Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.
Democrats caved on shutting down the government last week, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is taking all the blame from the left wing of his party. Activists wanted a public battle as the deadline to fund the government came closer; they’ve been staging protests at town halls, fighting for the release of terrorist sympathizers, and protesting the deportation of violent gang leaders. They have grown tired of the lack of pushback on the federal level.
Though he originally vowed not to support the bill, eventually Schumer recognized that a shutdown would ultimately be an embarrassing exercise for Democrats. In the end, a shutdown would give greater control to the enemies of government waste at DOGE and would give conservatives a powerful messaging weapon. Yet, senators like Chris Van Hollen and Adam Schiff desperately wanted to appear to be fighting back, and they pledged early in the week to vote against cloture and against supporting the funding bill.
After failing to secure a deal with Senate Majority Leader John Thune that would fund the government for 30 days until April 30th, Schumer then pivoted to supporting the year-long clean CR with an attached $1B deal that would prevent cuts to the District of Columbia budget. Before the vote, Schumer and Sens. John Fetterman and Catherine Cortez Masto had pledged to support the clean CR. This deal for DC provided cover to the others that voted for passage: Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—as well as Independent Angus King.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed his frustration with his Senate leadership’s failed strategy, though he did not mention Schumer by name. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waged an open war against Schumer, even welcoming requests that she primary him in New York. Facing protests from progressive activists, Schumer, touting “security concerns,” postponed his book tour discussing rising anti-Semitism in the United States, which was scheduled to begin this week.
As the Senate Appropriators negotiated to meet the government funding deadline on Friday, the Senate Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump appointee to lead the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Oz demonstrated a high level of preparation during his confirmation hearing, skillfully evading objections from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden that aimed to hinder his ability to implement necessary reforms to Medicaid and Medicare Advantage. His nomination will likely be voted out of the committee for confirmation next week when the Senate is back in session.
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Watch this new documentary titled American Leviathan, featuring CPI’s Vice President, Rachel Bovard, discussing America’s administrative state and the wasteful behemoth it has become.