U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy moved to appease hardliners in his GOP caucus Tuesday by directing the leaders of key committees to launch an impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden.
The announcement, made on the House’s first day back from the annual summer recess, is a reversal by the California Republican. McCarthy had previously vowed that any probe into the president’s involvement with the overseas business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, would only start after a vote on the matter from the House floor.
But a Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline looms and conservatives who embrace former President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) populism, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have threatened to withhold support for funding bills unless an investigation of the president commences.
Our friend Jamie Dupree writes that Greene and many other conservatives celebrated McCarthy’s change of heart.
“I think it was a great, bold move,” Greene, R-Rome, said from her favorite perch on the Capitol steps shortly after the speaker’s announcement.
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Democrats labeled the inquiry as a political attack on the president despite no evidence of any wrongdoing.
“This is just a distraction from the fact extreme MAGA Republicans are unable to govern,” U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Lithonia said.
Johnson and Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, both serve on the Judiciary Committee, one of the three panels tasked with the probe. Greene serves on another: the House Oversight Committee.
The third committee, Ways and Means, has one Georgia member: Rep. Drew Ferguson, a Republican who lives in The Rock.
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LISTEN UP. News broke Tuesday afternoon that the U.S. House will begin an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. We’re breaking down what it means in today’s episode of the Politically Georgia podcast.
We’re also talking about activists’ angst over City Hall and the proposed public safety training center as well as the horrific conditions at the Fulton County Jail. And we look at the U.S. House districts most likely to get a haircut if a court challenge to Georgia’s congressional maps succeeds.
Have a question for the show? Call our 24-hour Politically Georgia Hotline at 404-526-2527 and we’ll answer it on our Friday episode.
Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
LESSENING PUMP PAIN: Georgia’s gas tax suspension could extend into 2024, Gov. Brian Kemp hinted Tuesday. After his office announced a 30-day break on the 31-cents-a-gallon tax — 35 cents for diesel — the governor told the AJC his intention is to renew the suspension in October and beyond.
“We’re going to do it for the short-term, two to three months, probably even longer — until we get the Legislature back in session,” Kemp said. He noted once the Georgia General Assembly returns in January, he and lawmakers will “have conversations about where to go next if anywhere, whether we keep it going or do something else.”
Kemp promoted his gas tax suspension following remarks to Georgia hospitality industry leaders at the annual Governor’s Tourism Conference on Jekyll Island.
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EMORY VISIT. First lady Jill Biden will meet with scientists Friday at Emory University. The researchers are the recipients of a first-of-its-kind federal grant meant to explore possible uses of mRNA to combat cancer and other illnesses. Previous mRNA research led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
The White House announced the $24 million grant last month.
As we already reported in a previous Jolt, Biden’s Atlanta visit has dual purposes: She’s headlining a Thursday night campaign fundraiser hosted by Comer Yates and Sally Quillian Yates, a former acting attorney general who was fired in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
SENATE SHENANIGANS. The Georgia Senate GOP caucus convention is underway on the Georgia coast and tensions are high. The gathering is the first since Sen. Colton Moore, a first-term senator from Trenton, began calling for a special legislative session to impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — and berating the colleagues who refuse to back his play.
Moore wants Willis removed from office over her indictment of former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies for interfering in the 2020 Georgia presidential election.
One GOP insider at the event said the fraught environment is a preview of next year’s legislative session but then noted a silver lining: “Nobody punched Colton in the face so I think it was a resounding success.”
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PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER? Late Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra declared a “public health disaster” in Georgia.
The AJC’s Ariel Hart tells us the declaration is specific to the after-effects of Hurricane Idalia, which recently swept through portions of south and coastal Georgia.
The declaration is meant to ease requirements for hospitals in areas impacted by the storm. The emergency order allows hospital emergency rooms to send patients to other facilities for screenings; permits doctors licensed outside the state to come to Georgia and assist those needing treatment; and eases limits on Medicare Advantage out-of-network reimbursements, among other things.
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Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
CLINTON CALLING. Stacey Abrams is already an Ivy Leaguer, with a law degree from Yale. Now, she’s added Columbia University to her CV through a fellowship with the Institute of Global Politics, a newly launched initiative co-founded by Columbia’s newest faculty member, Hillary Clinton.
The New York Times reports Abrams and the institute’s other fellows will “work with students and scholars to mesh research and practical experience in the hopes of solving social and political problems on a global scale.” Other notable fellows include Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and Eric Schmidt, the former CEO and chairman of Google.
Abrams has kept a relatively low profile since her 2022 election loss to Gov. Brian Kemp in a rematch of a 2018 race. She’s done legal work with a nonprofit, Rewiring America, and joined the faculty of another prestigious private university, Howard University in Washington, D.C., as an endowed chair.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden meets with his Cancer Cabinet to discuss the administration’s efforts to boost cancer research and funding.
- The U.S. Senate continues debate on appropriations bills.
- The U.S. House has scheduled a procedural vote and debate on the defense spending package.
- U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., delivers remarks at an event honoring the lives lost to shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and other U.S. schools.
- U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta joins other Democrats and music industry executives for a news conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
SPENDING BILLS. The U.S. House will attempt today to advance one of the 12 government spending bills pending in the chamber. The effort is an early test of whether Speaker Kevin McCarthy has the coalition needed to avoid a government shutdown.
Today’s vote is separate from the push to pass a continuing resolution that would extend funding at its current levels past the Sept. 30 deadline. This stopgap would keep the government open while lawmakers work to pass a full spending passage.
GOP hardliners could move to block today’s spending bill vote as a show of strength. Or they could support the legislation to reward McCarthy, a California Republican, for launching an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
The impeachment probe, announced Tuesday, likely dooms McCarthy’s chances of attracting Democratic support for the funding measures. That means McCarthy will need nearly every Republican to support today’s procedural vote. The GOP holds just a five-seat House majority.
Some conservatives continue to voice concerns about McCarthy, including members of the House Freedom Caucus. The loudest among them is Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who said the speaker needs to do more to avoid a vote for his ouster.
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
EARLY START? Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has already told donors and activists he’s planning to run for governor of Georgia in 2026. Now we’re starting to see the Republican’s fundraising efforts ramp up.
Carr, a former top aide to the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, held a fundraiser on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. A spokesman said the effort pumped cash into the attorney general’s campaign account.
“Attorney General Carr has many friends in Washington from his time as chief of staff for Sen. Isakson, and Chris greatly appreciates the support they have given to his winning campaigns,” said Heath Garrett, a Carr adviser.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
BEACH PARTY. State Sen. Brandon Beach was in Iowa over the weekend to boost former President Donald Trump’s comeback bid. We’re told the Alpharetta Republican helped train supporters to advocate for Trump at caucuses around the crucial early voting state.
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RISE UP. Longshot Democratic presidential challenger Robert Kennedy Jr. unveiled a South Carolina campaign team that includes a familiar face: retired Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Leonard Wingate.
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MOVING ON. Bryan Thomas, most recently the communications director for the City of Atlanta, has left City Hall. Thomas has accepted the top communications job at the National Conference of State Legislatures, leaving behind large shoes to fill at a critical time in Mayor Andre Dickens’ first term.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. We told you Tuesday about angst among some Georgia Democrats over recent events in Atlanta. But there is no debate about this Democratic party animal, Blue Presberg.
Blue is a five-year-old Scotch collie born, we’re told, during Stacey Abrams’ first campaign for governor and named “Blue” for obvious reasons.
Blue calls former Fayette County Democratic Chairman Leonard Presberg her person. They live in beautiful Fayette County, where Blue clearly enjoys a Zen-like peace that anyone in Georgia politics will want to emulate.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
