NotedDC

NotedDC — Reconciliation stands between Senate and recess

by Elizabeth Crisp and Kelsey Carolan - 08/04/22 5:11 PM ET

It’s going to be a long weekend for the Senate — potentially a long next week, as well — as Democrats delay August recess in an attempt to pass their long-stalled tax reform and climate bill.

And yes, before you read any further, they’re still waiting on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to say whether she’ll support the package.

Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor Thursday that Democrats “will make good on our word to pass the Inflation Reduction Act” even if that requires “late nights and extended debates.”

His optimism comes after Sinema reportedly offered changes to the bill on Wednesday, requesting Democrats nix the provision to close the carried interest tax loophole, which she opposed previously. However, she still did not commit to supporting it.

Our colleague Alexander Bolton writes that Schumer intends to go full steam ahead on a vote to move the bill to the floor this Saturday, signaling that Sinema will at least vote to debate it, which is expected to begin Sunday or Monday.

And a warning: the phrase “vote-a-rama” will be used a lot.

Here’s what to expect, per our colleague Aris Folley:

What it is: “[It is] an often grueling, hours-long session in which senators can offer a series of amendments for a chance to influence legislation before senators vote on the overall bill.”
How Republicans will likely use it: “[They] see vote-a-rama as an opportunity to offer potential last-minute changes to the bill’s text and line up tough votes for their colleagues ahead of the 2022 November midterms.”
Lawmakers just want to go home: “I’ve been through many of them, and they’re largely meaningless,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill. “People know what the result is. Nobody’s paying a lot of attention to it.”

Welcome to NotedDC: Your guide to politics, policy and people of consequence in D.C. Have some news, juicy gossip, insight or other insider info? Send us tips: Elizabeth Crisp and Kelsey Carolan.

📨 Encourage your friends to sign up here: digital-stage.thehill.com/noted.

Community mourns Rep. Walorski and her staffers

A community vigil in honor of Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and staffers Emma Thomson and Zach Potts will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday at Jimtown High School in Elkhart, Ind.

It follows a separate gathering on Capitol Hill Wednesday night that drew more than 100 people.

All three died in a car crash in Indiana on Wednesday.

Walorski, 58, is the third member of Congress to die this year. But it’s much more common for members to die of natural causes or known diseases. Walorki’s deadly crash marks the first time a House member died in such a way in nearly four decades.

Authorities revised the account of the accident on Thursday, confirming that it was the SUV driven by Potts that crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic for unknown reasons. A driver in a separate vehicle also died.

Senate Chaplain Barry Black opened Thursday’s session with a prayer for the trio. The House is not in session this week.

“As we mourn the deaths of Congresswoman Jackie Walorksi and her two staffers Zachery and Emma, comfort our hearts,” Black prayed.

It was just one in a long stream of tributes as the Capitol copes with the tragic news.

Walorski had been representing Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District for the past decade, after a stint in the state’s legislature.

Tributes from Hill staffers and others continue to stream in on social media, with fond memories and sadness over the three lives lost.

“Emma Thomson was more than just a staffer. She was a talented public servant, ambitious professional, kindhearted soul, exemplar Christian woman, and hilarious friend. I was and am always honored to call her my best friend,” entrepreneur Kaitlin Fritz wrote on Twitter.

Thomson was 28.

Ben Mullany, communications director for Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.), remembered working with Thomson in Joyce’s office before she took on her role in Walorski’s.

“Apart from being a helluva staffer, Emma Thomson would go out of her way to be kind to everyone she met,” he wrote on Twitter.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) noted that Thomson also worked on his 2016 presidential campaign.

“She was a smart [and] talented communicator and an amazing young woman,” Rubio said on Twitter.

Alex Burgos said he met Thomson while working on the Rubio campaign.

“She was the kindest & most hard-working colleague, always wanting to learn, beloved by all. It’s no surprise her career was blossoming successfully,” he wrote.

Ben Williamson, a former aide to ex-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) also shared his memories of her.

“[She] was an office neighbor of ours on the Hill for years and one of the absolute nicest people on earth. Her loss is deeply tragic.”

Meanwhile, Potts, 27, who was chair of the St. Joseph County GOP in Indiana, was remembered as a dedicated strategist.

“Organizational genius. Tech wizard. Wise beyond his years, Zach took a thankless job and shone brightly,” Judge Mark Telloyan wrote.

MISSING TEXTS RAISE NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT JAN. 6

Government officials are raising new questions about whether federal agencies properly responded to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, complicating ongoing investigations and probes.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is the latest agency to face scrutiny after a watchdog organization discovered it wiped top departing officials’ phones at the end of the Trump administration, including texts leading up to and on the day of the attack.

Our colleague Rebecca Beitsch is keeping track for you: That’s now three rounds of missing text messages from different agencies.

The dominoes began to fall in July when Inspector General Joseph Cuffari notified Congress that the Secret Service had erased texts from Jan. 5 and 6. Another watchdog group then found out that text messages of Trump-era Homeland Security officials can also not be located.

Cuffari doesn’t look good right now, Beitsch writes. It was his job to sound the alarm on the missing text messages as soon as he knew about them, but instead he waited months while simultaneously pursuing an investigation into the Jan. 6 riot.

Why it matters: “There are multiple provisions in the Inspectors General Act that require notifying agency heads or Congress about ‘particularly serious or flagrant problems,’ in some cases within seven days,” Beitsch says. “That also includes using semiannual reports to note “any attempt by the establishment to interfere with the independence of the office.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is now pushing the Office of Inspector General to investigate the DOD’s missing text messages, after he penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the ones missing from the Secret Service and Homeland Security officials.

This complicates things … a lot: As Beitsch notes, the missing text messages could shine a light on why the National Guard was delayed in getting to the Capitol and possibly corroborate, or go against, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s bombshell testimony.

Running out of time: It could also throw the Jan. 6 House committee’s timeline for a loop, as they are preparing to send out an initial report this fall.

Is Carolyn Maloney saying what Dems are thinking?

“I apologize. I want you to run. I happen to think you won’t be running, but when you run or if you run, I will be there 100 percent.”

That’s how Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) apologized to President Biden on Thursday, appearing on CNN, for saying during a debate this week that she didn’t believe he would run for a second term.

“You are a great president,” Maloney continued. “And thank you for everything you’ve done for my state and all the states and all the cities in America. Thank you, Mr. President.”

The key phrase “I happen to think you won’t be running” still signals what our colleagues have been writing about for weeks: Some Democrats silently don’t want Biden to run again.

Just last week, our colleague Amie Parnes reported that Biden’s allies are becoming more disillusioned with the White House’s lack of political outreach and engagement, feeling kept out of the loop.

One of Maloney’s primary opponents, Suraj Patel, a former Obama administration staffer, told NotedDC that her words are not helpful to the party when they are finally riding a wave of success in passing key pieces of legislation ahead of a tough battle against Republicans in November.

“I don’t even think that was an apology,” Patel told NotedDC on Thursday. “She has now given [Republicans] ammunition that they will be running on television commercials to harm the president’s reelection chances, let alone our chances during midterms.”

Other congressional Democrats have avoided the question instead of outrightly answering it like Maloney did:

“I’m not getting into 2022 or 2024,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told George Stephanopoulos Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on CNN.

PRIMARIES SHOW REPUBLICANS LINING UP BEHIND TRUMP

AT LEAST FOR NOW, the Republican Party in large part is still publicly unified around former President Trump, echoing his rhetoric as they attempt to flip seats red in November.

Our colleague Brett Samuels writes that talk of Trump’s “loosening grip on the GOP may be overstated” after Tuesday’s primaries, when a slew of his endorsed candidates pulled out victories.

One of Trump’s biggest recent victories came when Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, lost to his endorsed candidate, John Gibbs.

“I would rather lose office with my character intact than stay reelected having made sacrifices of the soul,” Meijer said on Thursday.

Republicans whose primaries are coming up are now doubling down on denying the results of the 2020 presidential election, including House candidate Harriet Hageman, who is looking to unseat Republican Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), one of Trump’s top foes.

“The election was rigged,” Hageman said for the first time on Wednesday.

What we’re watching: Trump will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, alongside others including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon. It is likely Republicans at CPAC will double down on their attacks against the Jan. 6 investigations.

Keep reading: Why Democrats and some Republicans are sounding the alarms that some election deniers actually could rack up some wins this November, per our colleague Julia Manchester.

Happy birthday, Obama

Former President Obama turned 61 on Thursday, and former first lady Michelle Obama kept up with her tradition of posting a throwback for her “honey.”

This year, she posted a picture of a (much) younger Obama looking into the distance.