Tea Party Patriots Action Weekly Report from Washington for 4/29/19

CALENDAR:

The House and Senate will both return from their Easter Recess on Monday, and both will stay in session through Thursday.

LAST WEEK ON THE HOUSE FLOOR:

The House has been in recess, so there was no activity on the House floor last week.

THIS WEEK ON THE HOUSE FLOOR:

The House will return Monday, with the first vote set for 6:30 PM. At that time, the House is scheduled to take up three bills under Suspension of the Rules.

On Tuesday, the House is scheduled to consider six bills under Suspension of the Rules.

On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which is as bad as it sounds – it directs the President to develop a plan for the United States to meet its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, among other things.

LAST WEEK ON THE SENATE FLOOR:

The Senate has been in recess, so there was no activity on the Senate floor last week.

THIS WEEK ON THE SENATE FLOOR:

The Senate will return Monday, with the first vote set for 5:30 PM. That will be a vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of William Cooper to be General Counsel of the Department of Energy.

Based on the cloture filings, I’d say the Senate will then move to the following nominations: Clarke Cooper to be Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs; Gordon Hartogensis, to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; J. Campbell Barker to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas; Andrew Lynn Brasher, to be U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama; Rodolfo Armando Ruiz II to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida; Raul M. Arias-Marxuach, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico; Joshua Wolson to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In addition, the Senate is likely to try to override the President’s veto of the measure calling for a withdrawal of U.S. armed forces from hostilities in Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.

BORDER SECURITY:

From the “I Just Don’t Believe It” file … on Thursday, April 25, MSNBC highlighted the surge of alien families overwhelming communities near our southern border, speaking with a San Diego shelter that has seen its resources overstretched by the recent influx. “American communities are struggling to deal with the surging numbers of families who are crossing into the United States,” reported the cable network’s Craig Melvin. “ICE tells us that the their transportation is completely overwhelmed, CBP used the word ‘strained.’ That is the situation of many of these cities,” added reporter Mariana Atencio. “When you look at the numbers, it doesn’t see like it’s going to stop any time soon.”

RUSSIA HOAX:

On Thursday, April 18, Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of the report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller regarding Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The 448-page report was divided into two volumes – Volume I contains the report of his investigation into Russian interference, and Volume II contains the report of his investigation into potential obstruction of justice by the President.

Volume I reads, “[T]he Special Counsel’s investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in election interference activities.”

In other words … no collusion.

The trouble for the President is found in Volume II, which reads, in part, “[I]f we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

The White House celebrated the release of the report, focusing on the fact that Mueller had determined that no conspiracy had been established. Congressional Democrats, on the other hand, focused on the second volume of the report, and retrained their fire on the White House, arguing that Mueller had made it clear that he believed the President had committed a crime, but it was up to Congress to handle it.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said he believed, based on what he read in the Mueller report, that what the President had done met the threshold for impeachment.

While many Democrats (including several of their presidential candidates) are pushing for impeachment proceedings to begin, others (including Speaker Pelosi) are still not committing to supporting impeachment, but instead are focusing on gathering more information. They’re content for now to demand congressional testimony from Attorney General Barr and Special Counsel Mueller.

Attorney General Barr is scheduled to testify twice this week before Congress – on Wednesday, he’ll be in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and on Thursday, he’ll appear before the House Judiciary Committee, assuming he and Chairman Nadler come to agreement over the format of the hearing.

STAFFING:

Herman Cain has asked President Trump not to nominate him the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. And Stephen Moore is still hoping President Trump will nominate him to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

TRUMP TAX RETURNS:

To the surprise of absolutely no one, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig failed to send to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal the last six years’ worth of President Trump’s tax returns by Tuesday, April 23, the deadline Neal set when he originally demanded Trump’s returns on April 3. Neal set a new deadline of May 6, and used very threatening language in the letter he sent Rettig to complain about Rettig’s failure to hand over the documents.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded to Neal in a ten-page letter of his own that questioned Neal’s motives for wanting the tax returns, and left little doubt that Treasury and the IRS would miss the May 6 deadline, too.

SUGGESTED READING:

JENNY BETH MARTIN/TEA PARTY PATRIOTS:

Fox News: Jenny Beth Martin: Trump Is Right To Withhold His Tax Returns From Democrats

WT: Jenny Beth Martin: Stop Socialism, Choose Freedom

LaJunta Tribune Democrat: Stop Socialism, Choose Freedom

News-Herald: Stop Socialism, Choose Freedom Rally Planned In Mentor

DC: Conservatives Rally Behind Cuccinelli For DHS

WE: Conservatives Want Cuccinelli For DHS; Will Make America Great Again

DS: 10 Years After First Rallies, What’s The Legacy Of The Tea Party

Breitbart: Tea Party Marks 10 Years With 400 ‘Stop Socialism, Choose Freedom’ Tax Day Rallies

AJC: Atlanta Tea Party Rally Years Later

Daily Bulletin: State Chair Jessica Patterson Visits San Bernadino County To Talk Rebuilding The Party