The Hill’s Morning Report — Debt-limit jockeying to intensify this week

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 01/24/23 6:25 AM ET

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

The debt ceiling stalemate between the White House and the Republican Party continues this week as Congress is back in session, though the GOP is also facing internal issues with its narrow majority in the lower chamber.

Plans to bring a border security bill to the House floor as early as this week have fallen through, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hasn’t found the votes for a pro-police bill (The Washington Post). Meanwhile, President Biden will host Democratic congressional leaders at the White House today ahead of an evening reception for new members of Congress.

Biden himself is set to meet with McCarthy to discuss the debt ceiling, though no date has been set for their conversation (Axios). Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday called on House Republicans to lay out the spending cuts they’re proposing as part of a deal to raise the debt, saying Democrats are prepared to “move quickly” and “well in advance of default” to raise the country’s borrowing authority, which is likely set to expire sometime in the first half of this year. The U.S. reached the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling last week, forcing the Treasury Department to resort to “extraordinary measures” to avoid a default.

“Unfortunately, House Republicans have kicked off their new majority by saying ‘yes’ to brinkmanship, ‘yes’ to hostage taking, ‘yes’ even to risking default, all because of draconian spending cuts being pushed by the hard right,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “House Republicans’ approach to the debt ceiling is dangerous, destabilizing, and the only thing it accomplishes is making a bipartisan solution less likely.”

McCarthy and conservative GOP members are expected to push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare in any deal, and some national defense spending could also be on the chopping block (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: Debt default would cost 6 million jobs, push jobless rate to 7 percent, analysis shows.

▪ The New York Times: Four questions about the debt ceiling, answered.

▪ The Economist: There is no easy escape from America’s debt-ceiling mess.

Biden is losing support from Senate Democrats over his handling of classified documents at his home and Washington office, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) declaring Sunday that Biden’s stature has been diminished and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) slamming the former vice president and his staff for being “totally irresponsible.”

The bigger challenge for Biden, however, may be to persuade Senate Republicans that the classified documents episode is not grounds for an impeachment trial.

The White House on Monday pledged to “accommodate legitimate oversight interests” in response to House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer’s (R-Ky.) request for materials related to classified documents found at Biden’s old office and Delaware home (The Hill).

▪ Politico: Borrow the opposition playbook? House GOP weighs the ultimate “tit for tat.”

▪ The New York Times: How McCarthy forged an ironclad bond with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

▪ The Hill: McCarthy puts his conservative critics on Rules panel in the wake of Speaker fight.

Democrats in the House are gearing up for a fight with the new GOP majority over committee assignments by submitting the names of Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to sit on the Intelligence panel, despite Republican vows to keep them off the committee. As the Hill’s Mike Lillis reports, a similar fight will play out over Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whom Democrats will submit for an assignment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee regardless of GOP promises to prevent her seating.

Democrats think the public fight will play to their advantage after Republicans decided to give committee seats to Rep. George Santos (R), the embattled first-term lawmaker from New York who is under the microscope over lies about his background that only became public after his election.

▪ Politico: A majority of New Yorkers want Santos to resign, new poll shows.

▪ Roll Call: McCarthy names Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) to lead ethics panel as Santos questions loom.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: White House, Energy Department threaten veto of pending GOP bill that would restrict Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases.

▪ The Hill: More Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

▪ NBC News: Richard Barnett, the Arkansas man photographed during the Jan. 6 riot with his feet on a desk in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office, was found guilty Monday on all eight counts against him, including felony obstruction.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS

In Georgia, the findings of a 26-member special-purpose Fulton County grand jury could soon be released. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney has scheduled a hearing today to determine whether to make public the grand jury’s final report after it spent eight months reviewing evidence in a criminal investigation into whether former President Trump and his allies broke the law when they sought to overturn the state’s 2020 election results (The Washington Post).

Media organizations filed a 109-page brief on Monday urging McBurney to unseal the report, calling it a “matter of profound public interest that goes to the heart of the nation’s democratic forms of government.”

The Atlantic, David A. Graham: A guide to the possible forthcoming indictments of Donald Trump.

Trump is the GOP’s sole announced 2024 presidential candidate with a rally scheduled in South Carolina on Saturday. Ahead of that event, Trump’s campaign is finding that Palmetto State lawmakers and political operatives are not ready to commit to the former president (The Washington Post).

Evangelical pastor Franklin Graham told CBS News on Friday that he will not endorse Trump or any other candidate in the GOP primary, another indication that Republican influencers are waiting ahead of other possible options.

The Hill: Fifteen Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Government Accountability Office in a Monday letter to investigate why the IRS failed to “adequately conduct mandatory audits” of Trump’s tax returns.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is skilled at keeping the Sunshine State atop the national headlines while he weighs a White House bid, continues to out-poll other potential GOP presidential contenders (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: DeSantis defends his administration’s rejection of an Advanced Placement African American studies pilot program in Florida high schools.

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in his latest Memo that DeSantis is staking out ground to Trump’s right.

▪ Politico Nightly: Cash-flush GOP governors look to 2024.

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego (D), a Marine veteran who argued after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that the former president should never be allowed to hold office again, announced on Monday that he will compete in 2024 for the Senate seat held by incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) (The Hill). Sinema, who has not said if she will seek reelection, recently switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent and continues to caucus with the Senate majority.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota on Monday urged Sinema to caucus with Republican senators to avoid a three-way reelection race (The Hill).

Gallego’s Senate campaign launch has sparked progressive hopes, and awkward questions (The Hill).

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Jeff Zients will take over for outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain in the coming weeks, bringing to one of the toughest jobs in Washington less grounding in partisan politics at a time when the White House will be juggling GOP investigations, negotiations over the debt ceiling and the start of Biden’s likely 2024 reelection bid, The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano write. Because of Zients’s private-sector career in consulting, some progressives view him with suspicion (The Atlantic).

▪ Slate: Biden’s new chief of staff may have a different set of priorities than the last one, but the choice of this former private equity executive is a curious one.

▪ The Hill: Five things to know about Zients.

The administration this month released its 2022 regulatory agenda, which pushes back timelines for a range of rules for power plant emissions, drinking water limits for toxic chemicals and stipulations for drilling on public lands. Environmental advocates express frustration with the changes, reports The Hill’s Rachel Frazin.

▪ The New Republic: These next six months could define the Biden presidency.

▪ The Hill: Biden will travel to Baltimore on Jan. 30 and New York City on Jan. 31 to talk about federal infrastructure investments.

▪ Time: Vice President Harris as White House asset.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Twelve countries agreed to supply Ukraine with an estimated 100 German-made Leopard 2 tanks if the German government gives its consent, ABC News reports. Those agreements, the source said, were made at Friday’s summit at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, when allied nations discussed military support for Ukraine. Poland had already said it would ask Germany for permission to send the tanks — and would deliver them whether or not Berlin agreed, as long as other countries did too. The announcement followed German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s Sunday remarks where she signaled that Germany would not stand in Poland’s way if the country were to ask to send tanks to Ukraine (Politico EU).

Russia, meanwhile, says the tanks debate shows a NATO split, as Germany has held firm on not committing the machinery itself despite pressure from allies (Reuters and CNBC). The decision by the U.S. and Germany not to commit tanks is impacting Kyiv’s intentions to launch a renewed counteroffensive against Russia that includes the goal of retaking Crimea, writes The Hill’s Laura Kelly. Biden and other top U.S. officials have held back from publicly committing to help Ukraine liberate Crimea, but are reportedly warming to the idea of giving Kyiv the ability to strike Russian forces within the peninsula to weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sense of security in the region.

Crimea represents a key tactical and symbolic military objective for Kyiv since Putin personally sponsored the construction of a massive bridge connecting Russia with Crimea, and the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet has its main headquarters in the port city of Sevastopol.

Reuters: Senior Ukrainian officials step down in rare purge in Kyiv.

Japan’s finances are in perilous territory, according to the country’s finance minister, just as markets test whether the central bank can keep interest rates ultra-low in order for the government to service its debt. It is not unusual for the finance minister to refer to Japan’s strained finances, as despite the country’s growing debt pile, the government remains under pressure to keep the fiscal spigot wide open. The country must balance regional security concerns and manage a debt burden more than twice the size of its $5 trillion economy (Reuters).

💡 Pakistan has started to restore power after the country suffered a major electricity outage Monday morning that has put the focus back on the country’s battered and poorly maintained power grid. The power breakdown caused a major disruption in daily activity as internet and mobile phone services suffered intermittent outages, and hospitals, government offices, schools and airports had to rely on emergency generators to operate. Many among the country’s 220 million people were without drinking water as pumps powered by electricity also failed to work (Reuters, ABC News and The New York Times).

“There was complete chaos in the hospital because of the power outage,” Akram Shah, a 45-year-old textile worker who was accompanying his sick mother at the state-run Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi, told the Times. “Doctors asked most of the patients, who were at hospitals for surgeries, and tests, to come again tomorrow.”

➤ STATE WATCH

Question: What is the deadly issue embedded in national headlines that keeps mayors awake at night?

Answer: Crime. Whether described as mass shootings, juvenile violence, ghost guns, hate crimes, premeditated murder or police violence, the trend is perceived as horrifying and untenable.

Since the weekend, 11 people lost their lives after being gunned down by an alleged 72-year-old shooter in a Monterey Park, Calif., dance hall (The Sacramento Bee). In Louisiana, a dozen people were shot and injured in a Baton Rouge nightclub (NPR). In Chicago, five people were shot during a home invasion on Monday; two died (Block Club Chicago). In San Mateo County, Calif., on Monday, a suspect described as a “disgruntled worker” was arrested after the shooting deaths of seven people in two locations (ABC News and The Mercury News). In Des Moines, Iowa, two students at a school for at-risk juveniles were shot and died at a hospital and a teacher was critically wounded after being “targeted” by teenage suspects who fled and later apprehended by police (The Hill).

In Northeast Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Saturday held a two-hour community meeting to talk about crime, homicides and juvenile violence. Police Chief Robert Contee told the group that officers seized 3,152 illegal firearms in the nation’s capital last year, 800 more than the previous year. Of those, he said 624 weapons were “ghost guns” made from home kits and untraceable. He said 127 of the firearms had illegal switches so they could fire as automatic weapons (The Washington Post).

In New York City on Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams (D), who made crime a centerpiece of his campaign, told an audience, “We’re seeing a decrease in crime.” The news media pounced, writing that crime in the heart of Manhattan is not down. In the Manhattan South patrol borough — the half of Manhattan with major businesses — felony crime for the month ending Jan. 15 was up 13.3 percent from a year earlier. It’s up 24.7 percent relative to 2019, before the pandemic, the New York Post reported.

Adams and the Democratic mayors of Los Angeles and Houston were interviewed by ABC News “This Week” during last week’s annual conference of mayors in Washington and were asked the No. 1 issue facing their cities. “Public safety,” Adams and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. In Los Angeles, new Mayor Karen Bass said it is the “intersection of income inequality and also public safety. And because income inequality is so severe in Los Angeles, the most extreme manifestation of that is 47,000 people [sleeping] on the streets in tents, every night, in the city.”

Republican candidates in November gained ground with voters by focusing on crime, Pelosi told The New York Times’s Maureen Dowd during an interview published on Saturday. Pelosi’s example was New York, where Republicans flipped four congressional seats, the most of any state in the country (The New York Times).

Pelosi said Democrats could have retained House control if New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and other Democrats had acted sooner. “That is an issue that had to be dealt with early on, not 10 days before the election,” Pelosi said. “The governor didn’t realize soon enough where the trouble was.”

Candidates last year released thousands of campaign ads focused on violent crime, the Pew Research Center pointed out in October. Public perceptions of crime had been flagged as a key issue among voters ahead of the midterms, including among older voters, Black voters and Republicans, according to Pew’s polling weeks before Election Day. Ahead of the 2024 elections, the “public safety” and “violent crime” issues remain.

On Monday, Biden offered his support for this week’s Senate reintroduction of an assault weapons ban and ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, as well as a hike in the legal age for gun purchases to 21, calling the proposed changes “common sense actions” (The Hill).

Gun restrictions will not pass the Republican-led House, but an assault weapons ban, which Biden helped pass before it expired in 2004, continues to be a centerpiece of the president’s agenda. Experts citing statistics have argued that the results of an assault weapons ban in reducing violent crimes during the decade it was law turned out to be mixed because of the substitution of other weapons.

“Communities across America have been struck by tragedy after tragedy, including mass shootings from Colorado Springs to Monterey Park and daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines,” Biden said while explaining his continued support.

OPINION

■ The Hochul and McCarthy battles show that unity is overrated, David Atkins, contributor, Washington Monthly. https://bit.ly/3ZOMHpc

■ Republican dysfunction is the path toward a better GOP, by David McIntosh and John Tamny, opinion contributors, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3Xvlbf2

WHERE AND WHEN

👉 The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will convene at noon.

The Senate meets at 10 a.m.

The president and the vice president will receive the President’s Daily Briefing at 10:15 a.m. Biden and Harris will meet at the White House with Democratic congressional leaders at 3 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room. Biden, accompanied by Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, will host a reception for new members of Congress at 5:20 p.m. in the East Room.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen began Tuesday in Zambia before traveling to Pretoria, South Africa. Before departing Zambia, she toured two agricultural-related sites and delivered remarks.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi co-host a virtual meeting at 8 a.m. with Group of Seven and other partners to reaffirm support for Ukraine’s energy sector.

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1:30 p.m.

The White House Historical Association at 5 p.m. ET kicks off a free 2023 in-person lecture series open to the public. With a focus on history, veteran journalist Frank Sesno will moderate “The Televised Presidency” in discussion with NBC News senior White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, former White House press secretary Mike McCurry and author and presidency scholar Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University professor emerita. Registration is HERE.

ELSEWHERE

➤ LAYOFFS & ECONOMY

Spotify said on Monday that it will shed 6 percent of its global workforce. The Swedish music streaming giant, which employs about 9,800 across the U.S. and Sweden, is contending with a gloomy economic environment that has seen consumers and advertisers alike limit their spending (CNBC).

Ford also announced plans to cut up to 3,200 jobs across Europe and move some product development work to the United States. Germany’s IG Metall union on Monday vowed action that would disrupt the company’s operations across the continent if the cuts go ahead. The company wants to cut up to 2,500 product development jobs and up to 700 in administrative roles, with German locations most affected, the union said (Reuters).

Just days after layoff announcements from Google parent Alphabet and online retailer Wayfair boosted the firms’ stock values, Spotify shares rallied Monday as well. Analysts believe the phenomenon will continue throughout the year, boosting market values but possibly pushing millions of people into unemployment ahead of a potential recession (Forbes).

▪ The New York Times: Rock-bottom rates were the secret engine fueling $1 billion startups and virtual attempts to conquer the physical world. But in 2023, reality bites, and tech layoffs are continuing.

▪ Axios: What tech layoffs mean for the future of tech startups.

▪ Business Insider: A Google software engineer says it was a “slap in the face” to find out he was laid off via email after 20 years at the company.

▪ Fast Company: The pandemic has led to a surge of “productivity paranoia.” Here’s how to fight it.

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

Doctors had braced for a dire winter — a looming disaster some dubbed a “tripledemic” — with flu season revving up, COVID-19 roaring back and the holidays providing fuel for viruses to spread, but no such surge materialized. The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) wave has receded across the country, flu cases have rapidly dwindled and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rose briefly after Christmas, only to fall again. It turns out that early waves of RSV and the flu peaked before the new year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the expected winter uptick of coronavirus is nowhere close to overwhelming hospitals (The Washington Post).

“We are seeing the normal busy, but not the very busy that I thought we would see,” Juan Salazar, physician in chief at Connecticut Children’s in Hartford, told the Post. “I’m just so pleased we are now able to be back to normal staffing. Busy staffing, but not anything near to what we saw in the fall.”

▪ CNET: Scientists are working on an oral COVID-19 vaccine you can drink. It may be five years away.

▪ Reuters: The Food and Drug Administration proposes a shift to annual COVID-19 vaccines for adults.

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov.

🏈 The New York Times reported from the hospital where Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was treated. The trauma care of the 24-year-old football player highlighted what is done to overcome cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death in the United States.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,104,390. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 3,953 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🎥 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil Oscar nominations at 8:30 a.m. ET. Winners will be announced on March 12 (The New York Times).

Feeling a wee bit behind in your movie viewing? Reviewers helpfully weigh in with predictions of Oscar-worthy films and performances, no matter how the nominations actually line up today!

▪ Los Angeles Times: The 2023 Oscars BuzzMeter predicts the Oscar nominations.

▪ EW: Predictions HERE, and tracking the top 2023 Oscar contenders.

▪ Variety: Final Oscar predictions: Best picture — six films locked, with 10 movies battling for the remaining slots.

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!