White House to McCarthy: 'Come clean' on your backroom speaker deals

The White House is escalating its fight with newly empowered congressional Republicans, with officials Tuesday calling on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to “come clean” about secretive deals he made with hardline members that helped him eventually land the top job.

“An unprecedented tax hike on the middle class and a national abortion ban are just a glimpse of the secret, backroom deals Speaker McCarthy made with extreme MAGA members to end this month’s chaotic elections and claim the gavel,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement shared first with POLITICO. “It is well past time for Speaker McCarthy and the ultra MAGA Republican House members to come out of the dark and tell the American people, in-full, what they decided in secret.”

While McCarthy has insisted he made no formal agreements in exchange for getting conservative holdouts to vote for him, conservative members have said they received certain promises from the new speaker. They have also pointed to action on their priority legislation as a direct result of the recent House leadership negotiations.

The White House had long been gearing up to paint the incoming House Republican caucus as beholden to their most conservative members. But President Joe Biden has tried to turn the policy implications of Republicans’ priority bills, including legislation to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and replace more progressive income taxes with a national sales tax, into a political cudgel. White House officials also said the Republican leadership talks laid the groundwork for the House to vote on a national abortion ban and argue the GOP will use the debt limit standoff to try to force cuts to Medicare and Social Security.




https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/17/white-house-to-mccarthy-come-clean-on-your-backroom-speaker-deals-00078105

IN-SEN: Banks unveils Senate bid in Indiana

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) officially launched a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) on Tuesday, following Braun’s decision to run for Indiana governor.

“We NEED conservatives in Washington who aren’t afraid to fight Biden’s radical agenda,” Banks said in a tweet on Tuesday, announcing his campaign. “That’s why I am running to represent our great state of Indiana in the United States Senate.”

Braun announced in December that he was launching a bid for governor in the Hoosier State to succeed term-limited Gov. Eric Holcomb (R). In the wake of Braun’s announcement, Banks had previously indicated that he was considering a run for the open seat in 2024.

“Indiana deserves a proven conservative to continue Senator Braun’s work in the United States Senate,” Banks said in a statement last month. “I am strongly considering running for the open Indiana Senate seat in 2024, and I will spend the upcoming holidays praying and talking with my wife, family and close friends about how I can best serve Indiana.”



https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3815904-banks-unveils-senate-bid-in-indiana/

AZ-SEN: Gallego jabs Lake over talk of Republican's possible Senate run

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) jabbed former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Twitter on Monday amid reports that she is considering making a run for Senate.

“Arizona has a very strict resign to run law,” Gallego said, responding to a tweet from a CNN reporter that a source said Lake is thinking of running for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat in 2024. “It’s not possible for her to be Arizona’s shadow governor and a Senate candidate at the same time.”

Gallego referred to an Arizona state law that requires candidates for local, state or federal elective office to resign from any current elected or appointed position they hold unless they are in the final year of their term.

Lake notably refused to concede her election loss in the Arizona gubernatorial contest to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) in November. She mounted legal challenges to the results based on unproven claims that misconduct from election workers and voter disenfranchisement cost her votes, but they were dismissed in court.


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3816619-gallego-jabs-lake-over-talk-of-republicans-possible-senate-run/

Basically broke, Michigan GOP to charge delegates to attend convention

LANSING — The cash-strapped Michigan Republican Party will require delegates to help cover the cost of next month's state convention in Lansing, where they'll gather to decide who will lead the party for the next two years.

The state party's central committee on Thursday voted to change convention rules by imposing a new $50 registration fee on delegates who will be selected at upcoming county conventions.

Delegates who don’t pay by Jan. 26 deadline can still attend the Feb. 17-18 convention in Lansing by paying a $75 same-day registration fee.

It's the latest sign of financial strain for the Michigan GOP, which last year struggled to raise money from traditional donors after grassroots delegates stormed state conventions to nominate outsider candidates loyal to former President Donald Trump.




https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/basically-broke-michigan-gop-charge-delegates-attend-convention

Cementing LGBTQ protections is a first order of business for Michigan Democrats

Michigan Democrats began the new legislative term this week by introducing a bill that would codify protections for LGBTQ people under the state’s civil rights law.

Last year, the state Supreme Court interpreted that the 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act includes protections for LGBTQ people, but the new proposal could further ensure that those rights stand up to the scrutiny of any lawsuits that may arise in the future.

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act protects against discrimination based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status and marital status.

Proponents and opponents of changing the law have argued various interpretations of the word “sex” in recent years, with proponents arguing the word is an umbrella term that encompasses sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In 2018, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission adopted an interpretative statement to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation under the category of sex, while a 2022 Michigan Supreme Court decision enshrined those protections into the law.



https://www.mlive.com/politics/2023/01/cementing-lgbtq-protections-is-a-first-order-of-business-for-michigan-democrats.html

Democrats make first move to repeal Michigan's 1931 abortion ban

LANSING, MI – In their first days with control of the Michigan Legislature, Democrats targeted a major campaign promise: repealing the state’s abortion ban.

The 1931 law that prohibits abortion except to save the mother’s life would be deleted from Michigan’s penal code under House Bill 4006, a one-sentence piece of legislation introduced Thursday.

The ban is already overruled by an abortion-rights constitutional amendment passed in November but is still on the books. The law made it a felony to administer an abortion before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade made it a constitutional right nationwide.

After the court overturned Roe last summer, Michigan’s ban would have gone into effect if it survived court challenges. But voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 3 last fall, putting a “fundamental right” to abortion and other reproductive health actions into the state constitution.


https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/01/democrats-make-first-move-to-repeal-michigans-1931-abortion-ban.html

Wisconsin GOP makes conversion therapy legal again

The Republican-controlled Joint Committee for Review and Administrative Rules in Wisconsin voted to strike down a ban on conversion therapy last week, effectively making the practice legal.

Conversion therapy is a broad term that can describe many practices that generally involve trying to force homosexuals and other LGBTQ+ people to be straight. The methods involved in these practices are highly discredited by medical professionals, and those who have been victims of conversion therapy have described it as torture.

In 2020, a ban on conversion therapy was introduced by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services board with the support of Gov. Tony Evers (D). However, legislation to block the ban was introduced by Republicans and placed in committee to avoid a veto by Evers.

The committee’s co-chairman Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) said the vote had nothing to do with “the merits of conversion therapy.”

“We’re not here to debate the merits of that practice, simply to discuss the role of an examining board to administer rules to come up with a code of ethics versus overstepping and doing public policy,” Neylon said during the committee hearing.



https://heartlandsignal.com/2023/01/16/wisconsin-gop-makes-conversion-therapy-legal-again/

Extra Bonus Tweet of the Day

MI-SEN: Yeah, Elissa Slotkin's running.

NY Republican calls for DOJ, FEC to freeze Santos campaign funds

Rep. Nick LaLota is calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to freeze fellow New York Republican Rep. George Santos’s campaign accounts amid escalating scrutiny of the new lawmaker’s false claims before and during his successful House bid last year.

“To the extent there is actually any real money in the campaign account of Congressman George Santos, the funds should be immediately frozen by the United States Department of Justice or Federal Election Commission,” reads LaLota’s statement, which he posted on Twitter on Sunday. “If those federal agencies need more authority to do so, I’ll take the lead.”

LaLota, along with six other House Republicans, has called on Santos to resign over his falsehoods. LaLota also called for the House Ethics Committee to launch an investigation into Santos last month.

“Congressman Santos fraudulently solicited these funds and Santos shouldn’t be allowed to drain his campaign account while multiple authorities investigate the very fraud that induced these contributions,” LaLota said in the statement.


https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3815483-ny-republican-calls-for-doj-fec-to-freeze-santos-campaign-funds/