The GOP is the party of half-Trump
Presented by PL+US and Paid Leave For All
With help from Daniel Payne, Renuka Rayasam and Myah Ward
STIMULUS RESPONSE Not all that long ago, Donald Trump was arguing for a $2 trillion Covid relief bill with $2,000 stimulus checks. Weeks ago, he pinpointed the GOP
loss of the Georgia Senate seats on Mitch McConnell’s refusal to consider the measure.
Now Biden is
pushing a massive stimulus bill of roughly the same size and with similar direct payments. And Republicans seem certain to oppose it en masse.
How could that be? The answer is, at once, simple. Being the opposition party carries certain responsibilities. But it also says a lot about the state of the post-Trump GOP.
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Presented by PL+US and Paid Leave For All
With help from Renuka Rayasam and Myah Ward
GLOBETROTTING FROM HOME After four weeks of moving to control the pandemic, watching a second impeachment rise and fall, and conducting a flurry of executive action to unwind the Trump era, Joe Biden finally got to take his first international trip. Like for the rest of us not named Ted Cruz, it was only by Zoom.
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With help from Renuka Rayasam
MONEY, POWER, RESPECT The most thought-provoking quote of the Biden era was uttered months before his presidency began. In the heat of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) warned Republicans that the raw political power they were deploying would be reciprocated in due time.
Democrats big post-impeachment agenda
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Welcome back Huddlers! The House and Senate are out this week, but there’s still a lot to watch for.
Let’s dive in:
RECONCILING: House Democrats are aiming to hold a floor vote on their Covid relief package next week, ahead of a March 14 deadline (when key unemployment provisions expire).
The House Budget Committee is expected to combine the various pieces of the bill into a reconciliation vehicle, after nine House panels held marathon budget hearings last week. Some lawmakers were spotted knitting, sleeping and on the move amid the hours-long hearings. Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) has yet to notice an official hearing.
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FLAG OFF THE FIELD This won’t be the first time a Super Bowl has been played during the pandemic. A year ago, the last time the Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Florida for a Super Bowl, more than 62,000 fans were in the stadium. After the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 2, 2020, winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw footballs from the back of a double-decker bus during a celebration parade a few days later to thousands of adoring Kansas City fans. Nearly all of the players and fans were blissfully unaware that Covid-19 was already spreading in the United States.