Congress
Commerce pick Lutnick clears key procedural hurdle
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Commerce — and implement the president’s sweeping trade and tariff agenda — is set for a full Senate confirmation vote in the coming days.
The Senate voted to advance Howard Lutnick’s nomination Thursday afternoon, 52-45. It comes after the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted last week, 16-12, to advance Lutnick to the floor, with just Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voting with all Republicans in support.
Lutnick, who is expected to be confirmed easily along party lines at least, rebuilt the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He has leaned into Trump’s enthusiasm around tariffs to boost American industry, which Republicans have largely embraced despite some concerns about how they could raise prices. Democrats have been sharply critical of this strategy.
Democrats have also scrutinized Lutnick’s business entanglements. Despite substantial ties to a controversial cryptocurrency firm, Lutnick has declined to say if he will recuse himself from a White House cryptocurrency working group, which will be tasked with creating a framework for trading digital assets — a top priority for the crypto industry seeking more legitimacy for its business at the top rungs of the federal government.
Still, Democrats have been enthusiastic about Lutnick’s support of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act to boost American semiconductor manufacturing that President Joe Biden signed, and which some Republicans have derided as wasteful.
Congress
Jeffries stays silent on Schumer’s future as Senate leader
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sidestepped a question about the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — a stunning demonstration of the breach that has emerged between the two New York Democrats over a looming government shutdown.
“Next question,” Jeffries told reporters when asked if there should be new leadership in the Senate. He also declined to answer a question on whether he had confidence in Schumer and said that while he’d been in touch with his fellow leader, their conversations would “remain private.”
Schumer said Thursday he planned to vote to advance a GOP-written funding patch to avert a shutdown, which is said was the better of two bad options.
“It is a false choice that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and House Republicans have been presenting, between their reckless and partisan spending bill and a government shutdown,” Jeffries responded Friday. “We do not support a bill that is designed to hurt the American people.”
When asked whether Schumer had acquiesced to Trump, Jeffries said there was still time — the vote had not taken place yet, and some senators were still undeclared, he added.
Congress
Mark Kelly ditches his Tesla
Amid the Friday chaos on Capitol Hill, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) took to X to announce … he’s getting rid of his Tesla.
“This is going to be my last trip in this car,” Kelly said in a video posted to his social media.
The Arizona Democrat wrote the car felt like “a rolling billboard” advertising Elon Musk. The chainsaw-wielding special adviser to the president has spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency’s shuttering of agencies and mass firings across the government. He’s also Tesla’s CEO.
Kelly said he couldn’t drive the car without thinking about the damage DOGE has brought on the government, including the firing of veterans.
“Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an asshole, and I don’t want to drive a car built and designed by an asshole,” Kelly said.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump decided to buy his own Tesla, setting up a collection of the electric cars for his selection at the White House after protests broke out across the country at Tesla dealerships.
Following the car show, Senate Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics asking the office to open an investigation, saying Musk and Trump used their roles to promote Musk’s company with their “temporary Tesla showroom.”
Congress
Pelosi slams ‘false choice’ on shutdown, indirectly criticizing Schumer
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered some sidelong criticism of her colleagues in the other chamber Friday after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would vote to allow passage of a GOP spending patch.
“America has experienced a Trump shutdown before — but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People,” she said in a statement, endorsing an alternative bill from top Democratic appropriators Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Pelosi also said she backed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ decision to oppose the bill. All House Democrats but one voted against it.
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