In the News
- Awkward GOP abortion bill setback
- Iran: Netanyahu invites self to Congress?
- Iran: Senators want sanctions
- Iran: Admin doesn’t want sanctions
- Ferguson: DoJ to clear officer
- Veterans suicide bill moves forward
- Obama in the heartland
- Mitt and Jeb to meet in Utah…
- Border security: House committee spars
- GOP senator to WH: Hand over CIA report
- Ukraine crisis
Awkward GOP Abortion Bill Setback
• In an embarrassing setback, House Republicans abruptly decided Wed night to drop planned debate of a bill criminalizing virtually all abortions after 20 weeks after objections from GOP women and other lawmakers left them short of votes (AP, Hill, me)
• The decision came on the eve of the annual March for Life, when thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators stream to Washington to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. It also came with GOP leaders eager to show an ability by the new Republican-led Congress to govern efficiently (errr)
• But they ran into objections from women and other GOP lawmakers unhappy that the measure limited exemptions for victims of rape and incest to only those who had previously reported those incidents to authorities. The rebellious lawmakers argued that would put unfair pressure on women (um)
• Rep Jim McGovern (D-MA) blamed a “meltdown” within the GOP. “So now it’s 9.05 in the evening, we’re tossing the first bill out the window and replacing it with a completely unrelated abortion bill,” he said. The House will vote on a measure that prohibits federal funds for abortion, including in health benefits coverage. A similar bill already passed in 2014
• There were also objections to the bill’s exemption for incest, which covered only minors who have already reported the incident. “So the exception would apply to a 16-year-old but not a 19-year-old?” said Rep Charlie Dent (R-PA). “I mean, incest is incest.”
• In another challenge to President Obama’s efforts to close Guantanamo, a ban on transferring detainees to Yemen has been effectively pushed back into place because of security concerns in the volatile Middle Eastern nation, admin officials say (AP)
Iran: Netanyahu Invites Self to Congress?
• House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), without consulting the WH, invited Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress on the issue of Iran on 11 February. Netanyahu is a staunch opponent of Iran. The invitation was a coordinated effort over weeks involving Boehner and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer (R-KY)
• According to Haaretz, a senior Israeli official said that Dermer initiated the contacts, at Netanyahu’s request, with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (AP, Haaretz, TRNS, me)
• The WH said the invitation was a breach of typical diplomatic protocol. Spox Josh Earnest told reporters the admin would “reserve judgment until we have an opportunity to speak to the Israelis about their plans for the trip and about what he plans to say.” (fly on wall) The WH first learned about it Wednesday (more flies on walls)&&&
• Boehner also told a private meeting of GOP lawmakers that Congress would proceed on new penalties against Iran despite President Obama’s warning that legislation would scuttle negotiations. “He expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran. Two words: ‘Hell no!’ … We’re going to do no such thing,” the speaker said (flies…)
• The invitation comes at a crucial time for Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a tough fight to win re-election in Israel’s upcoming March vote. Polls show his Likud Party running behind the main opposition Labor Party, and a main theme employed effectively by his rivals has been the rancor in the country’s critical relationship with the U.S.
• While many voters in Israel can distinguish between Boehner’s Republicans and the WH, the image of Netanyahu addressing Congress – still a rare honor for a world leader – could badly undercut the opposition message (nicely played, Bibi. John and Mitch – you’ve been had)
• U.S. objectives during a second day of high level talks with Cuba in Havana today include the lifting of restrictions on American diplomats in Cuba and assurances that Cubans will have unfettered access to a future U.S. Embassy in Havana (AP, me)
Iran: Senators Want Sanctions
• At a heated hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chair Bob Corker (R-TN) vigorously pushed legislation that would allow Congress to take an up-down vote on any agreement that the Obama admin and its international partners reaches with Iran to prevent it from being able to develop a nuclear weapon (AP, WSJ, Hill, me)
• Corker said he’s talked directly with U.S., French, E.U. negotiators, British PM David Cameron and Israeli intel officials and no one has said that permitting Congress to have an up-down vote would hamper the ongoing talks – and could even strengthen the U.S. position
• Ranking Dem Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reiterated his support for legislation he’s drafted with Sen Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would ramp up sanctions against Iran if a deal isn’t reached by 6 July. If there’s no deal, the sanctions that were eased during the talks would be reinstated and then Iran would face new punitive measures in the months thereafter
• Menendez lodged harsh criticism of WH policy: “The more I hear from the admin and its quotes, the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of Iran. And it feeds to the Iranian narrative of victimization, when they’re the ones with original sin.” (he isn’t over that smackdown with Obama at the retreat)
Iran: Admin Doesn’t Want Sanctions
• “We believe that new sanctions are not needed at this time,” said David Cohen, the Treasury Sept’s top sanctions official. “To the contrary, new sanctions at this time, even with a delayed trigger, are more likely to undermine, rather than enhance, the chances of achieving a comprehensive agreement.” (WSJ, Hill, me)
• Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser under Republican Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, said sanctions “will break the talks.” “I think we should see them out and not take steps which would destroy the negotiations.” He warned of a break-up of diplomatic unity: “Don’t forget that we’re not the only negotiators on Iran.”
• Deputy SecState Anthony Blinken acknowledged in his testimony that the WH sees the chances for a deal at “less than 50-50.” (not news) He also, for the first time, raised the possibility that the WH could seek to extend the diplomacy beyond July. “I don’t rule out” additional extensions, he said
• SecState John Kerry is co-hosting talks in London today with UK FM Philip Hammond, where senior officials from 21 countries are gathering to discuss efforts to tackle ISIS. Iraqi PM al Abadi will attend. They will discuss how to halt the flow of recruits and money to the jihadist group (BBC, me)
• Japan said today that it’s considering all possible ways to gain the release of two hostages held by ISIS, as two people with contacts there offered to try to negotiate. ISIS said in a video it would kill the hostages within 72 hours unless it receives $200 million. The deadline likely would come sometime Friday (AP, me)
Ferguson: DoJ Moves to Clear Officer
• The Justice Dept has begun work on a legal memo recommending no civil rights charges against Officer Darren Wilson, the white police officer in Ferguson MO, who killed black unarmed teen Michael Brown in August. The FBI investigation found no evidence to support civil rights charges against Wilson, law enforcement officials said (NYT, me)
• A broader civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson PD remains open, however. That investigation could lead to significant changes at the dept, which is overwhelmingly white despite serving a city that’s mostly black.
• There’s a high legal bar for bringing federal civil rights charges and federal investigators had for months signaled that they were unlikely to do so. Federal investigators interviewed more than 200 people and analyzed cellphone audio and video. Wilson’s gun, clothing and other evidence were analyzed at Quantico. AG Eric Holder ordered a separate autopsy
• The federal investigation didn’t uncover any facts that differed significantly from the evidence made public by the authorities in MO late last year, law enforcement officials said. To bring federal civil rights charges, DoJ would have needed to prove that Wilson had intended to violate Brown’s rights when he had opened fire and that he had done so willfully
• Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the Brown family, said he didn’t want to comment on the investigation until the DoJ made an official announcements. The lawyer for Wilson didn’t return calls for comment. Wilson resigned from the Ferguson PD in November
Veterans Suicide Bill Moves Forward
• The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, named after a Marine Corps veteran who took his life after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (Hill, me)
• The bill nearly became law in the last Congress, but final passage was blocked by then-Sen Tom “Dr No” Coburn (R-OK). The reintroduced measure sailed through the House earlier this month and will now go to the full Senate for consideration
• “When you have 8,000 veterans a year committing suicide – which is more veterans than have died in all of Iraq and Afghanistan since we’ve been fighting – then you have a serious problem and this is emergency legislation that we need to pass to help our veterans,” Chair Johnny Isakson (R-GA) said in a statement
• The legislation calls for independent evaluations of suicide prevention programs in the VA and DoD. The review would determine which efforts are successful or should be eliminated. The bill would also create a website detailing mental healthcare services and start a pilot program to repay student loan debt for those who study psychiatric medicine and commit to work at VA
• Isakson announced that the panel would visit at least two VA facilities around the country where there have been serious problems with wait times for veterans seeking medical care or major construction cost overruns. He also said he would have a meeting with VA Sec Bob McDonald and other agency officials some time next month
Obama in the Heartland
• A day after delivering a defiant SOTU to the Republican-led Congress, President Obama left Washington for a two-day trip to Idaho and Kansas (today) to push his message that everyone should stand to gain from an economy that has all but recovered from years in the doldrums (Reuters, me)
• To a crowd of more than 6,000 in a stadium at Boise State University Wednesday, Obama continued to chide Republicans and noted that their body language during his speech Tuesday made clear they disagreed with him. “They were kind of quiet,” Obama joked. “I wanted to get to yes.”
• Republicans called for Obama to be more humble, given that they took control of both chambers of Congress this month. “We’ve only been here 2-1/2 weeks, and he’s put seven veto threats. I think that’s probably not the best start,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on CBS This Morning
• One area where Obama might win support from Republicans is trade. He called in his speech for Congress to give him so-called fast-track authority to help complete major trade pacts such as the Trans Pacific Partnership deal being negotiated with Asia. He warned that China would be the winner if that deal falters
• Pic: Lutz Bachmann, the leader of an anti-immigrant movement that’s attracted tens of thousands of supporters in Germany, stepped down Wed after he was found to have posted an online photo of himself as Adolf Hitler, after weeks of denying any Nazi sympathies – #cantmakethisstuffup (NYT, me)
Mitt and Jeb to Meet in Utah
• Showdown at the Utah Corral. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are scheduled to meet privately this week in Utah, raising the possibility that the two former governors will find a way to avoid competing presidential campaigns that would split the Republican establishment next year, two prominent party members said Wed night (NYT, me)
• The meeting was planned before Romney’s surprise announcement two weeks ago to donors in New York that he was considering a third run. Bush proposed the meeting
• The original idea was for Bush, who announced his presidential ambitions in Dec, to show his respect for Romney, the Republican Party’s 2012 nominee. The meeting stayed on both men’s calendars, even as Romney took steps to test the presidential waters, moves that could make the meeting awkward (love NYT understatement)
• Both men have been making a flurry of phone calls to Republican donors and officials to sound them out and gather commitments ahead of what could be a bruising primary race. In some cases, Bush and Romney are calling the same people just hours apart (!)
• Bush and Romney are neither friends nor adversaries( – frenemies, then.) But Bush offered little help to Romney in his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, and tensions have grown since Bush said that he was exploring a presidential bid – (so maybe leaning more adversaryish than friendish at this point?)
• Bush has been critical of the way Romney ran his 2012 campaign, and Romney has raised questions in private about whether Bush, who has worked in the finance industry in recent years, would be vulnerable to the attacks that so damaged his own campaign against President Obama (this meeting should be a doozy)
• The UN General Assembly is holding its first-ever meeting devoted to anti-Semitism today in response to a global increase in violence against Jews – a meeting scheduled even before the recent attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris (AP)
Border Security: House Committee Spars
• Legislation in the House to further secure U.S. borders against illegal immigration came under bipartisan attack Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee passed a Republican bill that would clamp down on illegal crossings at the southern border with Mexico by constructing more fencing and stepping up aerial surveillance: $1B per year
• “Illegal entries into this country continue at an astounding pace, and criminal enterprises have continued to exploit our weaknesses to get drugs, weapons and other illicit drugs into our communities,” chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) said (Reuters, me)
• But aides to Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL) issued an analysis of the measure, saying it “does nothing to stop the core problem” of immigrants at the border illegally and being released into the country while awaiting deportation proceedings. The bill passed on a party-line vote
• Democrats attacked the bill, complaining that Republicans abandoned bipartisan legislation developed in the last Congress. Rep Bennie Thompson (D-MS), ranking member, said the bill sets unrealistic timetables for security projects and imposes “requirements, seemingly pulled from thin air, for the acquisition and deployment of technology.”
• Republican leaders were aiming for a debate and vote on the legislation in the full House next week. The bill could be one of the few immigration measures Republicans will push, as they argue among themselves over how to address the issue, especially with 2016 coming into focus
GOP Senator to WH: Hand Over CIA Torture Report
• Sen Richard Burr (R-NC), new chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to President Obama with an odd request last week: He wants the committee’s CIA torture report back
• Burr sent a letter to the WH saying that his predecessor, Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), should never have transmitted the entire 6,700 page report to numerous depts and agencies within the executive branch – and requested that all copies of the report be “returned immediately.” (tortured genie back in bottle) (NYT, me)
• The action shows that Republicans are still fighting to challenge the conclusions of a report they consider to be a partisan smear. Burr’s unusual letter to Obama might also have been written with an eye toward future Freedom of Information Act lawsuits
• Congress isn’t subject to such requests, and any success he has in getting the Obama admin to return all copes of the Senate report to the Intel Committee could hinder attempts to someday have the report declassified and released publicly. Spox for Burr and the WH declined comment
• Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists project on govt secrecy, said he could recall no analogous case of the Senate’s trying to get the executive branch to return a document. Burr was within his rights, but “if Sen Burr thinks he can erase the report from the historical record, he is likely to be mistaken,” Aftergood said
• Vid: Hillary Clinton does a Vladimir Putin impersonation – sounds a bit like Bill – note to Hillary: leave it to Bill
Ukraine Crisis
• At least nine people have been killed by shelling at a bus stop in the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, local authorities say. Meanwhile, SecState John Kerry has accused pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine of a “blatant land grab”. He was speaking after reports that the rebels had extended the area they control, violating a ceasefire plan
• Ukraine says Russia has more than 9,000 soldiers fighting alongside the rebels, a claim it denies. Meanwhile, foreign ministers from Ukraine, France, Russia and Germany issued a joint call to end the fighting, following talks in Berlin (BBC, me)
• Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said that if heavy weapons were withdrawn “we’ll be able to speak of a substantial de-escalation of the current conflict.”
• U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, accused Russia of escalating the violence. She told a special meeting of the UN Security Council: “Let us pull the veil away from Putin’s peace plan and call it for what it is – a Russian occupation plan.”
• Putin put forward the proposal last week but the Kremlin said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had rejected it. A spox for Putin said the proposal called for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy artillery by both sides. But Power said the plan would free Russia from a commitment it made in Minsk to withdraw fighters and return control of the border to Ukraine
• Interactive: Investigation into whether the Patriots used deflated footballs. ESPN says the NFL has found that 11 of the Patriots’ 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL’s requirements for the game with the Colts. (NYT, ESPN) (known cheat Belichick should be suspended for the Superbowl)
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______________Victoria Jones – Editor
TRNS’ Washington Desk contributed to this report
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