The Jolt: Clyde’s gun bill is key to ending U.S. House logjam
Shortly after lunchtime, we will find out whether the U.S. House stalemate has ended.
If so, expect a vote today on yet another bill sponsored by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde. The gun store owner who also wears a lapel pin every day that is shaped like an AR-15 firearm, wants to prevent the federal government from regulating pistol braces.
The legislation became a huge focus of last week’s revolt by about a dozen far-right lawmakers after Clyde said Republican leaders threatened to block it from the floor. He said that is because he tried to stand in the way of passing the debt ceiling legislation that Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with President Biden. But GOP leadership said they just didn’t want to bring a bill to the floor that falls short of the votes needed to pass.
We should know around 2 p.m. if there are enough moderate Republicans willing to vote with Democrats against the legislation to tank it. But even if the bill passes the House floor, it is unlikely to gain traction in the Democratic-led Senate. Plus, President Joe Biden has already promised to veto the measure if it lands on his desk.
Still, in the House, Clyde’s bill is considered the key to ending the logjam.
On Monday night, The Hill reported that the hard-liners who blocked votes most of last week said they will support the procedural measure that will unlock floor votes today.
Emerging from McCarthy's office Monday evening, those hard-liners said no firm agreement has been reached with the Speaker. But they're encouraged by the direction of the talks and will release their stranglehold on the House this week while those discussions continue.
“We want to see this move forward as a body, but we're concerned about the economic security of this country," said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
Clyde, a Republican who lives outside Athens, has scheduled at 3 p.m. news conference. We also expect that he and other deeply conservative lawmakers will outline their next steps as they attempt to extract more agreements from McCarthy on federal spending and House floor procedures.
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GONE GREEN? Is the window closing in Georgia for massive new green energy deals?
Since 2020, electric vehicle makers and their suppliers have announced more than 40 projects slated to create 28,400 jobs and nearly $23 billion in investment.
The new car plants, electric battery factories and other EV projects have a generational impact on employment, Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday at the Southern Regional Education Board meeting.
But he said he expects that growth to wind down soon, and he wants to squeeze it for all he can, while he can.
“I think it’s going to all happen in the next year or two,” Kemp said, according to our colleague Ty Tagami.
“We’ve been through two, two and a half, really good years of it, and we’ve been very fortunate here. And so, I’m trying to stay focused on that because that is a short window to make that happen.”
Each new EV project brings a promise of a rush of new jobs, but it also strains the state’s infrastructure and workforce development system. Still, be on the lookout for another major announcement. We’re told the pipeline is stocked with more clean energy projects, at least in the short term.
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ON THE SAME NOTE. Former President Donald Trump took aim at the green energy industry during his Saturday speech to the Georgia GOP, promising to eliminate government incentives on his first day in office.
Perhaps surprisingly, Gov. Brian Kemp didn’t disagree.
“I’m in line with where President Trump was on that. We either need to do one of two things: You need to give them to everybody, or take them away, just make the playing field completely level,” Kemp said.
“The market is driving the move to electric vehicles somewhat,” he added. “I think the Biden Administration is pushing the market too quick, which has created an inflationary environment on a lot of rare earth minerals, on the run to the battery market.”
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NO BOYCOTT. Gov. Brian Kemp famously refused to attend this weekend’s Georgia GOP convention. Just don’t call it a boycott.
“The Atlanta paper keeps saying that I boycotted the convention. I did not boycott the convention. I just didn’t know because the chairman, as you know, was working against the whole statewide ticket last year. And I wasn’t going to go and support an event that he was in charge of.”
He was referring to former Georgia GOP chair David Shafer, who openly supported Donald Trump-backed challengers over his party’s incumbents in last year’s midterm.
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WHITE HOUSE WATCH. One more Brian Kemp note: As we’ve reported for weeks, the governor continues to keep his options open for 2024 and refuses to rule out a run for president, even with fellow GOPers already creating a crowded race.
CBS News’ Robert Costa reported late Monday night that he continues to hear two names from major GOP donors worried about former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles and the holes in the current field running against him. The donor-favored names are Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia, and Kemp.
Costa asked Kemp if the door to a run is still open, despite the late hour.
“In politics, there’s always doors opening and closing and everything else, but I’ve learned over the years, it’s best for me to stay focused on the task at hand,” he told CBS News on Monday. “And the good Lord will take care of everything else.”
Watch the full 20-minute interview on YouTube, which also includes Kemp’s thoughts about Trump’s indictment and former Arizona candidate Kari Lake’s comments at the Georgia GOP convention.
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SEE YOU IN COURT. Former President Donald Trump will be in federal court today to hear the charges against him related to his handling of, and refusal to return, reams of classified military documents after leaving the White House.
The AJC’s Tamar Hallerman is in place in Miami for the hearing, where Trump is expected to plead not guilty. You can follow her updates at AJC.com or on Twitter.
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BIDEN TOOTHACHE. An unplanned root canal caused President Joe Biden to skip the inaugural College Athlete Day and a chance to meet the hundreds of student-athletes who traveled to Washington on Monday for the event.
Vice President Kamala Harris stood in for him instead, delivering remarks to students representing 47 teams and 19 sports from all three NCAA divisions. And if disappointment about not being able to meet the president wasn’t enough, it also rained during the event.
The University of Georgia’s football team made national news after turning down the invitation to attend. But there was a Georgia school in attendance: Emory University’s men’s and women’s swim teams.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, and other supporters of legislation that would allow longer flights from Washington Reagan National Airport will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. A group behind the push plans to livestream from its Facebook page.
- Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the outgoing director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will testify at 10:30 a.m. to the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, will host a hearing on artificial intelligence at 2:30 p.m.
- U.S. House could vote a bill that would prohibit the federal government from banning gas stoves.
- The House will also attempt to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a resolution overturning the District of Columbia’s new policing standards.
- President Biden will take that meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that he rescheduled Monday to undergo an unplanned root canal. In the evening, he will host a Juneteenth concert.
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MAYOR FOR A DAY. The list the White House provided to the media of attendees at Monday’s College Athletes Day included, “Mayor DeUndre Eberhart, Atlanta, GA.”
Which means that either the city of Atlanta had a big change no one told us about, or the White House had mistakenly identified Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ chief federal liaison, Eberhart, as the top guy.
Of course, it was the latter, and the pool report was quickly corrected. But for a few minutes, Eberhart had received a big promotion.
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WELCOME ABOARD. The AJC newsroom got word yesterday that Atlanta TV icon Monica Pearson will soon come aboard to host a new web show, podcast, and lifestyle column.
Pearson has been a part of the fabric of Atlanta news going back to the days of WSB-TV’s “Night Beat,” which she hosted alongside John Pruitt. She’s also a trailblazer as the first woman and first person of color to host an evening newscast in Atlanta. Many Jolt readers and candidates will also remember Pearson as a frequent political debate moderator.
Welcome to the new kid on the AJC block!
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DOG OF THE DAY. In the running debate about which is better, Savannah or Atlanta, we submit today’s Dog of the Day: Savannah, who lives in Atlanta.
Savannah calls Jason Mashburn her person. The Georgia native recently moved back to the Peach State after years of working in D.C. politics, including for former Speaker Newt Gingrich and the late U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell.
Mashburn came back to open the Atlanta office of Creative Direct and LINK Public Affairs. But more importantly, to get Savannah back to her roots.
She now enjoys all the pleasures of Southern living like outdoor patios in January and plentiful parking near pet stores. And being the AJC Jolt Dog of the Day. Welcome to Atlanta, Savannah.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
