Political Jason

Speaker Kevin McCarthy suffered yet another stinging defeat Thursday, as a handful of conservatives tanked a key vote that was supposed to signal the way out of days of intraparty bickering. Instead, GOP hardliners again blockaded the floor for the second time in three days — leaving McCarthy unable to call the party’s own defense spending bill to the floor. This time, though, it came as a shock to many GOP leaders, who believed they won over enough holdouts to…

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House Oversight Chair James Comer, who is investigating President Joe Biden for what Republicans call potentially impeachable offenses, was given unrestricted access Thursday to a batch of his emails from his time as vice president, according to two sources familiar with them. Comer has made gaining access to redacted portions of Biden’s emails a major target as he tries to build a case that the former vice president sought to dictate U.S. policy on Ukraine to benefit the business interests…

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A powerful network of liberal donors is joining the push to stop No Labels’ threatened plan to launch a third-party presidential run — warning major political funders to stay away from the group. The donors club, Democracy Alliance, shared its thinking about the bipartisan organization’s operation exclusively with POLITICO. Democrats have grown increasingly concerned that an independent No Labels ticket would function as a spoiler and help former President Donald Trump or another Republican candidate defeat President Joe Biden in…

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The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. Washington is more resigned to the looming government shutdown every day. As the Sept. 30 deadline approaches, congressional leaders showed little progress this week in moving a stopgap funding bill to…

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Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trapped in a vicious cycle. Every day this week, he has unveiled a new strategy to move forward on funding the government. And every day, he has been thwarted by a small but powerful group of opponents in his own party. In a slim majority where a handful of House Republicans has the power to kill any single proposal, that is exactly what a handful of ultraconservatives have done this week — again and again. McCarthy…

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The long-shot idea that Democrats could bail out the beleaguered Speaker Kevin McCarthy is suddenly getting real. Small groups of centrist Democrats are holding secret talks with several of McCarthy’s close GOP allies about a last-ditch deal to fund the government, according to more than a half-dozen people familiar with the discussions. The McCarthy allies engaging in those conversations are doing so out of serious concern that their party can’t stop an impending shutdown on its own, given the intransigence…

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Washington is reaching a consensus: the government will shut down in 10 days — and Republicans will bear the brunt of voter disgust over it. With House GOP leadership on Wednesday again showing little progress in moving a stopgap funding bill to prevent a shutdown, officials have begun a two-pronged effort to prepare for a shutdown that seems less avoidable every day. There is the official side of government, where the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget has been…

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Potential tax charges against Hunter Biden hit a snag last year when the top federal prosecutor in Delaware didn’t get help from his counterparts in other jurisdictions, an IRS law enforcement official told congressional investigators. The official, director of field operations Michael Batdorf, described in closed-door testimony how federal prosecutors in California and Washington, D.C., declined to assist U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware in charging the president’s son. The lack of cooperation caused Weiss, who has long overseen the…

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The Senate overwhelmingly approved Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown to be the military’s top officer Wednesday night, though a months-long blockade by Sen. Tommy Tuberville is still leaving over 300 senior officers in limbo. The 83-11 vote to confirm Brown as Joint Chiefs chair was a surprise development amid the Alabama Republican’s promotions hold. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who for months refused to hold standalone votes on military nominees, teed up votes on three of President Joe Biden’s Joint…

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With a government shutdown looming, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been fielding attacks from fellow Republicans accusing him of failing to lead his party through the chaos. Still, he has vowed to push forward: “I’ve told all of Congress you’re not going to go home. We’re going to continue to work through this,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. “Things that are tough sometimes are worth it.” The attacks are likely to continue as the Sept. 30 deadline…

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