decision.
