WASHINGTON — If it’s Friday ... Russian rockets hit a Ukrainian railway station, killing at least 39. ... The Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, but don’t call her Justice Jackson just yet. ... President Biden, VP Harris and Jackson deliver remarks. ... More officials in D.C. test positive for Covid. ... and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., raises $11.3 million in the first fundraising quarter.
But first: Confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court was Democrats’ biggest congressional victory since passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill last November.
And it might be their last — at least before the midterms.
Senate Democratic leaders took a victory lap for Jackson’s speedy confirmation, in what may be a tacit acknowledgement that, when it comes to legislative wins, this is it for a while.
Efforts to approve extra Covid relief money has stalled. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., remains an obstacle on the legislation formerly known as “Build Back Better.” Ditto Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
It all raises the question: Is this the end of Biden’s legislative agenda before November?
“We're trying to push as hard as we can for anything we can get through, and we're going to keep doing that legislatively,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said on “MTP Daily” yesterday. “But that's also why we rolled out an executive action agenda.”
It’s striking that Jayapal so quickly referred to executive action when she was asked about the fate of the Democrats’ legislative agenda. (It’s also striking that she used the word “we” when talking about executive action.)
But for a party that made big promises — on combating climate change, lowering prescription drug prices, instituting universal pre-K education, making the child tax credit permanent and shoring up the Obamacare exchanges — executive action doesn’t pack the same punch as legislative change.
It’s still possible that Democrats can find agreement on a slimmed-down reconciliation bill (whatever Manchin and Sinema can support) and pass some modest bipartisan bills (like more Covid spending and a measure to help the U.S. compete with China).
Yet as things stand right now, are Democrats prepared to go before voters in the fall if they haven't gotten climate change/prescription drugs/universal pre-K/Obamacare/child tax credit done?
Tweet of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 41
That’s how many days it took the Senate to confirm Jackson to the Supreme Court, the second fastest confirmation to the high court, according to the Washington Post. Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020 after just 27 days.
After Vice President Kamala Harris announced the vote tally, Republicans largely left the chamber. But Democrats, joined by GOP Sens. Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, rose for a standing ovation that lasted nearly one minute, per NBC’s Capitol Hill team.
The fact that Romney, Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins were the only Republicans to vote to confirm Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the court raised questions about whether the confirmation process is broken. Some senators think it is, NBC’s Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp reported earlier this week.
Other numbers to know:
4: That’s the rate at which Pennsylvania Republicans are registering formerly Democratic voters, compared to the rate at which Democrats are converting formerly Republican voters in their state, according to Reuters.
45 percent: President Joe Biden’s approval rating in a new New Jersey Monmouth poll out Thursday.
$8 million: The amount of money three GOP candidates for governor in Nebraska have spent on ads in the state ahead of the May 10 primary election.
$104 million: Former television personality Mehmet Oz’s minimum net worth, according to documents filed as part of his bid for the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania.
80,510,728: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials.
989,413: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far.
Midterm roundup: Democratic dollar dominance
The Democratic base may not be excited about the midterms, but Democratic donors are still opening up their wallets, fueling some eye-popping fundraising hauls for Senate candidates.
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly announced yesterday that he raised $11.3 million in the first quarter of the year (fundraising reports are due to the Federal Election Commission in one week). That’s ten times more than one of his GOP challengers, Blake Masters, who announced earlier this week raising $1.1 million in the first quarter.
And Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto announced a $4.4 million haul, while North Carolina Senate hopeful Cheri Beasley said she raised $3.6 million. New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan raised $4.3 million, ten times more than the next closest GOP opponent who’s announced his fundraising so far. And Florida Rep. Val Demings raised a whopping $10 million for her race against GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.
But Democrats learned the hard way in 2020 that money can’t buy voters’ love. A slew of Senate hopefuls who outraised their GOP opponents still ended up losing.
Nevada Senate: Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will head to Nevada on April 21 and 22 to campaign for former Attorney General Adam Laxalt in his race against Cortez Masto, per a Laxalt campaign press release.
Ohio Senate: Ohio Right to Life endorsed “Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance in the GOP Senate primary. The group is a “significant player” in Ohio conservative politics, notes NBC’S Henry Gomez.
Pennsylvania Senate: Trump signaled he could pick a favorite in the GOP Senate primary, telling the Washington Post he would make a decision in “about a week.” NBC10’s Lauren Mayk breaks down the potential impact Trump could have on the race.
Michigan Governor: Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer touted her lawsuit to protect abortion rights, telling MSNBC’s José Diaz Balart, “The assault on women's privacy rights and bodily autonomy is no longer a theoretical risk. It is a very clear and present danger.”
New York Governor: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t running for governor — at least not as a Democrat — following yesterday’s filing deadline, per Politico. He does have until May 31 to file as an independent.
Pennsylvania Governor: Democrat Josh Shapiro nearly matched the combined haul of the other top GOP candidates in the Pennsylvania governor’s race, raising more than $4.5 million in the first quarter per the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Businessman Dave White led the GOP field with a $1.8 million haul.
Georgia 07: Democratic Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux made her first TV ad buy tracked by AdImpact in her May 24 primary race against fellow Rep. Lucy McBath, spending $68,000 on the airwaves.
Ad watch: More trouble in the Peach State
A new ad in Georgia from the super PAC Get Georgia Right is hitting GOP Gov. Brian Kemp for not doing enough to prevent voter fraud in the 2020 election, despite the fact that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Georgia or any other state in the presidential election.
The ad’s narrator says, “Kemp dismissed concerns about voter fraud in the 2020 election.” And later, the narrator adds, “If Kemp can't beat voter fraud, he won't beat Stacey Abrams.”
The group’s website claims they’re a super PAC “designed to make Georgia red again” and they’re not affiliated with another group or candidate. Kemp is in a competitive primary race against former Sen. David Perdue, who is endorsed by former president Donald Trump.
The ad implies that Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their 2021 elections because Kemp “refused to call a special session before the runoff and the widespread illegal ballot harvesting continued.” Kemp has always maintained that he followed the law when investigating the 2020 election and that he is a staunch supporter of efforts to curb voter fraud.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
Multiple high profile Washington officials tested positive for Covid this week, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking a court to hold Trump in civil contempt for refusing to participate in an investigation over his taxes.
A federal appeals court on Thursday revived President Biden’s Covid vaccine mandate for federal employees.
Alabama’s legislature passed two anti-LGBTQ bills modeled after so-called “Don’t Say Gay” and other bills in nearby states.
Congress voted on Thursday to revoke normal trade relations with Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
In Kentucky, Democratic Gov Andy Beshear vetoed a bill barring women and girls from participating in sports based on the gender they identify with.
