Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.
It’s still July for a few more days, but in the House, it’s already August. The chamber broke for their month-long recess last week, days earlier than anticipated. House Republicans had hoped to have all 12 appropriations bills passed by August recess, but that plan has stalled with only five bills passed and members out of Washington until September 9th.
That means members will return to a familiar scenario: staring down a government funding deadline on September 30. Some kind of short term funding package will be required to avoid a shutdown while the House and Senate negotiate their spending bills.
As we’ve discussed before, some conservatives have made the case that a short-term Continuing Resolution into early 2025 would give a potential incoming Republican administration a chance to shape the appropriations process.
Others have noted that the necessity of a short-term deal could be paired with House GOP priorities like the SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The latter would require House Speaker Mike Johnson to take on a Democrat-led Senate. Either way, September will be spicy.
The Latest On The Trump Assassination Attempt
It’s been only two weeks since Donald Trump was almost taken out by an assassin’s bullet. While the news cycle has moved on, the failings of the Secret Service continue to pile up. Text messages from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, obtained by Senator Chuck Grassley and provided to the New York Times, reveal the site security detail was aware of Thomas Crooks 90 minutes before he took a shot at Trump.
Further details also paint a picture of how easily Crooks was able to surveil and ultimately gain access to the roof. From the NYT:
Mr. Crooks scoped out the rally site a day before the Secret Service did. He used a drone to survey the site while the Secret Service did not seek permission to use one for the rally. He researched how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when he fatally shot the president in 1963 — the answer is about 265 feet — and managed to climb onto a roof that was about 400 feet from Mr. Trump at its closest point. The Secret Service left that roof unmanned.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week after being sharply criticized by both parties for her handling of the matter and her repeated stonewalling in a House Oversight Committee hearing. Yet how a gunman came so close to a presidential candidate – and any subsequent personal or institutional accountability – still seem out of reach.
The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees will hold a joint hearing on Tuesday morning on the assassination attempt. They will hear testimony from Ronald Rowe, Jr, the acting Secret Service director, and Paul Abbate, the deputy FBI director.
Also of note, the Trump assassination has become political to the Big Tech cartels. Google is omitting the Trump assassination from its autocomplete feature, Meta’s (formerly Facebook) artificial intelligence tool calls the assassination attempt “fictional.” Maybe allowing a few major platforms to consolidate control over how the world’s information is accessed and sorted was a bad idea.
Biden Takes Aim At The Supreme Court
On Monday, the president published an op-ed in The Washington Post proposing a plan to “restore the public’s faith” in the Supreme Court: a constitutional amendment to partially overturn the Court’s recent decision giving former presidents immunity for crimes allegedly committed in office; 18 year term-limits for Supreme Court justices; and requiring Justices to disclose gifts, stay out of public political activity, and recuse themselves where they or their spouse have a conflict of interest.
It should be noted that these so-called reforms have long been a wishlist for progressive activists. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin and Vice President Kamala Harris have both said they support Biden’s proposals.
Regardless, these reforms have no chance of passing this year, which means this is primarily about messaging. And the message being sent by the President of the United States is that the Supreme Court and its conservative majority are a corrupt and partisan institution whose decisions are illegitimate and a threat to “our democracy.”
The Latest From Around The Conservative Movement
- The Wall Street Journal looks at JD Vance’s concerns over childlessness
- Olympic opening ceremonies mocks Christians with its portrayal of the Last Supper
- Speaker Mike Johnson announces the seven Republicans who will serve on bipartisan House task force looking into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
One More Thing…
Become a CPI fellow! Applications for our Magnus, Intrepidus, and Veritas fellowships for conservative staff open on August 1.