Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023
Will Biden bash Carter’s FairTax bill?
Don’t be surprised if Coastal Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter’s FairTax legislation gets some (negative) attention tonight from President Biden in his State of the Union address.
Keen to draw a sharp contrast between his administration and the GOP in what many expect a “soft launch” of his reelection campaign, Biden may turn to Carter’s FairTax bill as an example of Republican “extremism.” The president has already derided the legislation, which calls for getting rid of the IRS and replacing the current federal tax code with a national sales tax, as “fiscally demented.”
The fact that the legislation is unlikely to become law has not stopped Biden and other Democratic leaders from misleadingly suggesting that the bill has wide support among congressional Republicans, notes FactCheck.org.
As of Jan. 27, the FairTax Act had 24 Republican co-sponsors, FactCheck.org says. That is six fewer co-sponsors than the version Carter introduced in January 2021, during the 117th Congress — when the bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means but went no further.
BTW: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to deliver her party’s response to Biden’s address tonight.
And if you want to get context for all of it, we’ve linked up USAFacts’ SOTU edition here with data on topics we can expect to hear about. You can see the numbers on where things stand.
Murky federal election law
Three Georgia voters, with the help of a well-regarded nonpartisan ethics group in Washington, have filed a complaint about dark money that fueled the toxic 2020 electoral races in the Peach State. At the heart of their matter: nearly $3 million dollars that an anonymous donor gave to a pass-through organization that in turn funneled the money to pro-Republican races.
The complaint to the Federal Election Commission appears to challenge Supreme Court rulings that allow seemingly unlimited funds flow to political action committees, or PACs, while U.S. election law still limits personal contributions to specific candidates. The loophole allows special interests and high-net worth individuals to plow more money to specific causes, policies and individuals and mask their influence.
Confused? So are the three voters who are leading the complaint: a Republican voter, David Keys from Clarke County; and two Democratic-leaning voters, Rev. David Lewicki of Dekalb County and Vladimir Schlovsky of Fulton County.
The complaint says it is a voter’s right to have transparency over organizations that are trying to influence elections through anonymous funding. The filing says that a single donor gave $2.8 million to a pass-through organization which then donated the funds to a variety of Republican-leaning PACs in the 2020 Senate races. One of the PACs spent the money to try to defeat Kelly Loeffler’s Republican rival in the open Senate race, which Raphael Warnock eventually won. Another PAC spent money to try to defeat Jon Ossoff, who ran and won against Republican Sen. David Perdue.
The money represents a drop in the bucket of cash spent in the 2020 race. The principle, however, is important. Shouldn’t we all have more transparency in how money flows affect political messaging? Shouldn’t elections be even playing fields, instead of one where the more affluent can try to tip the scales?
Read the full complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington by clicking here.
Lawmakers get busy
- Statue for Thomas? Sen. Ben Watson (District 1) and 31 of his colleagues in the Georgia Senate have introduced legislation urging the installation of a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state capitol. Passage of the measure honoring the Pin Point native isn’t assured: Democrats opposed similar legislation last year.
- Killing runoffs? The Georgia House Elections Subcommittee meets later today to discuss a bill that would eliminate runoff elections and replace them with ranked choice voting. Tea Party Action and other critics of the measure say ranked choice voting will “force us to vote for multiple candidates we are opposed to” and will create “voter havoc” and “voter suppression.” It also will make Georgia’s election system “equipment dependent” and forestall a return to their preferred voting option: paper ballots.
- Socialism resolution: U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter’s weekly newsletter focuses the House’s passage last week of a resolution denouncing “socialism in all its forms” and opposing “the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America.” Writes Carter: “This week, House Republicans stood up against this dangerous ideology on behalf of the American people and the capitalist system that we here in Georgia benefit from daily.” Carter criticized “nay” voters: “Shockingly, 100 House Democrats were unable to denounce these horrors on the House Floor, reminding Americans once again that Washington Democrat policies aim to destroy the foundation of American beliefs and ideology.” In a rare example of bipartisanship, however, more than half of House Democrats (109) approved the bill, while 86 voted against it and another 14 voted “present.” Rep. Theresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), who voted “present,” called it “pure political theatre.” Added Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.): “This resolution is little about intelligent discourse and everything to do about laying the groundwork to cut Social Security and Medicare.”
- Timber value in disasters: Meanwhile, Georgia’s timber growers received a boost from Carter. With Alabama Democrat Terri Sewell, he introduced legislation that would amend the federal tax code to recognize the value of timber destroyed in natural disasters. “By providing for the equitable tax treatment of casualty loss of their timber crop when disaster strikes, this bill will foster stability and growth in one of Georgia’s key industries and promote environmental wellness through reforestation,” Carter’s office said in a news release.
- Ending the emergency: Carter last week hailed the House’s vote to end the Covid public health emergency, a day after President Biden said he’d end the emergency on May 11. “So why is our country still under public health emergency? The reason why is because it’s the vehicle this administration is used to implement mass mandates and other leftist policies. It’s nothing more than an excuse for federal overreach that prohibits states from making decision for their constituents,” Carter said on the House floor.
- All this amid a warning: The H5N1 strain of bird flu could turn into an even deadlier pandemic threatening humanity, writes Zeynep Tufekci. “The world needs to act now … We have many of the tools that are needed, including vaccines. What’s missing is a sense of urgency and immediate action.”
‘Rogue prosecutors’
As has been said elsewhere, the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis offered a window for federal and state lawmakers, especially Republicans, to engage in a bipartisan discussion about policing without having to have a larger discussion about race in America, given that the five officers arrested and charged in Nichols’ death were also Black.
In the Georgia State Assembly and U.S. Congress, that window appears to be closing, if not already shut.
In Atlanta, what took center stage last week on the subject of crime and policing last week was legislation to make it easier to remove local elected district attorneys from office.
Last week, Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) joined Reps. Houston Gaines, (R-Athens), Joseph Gullett (R-Dallas), and three other Republican state representatives in introducing legislation that would reduce the number of signatures required to trigger a vote to recall a DA from office.
Another bill, also put forward by Petrea, Gullett, Gaines along with three other Republican state representatives would create a “prosecuting attorneys oversight commission” that could remove a DA for “moral turpitude, misconduct, malfeasance” and other offenses.
“It is past time we take on rogue prosecutors in Georgia who are putting lives in danger every single day,” said Gullett, explaining the two pieces of legislation he co-sponsored and introduced last week.
The previous week, Petrea and Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah), together with Gullett, Gaines, and James Collins (R-Villa Rica), introduced legislation calling for district attorneys to be elected in non-partisan elections.
The bills reflect the priorities of Gov. Brian Kemp and the Republican majority in the Assembly. In December, the governor tweeted that he looked forward to legislative action to address “far-left local prosecutors” who “are failing their constituents and making our communities less safe.”
The Petrea-Stephens bill appears clearly aimed at Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones, a Democrat. Petrea, in particular, has been a vocal critic of the first-term DA. The bill calls for non-partisan DA elections to be held not during the fall general elections but during the May primaries, when traditionally, fewer voters — and more Republicans — cast ballots in Chatham.
In Washington, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was not encouraging about prospects for bipartisan federal legislation on police reform. “I think there’s a pathway forward, though I’m very sobered in a divided Congress about our ability to get it done,” he said Sunday.
ICYMI
- The Skidaway Island Republican Club’s annual Reagan dinner this Wednesday evening features former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, founder and chairwoman of Greater Georgia, a voter-mobilization group.
- “Black History Month arrives as teachers’ fears mount” (Axios, Feb. 1, 2023) Nearly 30% of educators in red states that limit discussions of Black history say they’ve altered their curriculum, according to a new survey of teachers.
- “Few Americans are excited about a Biden-Trump rematch, Post-ABC poll finds” (Washington Post, Feb. 5, 2023)
- “A Police Stop Is Enough to Make Someone Less Likely to Vote” (Bolts, Feb. 1, 2023) “New research shows how such low-level interactions with the police can undercut our democracy by reducing the number of people who participate in elections.” A study authored with fellow researcher Kevin Morris, published in December in the American Political Science Review, finds that traffic stops by police stops in Hillsborough County reduced voter turnout in 2014, 2016, and 2018 federal elections.
- “Most Americans in new survey say police reforms necessary” (The Hill, Feb. 5, 2023) “An overwhelming majority of Americans in a new survey said that they believe there should be changes to U.S. police departments amid calls for reform in the wake of Tyre Nichols’s death in Memphis, Tenn. The CBS News/YouGov poll, published Sunday, found that 89 percent of respondents said that there should be changes within police departments in the U.S., while 11 percent of those surveyed disagree.”
How to grade schools post-pandemic? States must decide.
Mandated by federal and state laws, the systems set goals for schools, rate their performance, and direct support to schools identified as struggling. But the pandemic has complicated every step of that process.
Georgia may be best for business. But this 30-year-old policy is why some say it’s worst for workers
Georgia is often touted as “best for business,” but some policy experts say the state is one of the worst for workers.
New poll shows Georgians support Medicaid expansion, increasing education funding
About three-quarters of poll respondents also expressed strong support for providing additional funding to public schools that serve families at or near the poverty level. Forty-four other states already have implemented an “opportunity weight” to help schools serving students from low-income families.
Riverkeeper monitors Ogeechee ahead of Hyundai boom
Ahead of the development of the massive Hyundai plant in Bryan County, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper takes the pulse of its beloved recreational waterway.
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