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☆ The government's main budget experts confirmed that the US could risk economic catastrophe as soon as early June
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected the US could run out of money in early June. That projection tracks with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's warnings on when the US could default. Congress can step in and prevent the crisis, but so far Republicans and Democrats are still sparring. So far, though, Congress seems to be running up the clock as Republicans and Democrats spar over how to avert a preventable catastrophe. The top lawmakers were expected to meet with Biden again on Friday to discuss the debt ceiling, but the meeting was reportedly postponed to give staffers more time to chat on potential areas of compromise.

☆ Democratic lawmakers are skeptical about using a $1 trillion coin or the 14th amendment to get around the debt ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Minting a $1 trillion platinum coin or using the 14th amendment could solve the crisis while sidestepping Congress. The 14th amendment, on the other hand, contains a clause that could declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional and get rid of it forever. 'That's beyond my paygrade and my mental capacity'Insider asked some Democratic senators what they thought of minting a coin or using the 14th amendment to get around the debt ceiling crisis. Sen. Ron Wyden, top lawmaker on the Senate Finance Committee, said that when it comes to the 14th amendment, "I'm not there yet. Yellen also said at a new conference in Japan on Wednesday that "it's legally questionable whether or not that's a viable strategy," referring to the 14th amendment.

☆ Republicans want to push Manchin out of a reelection bid because they think he's the last Democrat who can win in deep red West Virginia: 'You can't say that it's impossible for him to win'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republicans are looking to nudge Joe Manchin out of a Senate reelection bid in 2024. Still, Republican leaders aren't dismissing Manchin, as he has withstood the GOP lean of the state. And the state Senate and state House of Delegates, which had robust Democratic majorities just over a decade ago, now have GOP supermajorities. But if Manchin does run, Republicans should expect a tenacious campaigner who has shown that he won't be outworked. "He has that Clinton-esque ability to make everybody feel like he's your friend and he's listening to you and he's concerned about you," Hickey told Politico.

A series of upcoming challenges, from the ongoing war in Ukraine to a still-uncertain economy, could provide hurdles to Biden’s reelection. The Washington beltway event may be indicative of what’s to come for the Biden reelection campaign strategy. “Just like four years ago—I’m off to teach and Joe’s launched his (re-election) campaign! Obama held his first reelection campaign rally in May 2012, 13 months after announcing his bid for a second term. The wait for a Biden reelection rally could be just as long.

☆ Trump operatives considered using breached voting data to decertify Georgia's Senate runoff in 2021, text messages show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

It’s unclear what if any evidence he has in his possession related to the Coffee County breach. Penrose and Logan were also named in a state-level criminal investigation in Michigan alleging they participated in a conspiracy to seize voting machines there. A local election official helped them gain access to sensitive voting data which they downloaded onto a portable hard drive. Bundren was part of the team enlisted by Trump’s lawyers to find evidence of widespread voter fraud after the 2020 election. Bundren helped oversee the multi-state push to access voting machines on behalf of the Trump legal team, according to several documents obtained by CNN.

☆ Fox mogul Rupert Murdoch survived the phone-hacking scandal. Dominion's $1.6 billion lawsuit will test whether he can do it again.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Now, two voting-technology companies, Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, want to make another Murdoch media property pay even more for Fox News's role in spreading election denial. But the phone-hacking scandal showed how Murdoch has weathered challenges to his power before. Another key difference from the phone-hacking scandal is the presence of written records that show Fox execs knew exactly what was going on. In the last quarter of 2022, Fox Corp. netted $321 million on $4.6 billion in revenue. And during the phone-hacking scandal, Murdoch showed fierce loyalty.

☆ Republicans are seeking wealthy, self-funding candidates to help the party win a Senate majority in 2024, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

GOP leaders are seeking out wealthy Senate candidates to counter Democratic fundraising successes. In recent cycles, some GOP candidates have used outside spending to mitigate spending disparities. Last year, Democratic Senate nominees in the six most competitive races outraised their GOP counterparts by $288 million, per Politico. The well-known doctor poured $26.8 million of his own funds into his unsuccessful Senate campaign, according to OpenSecrets. Dolan, who put more than $10.5 million into his 2022 Senate bid, could face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley campaigns for Georgia Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Herschel Walker at a rally with supporters in Hiram, Georgia, U.S. November 6, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will launch her candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Feb. 15, squaring off against her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with her plans. If she were to win the nomination, Haley would be the first woman at the top of the Republican presidential ticket in history, as well as the party's first non-white nominee. Even in a field where most candidates have changed their mind about key issues multiple times, Haley is particularly chameleonic. Haley, who governed the state from 2011 to 2017, is popular there, polls show.

☆ Republicans are mostly ignoring a $9.4 million sexual assault lawsuit against the Trump-aligned head of CPAC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A GOP staffer accused CPAC head Matt Schlapp of sexually assaulting him, filing a $9.4 million lawsuit. A screenshot of the staffer's texts with Matt Schlapp on the morning after the assault on October 20, 2022. "I had a private life before Matt Schlapp, and I want to have that life post-Matt Schlapp," he said. "Those are simply allegations, and I'm not going to comment on them," said Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. "All matters pertaining to CPAC, I leave to CPAC internally," he said when asked if Matt Schlapp should remain atop the organization.

☆ On King’s holiday, daughter calls for bold action over words
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Bernice King, who leads The King Center in Atlanta, said leaders — especially politicians — too often cheapen her father’s legacy into a “comfortable and convenient King” offering easy platitudes. The service, organized by the center and held at Ebenezer annually, headlined observances of the 38th federal King holiday. ... A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds and our behavior,” Bernice King said. At Ebenezer, Warnock, who has led the congregation for 17 years, hailed his predecessor’s role in securing ballot access for Black Americans. But, like Bernice King, the senator warned against a reductive understanding of King.

☆ Trump exalts himself over Kevin McCarthy's elevation to House speaker: 'I did our Country a big favor!'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump on Saturday took to Truth Social to pat himself on the back for McCarthy's speakership win. "I greatly helped Kevin McCarthy attain the position of Speaker of the House," he wrote. After 15 rounds of balloting, McCarthy was selected by the House as its speaker in a 216-212 vote. "The Fake News Media was, believe it or not, very gracious in their reporting that I greatly helped Kevin McCarthy attain the position of Speaker of the House," he wrote. McCarthy has long allied himself with Trump, and backtracked in his criticism of the former president after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

☆ Conservative leader Matt Schlapp is accused of fondling a male campaign staffer in Georgia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

"He reached in between my legs and fondled me," the former Walker staffer told NBC News in a telephone interview Thursday night. Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, is married to former Trump White House aide Mercedes Schlapp. A senior official on the Walker campaign confirmed that the aide shared the allegation with his supervisors at the time. "The whole thing makes me physically ill," said the senior Walker campaign official. Both the staffer and the senior campaign official said the Walker campaign made legal counsel available to the staffer to discuss his legal options and indicated the campaign would support whatever decision he made.

☆ Democrats will be defending a slim Senate majority in 2024. Here's an early look at the states that will likely be in play for both political parties.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The 2024 Senate elections — which will run concurrent with the presidential race — are approaching. In 2024, 34 senators will be up for reelection: 20 Democrats, 11 Republicans, and three Independents. But Sinema's election itself is another matter; she has not yet announced whether she will run for reelection in 2024. He has not yet decided if he will run in 2024, but Republicans have been eyeing his seat for years. But he has done it before, winning in 2018 despite Republicans going all-out to defeat him.

☆ A Georgia GOP congressman who backed Trump's election lies voted in the wrong county, but his spokesman insists it wasn't a 'devious ploy'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A GOP Congressman in Georgia may have broken the state's voting law by casting ballots in the wrong county. Rep. Drew Ferguson voted in the county where he used to live during the 2022 election cycle. Ferguson has been an advocate against voter fraud since the 2020 election and backed Trump's election lies. "Congressman Ferguson resolved the issue, and proceeded to vote in Troup County for the primary, general, and run-off elections." "Congressman Ferguson is currently in the process of transitioning his residency to his new home in Pike County," the spokesman added.

☆ Trump hits 7-year low in new national poll as Biden approval climbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Just 31% of registered voters surveyed hold a favorable view of Trump, versus 59% who have an unfavorable opinion of him, the poll found. That's the lowest rating Trump has received since July 2015, shortly after he launched his first presidential bid, according to Quinnipiac. Trump's declining marks were even worse among independent voters, the poll showed. Majorities of registered-voter respondents told Quinnipiac they would not like to see Trump or Biden as a 2024 presidential nominee. Asked for comment, a source close to Trump noted that a recent Morning Consult poll showed Trump holding court as the frontrunner, backed by 49% of potential GOP primary voters compared with 31% who favored DeSantis.

☆ Florida Sen. Rick Scott says defeated Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker will 'continue to be a leader' in the GOP 'for years to come'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Rick Scott said Herschel Walker would "continue to be a leader" in the GOP "for years to come." Scott made the comments following Walker's runoff defeat to Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia. The Florida lawmaker was a visible presence at many Walker rallies throughout the campaign. But throughout the course of the campaign, Walker's campaign suffered from a series of scandals. After the runoff loss, Republicans are continuing to do a lot of soul-searching, as every statewide GOP candidate besides Walker was victorious at the ballot box in Georgia this year.

☆ Before Herschel Walker announced his Georgia Senate bid, a law firm hired by GOP consultants compiled a 500-page dossier on him with potentially damaging information: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GOP consultants hired a law firm to conduct research on Walker before his Senate run, per NBC News. The firm compiled a 500-page dossier on Walker, which contained potentially problematic issues. Walker and his wife believed that his goodwill among Georgians would blunt negative attacks on him. But Walker and his current wife, Julie Blanchard Walker, weren't discouraged by the report. The result made Walker the only statewide Republican candidate to lose their race in Georgia this year.

☆ Herschel Walker's wife had an 'obsessive focus' on her husband winning over more Black voters and felt he should have been receiving up to 50% of the Black vote: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Herschel Walker and his wife wanted to court Black voters in the Georgia Senate race, per Politico. Julie Blanchard Walker said Walker should've been getting robust Black support, per the report. An individual close to the campaign told Politico that her idea morphed into an "obsessive focus." The biggest complication in the efforts by the Walkers to engage with Black voters? And he campaigned extensively in those areas throughout the entire campaign, while Walker's overall campaign strategy targeted conservatives and the state's rural evangelical community.

☆ After failure in Georgia Senate runoff, Republicans could bring in more voting changes next year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Republicans lost the state's Senate runoff election, which was held under the new rules. Some Republicans are now pointing fingers at those laws as they reflect on the runoff loss, The New York Times reported. But there is disagreement in the party over the approach it should take with voting laws, according to the Times. The current laws typically expand in-person early voting in many areas in normal elections, but NBC News reported that they reduce the number of early voting days in runoff elections because they cut the amount of time between general elections and runoff elections. A composite image showing Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who won the state’s runoff election, and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Biden had been hopeful that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be more apt to free Griner once America’s midterm elections were done, a calculation that proved correct. Still detained in Russia is Paul Whelan, a businessman whom the White House has also been working to free without success. In a 2012 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” when he was vice president, Biden came out in favor of same-sex marriage, and he is expected to sign the measure into law. White House officials acknowledged the headwinds and worried that the midterm elections would be a repudiation of Biden’s record. “When I look at what the Biden White House has done, I think experience and patience really paid off,” said Jennifer Palmieri, who served as White House communications director during the Obama administration.

☆ Inside the turbulent, doomed campaign of Herschel Walker
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +14 min

Republican candidate Herschel Walker's campaign was starved for cash as it faced Sen. Raphael Warnock and his deep-pocketed Democratic allies. Beyond highlighting an intense clash in a nationally watched political campaign’s crucible, the blowup underscored the core problem of Walker’s campaign: Walker. The so-called “oppo” book, however, didn’t have information about the abortion story, which rocked Walker’s campaign. And despite the damaging information that could come out in a campaign, Walker decided to run anyway. By Election Day, Walker campaign staffers knew they were likely to lose.

☆ Young voters propelled Raphael Warnock to victory in the Georgia Senate runoff, but the work to boost their political engagement continues: 'We're not stopping here'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sen. Raphael Warnock's runoff victory was driven in large part by his support among young voters. But young voters — with Gen Z and younger millennials flexing their political power — emerged as a critical demographic in the Georgia Senate race. Looking at the Georgia Senate runoff results, what actually happened to get more young voters to the polls? Heightened voter engagementVoters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led voter-engagement nonprofit organization, sent 2.5 million calls and texts to young Georgia voters urging them to participate. But it will take continued engagement with young voters to ensure robust participation in the future, especially in non-presidential election cycles.

☆ Trump isn’t the only thing that could rock American democracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In a rare bright spot for democracy in the wake of the US Capitol insurrection, Walker – unlike Trump after 2020 – conceded his loss. But looking to the next election, there’s a brewing fight over which states should have the first say in the presidential primary process. The most core question raised this week is being put to Supreme Court justices. Removing a check from the systemThe leap from Trump’s call to end the Constitution to the independent state legislature theory isn’t that far. Under the map approved by the state Supreme Court and after last month’s midterm elections, the delegation will be an even 7-7 when the new Congress is seated in January.

☆ Trump's former White House economic adviser says he doesn't understand what his old boss is doing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Larry Kudlow said former President Donald Trump was damaging his own support levels. He highlighted Trump calling for the "termination" of the Constitution and controversial meetings. "I don't understand what our former boss is doing," Kudlow said, speaking with Trump's former counselor Kellyanne Conway. Kudlow also said that Trump was too focused on claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. "His meddling and insistence that the 2020 election was stolen will deliver more losses," Bolton added.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., kept his supporters energized ahead of Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff, and it showed on the electoral map. Turnout was high for Tuesday’s election, an NBC News analysis of election data shows, with runoff turnout at almost 90% of the general election’s level. That strong turnout was the key to Warnock’s victory, as the Democrat improved his results in almost two-thirds of Georgia’s 159 counties. By comparison, seven of the 10 counties where turnout fell the most were counties Walker won in November, and Walker improved his vote share in just one county that Warnock carried in November. Warnock entered Election Day with an early vote advantage, which was even more heavily Democratic than it was in the general election.

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