With help from Nicholas Wu and Marianne LeVine here at the Capitol and Sarah Ferris in Allentown, Pa.
ON THE WILD SIDE — “People are pissed.”
That’s the message from Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) after headlining a local abortion rights rally a day after the SCOTUS draft opinion was made public. Wild is one of many battleground Democrats from New Hampshire to Nevada who’s been turning out at rallies outside clinics and courthouses as the party prepares for the fall of Roe v Wade.
As one of the most competitive House races in the nation, it is a test of whether Democrats can harness their base’s visceral anger at the Supreme Court to power its midterms drive. If they fail, especially in states like Pennsylvania, there is much more than a political loss: Abortion rights are actually at stake.
As Sarah reports from Allentown, the Democratic base is starting to recover the kind of sign-waving protest energy of the Trump years. Now that “resistance” energy in the suburbs over threats to abortion rights needs to translate into something like a Democratic wave, just as it did in 2018 when Democrats like Wild won her House seat after two years of the Trump presidency.
“Republicans are going to be in a very tough place right now. They have to defend something that Republicans said would never happen,” said now-Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who ran the House Democratic campaign arm during its 2018 takeover. “I think this is a very bad issue for them.”
One Democratic organizer, Deb Martin, told Sarah: “Maybe this is the thing we need. Because I feel like, leading up to the midterm election, the mood has been kind of subdued.”
MEANWHILE IN TEXAS… The third-ranking Democrat in the House headed to Texas Wednesday to support Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in Congress.
“I would ask anybody, which is more important: to have a pro-life Democrat or an antiabortion Republican?” Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) said. “Because come November, that could very well be the choice in this district.” More from The Los Angeles Times: House leaders stick with Democratic Texas congressman, despite his antiabortion stance
SPRING FOR THE FENCES — Here in Washington, ball, black “non-scalable” fencing has been erected around the Supreme Court overnight. It is the same style of fence that encircled the Capitol following Jan. 6.
GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, May 5. FYI Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican independence day (as your Huddle host has already overheard this week.) But there is elote in the Dirksen cafeteria!
TESTS AHEAD FOR GOP KINGMAKER — “There’s never been an endorsement in American history that has the political punch that President Trump’s endorsement has,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Olivia.
Trump’s picks swept through the Ohio primary earlier this week, quieting talk of his waning influence on the Republican party after losing in the 2020 election, losing his Twitter account and facing a second impeachment.
“He’s unlikely to topple several sitting governors he’s gone after. But when it comes to federal primaries, Trump far overshadows every other GOP figure, from the establishment to party gadflies, according to interviews with nearly a dozen GOP lawmakers,” write Burgess and Olivia.
Don’t miss this deep look at Trump’s grip on the party, including interviews with lawmakers who’ve beat Trump endorsements, had Trump endorsements, voted for impeachment and have endorsed different GOP candidates from Trump in the flood of primaries this spring: Trump reasserts dominance over GOP
DEMS WEIGH ABORTION STRATEGY — Senate Democrats are gearing up for a vote next week to codify Roe v. Wade, even as they fully expect it won’t receive support from all 50 members.
While Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the bill’s lead sponsor, stripped out non-binding language about abortion that prompted objections from moderate Democrats, it’s unclear what will be enough to get Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to vote “yes.”
Stripped out: The latest version of Blumenthal’s bill strips out statements linking abortion restrictions to “white supremacy” and “gender oppression.” It also emphasizes that protections apply both to women and “transgender men, non-binary individuals, those who identify with a different gender, and others.”
Manchin opposed a nearly identical bill that failed in February and his Democratic colleagues aren’t expecting a change of heart. Meanwhile, Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are pushing forward on their far narrower bill that would also codify Roe. Collins has spoken to Manchin about the legislation and the West Virginia Democrat said Wednesday: “We’ll be working with them.”
Floor map: Democratic senators also suggested that leadership could hold multiple votes related to Roe. And Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he’d like to see a bipartisan vote. But for others, it makes no difference given that the vote is largely symbolic and legislation is all but certain to stall without getting rid of the 60-vote threshold.
“Their goal is to find 60 people to support it,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said of Collins and Murkowski, “but considering that the Republicans are happy that Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned, I think that would be a challenge… The way I’m seeing it, if it’s bipartisan and it still won’t pass, it’s the same thing as us Democrats voting on a bill.”
More on this from Marianne and Alice Miranda Ollstein.
CONFIRMATION, CONSTERNATION— The draft abortion rights opinion disclosed this week — and its contrast to what nominees said about abortion during their Senate confirmation hearings — is prompting fresh scrutiny of the Supreme Court confirmation process on Capitol Hill, where most nominees say as little as humanly possible (especially on abortion) and senators are left dissecting their language and trying to interpret their thoughts on different issues that could come before the court.
“I believe that while there are certainly examples of people throughout the ages who have misled Congress during confirmation hearings, generally confirmation hearings are very useful in allowing members to flesh out a nominee’s views,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Seung Min Kim at The Washington Post. “That’s one reason this is so staggering, if in fact the decision turns out to be as it is.” Here’s the full story: Draft abortion ruling puts new spotlight on confirmation hearings
JR. SPEAKS — The Jan. 6 committee secured another top witness — Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former president, who interviewed with the panel for several hours on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. He’s the latest Trump family member to provide testimony to congressional investigators, who have already interviewed Ivanka Trump, Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner, as well as Trump Jr.’s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle. The select panel has indicated that it is interested in Trump Jr.’s knowledge of his father’s push to subvert the 2020 election. Kyle, Betsy, and Nicholas have the full story.
‘SHAMEFUL’ — Twenty five Senate Democrats, plus Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, penned a letter Wednesday calling for fair wages and benefits for the Senate dining workers who are negotiating for their first union contract with food service contractor Restaurant Associates.
The scathing letter, led by Senate Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was addressed to Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton, who has oversight responsibility for the Senate food service contracts, Joe Sargis, Chief Financial Officer of Restaurant Associates and Gary Green, CEO of their parent company, Compass Group.
“After these dedicated employees faced down a violent insurrection at the Capitol and continued to serve through more than two years of a pandemic, layoffs should never have been on the table,” scolded the letter’s signatories.
Workers in the Senate cafeterias are the least likely of all food service workers in federal buildings in Washington — just 18 percent– to be enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance or retirement. They say the plans offered are too expensive and many are forgoing important health care because of it.
“The current pay and benefits available to Senate cafeteria workers are already shameful. …For these workers to be laid off after serving this body throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in these conditions would be a stain on our institution,” they wrote.
The Senate’s contract with Restaurant Associates goes through December 2022, and the worker’s union Unite Here 23 has called for the relationship to be restructured into a new fee-for-service model.
TOLD YOU SO: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the top Republican on Senate Rules, pins today’s dining contract problems on failures of the past, outsourcing food service in the Capitol at all.
“Several years ago, when I was the House Whip, I came over here and tried to convince Senator [Michael] Bennet (D-Colo.) and Senator [Dianne] Feinstein (D-Calif.) that privatizing these restaurants was a bad idea. And I was right,” he told your Huddle host Wednesday.
But looking to the future, he said one key element is figuring out how to re-open shuttered eateries in the Capitol Complex and bring demand back to pre-pandemic levels.
“The good news is that the Capitol has reopened. People are coming back and there will be a need for more workers,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon before the letter, which he signed, was released.
QUICK LINKS
Farewell to the dumbest Senate primary ever, from Natalie Allison
Is Revak on the naughty list? In Alaska’s US House race, a campaign goes negative on Santa, from Liz Ruskin at Alaska Public Media
Judge mocks New York Democrats’ redistricting ‘Hail Mary’ case, from Bill Mahoney
TRANSITIONS
Sally Tucker is now a senior advisor for infrastructure communications at the office of the secretary of Interior. She previously worked for Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) Courtney Stevens has been promoted to be deputy chief of staff for Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.). She continues as his legislative director. Joe Aguilar has been named deputy communications director for the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association. He is digital comms assistant for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. George Hatamiya has been promoted to be communications director for Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.).
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House is out.
The Senate convenes at 11 a.m. with a vote at 1:45 p.m.
AROUND THE HILL
Looking like a quiet one (so far).
WEDNESDAY’S WINNER: Peter Roff correctly answered that Ruth McCormick of Illinois, Leonor Sullivan of Missouri and Nikki Tsongas of Massachusetts each followed their late husbands into Congress — without directly succeeding them.
TODAY’S QUESTION from Peter: How many takes did Richard Nixon need before he could say this highly-rated comedy series’ catchphrase without sounding, in the words of its producer, “angry or offended”?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]
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Reference-politi.co