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Republicans say they follow Manchin and Sinemas utterances closely and hope the duo is subtly speaking for other Democrats, too.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has quietly dined with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and signaled her hopes for a negotiated solution on the debt limit to GOP senators.|Francis Chung/POLITICO

Shes trying to play a constructive role and try to get people to the table and understand that we cant go over the brink on this, said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), who has spoken with Manchin and Sinema about the debt ceiling. Manchin saying things like that is constructive and helpful. Hopefully helps his leadership realize ... a straight debt increase just is a nonstarter.

Its too early for Manchin and Sinema to be negotiating a deal with Republicans next weeks meeting between Biden and congressional leaders needs to play out first. But their clear push for a bipartisan solution is notable given how strongly theyve resisted big portions of Bidens agenda.

And theres always the possibility that one of the Senates familiar bipartisan gangs swoops in to craft a debt limit remedy. If Manchin and Sinema throw their weight behind a bipartisan discussion, they have big priorities that could be in the mix, from immigration to energy permitting. Theyre both up for reelection next year, though neither has committed to running again.

In typical Manchin form, the West Virginian centrist is already chiding Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for referring to the House GOPs debt ceiling bill and its massive government spending cuts as dead on arrival.

In an interview on Tuesday, Manchin said of Schumers dismissal that to say somethings dead on arrival, before we really had a chance to look at it I think theres a better way to approach it.

Manchin said hes told McCarthy theres things I dont like in there, but theres a lot of things we can agree on. In particular, he touted the idea of approving a bipartisan, bicameral fiscal commission that would be required to bring deficit reduction legislation to the Senate floor.

He described himself as fine with the possibility that Biden and McCarthy would negotiate a debt agreement, the same position that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has taken. Manchin also pointed to the debt ceiling negotiations between Democrats and the Trump administration as precedent for this time around even as his colleagues say theres nothing to negotiate.

I dont know why this is any different, he said.

Sinema warned in a statement for this story that playing chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States is irresponsible given the impacts a debt default could have on her constituents.

Both sides need to come together, put down the partisan talking points, and discuss realistic solutions to prevent default, she said.

For Manchin and Sinema, the debt ceiling presents perhaps their best opportunity to influence Congress and the president during a time of divided government. Each could run for reelection in 2024, and playing a role in averting a catastrophic default would be huge for their respective potential campaigns.

Both of them resisted Democratic suggestions to raise the debt ceiling during the last Congress through a filibuster-avoiding maneuver known as budget reconciliation. That gave them extra credibility with Republicans.

Many others agree with them among my Democratic friends, but theyre just not saying it. Theyve got to stick with Sen. Schumers party line, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said of Manchin and Sinemas very helpful treatment of the debt limit.

Were all together on the floor, and I follow what they say publicly, and theyre both being very adult about it.

Theres unfinished business for Manchin in the debt talks after the Senate rejected his energy permitting reform bill, which could make a return appearance in any deal. Thats on top of the prospect that the talks could address his continued complaints about the Biden administrations implementation of the Democratic tax, climate and health care bill he helped write last year.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who appeared at an event with Manchin challenger-in-waiting Gov. Jim Justice last week, said she still appreciates Manchins rhetoric about debt negotiations: I totally agree with what he says.

As for Sinema, who left the Democratic Party last year, the debt ceiling is just one more example of her going her own way. She and Manchin have split on tax policy in the past, but he praised her policy positions on Tuesday: Shes really pretty sharp on the fiscal responsibilities. Were in pretty good agreement on it.

At the moment, both are focused on the task at hand with no immediate timelines for announcing any 2024 reelection plans. But its not lost on anyone that cutting a debt deal could be crucial to their political brands.

Theyre both on the ballot, as you know, assuming they both choose to run. So they have some extra political calculations that certainly would play to a cooperative spirit, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said.

His hope for the coming days: Joe and Kyrsten send some signals that Hey, lets do this reasonably.

Other centrist Democrats havent taken the same tack as Manchin and Sinema. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), for example, is fine with negotiating on spending and deficit reduction, but only after a clean debt ceiling increase goes into law. That openness to a two-step process is overwhelmingly where Senate Democrats are, said progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Schumer on Tuesday reiterated his disinterest in giving ground, as the Senates two most famous centrists would prefer.

As Democrats expose the Default on America bill for what it is, our position remains the same: Both parties should pass a clean bill to avoid default together before we hit the critical upcoming June 1 deadline, he said at a press conference.

He and Biden are determined to show no daylight between them heading into the meeting between congressional leaders and the president. But once leaders are there, Manchin said he hopes Biden would deviate from his public remarks to meet McCarthy and McConnell halfway.

Talk about: How do we accumulate so much debt in such a short period of time in the last two decades? Manchin said. We cannot stay on this trajectory to this much debt.

Caitlin Emma contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Cramers party affiliation.

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Biden beware: Manchin and Sinema align with Republicans in debt ... - POLITICO

WASHINGTON: America's power brokers love playing chicken. But the rest of the world will watch in dread Tuesday when President Joe Biden and Republican leaders meet to negotiate the US debt ceiling praying that one side finally blinks.The White House summit between Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell sets in motion the deciding round of a power struggle whose outcome will impact the global economy and could upset the 2024 US presidential election.The immediate issue is raising the debt ceiling, an arcane budgeting procedure that most years passes with little controversy. Basically, the US government always spends more than has been budgeted but, unlike in most countries, then requires congressional approval to borrow extra.This year, McCarthy and his radicalized right-wing party have decided to say no, unless Democrats first agree to sweeping budget cuts, giving in to the Republican message that Biden has been profligate and irresponsible.Biden, who will be joined in the White House talks by the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, and the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, accuses Republicans of hostage taking.He insists that the debt ceiling first be raised as in other years and only then can he and the Republicans discuss cutting the budget to reduce that decades-old accumulated debt, currently the worlds biggest at $31 trillion.A dispute over sequencing might sound academic.However, with both sides dug in and the deadline approaching, the debate has turned into a life-or-death test of political strength.Fail to authorize more borrowing and the government will run out of money and default.Cue worldwide panic.Soaring interest rates, stock sell-offs, Treasury bond downgrades, and near certain US recession will be on the menu and thats before factoring in long-term harm to the US geopolitical brand.Even getting close to a breach of the US debt ceiling could cause significant disruptions, warned a White House analysis. An actual breach of the US debt ceiling would likely cause severe damage.When is doomsday? No one knows for sure.But US coffers could run dry as early as June 1, according to the Treasury.Thats just over three weeks from the Tuesday sit-down.

As the clock ticks away, the divide appears unbridgeable.The White House is clinging to an irrational, reckless strategy and Democrats are terrified about allowing clueless Biden to negotiate, tweeted the Freedom Caucus the group of hard-right Republicans effectively controlling the razor-thin Republican majority in the House.Biden is not budging.A strong economic recovery from the Covid era is one of Bidens main cards in his bid for a second term next year. So the 80-year-old has all the more reason to steer the country clear of crisis.Yet hes also adamant about not caving into the Republican attempt to link budget negotiations to the debt ceiling, saying this will transform a basic, fundamental obligation into a political football.Theyre trying to hold the debt hostage to (get) us to agree to some draconian cuts, he told advisers Friday.Biden repeated one of his favorite stats, noting that Republicans had voted, without imposing any conditions, to extend the debt ceiling three times during the presidency of Republican Donald Trump.No ones ever not voted to increase the debt limit. he said. Im going to reiterate to congressional leaders that they should do what every other Congress has done that is, pass the debt limit, avoid the default.Analysts say there are several potential exit ramps from imminent default.The two sides could simply punt, extending the debt ceiling for a few weeks, while talks continue.They could come to a messy compromise that resolves the issue by promising yet-to-be-determined budget cuts, but condemning the nation to repeat the whole drama in an election year.Failing all else, the White House has not ruled out invoking a constitutional power to bypass Congress altogether and unilaterally authorize more borrowing except this would likely be challenged in court.Ive not gotten there yet, Biden said late Friday in an MSNBC interview on use of the 14th Amendment.Short of an unexpected political truce, however, there are no easy options.And while much of the world looks on nervously, some countries are watching in glee, the Biden administration warns.They love to see chaos in the American system, White House budget director Shalanda Young said, referring to China and Russia. They love to see that we cant do our basic jobs.sms/bfm

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Biden agrees to meet with Republicans to prevent default disaster - Arab News

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) Connecticut House Republicans unveiled their 2024-25 budget proposal Tuesday, calling for more than $1.16 billion in total tax cuts.

In February, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed a $50.5 billionbudget with more than $500 million in tax relief.

Lamont said the House Republicans plan is close to a bipartisan deal.

It makes the negotiations a lot easier, Lamont said. Im happy they are sort of mirroring what we want to do on the income tax.

Lawmakers finalize the budget by the June 7 deadline. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Connecticut voters would have 14 days to vote early in general elections under a bill passed in the House of Representatives.

Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, a Democrat, has said there is not enough time to implement early voting for this falls elections.

The bill passed in the House on a 107-35 vote and is now in the Senate. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to sign it into law.

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Inside the Capitol: Connecticut House Republicans budget plan and early voting bill - WTNH.com

Whether hes looking back on the 2022 gubernatorial election or looking ahead to the 2024 presidential race, the advice Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has for his party is simple: Better candidates win elections, period.

The Rochester Republican is prepared to make the case to party activists that the GOP will fare better in 2024 with a nominee whos not former President Donald Trump. Hell be doing so as the party seeks to rebound from a losing streak Republicans have lost 14 of the last 17 statewide elections in this battleground state.

The most significant recent blows to the party came in April, when liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated conservative former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, and last November, when Democratic Gov. Tony Evers fended off a challenge from Republican businessman Tim Michels.

Look, I think (former Lt. Gov.) Rebecca Kleefisch would have been a better nominee. I think Tim Michels (who beat Kleefisch in the GOP primary) did fine; I have no complaints with the campaign that he ran. But I think that we need to do a better job connecting with people on what the issues are that they care about, Vos said during a recent episode of the Cap Times Wedge Issues podcast. We spent way too much time talking about the past, and that is a recipe for disaster.

Vos who has served in the Assembly for nearly two decades and as speaker for half that time said Republicans should have broadened their focus beyond crime and made more of an effort to articulate their vision for the state.

We didn't really talk about taxes. We didn't really talk about, how do we deal with growing the economy? How about schools? I think we could have done a better job making the election about broader terms, Vos said, arguing that those conversations helped Republicans flip three seats in the Assembly and that the party needs to figure out how to replicate that success at the statewide level.

Wisconsin Republicans will be in the national spotlight in July 2024, when the Republican National Committee holds its convention in Milwaukee.

The convention will be good for the state, Vos said. Estimates on the economic impact vary, but Cleveland.com reported that the 2016 Republican convention resulted in $188.4 million in total economic impact for the area.

While the convention could bring more money into the state and help raise Wisconsins profile, Vos said hes not so sure its going to be good for the Wisconsin Republican Party but only time will tell.

Nominating Trump who won Wisconsin in 2016 and lost it in 2020, both by margins of some 20,000 votes would be a suicide mission for Republicans, Vos said.

The reason the kamikazes went to the battleship was to sink the battleship. They didn't do a kamikaze mission to miss and then lose the war. And I feel like that's what a Donald Trump candidacy would be it'd be a kamikaze mission where we know how this is going to end. And it doesnt take out the battleship, because Donald Trump doesn't win, Vos said.

The speaker said hes grateful for some of Trumps accomplishments in office, ranging from policy changes to appointing three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also wants a candidate who, like Trump, is a fighter who pushes back on the status quo, he said.

There are other potential GOP candidates who could actually win an election and then make similar gains, Vos said, adding that he doesnt currently have a preference in the field.

The case against Trump, he added, is rooted in an adage from former Republican National Committee Chair and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour that politics is the art of addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division.

I really believe that that Donald Trump doesn't bring new people to the Republican Party. He just really invigorates the people who are already here, Vos said. Well, in some states that works. And if you're running in Alabama or Oklahoma, you're probably going to be fine. But if you're running in a swing state, like Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, (or) now Georgia, all the polls show he can't win. I don't know why we would pick somebody who can't win.

As for his own political future, Vos said as he has before that this will be the last elected job hell hold. He has no plans to run for governor, Congress or anything else.

But what about another term in the Assembly?

I'll do this as long as I enjoy it. I'm still enjoying it today. Time will only tell, Vos said. I'm hoping at some point we get a Republican governor, but my hopes were dashed in 2022. So weve got four more years. Well see.

This article has been corrected to reflect that Haley Barbour was the governor of Mississippi, not Missouri.

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Robin Vos to Republicans: Donald Trump can't win Wisconsin - The Capital Times

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4,2022

Saturday, May 6, 2023 | 2 a.m.

How many times do Republicans need to say the quiet part out loud before the American people acknowledge that much of the GOP has devolved into a party of hate-filled fascists who care more about guns than they do about children or families?

Less than a week ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demonstrated his compassionate conservative values by implying that the immigration status of the five victims of a mass shooting north of Houston should dictate how seriously we regard these crimes.

At a press conference Sunday night announcing a reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter, Abbott went out of his way to describe the victims as five illegal immigrants. He later posted a similar statement to Twitter.

The statement is not only false, as one of the five victims was in fact a legal permanent resident of the United States, but its also callous and heartless.

Remember, Abbott made that statement in response to the vicious murder of four young adults and a 9-year-old child. The shooting began after a group of families gathered for a quiet evening together asked a neighbor to stop shooting his AR-15 in his yard because a baby was trying to sleep. The neighbors response to that simple request was to walk to the home where the families were gathered and hunt them.

Two of the victims were shot in the back of the head while lying on top of their surviving children. Those women quite literally sacrificed themselves by using their bodies as shields to protect their children from harm. After executing five people, the oldest of whom was only 31, the shooter left the home and escaped the area before law enforcement arrived.

When Abbott took the stage almost two days later, the murderer was still at large, and the public was still in danger. Yet instead of focusing on the need to find an armed and dangerous murderer before he could kill again, or the tragedy and senselessness of such a wanton act of violence or the heroic actions taken by the victims to save their children, Abbott focused on the victims immigration status, essentially shrugging off the killings because the victims were undocumented.

What he was suggesting is appalling: that some peoples lives are worth less than others.

Its also worth noting that Abbotts policies have resulted in the deaths of countless illegal immigrants, so perhaps hes really revealing the lies he tells himself so he can sleep at night.

Abbott issued a correction the next day, his spokesperson saying weve since learned that at least one of the victims may have been in the United States legally. We regret if the information was incorrect and detracted from the important goal of finding and arresting the criminal.

Note that Abbott didnt apologize for distracting from the manhunt by focusing on the victims immigration status, he only apologized for getting the immigration status incorrect. Spoken like a true hatemonger.

Yet he wasnt alone among GOP lawmakers this week.

On the same day Abbott issued his correction, Florida state Rep. Jeff Holcomb was on the floor of the Florida House arguing in support of a bill asking Congress to ban LGBTQ+ people from the military.

Despite a decade of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly without any evidence of harm to unit cohesion or readiness, Holcomb gave a nonsensical speech insisting that allowing LGBTQ+ Americans in the military is about liberal wokeness rather than about gay people wanting the opportunity to serve their country.

As he approached the end of his rambling monologue, Holcomb declared that discrimination and homophobia against LGBTQ+ people cant exist in the U.S. because, unlike in the Middle East, the U.S. doesnt throw gays off of buildings or murder them the way the Taliban or ISIS do.

Yes, you read that correctly. According to Holcomb, discrimination can only exist if you throw people from a rooftop or otherwise murder them.

If that werent enough, he concluded his speech by openly admitting that he and his Republican colleagues in the Florida Legislature hate gay people. Our terrorist enemies hate homosexuals more than we do, he said.

Wed like to believe that at least this statement was honest but recent GOP assaults on LGBTQ+ rights and liberties make us question whether Republicans actually hate LGBTQ+ people less than ISIS or the Taliban does, or if GOP politicians are just too cowardly to be honest about their beliefs. Their radical and repressive policies are most certainly leading to the deaths of some gay and trans people especially teens who feel they cant live in this world and face the pressure of being themselves in this culture.

Anyone who still thinks that the leaders of the Republican Party are engaged in anything other than a campaign of abject hate isnt paying attention. Republican leaders are only barely masking it themselves. After all, if you have a party in which a governor defines himself by an obsessive hatred of Mickey Mouse, academic freedom and free speech, you know they wont abide people of color or gays.

It is possible that there are Republicans who exist who do not subscribe to this type of callous disregard for the lives and rights of immigrants and LGBTQ+ people (not to mention women and non-white people). However, the evidence increasingly points toward a disturbing truth that those who choose to align themselves with the GOP subscribe to the hatred and violence espoused by the partys leaders. Nearly all moderate Republicans appear to be drifting toward being independents, because they cant align themselves with the radicalism of the new GOP.

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Republicans unmasking themselves by saying the quiet part out loud - Las Vegas Sun