‘Super’ Week – FREEDOMBUNKER

A Wild Budget Agreement Appeared! House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) unveiled on Sunday a set of six budget bills that would avert a partial government shutdown if passed by Friday’s deadline. Cumulatively, the six bills would cost about $460 billion and would fall within the $1.7 trillion discretionary spending cap that both sides previously agreed to impose, the Associated Press reports. If passed, they would fund portions of the government through the end of the fiscal year in September.

The 1,000-plus-page package needs to be passed by both the House and the Senate this week, and it’s not immediately clear whether objections in one or both chambers could derail the process. The other six appropriation bills representing the larger half of the annual discretionary budget also have a looming deadline, in their case March 22.

The package reportedly excludes one major goal sought by conservative Republicans: a reversal of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to allow the abortion pill mifepristone to be sold over the counter. Republicans did achieve some other policy wins in the package, including a cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, a provision that will ban the sale of oil to China, and one that will limit gun-buying background checks for veterans.

In a statement, Johnson urged his fellow Republicans to support the deal, which he said “secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs” favored by President Joe Biden.

Schumer, meanwhile, bragged about getting a $1 billion increase for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and blocking a Republican proposal to limit what foods are covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.

There may be some drama to come before Friday’s deadline, as some Republicans, including Sen. Mike Lee (R–Utah) and some members of the tempestuous House Freedom Caucus, have signaled their unhappiness with the package.

Consolation prize. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won her first presidential primary on Sunday—the one held in Washington, D.C., a city that apparently contains at least a few thousand registered Republicans. More than 62 percent of the 2,035 ballots cast went for Haley, while former President Donald Trump picked up a scant 33 percent of the vote.

Haley getting her first (and perhaps only) victory in D.C. is a perfect illustration of the cultural divide that defines the conservative movement. Generations of Republicans—dating back to at least the Newt Gingrich-led House takeover in 1994—made electoral hay out of running as outsiders against the supposedly corrupt “establishment” in Washington. Of course, once elected, the victors became the targets for the next wave of anti-establishment candidates.

Trump has broken that cycle. He and his allies are the dominant faction in the party—the establishment in everything but name—yet he’s managed to maintain the image of the outsider. Haley is the candidate for D.C. Republicans, and they have never been more powerless.

The End and the Beginning. Whatever small hope remains of voters preventing a Biden-Trump rematch in November will likely die this week, as 16 states hold primary elections on “Super Tuesday.” Voters will go to the polls in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Additionally, Republicans will vote in Alaska and Democrats will vote in Iowa and American Samoa.

This week’s contests will award more than a third of the total delegates to the Republican convention; winner-take-all thresholds that kick in at various levels in different states make it likely that Trump will win the vast majority of those delegates. If Haley is able to prevent a clean sweep on Tuesday, Virginia is probably her best bet—a February poll showed her trailing Trump by single digits in the commonwealth, though other polls of the race have Trump much farther ahead.

The Democratic race has even less drama heading into Tuesday, but the Biden campaign sees this week as a crucial moment nonetheless. Tuesday’s primaries followed by Thursday’s scheduled State of the Union address give the incumbent a chance to outline the contours of the race. Quentin Fulks, a deputy campaign manager for Biden, tells The New York Times that this week is “the kick-off to the general election” (which leaves me wondering who is playing the halftime show).

Absent the intervention of a doctor or a mortician, the rematch no one wants will be effectively confirmed by tomorrow night. Just 245 days to go.

Scenes from Virginia: Former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally on Sunday night in Richmond, where he played all the hits: spreading conspiracy theories about election fraud, once again confusing Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and stoking fears of a “migrant crime” wave (read Reason‘s Fiona Harrigan on why that’s a myth).

Conspicuously absent was Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has also refused to endorse Trump (so far).

QUICK HITS

• For months, progressives have been pushing President Joe Biden to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. On Sunday, the White House trotted out Vice President Kamala Harris to call for “an immediate cease-fire” in the conflict, which she called a “humanitarian catastrophe.” But her comments raise another question: Does anything the vice president says really matter?
• The Supreme Court hinted that a ruling on former President Donald Trump’s immunity claims could be announced Monday.
• A majority of voters who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 now say he is too old to effectively lead the country, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll.
• JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines are calling off a planned merger following a federal antitrust lawsuit.
• How President Javier Milei’s free market reforms could resurrect Argentina’s film industry.
• The robots are coming (to work)!
• ICYMI: Reason editor Matt Welch appeared on CNN this weekend to throw cold water all over the No Labels third-party presidential bid: “I’m not sure there’s this big centrist groundswell in American politics right now. People are fed up with establishment politicians,” Welch told Michael Smerconish.

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