Stacey Abrams endorses Barbara Lee in California Senate race to replace Dianne Feinstein

Mabinty Quarshie

May 08, 01:17 PM May 08, 01:17 PM

Stacey Abrams, former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, endorsed Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) on Monday, in the heated race to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

Lee is in a three-way race to replace Feinstein, 89, who is not seeking another term but has faced renewed calls to resign due to health-related complications. Reps. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) are also in the race to become California's next senator, in what could be the fiercest Democratic primary of the 2024 cycle.

REP. BARBARA LEE ANNOUNCES RUN FOR FEINSTEIN'S CALIFORNIA SENATE SEAT

"Honored to be endorsed by the barrier-breaking and inspiring @staceyabrams," Lee tweeted. "Stacey has been instrumental in moving the needle for progress in our country, and I am thrilled to have her support as our team works to bring that same spirit of progress to California, delivering real change and turning progressive policy into law in the U.S. Senate. I'm so grateful to have you on my team, Stacey!"

Schiff, who former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has endorsed, led his rivals in fundraising during the first quarter. Schiff brought in $6.5 million in April, while Porter's campaign raised $4.5 million, and Lee brought in more than $1.4 million.

Abrams isn't the only well-known Democrat to endorse Lee. Last week Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a top Pelosi lieutenant, endorsed the California Democrat calling her, "the voice Americans need now in the U.S. Senate." Lee also scored an endorsement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). "Barbara is a champion for justice who has been a persistent progressive voice in the U.S. House," Jayapal said of Lee.

Jayapal's endorsement is also notable since both Porter and Lee are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Lee has served in the House of Representatives since 1998 and is also a former chairwoman of the CPC and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Feinstein has faced public calls to resign from the Senate following a prolonged absence from Congress that has delayed President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations and led to Democratic lawmakers voicing their frustrations.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have all urged the California senator to step down from Congress. Last week, Feinstein announced she was “confident” she would return to the Senate but did not give a specific date.

Lawmakers return to Washington with no debt ceiling deal in sight

David Sivak

April 17, 05:25 AM April 17, 05:25 AM

It’s been three months since Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), freshly elected as speaker of the House, called on Joe Biden to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for hiking the debt limit.

Yet as Congress returns from a two-week recess on Monday, House Republicans are no closer to resolving what has become a protracted fight with the president.

‘OUR JOB IS OVERSIGHT': CONGRESS TO PROBE DAMAGING LEAK OF CLASSIFIED PENTAGON DOCUMENTS

Lawmakers fly back to Washington on Monday to consider a series of measures being voted on this week, including an effort to roll back police reforms enacted by the D.C. Council and legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

But looming in the background is a more daunting task for House Republicans: coalescing behind an opening offer in debt ceiling negotiations with the White House.

McCarthy's pledge to push for deep spending cuts, made to hard-liners in his conference to win the speaker's gavel, put him on a collision course with Biden, who is adamantly refusing to make concessions. McCarthy is slated to give a major speech on the debt limit at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning, a move reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's own speech there 37 years ago.

The impasse threatens to send the United States into default as it approaches an unknown “X date” to lift the debt limit. The Treasury Department, which is using “extraordinary measures” to pay its federal obligations since hitting the government’s $31.4 trillion cap in January, has estimated it could run out of money as soon as June, though a late summer deadline is more likely.

That means Washington will have to agree to a deal before lawmakers depart for the monthlong recess in August.

Biden and McCarthy met at the White House for an initial meeting in February, even as the president reiterated his demand for a clean debt ceiling hike, and the pair put on a show of bipartisanship at a St. Patrick's Day luncheon six weeks later.

But no progress has been made between the two leaders with just months left to act.

McCarthy pressed for a second meeting shortly before the Easter recess, penning a letter in which he blamed Biden for not scheduling another sit-down. The move prompted the president to return the finger-pointing with a common refrain among Democrats: “Show us your budget.”

Biden argues negotiations won't be productive without McCarthy putting forward a budget that details the cuts Republicans want to make and refuses to sit down with him until then. The president says the ball is in Republicans' court after the White House released its own 2024 budget blueprint in March.

McCarthy outlined some of the possible demands in his March 28 letter, but the president quickly demanded a “full set of proposals.”

The posturing from the White House suggests the president views himself as having the upper hand in the stalemate. Republicans are historically blamed for government shutdown fights, and there’s no reason to expect the debt ceiling standoff is any different.

But more importantly, it’s not clear McCarthy has the votes needed to pass the spending cuts he’s demanding with only a four-seat majority in the lower chamber. He has to bridge the demands of hard-line members of the Freedom Caucus with the reservations of centrist Republicans up for reelection in swing districts.

Democrats are already messaging that Republicans want to slash popular programs and hurt the poor, and centrists may balk at taking a politically tough vote.

The sheer difficulty of getting the fractious Republican conference to agree on a set of demands is the greatest test yet for McCarthy’s speakership, one that has led to simmering tensions within House GOP leadership.

McCarthy has reportedly disparaged his top deputies in private, prompting blowback from lawmakers who say the speaker is trying to find a scapegoat in case their fight backfires.

But there are signs Republicans could rally around a set of demands. The Main Street Caucus, which represents a group of 70 “pragmatic” Republicans, outlined on Thursday a list of concessions it believes could get 218 votes.

The list includes clawing back some $70 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that states have not spent, reversing Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, and capping discretionary nondefense spending at 2022 levels.

The outline, sent to McCarthy in a letter on Thursday, also showed an appetite for energy permitting reform as part of a deal and called for work requirements for food stamps beneficiaries.

The demands are similar, if less expansive, than those put forward by the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in March. Any deal would need buy-in from its 30-some members, who were able to force the concessions during McCarthy’s speakership election in the first place.

But they show some areas of consensus as House leadership tries to unite the “five families” of the GOP conference.

House Republicans are drafting legislation that includes a set of demands with the widest support, according to Politico, and hope to pass the measure by the end of May.

The legislation would amount to the GOP’s first formal offer in talks with the White House and, if passed, would signal the GOP is serious about forcing cuts.

Thus far, Senate Republicans, who lack a majority in the upper chamber, are letting the House GOP take the lead on negotiations.

Feinstein asks for temporary replacement on Judiciary Committee

Brady Knox

April 12, 09:37 PM April 12, 09:48 PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for a temporary replacement for her position on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The 89-year-old senator's announcement comes shortly after Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) called on her to resign. His call followed Feinstein's long absence due to health problems. She has been absent from the Senate since her diagnosis with shingles in February.

RO KHANNA CALLS ON DIANNE FEINSTEIN TO RESIGN OVER PROLONGED ABSENCE FROM SENATE

In a statement, she refused to resign as senator but conceded that she would ask for a replacement to take her position on the important Judiciary Committee.

“When I was first diagnosed with shingles, I expected to return by the end of the March work period. Unfortunately, my return to Washington has been delayed due to continued complications related to my diagnosis," Feinstein said in a statement.

"I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel. In the meantime, I remain committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco," she added.

“I understand that my absence could delay the important work of the Judiciary Committee, so I’ve asked Leader Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve until I’m able to resume my committee work,” she concluded.

Feinstein did not say when she expects to return to Congress.

“Per Sen. Feinstein’s wishes, Majority Leader Schumer will ask the Senate next week to allow another Democratic Senator to temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee,” a spokesperson for Schumer said.

Despite her wishes, temporary replacement on the Judiciary Committee may prove difficult. To do so, a full Senate must approve with at least 60 votes, and Republicans currently hold 49 Senate seats.

At 89, Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress, holding her Senate seat since 1993.

Democratic lawmakers file to challenge Texas abortion pill ruling

Brady Knox

April 11, 11:47 PM April 11, 11:49 PM

Two hundred and forty Democratic and independent members of Congress filed an amicus brief on Tuesday, urging an appeals court to block a Texas judge's ruling that would stop the prescription and distribution of the abortion drug mifepristone.

The group includes 50 senators and 190 House members, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) signed the brief as well.

BIDEN SLAMS TEXAS ABORTION PILL RULING AS 'COMPLETELY OUT OF BOUNDS'

Much of the brief defends mifepristone specifically, but it also focuses on defending abortion in general.

"Amici believe that the district court’s stay of FDA’s September 28, 2000 Approval of mifepristone and other challenged agency actions has no basis in law, threatens the Congressionally mandated drug approval process, and poses a serious health risk to pregnant individuals by making abortion more difficult to access— when access has already been seriously eroded in the aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization," the filing stated. "Accordingly, Amici respectfully urge this Court to grant emergency relief from the district court’s stay."

The filing stresses its inclusion of transgender people who want an abortion, writing that approximately 22 million women of childbearing age are now without access to abortion, "in addition to other people who may not identify as women but are capable of becoming pregnant and may need an abortion."

The filing spent much of its conclusion stressing that the blocking of the drug threatens to especially harm "Black women — and exacerbate an already grave Black maternal health crisis."

The 65-page brief was filed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday.

Ex-Democrat Kyrsten Sinema belittles former colleagues in private as she courts reelection

Cami Mondeaux

March 23, 07:46 AM March 23, 08:05 AM

Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) is hitting out against her former colleagues in the Democratic Party, belittling lawmakers on the Left as she courts GOP donors ahead of a possible reelection bid.

Sinema, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent late last year, has used her newly found freedom to distance herself from her former coworkers and praise her Republican allies as she mulls reelection in the Grand Canyon state. The Arizona senator has pushed to line her pockets with campaign cash by appearing at GOP-dominated receptions and retreats to criticize Democratic lawmakers.

KRYSTEN SINEMA REVEALS WHY SHE LEFT DEMOCRATIC PARTY

“I’m not caucusing with the Democrats, I’m formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes. But apart from that I am not a part of the caucus,” Sinema said, according to Politico. “Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are. I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”

In private, Sinema becomes even more critical. When speaking one on one or in small groups with GOP allies, Sinema harshly criticizes Democratic leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for their policy stances, the outlet reported.

That criticism has also extended to other party leaders, including President Joe Biden and top members of his Cabinet.

At one point during a fundraiser, Sinema recounted a moment in which former White House chief of staff Ron Klain called the Arizona senator last summer to ensure all 50 Senate Democrats were present for a confirmation vote for Roopali Desai to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sinema told the aide that wasn’t necessary because the vote would be bipartisan, the senator said while flashing a middle finger to indicate her feelings of the conversation, according to Politico.

The shift in attitude has sparked hope in some Republicans that Sinema can be convinced to caucus with the GOP, or at least back some of their proposed legislation in the split Senate. However, it may not be enough to keep Republican challengers at bay as she considers a second term in 2024.

Sinema has emerged as one of the best fundraisers in the Senate, leading the pack alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in year-end campaign fundraising reports in 2022. Sinema raised more than $803,000 last year, ending 2022 with $8.2 million cash on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission.

However, the Arizona senator is considered to be a somewhat vulnerable incumbent heading into the next election cycle, especially after she left the Democratic Party and opened herself up to challenges from both sides of the aisle.