Burgess Everett

Democrats see Iraq echoes in Trump’s Iran war The party that swept to power in Congress by campaigning against Middle East wars 20 years ago sounds confident that history will repeat itself.

Talked to Sen. Kim this afternoon about the Trump/Bush echoes on Iran as Dems try to build a 2006-style blue wave

He told me that voters will reject the Iran strikes and "want a focus on affordability. And they really have no tolerance for this type of action after what we saw in Iraq"

Trump sidelines Republican Congress on Iran strikes Democrats are calling for votes on war powers, but all signs point to the GOP going along with Trump’s latest foreign intervention.

GOP leaders essentially signed off on action in Iran this week, it's clear to Trump Congress won't block him. Congressional atrophy on war power continues unabated ...

www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

Dems now drawing clear parallels between Trump and Bush

Sen. Andy Kim: “Americans don’t want to go to war with Iran. By launching strikes, President Trump has made the same dangerous and foolish decision President Bush did a generation ago"

Senate Panel Passes Authorization For Force Against Syria The Foreign Relations Committee votes 10-7 to authorize the use of force against Syria for its use of chemical weapons.

Congress is really becoming an afterthought on decisions of war at this point, strikes on Syria in 2013 were the last serious attempt by Capitol Hill to weigh in on the issue

www.npr.org/sections/the...

Sen. Kaine on Iran strikes: "The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran. Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action.”

Exclusive: FEMA disaster relief fund nearly empty, officials say The Trump administration is amping up pressure on Congress to pass a DHS funding bill.

FEMA's disaster relief fund is running low on money amidst the DHS shutdown, per two Trump administration officials.

Democrats say Trump admin withheld FEMA funds when government was open, spent them when it was closed

Sen. Murray: “transparent political ploy.”

www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

Exclusive: Moreno moves to lock down the Senate GOP campaign chief race for 2028 The first-term Ohioan is a man in a hurry, leveraging strong relationships throughout the party to make a decisive play.

GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno moves to lock down the Senate GOP campaign chief race for 2028

www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

The main reason Thune isn't pursuing the talking filibuster approach for SAVE America Act is it requires lockstep GOP unity on endless amendment votes. He said there's "clearly not a unified position among Republicans in the Senate”

"There isn't support for doing that at this point"

Schumer dismisses UNH poll showing Platner way ahead of Mills in Maine primary (and Platner beating Collins)

"Polls come and go ... we're going to win in Maine and frankly Mill is the only Democrat that's won statewide that's in the race"

Trump piles orders on Congress, but wants nothing on tariffs The State of the Union featured no shortage of to-dos for Republican lawmakers who could soon lose unified control of the Hill.

@nicholaswu12.bsky.social

www.semafor.com/article/02/2...

Talked to some Dems about Trump's Capitol Hill asks

Banning institutional investors from buying SFH? Warren: “All talk and no action"

Going after Democrats after saying end the shutdown Shaheen: "The way you get an agreement is to negotiate a compromise. And clearly he’s not interested in that"

SOTU fundraising news -

DNC official tells Semafor it had its best day of the cycle and third best day all time for digital ads fundraising around Trump's state of the Union

"The more Americans watch Trump's State of the Union the more they're giving to the DNC to elect Democrats"

Sen. Britt says Democrats and Republicans are still talking about how to reopen DHS, which has been shutdown for 11 days

Sen. Cornyn on Rep. Tony Gonzales: “I’ve got my own race to run. I’ll let the speaker deal with that”

Sen. Cory Booker, member of Dem leadership, is not attending the State of the Union, a source says

He’ll be doing interviews with creators and influencers — including Don Lemon —ahead of the speech as part of his Democratic Strategic Communications Committee’s “creator row”

Very interesting vote brewing in the House on ROTOR Act, a response to the DCA crash. Needs 2/3 today

Pentagon prefers a separate House bill over the Cruz/Cantwell Senate bill. No guarantee Senate will swallow the House bill

Would be a big snarl if ROTOR doesn't pass today

Messy tariffs send Capitol Hill scrambling Officials in both parties are studying the president’s unprecedented use of Section 122 tariffs and how Congress can respond.

- Some Rs want to raise existing tariff rates for revenue for extending tax cuts with reconciliation bill
- Increasing desire for 2nd reconciliation bill but 50 votes looks tough in Senate

Messy tariffs send Capitol Hill scrambling Officials in both parties are studying the president’s unprecedented use of Section 122 tariffs and how Congress can respond.

Tariffs are a mess on the Hill
- Dems certain it'll take 60 votes to extend new 15 percent tariffs, so they are vowing to block
- It's unprecedented though, so everyone studying up. Law only says "Act of Congress” -- no specificity
- Dems can't launch emergency votes like before

Sen. Mark Kelly says he’s going to the State of the Union tomorrow

President Trump “wants me to be sitting in prison right now. So I'm going to be sitting there as one of the senators from Arizona, as a representative of Arizona, to show him I'm not in prison”

Back from Europe, Sen. Kelly says fading relationships with European allies during the Trump presidency is “depressing” and says people in Greenland are “afraid of us”

“Their kids are afraid of Americans”

“The relationship with Denmark is going to take a long time to repair”

Sens. Durbin, Lee, Hirono and Cramer just released a bill to extend/change Sec. 702 surveillance powers for years. Those expire on April 20.

Their bill would require a warrant for accessing content of communications, not the meta data

www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

Sen. Moreno says he wants to codify Trump’s existing tariffs (not emergency or Sec. 122) through a reconciliation bill, which would need 50 votes. He says that revenue could be used in a sweeping bill to make tax cuts on tips, seniors, OT permanent

Schumer announces SOTU guests — seems like he’s planning to attend

Schumer says Senate Democrats "will block any attempt to extend" Trump's new tariffs when they expire in 150 days

"Democrats will not go along with furthering Trump’s economic carnage"

Exclusive: Partial shutdown looks to stretch into State of the Union Monday will be the 10th day of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown

DHS shutdown almost certainly won't end this week and is now highly likely to run into the State of the Union. The sides aren't close at all

Monday brings this shutdown to least 10 days and the total days of shutdown this Congress to 57 (!)

www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks endorses Crockett in Texas Senate primary ... first Crockett endorsement from sitting senator

Sen. Martin Heinrich endorsed Talarico last week

Jeffries says he met with Md. state Senate President Ferguson, who "authentically believes that the votes don’t exist in the State Senate" for drawing out Andy Harris

Jeffries: "The only way to find out is to allow an immediate up-or-down vote on the Senate floor"

Exclusive: Democratic groups wage populist fight on Trump tax cuts The group Fair Share America is rebranding as Families Over Billionaires and launching the Stop the Billionaire Bailout PAC.

New Stop the Billionaire Bailout PAC aims to hit Republicans for tax cuts law www.semafor.com/article/02/1...

Dem Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow on ICE: "the U.S. Senate must stand with Americans everywhere–against any additional funding for this agency, and with a clear message to Donald Trump"

Shutdown talks not making any headway --

White House official says Republicans and Democrats are “still pretty far apart” after Dems’ offer last night.

Schumer/Jeffries spokespeople say “Republicans have largely ignored the core guardrails Americans are demanding.”