WASHINGTON — On Thursday, President Biden will make a secure call to Ukraine with leaders from Australia, India, and Japan. Biden also leads his cabinet meeting. NBC’s Benjy Saline reports that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) opens the door to a reconciliation agreement. … Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Jessica Cisneros are headed to a Texas-28 runoff. … Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas) has ended his re-election campaign in Texas-03, after admitting to an affair. … The House Jan. 6 Committee has found that Trump was part of a criminal conspiracy to reverse the 2020 election.
First, you should review the 12 months that ran from June 2019 to June 2020 to find out why Biden used the State of the Union address to call to defund the police and to secure the U.S.-Mexico frontier.
When Democratic presidential candidates called for decriminalizing border crossings: “My proposal also includes getting ridof Section 1325 of Immigration and Nationality Act. To go back to how we used to treat it when someone comes across the border. Not to criminalize desperation but to treat that as an offense. Julian Castro stated at a debate on June 26, 2019,, “I want to challenge all of these candidates to support the repealing Section 1325.”
They called for the end of private health insurance. “I’m with Bernie on Medicare For All.” Let me tell you why,” Elizabeth Warren stated at the same debate .
Beto O’Rourke stated at a Sept. 2019 debate.
When members of the “Squad” tried to dismantle police department: “You can’t really reform a program that has been rotten from the root.” After George Floyd’s death, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) stated that rebuilding is what you can do.
Biden was, however, always on the oppos side of these discussions in 2019-2020.
You can still see the transformation of the Democratic Party, at least in rhetorical terms, from June 2019 to Juni 2020.
That perception was what Biden tried to change on Tuesday night.
Data Download: The number for the day is… 900,000.
This is roughly how many people voted in Texas in the GOP primaries to governor and attorney general, compared to the Democratic primaries.
Democrats are less optimistic about their chances of winning Texas, due to the huge gap in primary turnout.
You can read more at the MTP Blog.
You need to be familiar with the following numbers:
1,000,000: This is the number of people who fled Ukraine during the past week, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees
4 : The total number of countries that voted against yesterday’s U.N. Resolution condemning the “aggression against Ukraine”.
$32.5 Billion: This is how much money Congress has requested the White House to give before its March 11 funding deadline. It includes $10 billion for Ukraine and $22.5 Billion to fight the pandemic.
Roundup of the midterm
Although Texas Primary Day was Tuesday, Wednesday afternoon saw two significant developments.
First, NBC News’ Decision Desk predicted that the Democratic primary Texas’ 28th district between Rep. Henry Cuellar (progressive challenger) and Jessica Cisneros would advance to a May 24-runoff.
The second, and most shocking, development was made by Republican Rep. Van Taylor. He announced that he would be ending his campaign just hours after he was forced to run against Keith Self, former Collin County Judge. Taylor’s votes for an independent commission that would investigate the Jan. 6 attack on Taylor and to certify 2020 elections had already upset conservatives. Self is now the favourite to succeed Taylor as Congressman.
Yesterday, Biden went to Wisconsin to promote his agenda. The most recent Marquette Law School poll included some positive news for Democrats in Badger State. Democratic governor. Tony Evers’ approval has returned to 50 percent, with 41 disapproving; the GOP-controlled legislature has a approval rating of just 37% (with 46%) disapproving); only 33 percent of voters view Republican Senator Ron Johnson favorably (45%)).
The Democratic Senate primary race for Wisconsin seems wide open. Lt. Governor. Mandela Barnes (23%), and Alex Lasry (13%), are the only candidates with double-digit numbers. Former Lt. Governor. Rebecca Kleefisch is leading the GOP gubernatorial primaries with 30%, compared to Kevin Nicholson’s 8% and Tim Ramthun’s 5 percent. There are still many undecided voters: 48 percent in the Democratic race, and 54 percent in Republican.
The Ohio GOP-majority Redistricting Commission approved a new congressional map. However, it is up to the state Supreme Court whether or not it becomes effective.
AdImpact reports that Arkansas Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders received more than $700,000.
Although Trump was not endorsed in the Ohio Senate race by former President Trump, Jane Timken, ex-Gov Chairwoman, used footage of Trump applauding her in her latest ad .
Mark Walker, a former North Carolina Representative, has officially ended speculation that he would leave the Senate race in order to run for the House. He filed yesterday to run for Senate per a press release.
Ad watch: McMullin strikes Lee over Russia
The focus of Evan McMullin’s TV ad for the Senate race is Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. McMullin is an independent candidate running unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2016. He attacks incumbent Republican Senator Mike Lee for his record regarding Russia.
Lee is accused of opposing sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the ad and of going to Moscow to discuss lifting sanctions against Russia.
“Sen. McMullin, a former CIA officer and a candidate for the ad, states that Lee had abandoned our values which made us unsafe and weak. He then pivots to offer himself as an option to Lee, highlighting his work in national security.
McMullin’s advertisement is the first to use the war in Ukraine against a candidate during a midterm campaign.
Talking policy with Benjy – Manchin opens the door again
After months of wrangling about the subject, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sent the strongest signal yet, indicating that he is open to talking with Democrats about a reconciliation bill to replace the departed Build Back Better.
NBC NewsManchin said that he was interested in a bill that would raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and cut prescription drug prices to lower the deficit. On Wednesday, Manchin spoke with Polio and was more specific about what he would offer his caucus as a return, as well how he would approach a general framework for negotiations.
Climate was the big prize. Democrats thought they were close in December to a deal on $550 billion in tax incentives for clean energy, electric vehicles, and other energy-saving measures. Manchin stated that he would like more support for fossil fuels due to the Russian invasion, but he also offered to use tax revenue and drug reform to fund green policies.
“If you do this, the revenue-producing [measures] would have to be taxes and drugs. Manchin stated in an interview that climate is the main source of spending.
First Read reported that climate is likely to be the foundation of any deal. It’s the issue that unites the party as well as carries a planetary clock. Manchin connected the issue to energy independence form Russia on Tuesday. This is a hint at how Democrats might be able to rebrand this bill as an anti–Putin measure.
Anything Democrats can get after that would be a bonus. Manchin said that he favors an equal split between deficit reduction and spending, which is a crucial new basis for negotiations. He said, “And the social problems, we basically must deal with those” after climate and revenues.
If Democrats could raise the same amount of revenue as BBB (around $2 trillion), it would make room for some of the policies he has expressed interest in, such as Affordable Care Act fixes (about 400 billion), home care ($200billion), or some kind of pre-K program.
However, there are many “ifs” in this situation. Manchin’s preferred tax increases are in conflict with Sen. Kyrsten Silena’s and other Democrats’, so it might not be possible for them to come to an agreement. House progressives may also be against a smaller bill and fossil fuel-friendly climate tweaks. However, they have not yet issued any red lines.
Make no mistake about it, Manchin opened the door to reconciliation negotiations wider than ever since he left BBB. Democrats will be under immense pressure to find a deal if he is serious about climate change.
ICYMI: What other happenings around the world
In a new filing, the Jan. 6 committee claims that Trump was in a ‘criminal conspiracy to overturn 2020′.
The White House revealed a new strategy to address the next phase in the pandemic.
The confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be held March 21-24 by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Politico examines the impact of New York City’s recent decision to allow noncitizens to vote in certain elections.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was indicted for racketeering .
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), has been long Covid and began to show symptoms two years later. He is now partnering with other Senate Democrats to create legislation to investigate the issue.
