WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress – especially in the Senate – continued to distance themselves from President Donald Trump as the popularity of the president and his policies slip and the midterm elections inch closer.
Senate Republicans faced down the president last month when Trump wanted them to fire Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough because she had ruled that the inclusion of $1 billion to bolster the security of a new White House ballroom was not germane to a spending bill that would provide $70 billion to federal immigration enforcement agencies.
On Wednesday, GOP leaders stripped the money for the ballroom, which is advancing through the Senate through the reconciliation process to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
On Thursday, a battle waged over Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate allies – including those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 – whom the president said had been improperly targeted by the federal government and federal courts.
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My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who is running to replace Tim Walz as governor, is among those hoping to make a claim – in his case for $400 million – against the fund.
After a vigorous campaign to promulgate Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Lindell suffered huge financial losses defending himself from defamation suits from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. Lindell claimed the electronic voting companies were complicit in a scheme to thwart Trump’s reelection.
But some Senate Republicans recoiled from plans to provide money for the fund. Even after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would not create the fund – established as part of settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service over a leak of his tax records – GOP senators don’t think the plan is dead.
Especially since Trump himself said this week he was not sure it was dead.
Suspicions grew after Trump said this week he would nominate Blanche, the president’s former personal lawyer, to be the next attorney general.
So, some Senate Republicans supported efforts to block the fund through an amendment to the reconciliation bill.
But the first attempt to do so on Thursday fell short, even as three GOP senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio — voted for the amendment.
Eleven Republican senators supported an amendment sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., that would have redirected the fund’s money toward fraud enforcement at the Justice Department.
“Republicans should do the stump speech test on this issue, particularly the ones who are in cycle,” Tillis told reporters. “‘I stand solidly behind an administration that wants to potentially provide compensation to people who assaulted Capitol police officers. I stand fully behind that.’ Test that on the stump and see how it works out for you in November.”
Tillis’ effort, however, fell short of the 60 votes it would have needed to move forward, since most Democrats opposed it because of how the North Carolina senator redirected the funding.
So did an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would have redirected the fund’s money to law enforcement officers injured on Jan. 6.
In the end, the Senate approved a reconciliation bill without any guardrails for the “anti-weaponization fund” that contained $38.5 billion in new money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and nearly $26 billion for the Border Patrol.
The bill now goes to the U.S. House, where GOP resistance to it is also expected.
Bipartisan rebuke of Trump’s war powers
Meanwhile, four Republicans in the House broke ranks to support a war resolution on Wednesday that would curtail the U.S. campaign against Iran.
The resolution was approved on a 215-208 vote with Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio supporting the legislation.
All Democrats, except one who was absent, voted for the resolution, which had failed to garner enough support in three previous attempts to rein in the president’s war-making power.
“Democrats were finally joined by enough Republicans to assert Congress’s constitutional War Powers authority and direct President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from direct conflict with Iran,” said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District. “The American people have made clear that they oppose the war with Iran. The President should work with the international community to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Iran nuclear materials issue and open up the Strait of Hormuz.”
McCollum was keeping her chin up this week. She developed a mild case of vertigo and was told by her physician to avoid looking down, especially in the Capitol where the tiles and carpets have colorful patterns that exacerbate her condition.
“I’m just careful around patterned floors,” said McCollum, who is sometimes using the help of a walker to get around.
The lawmaker, who said she was feeling better Thursday, has urged the Senate to take a final vote on the war powers resolution.
Last week, enough GOP senators broke with the White House to advance a war powers bill, but the Senate has not taken a final vote on the legislation.
Senate approval of the resolution would be largely symbolic. Trump is expected to veto it if it reaches his desk.
No plans for further review of Twin Metals mine
The U.S. Forest Service told lawmakers at a Senate hearing this week that it doesn’t have a plan to complete a further review of a proposed copper-nickel mine in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said the agency hasn’t determined its next steps for approval of the proposed Twin Metals mine, which was given a new lease on life after Congress in April lifted a Biden administration moratorium on copper-nickel mining in Superior National Forest.
Responding to questioning from Sen. Tina Smith, Schultz said the Forest Service will review an environmental impact statement completed by the Biden administration in 2022 and determine whether additional work needs to be done.
But Schultz said there is no plan to evaluate the environmental impact of a sulfide-producing mine in the Boundary Waters watershed or a timeline of the review of the work that has been done. He also said he did not know if the Forest Service will request public comments on any plan.
In other news:
▪️ State government reporter Matthew Blake wrote about his experience at last weekend’s DFL convention in Rochester, including a strobe light controversy and other misadventures.
▪️ Meanwhile, not everyone was happy with the results of the DFL convention and the GOP’s state convention in Duluth, reigniting the debate over whether caucuses should be eliminated to allow primary voters to choose the best candidates to send on to the general election.
▪️ Metro reporter Trevor Mitchell wrote about Minneapolis’ Office of Community Safety and what an agency that is limbo is doing – and not doing.
▪️ And Greater Minnesota reporter Brian Arola had a story about how the debate over the new state flag is playing out in Minnesota.
This and that
A reader was critical of an open-ended Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll that determined American voters were unhappy with both of the nation’s major political parties.
“As for the poll, it pretends that two political parties as they normally function in a democracy still exist,” the reader said. “There is no real Republican Party left. Anyone who opposes Trump gets attacked and evicted.
Anyone who is well educated can come up with one criticism. Not being able to offer one is a mark of being uninformed. A big leap to making broad conclusions.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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