Bipartisan congressional negotiators working on a federal spending deal to avert a second partial government shutdown reported Friday afternoon they are close to reaching an agreement.
Talks will continue over the the weekend, and negotiators from both houses of Congress hope to have a finalized proposal Monday so a vote can take place well before their deadline of Friday, Feb. 15.
The question remains whether President Trump will sign any package which does not include the $5.7 billion he has demanded for border wall construction. Democrats have been adamant they will not approve that much, but Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), one of the negotiators, suggested Friday something in the range of $1.6 to $2 billion for "physical barriers" "possibly could be workable."
"I think the political reality is we can't get to [$5.7 billion]," said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), a GOP negotiator who is aiming for $1.6 billion in wall funding. "I think [Trump] understands that we're operating under a divided government scenario and we've got to get the best deal that we can get." Bonnie Kristian
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly still has his eye on a run for Senate — and the White House.
At a private dinner this spring, when asked if he has considered running for president, Pompeo said "I have," Politico reports. Pompeo attended this event with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who Pompeo reportedly pointed to and said, "And I might be running against that guy."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reportedly lobbied Pompeo to run for Senate in Kansas next year to replace Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who is retiring. Pompeo in February said of this potential Senate run, "It's ruled out. I'm here. I'm loving it."
But Politico cites Pompeo's confidants as saying that's actually not true; the run reportedly isn't ruled out at all, and Pompeo is still "quietly evaluating the next steps in his political career," with this 2020 Senate bid potentially being a step toward a White House run. McConnell himself remains enthusiastic about Pompeo running for Senate, telling Politico, "he’s still my first choice" although "I doubt the president would agree with that."
Still, some Republicans are urging Pompeo to stay where he is at the State Department, with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) telling Politico, "We need to see stability." Brendan Morrow
Ethics issues continue to shroud the Trump family, The New York Times reports.
The Trump administration has worked to reverse course on the Obama administration's efforts to protect the Boundary Waters, a pristine wilderness area in Minnesota, from a copper mining project near the area. But the renewed leases are being scrutinized after the revelation of a personal connection between Andrónico Luksic, a Chilean billionaire whose family controls the mining conglomerate attempting to renew leases for its operations in Minnesota, and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Shortly before President Trump entered the Oval Office, Luksic purchased a $5.5 million house in Washington, D.C. to add to his personal investment portfolio. Within a week, Kushner and Ivanka Trump had reportedly worked out an arrangement to rent the home. The Wall Street Journal first reported about the home in 2017, while Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Luksic's conglomerate that is seeking the leases in Minnesota, was suing the federal government. Twin Metals has since increased its lobbying efforts. That's raised ethics concerns, both from environmental groups seeking to protect the Boundary Waters and Democrats in Congress, the Times reports.
For example, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, argued in a letter that the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture both "blatantly ignored scientific and economic evidence," while also mentioning the "interesting coincidence" surrounding the rental agreement.
Rodrigo Terré, chair of Luksic's family investment office, said the arrangement is nothing more than a simple real estate transaction, unrelated to the Minnesota mine. A spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior also said Kushner and Ivanka Trump have not been involved in discussions. That hasn't helped alleviate everyone's concerns, though.
"There may be nothing wrong," Arthur Andrew Lopez, a former federal government ethics official, said. "But it doesn't look good." Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
Former Vice President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing for the first Democratic debate by boning up on old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) clips.
Biden and Sanders, the top two candidates in most Democratic primary polls, have been placed together in the second night of primary debates this week, and CNN reports the former vice president has been "viewing some of Sanders' exchanges with [Hillary] Clinton in 2016" and "trying to acquaint himself with Sanders' style."
Numerous campaign advisers who spoke with CNN said they're cautioning the candidates against directly attacking their fellow Democrats, and Sanders told CNN that he expects the debate to be "friendly" while promising that they'll be "debating the real issues facing the American people" and not getting "into personal controversy and gossip."
That doesn't mean there will be no engagement between the candidates at all, though, as Sanders added that "we are going to be contrasting our views with other people." That should include Biden, who Sanders has taken some recent digs at, in April interview encouraging voters to "take a look at my record versus" the former vice president's. This possible confrontation between the race's two frontrunners is set for June 27. Brendan Morrow
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in an address on Tuesday criticized President Trump's newly-imposed sanctions as "outrageous and idiotic" — and that's not all.
Trump on Monday signed an executive order imposing what he called "hard-hitting" new sanctions on Iran following its shooting down of a U.S. drone, saying the sanctions would deny Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and others "access to key financial resources and support."
On Tuesday, Rouhani responded by saying the White House has become "mentally crippled," The Washington Post reports, also saying the administration is "afflicted by mental retardation," The Associated Press reports. The sanctions, Rouhani said, represent the Trump administration's "certain failure," and he asked, "You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks?"
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman additionally warned that the sanctions indicate "the permanent closure of the doors of diplomacy," the Post reports. White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, meanwhile, says that Trump has "held the door open to real negotiations" and that "all that Iran needs to do is walk through that door." Brendan Morrow
Former Vice President Joe Biden came under fire last week for his comments about working with segregationists, but likely Democratic primary voters don't seem to much care.
Biden at an event recently touted his past ability to work with segregationist senators with whom he disagreed like James Eastland, saying they were able to get things done and that back then, "at least there was some civility." Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called on Biden to apologize, but Biden doubled down, saying Booker is the one who should offer an apology.
Now, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 41 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said Biden's comments about working with segregationists would make no difference in their vote. In fact, 29 percent said it would actually make them more likely to vote for him, compared to 18 percent who said it would make them less likely to do so.
Overall, Biden's position at the top of the newest Morning Consult tracking poll has not changed at all since last week. In the survey taken from June 17 through June 23, he's still leading the pack with 38 percent support, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in second place with 19 percent. Biden's segregationist comments were made on June 19. Morning Consult for the poll spoke online with 16,188 registered voters who say they may vote in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Biden's comments have also not had much of an effect on black voters, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll, as 30 percent said they'd be more likely to vote for him now, while 27 percent said it didn't make a difference and 20 percent said they're less likely to vote for him. Noting Biden's unchanged status in the race after a controversy-filled week, pollster Nate Silver observed, "you'll rarely go wrong by discounting how much the media controversy of the week will move the numbers." Brendan Morrow