The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
**MARCH 25, 2024**
On the Prospect website
The Machine Crumbles
Andy Kim has not only pulled off a major upset. He may have
transformed the political culture of an entire state. BY DAVID DAYEN
Pandemic-Era Corporate Bullying
The Federal Trade Commission found that big retailers threatened to
punish suppliers unless they got first dibs on food and household goods.
BY RON KNOX
[link removed]
The Marginal Realists of Standing Together
An all-too-rare organization of Israeli Palestinians and Jews works
for an unfantastical solution to the enduring conflict. BY HAROLD
MEYERSON
[link removed]
Tim Ryan's Natural Gas Advocacy Makes a Mockery of Public Service
The former Ohio congressman is leveraging his prior career for a
group backed by fossil fuel and petrochemical industry players. BY
HANNAH STORY BROWN
Kuttner on TAP
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
**** Republican Disarray
How fractured are the Republicans in Congress? Let us count the ways.
On Friday, after Republicans repeatedly threatened to shut down the
government, the House passed a budget bill without disabling cuts. The
vote beautifully fragmented the Republicans.
The successful passage was the result of House Speaker Mike Johnson
(R-LA) working with Democrats, keeping funding at the level agreed to in
the debt limit deal. In the final roll call, the vote was 286 to 134,
with 101 Republicans-not even half the caucus-joining 185 Democrats
to pass the measure.
Just after midnight Friday, the bill then went to the Senate, where
unanimous consent was required to expedite passage. Four far-right
senators threatened to hold the bill hostage for further cuts.
But the four, Ted Budd (NC), Mike Lee (UT), Ted Cruz (TX), and Rand Paul
(KY), immediately caved and settled for quickie token votes
on deeper cuts that they knew would lose, and then allowed the measure
to come to the floor. There was no filibuster. By 2 a.m. Saturday
morning, the bill had passed the Senate, 74-24, again dividing the GOP
caucus almost in half, and was on President Biden's desk for
signature.
Meanwhile, in the House, the always reliable Marjorie Taylor Greene of
Georgia, incensed at the display of bipartisanship on largely Democratic
terms, filed a motion to declare the Speakership vacant and depose
Johnson. She had no takers.
One more Republican, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, is quitting early,
leaving the GOP with a margin of error of just one. The House is
currently 217-213, and if as expected a Democrat replaces New York's
Brian Higgins in a special election next month, that will go to 217-214.
[link removed]
And it gets better, or worse if you are a Republican. In seizing control
of the Republican National Committee and it finances, Trump has made
clear that the lion's share of the money will go to his campaign and
that down-ballot candidates for the House and Senate will get
whatever's left over.
That's fortunate, because the news for Democrats is not great,
especially in the Senate. On the hopeful front, thanks to Trump's
meddling, incumbent Sherrod Brown will face the most extreme and weakest
of the three Republican primary contenders, Bernie Moreno.
But the Maryland Senate seat, in a state that Biden carried by more than
30 points in 2020, is suddenly in play because the popular moderate
former Republican governor, Larry Hogan, will be the GOP candidate, and
is leading both Democratic contenders
,
Rep. David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela
Alsobrooks, in early polls. Rep. Jamie Raskin would be a much stronger
candidate, but Raskin says he isn't interested in running. In fact, he
just endorsed Alsobrooks
,
a big boost for her against the wealthy self-funder Trone.
The New Jersey seat also looks conceivably at risk, because the corrupt
incumbent Bob Menendez is talking about possibly running as an
independent, thus splitting the Democratic vote. But Menendez has been
running at under 10 percent in the polls, and this ploy is mainly a
tactic to stay out of jail; he may well not run. So the New Jersey seat
is probably safe with the popular Congressman Andy Kim as the likely
Democrat.
If this were a normal year, the Republican legislative disarray would
help Joe Biden, since it would underscore the Democrats' role as the
grown-ups in the room, as the party that is serious about governing. But
there is nothing normal about this year.
The schisms in the GOP may help Democrats take one or both houses. But
Biden needs to make a more effective case for his re-election on its own
terms.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
[link removed]
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.Â
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States
Copyright (c) 2024 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
.
