Congress
The Trump loyalist at the center of the Senate’s Obamacare talks
If the Senate is going to strike a deal to revive a signature Democratic policy, it will be in part because of an unlikely broker: a freshman Republican from the party’s MAGA wing.
Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio is, on paper, an odd fit in the core group of about a dozen senators in talks to extend Obamacare credits that lapsed on Jan. 1. Most are well-known bipartisan dealmakers, such as Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.
Moreno, on the other hand, joined the Senate a year ago as a Trump-anointed presidential loyalist who had just defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown with hard-line attacks focused mainly on immigration. But he has a key asset — a close relationship with Trump, who will need to bless or at least tacitly accept any agreement to smooth its passage through Congress.
Asked in an interview about his decision to take a leading role in the politically fraught health care negotiations, Moreno deployed one of Trump’s best-known slogans.
“Putting America first means putting Americans first,” he said. “People are being affected, and I want to help the people who need help. That’s what we should be doing.”
He said his goal is to get roughly 35 of the Senate’s 53 GOP senators to support an eventual deal — not just a handful joining Democrats on a “defection vote” — and that he’s keeping the White House and Senate leaders closely apprised of the discussions.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised Moreno in an interview as “whip-smart” and “willing to do the work.”
“He’s willing to sit down with people and try and find common ground, which I think on an issue like this is challenging,” he said. “Around here, that’s worth a lot.”
His involvement is also a sign that a new generation of bipartisan dealmakers might be starting to emerge after some of the Senate’s old hands headed for the exits in recent cycles. Moreno is now in close touch with not only Collins and Shaheen but other Senate pragmatists such as Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Angus King (I-Maine).
Moreno’s text chain with the dozen-member group is labeled the “EPTC OG gang” — a reference to the enhanced premium tax credits, the technical name for the Obamacare subsidies.
At times, Moreno’s new-kid-on-the-block status has been on display. After Moreno and Collins convened a meeting in December near the Capitol Rotunda, the Ohio Republican asked a reporter for directions to the room, inadvertently tipping off its location.
Minutes later, Collins walked toward the meeting seemingly astounded that word had gotten out about what she said was a “secret meeting.” Told about Moreno’s request for help, a bemused Collins put a hand to the side of her face.
Moreno said his freshman status means he doesn’t have “scars” from previous congressional fights.
“‘Oh, I don’t want to be working with this person,’ or ‘They screwed me back in 1972,’ you know?” he said. “I was in Kindergarten, so it doesn’t affect me.”
At 58, Moreno is on the younger side for the Senate, but he is already airing frustrations about the chamber’s growing polarization and making points about addressing it that jibe closely with complaints frequently heard from older generations of senators.
“I don’t think there’s enough muscle memory here about actually going in with good faith, good intentions and getting together and seeing if the deal can be cut,” he said.
The group of negotiators have their work cut out for them. They are discussing a two-year extension of the Obamacare tax credits that were beefed up under former President Joe Biden. Since their lapse at the end of last year, the tax credits — which were used by more than 500,000 Ohioans, according to KFF data — have reverted to their original 2010 levels, benefiting only those with incomes under 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
The Senate group’s proposed extension would include new restrictions including a $5 a month minimum premium payment and an income cap set at 700 percent of the federal poverty level. In the second year, the proposal would also give enrollees to take their subsidy as cash in pre-funded health savings accounts — an arrangement favored by Trump.
Moreno believes the group is in the “red zone,” and could be ready with text as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday. But some Democrats involved in the discussions have been more circumspect, wary about a thorny dispute over abortion.
Many Republicans say they will not be able to support a compromise unless the subsidies are tightened so they cannot fund abortions in any manner. Democrats say the safeguards built into the Affordable Care Act upon its passage in 2010 are sufficient.
“I think we’ve made clear from the start, the Democrats feel we have to come to the rescue and I hope we can do it,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 party leader. But he warned that if the Republicans “decide they want to make this an abortion issue, I’m afraid that’s the end of the conversation.”
Moreno said the group wasn’t trying to relitigate questions over federal funding for abortions but acknowledged there is a “dispute” over whether that is currently happening.
Republicans’ heartburn over the issue flared last week after Trump suggested in remarks to House members that they should be “flexible” on abortion language — sparking outrage from outside conservative groups that ricocheted back on Congress.
A person granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations said Republicans in a larger negotiating group of roughly two dozen senators haven’t yet landed on a consensus position — much less the entire Senate GOP conference.
“There’s no need to come to a compromise because it’s already been dealt with in the Affordable Care Act,” Shaheen said when asked about the issue.
While the abortion question is a powerful force pulling some Republicans away from a deal, there are also compelling reasons for many to embrace a compromise — not least of which is the threat the expiring subsidies pose to the GOP majorities in November.
Among the vulnerable lawmakers is Moreno’s GOP partner in the Ohio delegation, Sen. Jon Husted, who is facing a likely matchup with Brown.
Moreno acknowledged that despite a feeling among negotiators that they are close to an agreement, it could all come to naught. Lawmakers “are on the clock,” he said, and getting a deal is an “if.”
“Capital I, capital F,” he said. “75-point font.”
A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday on demonstrators’ access to the steps of the Capitol could bode poorly for President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban three media organizations from the White House.
The majority opinion, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a “nonpublic forum” — just like most areas of the White House grounds, including the press facilities. While the government may impose restrictions on access to those nonpublic areas, the limits must be “viewpoint neutral,” apply “objective, workable standards” and not permit officials to exercise “unbridled discretion over a forum’s use,” the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded.
“A regulation that grants the government arbitrary control over who may speak invites the suppression of disfavored viewpoints and undermines the First Amendment’s core protections,” wrote Rao, who was joined in the majority by Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee.
The ruling, on the eve of a hearing over restoring White House accessfor Blue Light News, BLN and MS NOW, reaffirms the D.C. Circuit’s longstanding First Amendment precedents at an inopportune time for Trump. The president has explicitly described his ban on the three outlets as a punishment for publishing what he calls “fake news.”
“Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,” Trump said on social media Monday.
The outlets have said their access was revoked because the White House objected to their reporting and that the ban “threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
The D.C. Circuit would hear any appeals in the litigation over Trump’s media ban, and Trump has in fact already said he anticipates filing an appeal, presuming that he will be dealt a defeat in district court.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The D.C. Circuit’s Tuesday ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Patrick Mahoney, a clergyman who sought to hold prayer vigils and demonstrations on the East Steps of the Capitol several months after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, which resulted in new access restrictions. His permit was denied in part based on Capitol Police regulations that prohibit public demonstrations on the steps unless they are sponsored by a member of Congress.
Though the case has inched through the courts for years, Tuesday’s ruling resolves a key question, labeling the Capitol’s East Steps a “nonpublic forum” for which congressional authorities may restrict public access — in part because lawmakers use those steps to enter and exit the building.
But allowing members of Congress to sponsor gatherings on the steps creates an arbitrary system, the majority concluded.
“Because the protection of unpopular speech and advocacy is central to the First Amendment, we cannot leave it to the selective enforcement of members,” Rao wrote.
Notably, Rao’s opinion cites a D.C. Circuit ruling last year that concluded “it would be unreasonable to control access to White House press facilities through standardless discretion.”
The third judge on the panel, Clinton appointee Judith Rogers, dissented, but her opinion was even more protective of free-speech rights.
Rogers said she agreed with her colleagues that the “selective exception” for demonstrations sponsored by lawmakers was unconstitutional. However, she said she would have held that the lower portion of the Capitol steps was a public forum where the government was obligated to permit protest activity.
Ohio television stations are so far choosing to ignore a legal threat from GOP Rep. Max Miller and broadcast an ad from his Democratic challenger centered on the allegations of domestic abuse Miller faces from his ex-wife.
A lawyer for Miller demanded that Cleveland-area television station WKYC not publish “false, malicious, and defamatory statements” in a Thursday cease-and-desist letter first reported by Blue Light News.
WKYC ran the ad Tuesday morning, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact, as did two other Cleveland stations, WEWS and WOIO.
The 30-second ad from the Poindexter campaign and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee depicts a local sheriff listing the accusations levied against Miller levied by Emily Moreno, his ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Miller has repeatedly denied the abuse allegations.
“The ad mentioned is filled with lies,” Miller spokesperson Abigail Angelos said in a statement. “Each of the statements in the advertisement are entirely unsubstantiated and contradicted by evidence.”
Representatives for the three TV stations did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Poindexter responded to the legal threat by tearing up the cease-and-desist letter in a campaign video.
Before the ad, Poindexter had focused his campaign on his working-class background and cost-of-living issues. Now the campaign has gotten intensely personal: The Democrat is on air publicizing Miller’s family dispute, while Miller’s campaign is lobbing accusations about Poindexter’s past run-ins with law enforcement in an ad paid for by the NRCC.
NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said in a statement that Poindexter is “completely out of touch with Northeast Ohio” and is a “life-long criminal” who is “fully embracing the radical far-left socialist agenda.”
Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
A Senate Republican from Utah is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. following reports that the president’s son had parts of his wedding paid for by a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sen. John Curtis’ request, which comes following a news story by ProPublica, marks a significant break with President Donald Trump from a member of his own party.
“Questions have arisen about the relationships of President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., with foreign business figures and the acceptance of significant gifts. These include a lavish wedding afterparty, on a private island, provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift,” Curtis wrote in a letter dated Sept. 21 to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.
“These concerns are compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting,” Curtis added.
Curtis, also noting the profits the Trump family has made through cryptocurrency deals, indicated this incident is part of a broader pattern where the relatives of U.S. presidents can improperly leverage their proximity to power.
In addition to probing Trump Jr., Curtis asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who over the years found himself enveloped in numerous self-dealing scandals. Both men, he said, should testify “regarding their past business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts, or other benefits they have received, and any instances in which their relationship to the President was invoked or understood to provide value.”
“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president. Nor should congressional oversight begin and end when control of the White House changes hands,” Curtis said.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday, but it’s unlikely that Trump, who demands loyalty from the GOP, will consider the bipartisan nature of Curtis’ request to be anything other than a personal affront.
Trump said in a statement he has “no idea who Umar is” and that he has “never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day from the wedding.”
Kremlev is president of the International Boxing Association and received an Order of Friendship medal from Putin for his “contribution to international sport and his commitment to the global boxing family.” He’s also been sanctioned by the Ukrainian government for his ties to Putin.
A spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Republicans confirmed Grassley was in receipt of the letter but could not commit to investigating the matter. The spokesperson noted that hearing dates are extremely limited through the end of 2026 and investigative hearings usually take months of background work before they can be scheduled.
It’s sure to be an issue Democrats pursue if they win the majority in either chamber next year. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to the White House and Donald Trump Jr. last week demanding information about the president’s son’s ties to Kremlev.
Cheyanne M. Daniels contributed to this report.
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