Sunday School 3/13/22

We've got three Senators in the classrooms this morning: Rob Portman (R-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), members of the Ukraine Caucus, and Jim Risch (R-ID), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is where we'll start.

Risch talked with Brett Baier in the Fox News Sunday classroom. He expressed dismay at how things are going on the new Iran nuclear deal, noting that US representatives aren't even doing the negotiating. Since the Iranians refuse to talk with us, they're working with European, Russian, and Chinese teams, while we wait for updates. Risch seems to think this whole thing is a waste of time, saying unless they get an actual treaty, rather than an executive agreement, it

will not last past the next Republican president that's elected, just as the last deal didn't last the minute that the Republicans took over.

Shifting to Ukraine, he thinks we must "be wary" of getting into direct confrontation with Russia, although he suggests the "ineptness" they've shown so far might lead to a quick end if we did. He also said the Biden administration "has projected weakness throughout," and that they've only done stuff after our allies stepped up first.

Look, when you're dealing with these people, if you project weakness, you're going to have a real problem. And that's going on with both Iran and with Russia right now and it is a serious situation. We need them to project some strength.

Finally, Risch told Baier he voted against the omnibus spending bill, with its billions for Ukraine, because of a bunch of "other pork" in the bill. He mentioned "earmarks, for crying out loud," and "some gun legislation... that a couple of the gun lobbies were very much against... some provisions in there that a number of the pro-life groups were against." 

Whenever we have these doggone big bills, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, whether you vote yes or no. But I -- I have -- I hope that no one would take this as not being the support for -- for the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian war.

I've said that myself, many times before. 

Sunday School 2/28/21

Seven senators made classroom visits today; with the House passing the stimulus package, and Dem plans to use reconciliation to get the minimum wage through the Senate being shot down, attention will turn to them, so that's where I'm focusing, too. 

Here are highlights of a few of them, starting with Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who spoke with George on This Week. Hirono was first.

• She's supportive of anything that will work to get the minimum wage increased, noting that it's mostly essential workers who are earning the $7.25 hourly wage, which she called "poverty level."
• The appropriate response to sexual harassment allegations against my Sonofa Gov is to listen to the people who come forward, "and then to do the appropriate investigation and corroboration of the allegations." The NY AG "would be the independent entity to conduct such an investigation."
• The Biden administration is showing leadership on anti-Asian hate crimes, having issued an executive memorandum requiring the new AG "to work with state and county officials and community groups to prevent and prosecute these kind of hate crimes."

Next? Sen. Portman, who voted to pass the Trump tax cuts and repeal Obamacare via reconciliation, but says trying to do COVID relief that way "would poison the well of bipartisanship." 

• He thinks what Biden should do is "...to start off with more bipartisan measures, so that we don’t poison the well, so that we can continue to work together. And in this case, it would be very easy to get Republican support for a COVID relief package."
• He poo-pooed the idea that Republican voters are in favor of the bill -"if, you know, checks are coming out to people's homes, that's going to be popular, but that doesn't mean that this is the right bill." He gave a list of things in the bill he says are not related to COVID.
• Working together "is not difficult. We can work together on this one and then continue to work together on infrastructure and retirement security and supply chain issues with China and so on. So my hope is that they'll change their mind before this over." 
• He doesn't think Biden has gone far enough on Saudi sanctions vis a vis MBS and Jamal Khashoggi, "although you have to give him credit" for increasing sanctions and travel bans on the people directly responsible for murdering Khashoggi - but he thinks there needs to be something directly targeting MBS. 
• He says former president Trump is "very popular" with the Rs, but policies are more popular - in fact, "there are a number of things we can talk about from a policy perspective that I think will help to move the party forward. And that's where we ought to focus."

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was in the Meet the Press classroom; here are highlights.

• Brown's statement about not waiting for Rs to grow spines but having the Dems show Americans they don't have to "settle for a government that's set up to fail" was not defiant, but prescriptive. 
• He always wants to be bipartisan - he's a Dem in conservative Ohio, after all - and says the COVID bill is a bipartisan plan, will broad support, and "Just because Senate Republicans don't support it doesn't make it partisan." 
• He says " -- it's become a Trump party. It's not a party of reason. It's a party that has turned its back." He referenced Sen. Mitch McConnell doing nothing about COVID relief for months, the Rs failing to raise the minimum wage, and more. 
• He says they'll find a way to solve the problem somehow, noting "The corporate elite, the far-right elite in Washington have blocked it year after year after year after year, and we're going to make it happen."'
• We're not done yet on Saudi Arabia, he says, saying "We need to hold any foreign authoritarian, like the royal family, some of the members of the royal family, we need hold them accountable."

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Chris Coons (D-DE) talked with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union. Here are excerpts, with Cassidy up first. 

• He said the Rs "have got to win in two years, we have got to win in four years. If we do that, we will do that by speaking to those issues that are important to the American people." That's more than "putting one person on a pedestal and making that one person our focal point."
• He also said that "CPAC is not the entirety of the Republican Party... we lost the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency. No president -- that has not happened in a single four years under a president since Herbert Hoover. "In order to win, they have to listen to all voters, not just the Trump fans. "That is a reality that we have to confront."
• He doesn't think Trump will be the nominee in 2024, and whether or not Trump is fit (Cassidy didn't answer), he said, "The point is, I don't think he is going to be our nominee..."
• He has "no clue" how the COVID bill will come out of the Senate, and that the Rs haven't been involved. He "started laughing" listening to press secretary Jen Psaki saying the Rs have been listened to, saying "that is such a joke."
• Bipartisanship isn't dead, though; he's working with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) on a privacy issue, and, "Republicans remain willing and are working on issues that require bipartisan cooperation. We have done five on a COVID relief package in the past. It could have happened here. They made a conscious decision not to include us."

And, here're excerpts from the interview with Sen. Coons, a close friend of President Biden.

• He hasn't seen the details of Sen. Ron Wyden's Plan B proposal to tax companies that don't pay $15/hour. More importantly, "And if I'm someone who is always willing to negotiate with Republicans, I'm willing to negotiate with Democrats as well." Everyone - Ds and Rs alike - agree the minimum wage is too low, they just need to find a way to agree on a number and a path. 
• As do most Dems, he pointed to polling overwhelming support (76% of all Americans, and 60% of Republicans), so they should listen to the voters. And he's glad to hear Cassidy is still willing to work across the aisle, noting they've done that together in the past.
• He also said ..."Biden and the Democrats in Congress gave several weeks for there to be a serious negotiation that came close to the scope and range of this challenge. The proposals that came forward weren't anything like" what we're up against. "And so, frankly, we're moving ahead with a bill that probably will get no Republican votes in the Senate, but will have broad Republican support in the country."
• He said the Dems shouldn't "throw up the white flag and say, well, there's no way that we can work with Republicans, when this is literally the first major piece of legislation to come through. We will have other chances to pass bold legislation in this Congress, in this year, but we have to give bipartisanship a chance."

Dr. Anthony Fauci made four classroom appearances today (This Week, MTP, FTN and CNN SOTU), so I'm going to leave you on your own for those interviews.

See you around campus. Follow the COVID guidance, please, or I'll have to excuse you from class and assign additional homework. 

Sunday School 1/31/21

Who's making the rounds in the classrooms today?  

Let's start with a couple of Senators - Rob Portman (R-OH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), both of whom were in the CNN State of the Union classroom with Dana Bash. 

Sen. Portman was first up.  He's one of ten senators who sent a two-thirds smaller COVID package to the White House today. He says it's "more targeted and more appropriate for the times we're in," and hopes they can meet with President Biden and hammer out a deal.

He wants more targeted direct payments; I agree. And he's concerned about "unprecedented deficits and debts," and about enhanced unemployment benefits. He says the Biden plan extends protections through September, but that

Most economists believe next year will be significant growth, over 4% growth. So, let's target that a little bit more and make sure that it ties somewhat to the economic conditions.

He also said the Dems using reconciliation to get the COVID bill taken care of is different than the Rs using reconciliation on tax cuts and repealing the Affordable Care Act. The Dems are trying to use it wrong, and without even trying to reach across the aisle to get a deal. Or something. 

Bash asked if he considered Trump's actions before and on January 6th amount to "impeachable conduct, yes or no." Portman's response took more words, but in a nutshell, Trump's behavior can be both inexcusable and not subject to conviction.

I have said with regard to the president's comments that day that they were partly responsible for what happened, for the horrible violence that occurred on Capitol Hill. I have also said that what he did was wrong and inexcusable.

He has concerns about the constitutionality of "convicting a private citizen," though, and how that might impact all former presidents, alive or dead. 

Sen. Warren was up next, talking about Wall Street, GameStop, Reddit, and hedge funds. Bash asked what she meant by saying it was time for regulators to "wake up and do their jobs."  Among the concerns is that "we actually don't know who all the players are in this." And, she hit on her favorite theme - the rigged system, where the stock market is more like a casino now. 

They have been doing all kinds of market manipulation, pump and dump, companies that buy back shares of their own stock, so that they can inflate stock prices. We need a market that is transparent, that's level, and that is open to individual investors. It is time for the SEC to get off their duffs and do their jobs.

Warren says we need more regulation around manipulation. The SEC's got some rules pending, but needs to take a "broader look" at how companies and hedge funds manipulate the market, "grow a backbone," and enforce the rules they put into place. We need more market transparency, a more level playing field that "helps individual investors come into that market and, frankly, helps make that market more efficient," and that big corporations and hedge fund love an inefficient market - they get better returns, she said, and individual investors lose out. 

The decision by Robinhood and others to prevent small investors from trading, while allowing the hedge funds to continue, is a prime example and "that's why we're going to have an investigation. That's why there's going to be a hearing in the Banking Committee. And I'm looking forward to it."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (That Guy from Vermont) was in the This Week classroom, with  Martha Raddatz hosting. She was interested in bipartisanship and COVID, and wondered if there was an over-estimation on the part of the new administration on that.

TGFV's confident we'll see it down the road, but "we have got to act and we have got to act now" to get relief to folks who can't feed their families, who are facing eviction. 

Raddatz asked about the new bill from the ten GOP senators, and whether the Dems made a mistake thinking about "abandoning bipartisan negotiations so soon?" Again, TGFV said the issue is about addressing the crises we face, ticking off the list of issues: producing the vaccines we need, and getting them into arms; children going hungry; evictions; schools not open. Asking about bipartisanship is the wrong question, the right question is how will we go about

addressing the unprecedented crisis that we face right now. If Republicans want to work with us, they have better ideas on how to address those crises, that's great. But, to be honest with you, I have not yet heard that.

He said he's confident the Dems have the votes to pass the package via reconciliation, and that the polling shows overwhelming support by Rs, Ds, and Is. And he doesn't seem concerned about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who's the most conservative Dem in the Senate and, according to some, the most powerful. Manchin complained that no one reached out to him about the bill, saying "that's not a way of working together."

Democrats have majority because of the fact that we won two seats with great candidates in Georgia. And, obviously, those candidates won the support of the people of Georgia, but that campaign, in many ways, was a national campaign. And what those candidates said is, yes, we are going to provide checks of $2,000, $1,400 on top of the $600. Yes, we're going to extend unemployment benefits. Yes, we are going to address the needs of working families. The entire Democratic Party came together behind the candidates in Georgia. We made promises to the American people. And if politics means anything, if you're going to have any degree of creditability, you know what? You can't campaign on a series of issues, and then, after the election, when you get power, say, oh well, you know what, changing our mind. That's not the way it works. We made promises to the American people. We're going to keep those promises.

See you around campus. Wear a mask or two, please - and thank you.