The Hill’s Morning Report — ‘Catastrophic’ Idalia roars into Florida

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 08/30/23 6:44 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.

Hurricane Idalia, packing powerful winds with enough force to destroy structures and push huge volumes of water inland, will make landfall early today along Florida’s Gulf Coast. A hurricane warning has been issued for the East Coast between South Carolina and Georgia.  

After moving slowly across warm water, Idalia intensified and is now a major Category 4 hurricane with potentially “catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds” approaching 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center warns this morning (CNN). With a trajectory shaped like an enormous eyebrow, Idalia will pound the Big Bend area where the peninsula merges into the Florida Panhandle south of Tallahassee. No major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend (The Associated Press). 

The hurricane center forecasts that “while Idalia should weaken after landfall, it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) urged residents and visitors on Tuesday to heed evacuation advisories. “This is crunch time right now. We are going to be hit with a major hurricane.” 

Some bridges, airports and schools are closed along Florida’s west coast. Roads are already flooding in some counties. Port Canaveral, a major cruise port, suspended most operations. Power companies are poised for outages, dangerous downed lines and days of repairs.  

WFLA8: Streets in the Tampa Bay area are flooding ahead of Idalia’s landfall. Pinellas County may experience storm surge levels 4 to 6 feet above the ground. Parts of Pasco County could see up to 8 feet. And from Crystal River to Cedar Key, levels could reach up to 10 feet. 

The warnings are dire in a state pummeled and submerged over the decades by storms that cost lives and resulted in billions of dollars in property losses. Parts of Florida are still trying to recover from last year’s Hurricane Ian, a monster with an eyewall 60 miles wide, which ended 144 lives. Many who died had not evacuated and drowned (USA Today).

Tuesday night was the evacuate-or-prepare deadline for many in Idalia’s path; some Florida Gulf Coast communities were under orders to pack up and flee.

“Time is of the essence,” National Hurricane Center Director Jamie Rhome said late Tuesday. “There is no more time to monitor and hope for this system.”

Tampa residents have been warned about flooding because Tampa Bay will see the highest tides of the month just as the storm makes landfall. Today is expected to be a king tide, which means storm surge from Idalia could reach about 1 or 2 feet higher than under normal tide conditions.

Related Articles

▪ NewsNation: Hurricane Idalia: Storm surge dangers explained.

▪ Politico: How a steaming Gulf of Mexico is powering Idalia’s threat to Florida.

▪ The Hill: Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell warned Tuesday that Floridians are well advised to take Idalia “seriously.” 

▪ CNN: DeSantis faces a new leadership test with Idalia.

 LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS

© The Associated Press / J. Scott Applewhite | Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) at the Capitol in July.

While Congress is racing the clock to fund the government ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline as the threat of a shutdown looms, some House conservatives don’t see the potential of a shutdown as much of a threat at all. A handful of hardline Republicans are brushing off — or even embracing — the possibility, arguing that bringing the government to a screeching halt is more acceptable than allowing the country to continue on its current spending trajectory.

“If a shutdown occurs, then so be it,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell in an interview, “if they’re not gonna stick to what [Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] agreed to, which is starting on a path of financial security, which we don’t have.” 

Time magazine: How Hawaii wildfire relief would be affected by a government shutdown. 

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), 57, said in a statement that he has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, and will receive treatment “over the next several months” while continuing to work as majority leader (The Hill). 

➤ POLITICS

Two years after the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, every aspect of Biden’s decision, the administration’s implementation and conditions in Afghanistan are still up for debate, particularly among Republican critics and thousands of Afghans who were left behind or continue to struggle as refugees.

Tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees resettled in this country have no permanent way to remain in the U.S., and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to advance legislative solutions, reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. 

▪ San Antonio Report: Two years after fleeing Afghanistan, refugees create a San Antonio community — and hope for the future. Backlogs and time limits in the Operation Allies Welcome humanitarian parole process leave thousands of Afghan refugees in limbo.  

▪ Fox News: Afghanistan resistance group yearns for Western help as they take on the Taliban. 

▪ Fox News: Gold Star families slam the Biden administration over chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal as Gen. Mark Milley vows “accountability.”

▪ The Atlantic: The final days, a timeline of the official completion of withdrawal from Afghanistan and assumptions inside the Biden administration.

2024 roundup: Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis (D) asked a superior court judge on Tuesday to speed up rather than separate a trial involving all 19 defendants, including Trump, accused in an alleged criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in her state. Defendant Kenneth Chesebro sought a speedy trial and previously obtained an Oct. 23 trial date (The Hill). …Former Trump legal adviser John Eastman said of criminal charges he faces in Georgia: “We did nothing wrong” (The Hill). … Trump’s electability has climbed among likely GOP primary voters, according to a new Morning Consult poll. … Trump says he made the “right decision” to skip the first GOP primary debate a week ago in Milwaukee (The Hill), but there are political risks for him (The Hill). … Trump will appear Sept. 8 at Mount Rushmore for a state Republican Party rally accompanied by North Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem. It’s a pairing that contributes to running mate chatter, should the former president be the GOP nominee (The Hill). … Fox Digital reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars raised through merchandise sales by the Trump campaign since the release of the former president’s mugshot will be “earmarked” to cover costs other than legal fees. 

More in politics: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Tuesday became the first Republican presidential candidate to end his race after failing to make the cut for last week’s debate (Miami Herald, The New York Times and Bloomberg News). … Video surfaced on Tuesday of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in 2003 questioning the Rev. Al Sharpton, when he was a Democratic presidential candidate, about why anyone would vote for the least experienced candidate (MSNBC). … GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley reported raising $1 million after a debate performance a week ago that earned kudos (The Hill). … The Committed to America super PAC backing former Vice President Pence reported raising $250,000 in donations the day after last week’s debate and the campaign saw more than 1,000 small-dollar donations overnight following the Milwaukee event (The Hill and Politico). … Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina released his education policy platform stressing “family first culture” (The Hill). … Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced on Friday. He faces potentially the longest prison sentence among defendants found guilty of involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol (The Hill). … Canada warned travelers about U.S. anti-LGBTQ laws (The Hill). 

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ ADMINISTRATION

© The Associated Press / Phelan M. Ebenhack | A Florida retiree in 2021 said she paid more than $6,000 a year through a Medicare prescription drug plan for the medications she needed. 

The Biden administration named the first 10 drugs chosen for price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday. They target highly common diseases in the U.S., such as heart disease, heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. As The Hill’s Joseph Choi reports, the selection included insulin drug NovoLog, blood thinner Eliquis, antidiabetic Jardiance and leukemia drug Imbruvica, as well as a more unanticipated pick: Stelara, which is used to treat Crohn’s disease.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the 10 drugs that were chosen account for $50.5 billion in total gross Part D spending, or about 20 percent of total expenses. The program is a major priority for Biden, who campaigned in 2020 in part on the promise to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. New prices will take effect Jan. 1, 2026 (Roll Call).

“Today is the start of a new deal for patients where Big Pharma doesn’t just get a blank check at your expense and the expense of the American people,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “Health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country.” 

Ultimately, the fate of the negotiation plan rests with the courts because six drug manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and the pharmaceutical industry’s main trade group have lodged separate lawsuits around the country trying to obstruct it (The Washington Post).

Democrats are sure to jump on the first set of price negotiations ahead of the 2024 election; Biden and his fellow party members have long campaigned against rising pharmaceutical prices. A new poll from nonprofit KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation) shows that 58 percent of independent voters trust Democrats to lower drug costs compared with 39 percent of Republicans. But as Biden touts the negotiations, Republicans are searching for a message that would resonate with voters on the downsides of the program. Following the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy, GOP strategists are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, Politico reports.

“If they want to run their campaigns based on keeping the profits of the drug companies high, welcome,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told Politico. “Why don’t they go for it and see how well President Biden does because people are going to understand that seniors want to see less expensive drugs.”

▪ The Washington Post: What to know about the Biden administration’s drug price negotiations.

▪ CNN: These are the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price negotiations.

OPINION

■ “Freedom” is a word I no longer trust, by Sola Mahfouz, guest essayist, The New York Times.

■ Solving homelessness requires more evidence and less politics, by Bill Evans, David Phillips and Jim Sullivan, opinion contributors, The Hill.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will convene for a pro forma session at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Lawmakers return to Washington Sept. 11. 

The Senate is out until Sept. 5 and will hold a pro forma session on Friday at 11:45 a.m. 

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Biden will meet with his advisers about recovery efforts in Maui at 1:45 p.m.

Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public events.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is in Shanghai for meetings at the end of her three-day trip to China before returning to the United States. She urges China to provide more predictability for business (CNBC).

Economic indicator: The Bureau of Economic Analysis at 8:30 a.m. will release its second estimate of second quarter Gross Domestic Product, as well as data on corporate profits. 

First lady Jill Biden will travel to Indianapolis today for a back-to-school event at a local high school at noon local time. With a focus on student mental health, she’ll be accompanied by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. She will fly to Chicago, where she will headline an annual pre-Labor Day event sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor at 3:15 p.m. local (Chicago Sun-Times). 

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 12:45 p.m. 

ELSEWHERE

➤ INTERNATIONAL 

© The Associated Press / Sergei Karpukhin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow in March.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China in October to meet with President Xi Jinping while attending the Belt and Road Forum. It would be the first announced travel for Putin since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes (Bloomberg News). Putin last met with Xi in March. China watchers suggest the news was not a coincidence amid a three-day visit to China by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, aimed at easing U.S.-China tensions.

Putin did not attend the private burial held for the late Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Tuesday. Prigozhin died last week in a suspicious plane crash two months after a brief mutiny that challenged Putin’s authority. All 10 people aboard died; according to Russian authorities, passengers included the senior Wagner Group leadership in addition to Prigozhin. His spokespeople said a service took place behind closed doors, and directed “those who wish to bid their farewell” to go to the Porokhovskoye Cemetery in his hometown (The Associated Press and NPR). 

▪ Reuters: Prigozhin plane crash: who were the other passengers on the jet?

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s elite snipers fight Russians, bullet by bullet.

Russia targeted Kyiv with the biggest overnight missile attack since the spring today, and accused Ukraine of sending a swarm of drones against Russian targets that damaged military transport planes at a northwestern airport (Bloomberg News). Meanwhile, fighting around Kupiansk, in the north of eastern Ukraine, has renewed questions for both Russia and Ukraine about where to send reinforcements along a front line that is hundreds of miles long. Russian forces seized the city at the outset of the war, using it as a logistical center, before the Ukrainian military recaptured it last September. For Ukraine, which has spread troops and firepower all along the front line in an attempt to hold onto its land, losing it again would be a major blow (The New York Times).

▪ The Associated Press: Syrian protests spurred by economic misery stir memories of the 2011 anti-government uprising.

▪ The Washington Post: A congressional trip to Syria, rare and brief, highlights a forsaken region.

Saudi Arabia is offering to resume financial support to the Palestinian Authority in a sign that the kingdom is making a serious effort to overcome obstacles to establishing diplomatic relations with Israel (The Wall Street Journal). Meanwhile, Libya’s foreign minister fled to Turkey this week after protests erupted over the reports of a closed-door meeting with her Israeli counterpart. The situation exposed the limits of Israel’s push to normalize relations with its Arab neighbors (The Washington Post).

▪ The New York Times: At least 155 Arab citizens have died this year in Israel in violence largely attributed to organized crime. Some say the government has not done enough to stop the killing.

▪ The Associated Press: Mutinous soldiers in Gabon say they’ve ousted the president whose family has ruled for 55 years.

▪ The New York Times: A man has been arrested under Uganda’s new anti-LGBTQ law, and faces a charge punishable by death.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press / AP photo | On Aug. 29, 1957, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) waved as he left the Senate chamber at the conclusion of his filibuster to protest the Civil Rights Act, which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes. 

This week, three Black shoppers in Jacksonville, Fla., were gunned down in what authorities described as a “racially motivated” attack. Separately, racism and responses to racial prejudice were flashpoints during this week’s 2024 presidential candidate discussions.

With 2023 and 1957 in mind, it’s worth a reminder that 66 years ago this week, Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina — a Democrat who later became a Republican and who died in 2003 at age 100 just months after ending his 48 years in the Senate — entered the history books by protesting civil rights with a filibuster that lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes.

As South Carolina’s governor before his election to the Senate, Thurmond’s embrace of white supremacy and opposition to the Civil Rights Act was clear. “I tell you, the American people, from one side to the other, had better wake up and oppose such a program, and if they don’t the next thing will be a totalitarian state in these United States,” he warned in 1948 (WNYCStudios).

Despite Thurmond’s insistence that he had never been a racist, his opposition to integration became the headline of his obituaries (The New York Times).

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!