Power is not alluring to pure minds.
-Thomas Jefferson
CHOOSING CRUZ: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is relying on an unlikely colleague to try and push health care forward. Senator Ted Cruz has shed his loner style and is now the man McConnell is counting on to move the ACA repeal bill through the Senate. By including Cruz and UT Senator Mike Lee, the Majority Leader is hoping they can build support among conservative groups and the Freedom Caucus to get the bill through. The involvement of Cruz in the health care group signals that McConnell believes the best way for passage is through the conservative wing of his caucus. This helps to echo what our colleague Emily Evans said last week in that the struggle for health care bill so far has been more politics than policy and the most important objective is to just pass a bill - the same mistake that was made just over seven years ago.
FOOT OFF THE GAS: In a surprise move, the Senate voted to reject overturning an Obama administration rule limiting methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling. Republican Senators Susan Collins, John McCain and Lindsey Graham joined all of the Democrats in voting against the bill. This was the last opportunity for the Senate to overturn the regulation under the Congressional Review Act, which provides an easy method for blocking regulations, but sets a time limit on when Congress can vote. While Congress can no longer repeal the rule, the Interior Department could in turn repeal it through an extensive, long-lasting rulemaking process.
THE EARLY BIRD GETS A BUDGET: Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi like many people has his eyes squarely focused on two deadlines in September - the end of the fiscal year as well the approaching timeframe when the Treasury Department’s “extraordinary measures” extending the debt ceiling will come to an end. To try and beat the tide Enzi is looking at legislation that lifts the federal borrowing limit for ten years while also imposing new annual limits on spending. This will get major support from the conservative base of the party as it will help to balance the budget. If this doesn’t work out, Enzi has also pitched basing the debt ceiling as a share of GDP, rather than on a dollar amount.
HE’S BAAACCCK: As the Trump Administration works to make its decision on what to do about the Paris climate agreement, President Trump had a few minutes with an unlikely caller - former Veep Al Gore. Gore called the president to make the case for why the U.S. should stay in the agreement. He joins the side of First Daughter Ivanka Trump as well as a number of others inside and outside the White House trying to convince the president to remain. Whether Gore’s time with the president has any effect won’t be known until later this month as a decision may not be PENned until after the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
COOK’S SHIFT: Following last Thursday’s vote on the American Health Care Act, which passed 217-213, our friends at the Cook Political Report have shifted 20 2018 House races. These moves have moved Solid Republican seats to Likely Republican, Likely Republican seats to Lean Republican, and Lean Republican to toss ups. You can see the moves below:
TODAY: CALL INVITE | NET NEUTRALITY / BATTLE AT THE FCC: Thursday May 11th at 11 AM ET.
TOMORROW: CALL INVITE / OPEC MEETING PREVIEW WITH FORMER OPEC PRESIDENT AND ALGERIAN OIL MINISTER | Friday, May 12th at 11 AM ET.
