Happening this Tuesday: U.S. House returns to work, as Speaker McCarthy faces “perfect storm,” NBC’s Sahil Kapur writes… FDA greenlights new Covid booster… Biden administration clears the way for prisoner swap with Iran… And redistricting fights shake up battle for House in 2024.
But FIRST... Talk of House Republicans launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden is getting louder and louder — without the GOP identifying any high crimes and misdemeanors the president might have committed.
And that course, if Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the House GOP eventually take it, could have profound consequences on the negotiations to fund the government by Sept. 30, on the GOP presidential contest and on the 2024 general election.
Oh, and it could make President Joe Biden more popular with the American public, as past presidential impeachments have done (because it helps rally and energize the voters from the president’s party).
NBC’s Sahil Kapur reports that McCarthy “has been moving in the direction of an impeachment inquiry, calling it a ‘natural step forward’ for the House GOP to gather more facts. But he recently made it clear he won’t open such an inquiry unilaterally — a majority of the House would first have to vote on it. With only four votes to spare in his Republican majority, it’s not clear McCarthy has the votes."
Yet this morning, Punchbowl News says McCarthy is set to tell House Republicans later this week that an impeachment inquiry is the “logical next step” in the GOP’s investigations into Biden and his son, Hunter.
Shortly after publication of this newsletter, NBC News confirmed McCarthy will endorse an impeachment inquiry this week.
But if House Republicans DO go down this road, Senate Republicans don’t appear to be happy about it, per The Hill.
“Asked if there’s enough evidence to impeach Biden, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), another member of the Senate GOP leadership team, replied: ‘I do not.’”
“Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), for his part, said attempting to impeach a sitting president ‘should generally be avoided for the interest of the country.’”
“‘It can’t become routine,’ he warned.”
Headline of the day
The number of the day is … 63%
That’s the share of voters who say they disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation in a new Wall Street Journal poll.
The poll shows how Americans continue to view the economy through partisan glasses. About two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaners rate the economy “excellent or good,” a view shared by 36% of independents. Both of those numbers represent a 9% increase from the Journal’s December poll.
But only 8% of Republicans agree, and that’s stayed the same since December.
Other numbers to know
53,531: The number of awards that have been made from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which gives money to family members or individuals who were hurt or killed in the 9/11 attacks or in the cleanup in the “immediate aftermath.”
$6 billion: The amount of frozen Iranian funds that will be lifted as part of a prisoner exchange that would free five Americans being held in Iran. The Biden administration informed Congress Monday it is taking concrete steps to move forward with the deal.
More than 2,800: The updated death toll related to the earthquake that hit Morocco over the weekend, as recovery efforts continue in the region.
177,000: The number of migrants in America that the Department of Homeland Security lost track of between March 2021 and August 2022, according to new reporting from NBC News’ Julia Ainsley.
23: The number of national disasters in America this year that are expected to have losses of at least $1 billion, according to NOAA.
More than 5,000: How many people are feared dead in Libya, according to Wall Street Journal reporting, after a strong storm caused significant flooding.
3: How many months it has been since President Joe Biden announced he would appoint a “book ban coordinator,” a position that remains unfilled, according to Politico.
Eyes on 2024: Redistricting fights to shake up House battle
Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to take control of the House next year, so every seat is going to matter. And redistricting fights will be key to shaping the battle lines.
The latest redistricting salvo came Monday in Alabama, where the state filed an “emergency application” to the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court’s ruling that the new map discriminated against Black voters, per NBC News’ Lawrence Hurley. The new map was drawn after the Supreme Court tossed out the state’s initial congressional boundaries on similar grounds, and only included one majority-Black district despite the court’s concerns.
Redistricting fights are playing out in other states such as Florida, where state Republicans drew a map favorable to the GOP. Late last week Florida filed an appeal over a court decision tossing out its map, which had eliminated a House seat with a sizable Black population.
Republicans initially appeared poised to potentially benefit from redistricting fights after the North Carolina Supreme Court opened the door to a GOP-led redraw. But the recent rules may have shifted the odds in favor of Democrats.
Politico recently estimated that “a dozen or more seats across at least six states could be redrawn, increasing the likelihood Democrats could chip away the five-seat GOP House majority through redistricting alone.”
In other campaign news…
Ballot drama: As legal battles pop up over whether Trump is eligible for the 2024 ballot, state election officials are staying out of it for now, NBC News’ Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Emma Barnett report.
Biden’s challenge: The New York Times explores how Biden’s campaign is looking to counter concerns about his age by stressing his busy schedule and launching an ad highlighting his trip to Ukraine.
Biden’s false claim: During his 9/11 remarks on Monday, Biden said: “Ground zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day and looking at the building, and I felt like I was looking through the gates of hell — it looked so devastating.” But, per NBC News, on Sept. 12, 2001, the Senate was in session and Biden was in Washington, D.C., where he delivered remarks on the Senate floor.
Trials and tribulations: Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the charges he faces in Georgia’s election interference case, while the judge in his New York hush-money case may be open to changing his trial date there as the former president faces a spate of court cases in the coming year.
Read my lips, no new corporate taxes: The Washington Post reports that Trump’s team is looking at cutting the corporate tax rate, possibly to as low as 15%, if he wins re-election.
Not a fan: California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom for saying on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” he’d appoint a caretaker to replace Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she has to leave office early, arguing the decision is “insulting to countless Black women” because Newsom had pledged to appoint a Black woman to the seat if he had to fill it.
Virginia is for winners: The New York Times looks at how Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is going all out to try to help Republicans take over the state’s legislature in the fall elections as Democrats lean heavily on a call to protect abortion access.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is facing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike after temporarily banning gun possession in the Albuquerque area.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday for an expected meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google begins Tuesday, as the government argues in a pivotal case the company is acting as a monopoly.
