What McCarthy’s impeachment announcement means for 2024
“Kevin McCarthy just invited MAGA Trump Republicans into primaries against his most vulnerable House members to protect his own power,” a Democratic strategist said to Supercreator News.
FIRST THINGS FIRST • Impeachment fallout ➟ House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY’s right flank forced his hand again.
In a brief statement on Tuesday to reporters outside his suite at the Capitol, McCarthy announced his conference would open an impeachment inquiry into President JOE BIDEN as pressure mounted from House conservatives to hold an impeachment vote. But despite months of investigations, GOP-controlled House committees have failed to reveal a connection between the president and his son HUNTER’s international business dealings.
The announcement comes days after McCarthy told conservative news outlet Breitbart that any impeachment inquiry would begin with a vote in the House. But after it became clear he lacked the votes and former President DONALD TRUMP turned up the heat in a post on his social app, McCarthy reneged on that commitment.
2024 implications: McCarthy’s decision also burdens frontline House Republicans with a thorny decision: Walk the plank and look as extreme as House conservatives or break ranks and oppose the move and potentially face a primary challenge from a far-right candidate next year.
“Kevin McCarthy just invited MAGA Trump Republicans into primaries against his most vulnerable House members to protect his own power while he cowers to the MAGA Republicans in his party,” CHRIS TAYLOR, Democratic strategist and Principal at CIVIL, said to Supercreator News. “Part of the reason why Republicans had such an abysmal cycle last cycle is because they had so many extremist out-of-step candidates running in these competitive seats.”
ABBY CURRAN HORRELL, executive director of House Majority PAC, the principal outside group that funds ads for House Democrats expressed a similar sentiment.
“This political stunt will doom vulnerable MAGA Republicans, particularly those representing districts won by President Biden in 2020,” she said. “And House Majority PAC looks forward to defeating them in 2024.”
The Democratic response: Congressional Democrats framed the inquiry announcement as a distraction from the House Republican majority’s inability to govern as converging legislative deadlines risk shutting down the government and allowing aviation and agriculture programs to lapse without reauthorization.
“It’s a waste of time and taxpayer dollars,” House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) told reporters on Tuesday. “Extreme MAGA Republicans have no economic agenda. They have no housing agenda. They have no health care agenda. They have no education agenda. They have no public safety agenda. They have no agenda designed to address the needs of the American people.”
COURTNEY RICE, a spokesperson for the House Democrats’ campaign arm, reprised a popular party message: We’re mainstream, the Republicans are extreme.
“The split-screen of MAGA House Republicans pursuing a purely partisan agenda while House Democrats fight to rebuild our economy and create jobs will show voters once and for all that only one party is focused on the issues facing everyday Americans,” she said in a statement.
Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) expressed sympathy for McCarthy and the difficult position House conservatives have put him in.
“But sometimes you gotta tell these people who are way off the deep end, who have no interest in helping the American people, who just want to pursue their own witch hunts that they can’t go forward with it,” Schumer said. “So I’m disappointed. I think it’s absurd.”
View from the White House: Biden administration officials zeroed in on McCarthy’s hypocrisy to delegitimize the inquiry as nothing more than a partisan exercise.
“He vowed to hold a vote to open in impeachment, now he flip-flopped because he doesn’t have support,” spokesperson IAN SAMS said in a statement. “This is extreme politics at its worst.”
The Biden campaign characterized the impeachment inquiry as the latest example of Speaker McCarthy doing Trump’s bidding.
“Kevin McCarthy has cemented his role as the Trump campaign’s super-surrogate by turning the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign,” Biden campaign spokesperson AMMAR MOUSSA said in a statement.
What’s next: The House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways & Means Committees will lead the inquiry.
The committees are expected to subpoena additional bank records and members of the Biden family in search of the smoking gun their months of investigation have yet to uncover.
If House Republicans were to follow through with an impeachment vote, the Democratic-controlled Senate would likely block Biden from conviction and removal from office.
👋🏾HI, HEY, HELLO! Good Wednesday morning. It’s September 13, 2023. You’re reading Supercreator Daily, the definitive guide to the politicians, power brokers, and policies shaping the American creator experience. Get in touch: michael@supercreator.news.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING UPDATE ➟ The impeachment announcement overshadowed the fact that the country is 17 days away from a government shutdown if Congress fails to approve a short-term funding measure to buy it more time to pass the 12 regular appropriations bills.
With a resounding 85–12 bipartisan vote, the Senate on Tuesday took the first procedural step to open debate on a minibus package of three bills to fund military construction and veterans programs, the Agriculture Department and FDA, and the transportation and housing agencies.
The current hope and expectation is that the minibus will pass next week. But the more amendment votes that are allowed, the longer final passage will take.
Senators are now negotiating a time agreement to govern how long the bills can be debated and how many amendments will be allowed. The agreement will require unanimous consent from all senators.
“[Senate Minority Leader [MITCH] McCONNELL [(R-Ky.)] McConnell and I are working in a great way together,” Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday. “So when that happens, we usually reach a good time agreement and I’m very hopeful that will happen.”
Late last night, the House Rules Committee approved a measure for one hour of debate and 184 votes on the House’s version of the defense appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon.
The House is expected to vote on the rule this afternoon but it’s unclear if Republicans have the votes to adopt it. If it fails, GOP leadership will be unable to bring the Pentagon bill to the floor for consideration.
SENATE’S FIRST AI FORUM ➟ The Senate this morning will hold its first forum in the next step towards developing comprehensive legislation to regulate artificial intelligence. The meeting follows a series of AI briefings before the August recess to give senators a baseline knowledge of the technology.
“It seems that Congress has finally really discovered artificial intelligence and [today], I think we're going to continue the progress that we've already made in just making sure that all of our colleagues have the fluency in this space that their constituents would want of us as we start to wrestle with these questions,” Sen. MARTIN HEINRICH (D-N.M.), one of the leaders on the issue, told reporters on Tuesday. “And I think it’ll be a really good opportunity for us to start thinking through as a body how do we maximize those places where AI can make a substantial positive difference in people's lives while minimizing the risks.”
On the guest list: BILL GATES, former CEO of Microsoft, TRISTAN HARRIS, co-founder and executive director of Center for Human Technology, ELON MUSK, CEO of X and Tesla, SUNDAR PICHAI, CEO of Google, SATYA NADELLA, CEO of Microsoft, and MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO of Meta are among the confirmed attendees for the meeting.
The counterpoint: Criticism has emerged in recent days of the closed nature of the all-senators’ briefings and this morning’s forum.
But Schumer argued that Senate committees have held nine open hearings prior to the summer break and three this week alone.
“There’s a time and a place for everything,” he added. “And I think this AI forum will produce some real, real positive knowledge and results so that people can move forward but we're going to continue to have open hearings and the whole process will move forward through committees in an open process.”
What about legislation? Schumer has repeatedly dodged questions from reporters about whether these sessions will translate into policy that threads the needle between protecting creators and consumers from exploitation without stifling innovation but said on Tuesday that inaction isn’t an option.
“If we don’t do anything AI is going to move forward without us and the dangers could be could be maximized and the opportunities could be minimized,” he said. “And so this is going to be one of the most important sessions, if you will, that Congress has had.”
HAPPENINGS
10 a.m. President Biden will receive his daily intelligence briefing. The House is in and will begin consideration of a bill to fund the Pentagon.
12 p.m. The Senate is in and will resume consideration of a package of three appropriations bills to fund the government.
12:55 p.m. Vice President Harris will ceremonially swear in the President’s Committee on Arts & Humanities.
2:30 p.m. The president will meet with his cancer cabinet. First Lady Dr. JILL BIDEN will attend.
3:05 p.m. The vice president will travel from Washington to Chicago, arriving at 5:05 p.m.
5 p.m. Dr. Biden will host the 2023 International Medal of Arts Ceremony at the White House.
6 p.m. Vice President Harris will speak at a campaign fundraiser.
6:15 p.m. President Biden will leave the White House to travel to McLean, Virginia, arriving at 6:30 p.m.
6:40 p.m. The president will speak at a campaign fundraiser.
7:45 p.m. The vice president will leave Chicago and get back to Washington at 9:15 p.m.
8:30 p.m. President Biden will arrive at the White House.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
“How Columbia ignored women, undermined prosecutors and protected a predator for more than 20 years” by Bianca Fortis, ProPublica, and Laura Bell: “For decades, patients warned Columbia about the behavior of obstetrician Robert Hadden. One even called 911 and had him arrested. Columbia let him keep working.”
“Tim Scott’s girlfriend” by Ben Terris: “The unmarried presidential candidate doesn’t like talking about his new relationship very much. But he is talking about it.”
“A bold new federal experiment in giving renters cash” by Rachel M. Cohen: “Would money help tenants more than housing vouchers?”
“Ketchup with those fries? Sure—as long as it’s anti-woke” by Kathryn Joyce: “Those Bud Light protests just scratched the surface. The right wing is constructing an entire parallel economy from its own coffee to its own banks.”
“Wildfires are coming… for New Jersey?” by Kylie Mohr: “Climate change is expanding the list of areas at risk for the worst wildfires.”
“How cars ruin wild animals’ lives” by Marina Bolotnikova in conversation with Ben Goldfarb: “If you love nature, consider not driving in it.”
“The problems that marriage can’t fix” by Hannah Giorgis: “Rather than explore the complexities of building a life together, Netflix’s The Ultimatum too often touts matrimony for matrimony’s sake.”
“How Glossier’s sheen wore off” by Hanna Koziowska in conversation with Marisa Meltzer
“Is that restaurant gonna suck?” by Tammie Teclemariam: “Some red flags to keep an eye on.”
ONE LAST THING ➟ Childhood poverty more than doubled in a year
The Census Bureau on Tuesday released data that showed the child poverty rate more than doubled from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent in 2022.
“This increase can be attributed to key changes in federal tax policy, including the expiration of temporary expansions of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit as well as the end of pandemic-era stimulus payments,” the agency said.
In a statement, President Biden blamed congressional Republicans for the grim data: “The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made to block help for families with children while advancing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and large corporations.”
Left unmentioned is Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), who opposed extending the enhanced CTC in what was then known as the Democrats’ Build Back Better plan without work requirements for recipients.
Semafor’s JOSEPH ZEBALLOS-ROIG asked Manchin whether he second-guessed his decision based on the new Census.
“It’s deeper than that,” Manchin said while adding he hadn’t seen the Census data yet. “We all have to do our part. The federal government can’t run everything.”
Sen. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.) will hold a press conference on the Child Tax Credit this afternoon at the Capitol.
THAT’S ALL UNTIL TOMORROW! I hope today is everything for you. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up for free.