After weeks of carving out an extreme position on the debt limit, Kevin McCarthy is trying to pretend that he's reasonable. 

Wednesday, February 1, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA
- United States Comptroller General Gene Dodaro ([link removed]) not falling for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anti drag-queen culture wars bullshit
Editor's note: What A Day will be off on Thursday and Friday because of a company-wide offsite meeting. See you back here on Monday!

When he’s not directing and overseeing sham investigations of any Democrat who crosses his path, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a very busy schedule of planning to tank the global economy.

* The Treasury Department has already pulled several emergency levers to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt, but every day that elapses without an increase in the statutory debt limit is one closer to global financial crisis. House Speaker and all-purpose worm Kevin McCarthy met with President Biden today ([link removed]) to discuss the GOP hostage-taking plan: that is, to force the country into default unless Democrats vote the Republican agenda into law.

* President Biden says he won’t negotiate over the debt limit (good!), and believes it should be raised without preconditions. As we have noted before, it’s worth remembering that the House GOP voted with Democrats for two clean debt ceiling increases during the Trump presidency while their economic policy of tax cuts for the rich and corporations greatly expanded federal deficits, so these are not, in fact, people who have any sincere interest in “balancing the budget.”

* Ahead of the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the question we all have about McCarthy: “Show us your plan. Where is your plan, Republicans?” But McCarthy arrived for his meeting with Biden with no formal GOP budget proposal ([link removed]) . That may be because there’s not even a particularly strong consensus within his own caucus about what such a proposal would be. President Biden has been here before however, having brokered budget deals during his vice president with a recalcitrant Mitch McConnell. It took McCarthy 15 votes to become Speaker, so…choose your fighter.

As much as the House GOP clearly would love to turn the debt-limit conversation into one about Drag Queens or Critical Race Theory, they can run but they can’t hide.

* Anyone who can read knows that McCarthy and his caucus are playing politics and using the debt limit as a tool of extortion, but he is of course now pretending that negotiations with Biden are just a matter of two guys with different opinions. McCarthy gave one of his best acting performances yet in an interview yesterday ([link removed]) with Punchbowl, where he said of his coming meeting with Biden, “The only thing I’m really going to gauge is do you want to negotiate or do you want to play politics…I’m not going to play these games.” Folks, we’re laughing over here.

* Unfortunately for McCarthy, members of his caucus keep going on TV and telling the truth. Rep. Greg Pence ([link removed]) (R-IN) was asked if he would vote to raise the debt limit even if it included all of his priorities and he responded, “No.” Rep. Jodey Arrington ([link removed]) (R-TX), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, was asked if he thinks the debt limit “is going to be used as a bargaining chip in a way that could turn dangerous,” and he replied “I believe it will and I believe it has to.” Well okay then!

Just as Donald Trump was not an aberration within the Republican Party, the party’s program of threatening to harm the country when they lose the presidency isn’t new—it’s how they roll, and have for over a decade. But the party’s leaders also know that this is deeply unpopular, so they’re trying to couch their demands for ransom in language that sounds reasonable. The mainstream media should be smarter than to take them at their word, especially when their goons keep admitting the truth on camera.
In 2019, Joseph Franco was charged with perjury and other crimes related to his decades as a New York Police Department narcotics detective, leading to the dismissal of over 500 cases he helped investigate, one after another. But yesterday, Franco’s own case was tossed ([link removed]) . A New York state judge found that prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had failed to turn over evidence to the detective’s lawyers on three occasions, which is a pretty significant ethical no-no. The prosecutor handling the Franco case, Stephanie Minogue, was immediately removed as deputy chief of the Police Accountability Unit, a group which reports directly to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. What was supposed to be an opportunity to hold police accountable for misconduct has quickly become a case study of prosecutorial wrongdoing. Because of the botched procedure, prosecutors have
all but ensured that Franco will never face another jury. Tremendous work all around!

The FBI searched President Biden’s beach house for classified documents, but found none. ([link removed]) They did find a neon Margaritaville sign and 200 pairs of aviators, though.


The campaign staffer who accused prominent conservative leader Matt Schlapp of groping him has filed a lawsuit against top Trump fundraiser Caroline Wren ([link removed]) , after Wren publicly stated that the accuser was “fired from multiple campaigns” for “being a habitual liar.”


The House Rules Committee voted 9-4 along party lines to advance a resolution to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee ([link removed]) , setting the stage for a floor vote where Republicans can do their islamophobia out in the open.


Nikki Haley will reportedly launch her presidential campaign this week ([link removed]) . The former South Carolina governor and Trump U.N. ambassador will be the first declared GOP challenger to the disgraced former president in what will surely be a clown car of a Republican presidential primary.


Tom Brady retired, again, ([link removed]) after a massively-disappointing attempted comeback. Hope it was worth losing your family, pal!


BDG Media has shuttered Gawker, and will lay off eight percent of its full-time staff ([link removed]) , as media layoffs continue to loom large over the beginning of 2023.


Seven House Democrats joined all Republicans in support of a bill that would end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers at health-care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid ([link removed]) . It’s expected to fail in the Senate and would be vetoed by the White House but come on, guys.

Disgraced former president Donald Trump released a deranged campaign video ([link removed]) saying that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if he were president. Lol.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announced that he plans to block state colleges from having campus diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory programs ([link removed]) —the latest in a string of authoritarian power grabs devised to rally far-right voters In a press conference, DeSantis said, “I think people want to see true academics and they want to get rid of some of the political window dressing that seems to accompany all this,” despite the fact that CRT was developed by academics, not to mention the unbelievable haughtiness of describing teaching about the realities of racism in history as “window dressing.” This fucking guy! It all dovetails with a larger Republican assault on public education, which has mostly been focused on K-12 schooling, but now also includes those perennial Republican bogeymen: colleges and universities. One thought: If your political
ideology vilifies institutions of higher learning, you’re kind of telling on yourself! And a little suggestion to our frenemies over at the New York Times: Headlines like ([link removed]) “DeSantis Takes on the Education Establishment, and Builds His Brand” falsely recast a fascistic assault on learning and speech as a David vs. Goliath tale of heroism, so kindly knock it off.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to curb excessive credit card-penalty fees today ([link removed]) , which could save Americans as much as $9 billion each year.


State lawmakers in Maryland are pushing for a four-day workweek ([link removed]) .

In the largest coordinated strike action in over a decade, over 300,000 British teachers, civil servants, and train drivers walked out today over insufficient pay ([link removed]) .
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