The Daily 202: Pentagon lobbies Manchin over another ‘mean tweets’ nominee

On Tuesday afternoon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reached out by telephone to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to try to save the troubled nomination of Colin Kahl to be undersecretary of defense policy.

Manchin helped sink Biden’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, over her tweets. They included the vampire crack and the “alleged child molester” jibe, aimed at Roy Moore, then the GOP nominee for Senate from Alabama.

That Republicans would zero in on tweets from Tanden and Kahl highlights one of the ironies of post-Trump D.C., where GOP lawmakers who spent four years ducking questions about the former president’s explosive Twitter comments now suddenly treat insulting social media posts as disqualifying.

It also showcases the dynamics of a 50-50 Senate, where one Democratic potential defector carries unusual weight in debates over nominations, policy, or what to do about the filibuster. Manchin’s concerns about social-media civility wouldn’t rate outreach from the secretary of defense if Democrats had the kind of robust majority predicted in polls ahead of the 2020 election.

The senator, who said Tanden’s “toxic and detrimental” rhetoric cost her his support, has recently expressed worries about Kahl. In the 50-50 Senate, losing Manchin would mean Kahl would need a Republican to win confirmation.

“We’re certainly mindful of the concerns that some members have expressed,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters ahead of Austin’s call to Manchin. “We value the oversight, the advice and consent responsibility of the committee, and the secretary looks forward to continue to work with the committee, and to help address any of the concerns that they might have.”

Asked whether a nominee’s Twitter feed could be a potential liability, Kirby replied, “The secretary fully respects and supports freedom of speech, and he recognizes that Twitter is one way to exercise one’s freedom of speech.”

Asked whether Austin agreed with Kahl’s “ethnic cleansing” crack, Kirby replied: “Of course he doesn’t, of course, he doesn’t, no. I didn’t think that that needed to be said so clearly.”

In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier after the call with Austin, Manchin said he had not reached a final decision.

“I have seen some tweets, and they are concerning. And I have talked to him about those,” the senator said. “And he’s well-experienced and well-accomplished in that in the area they want to confirm into.”

Interestingly, the senator sounded like he and Kahl were on the same page on the substance, if not the nominee’s “ethnic cleansing” rhetoric, of Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish allies in northern Syria to a Turkish military onslaught.

“We talked about when the Kurds, our Syrian Kurds, were left at the hands of Erdogan in Turkey, we were concerned about that,” Manchin said, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “And he [Kahl] just basically said, and it was ill-advised. And he apologized for that.”

He also said he had spoken to former defense secretary Robert Gates, under whom Kahl served.

Biden is close to Kahl, who served as his national security adviser from 2014 to 2017. Before that, he also served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East from 2009 to 2011.

At his confirmation hearing, Kahl said he was sorry about the tweets. “There were a number of positions that President Trump took that I strongly opposed,” he said. “The language that I used in opposing those was sometimes disrespectful and for that I apologize.”

“That kind of criticism regarding tweets from folks who didn’t say anything about the kind of lying, racist tweets out of the former president, I think, is pretty rich,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, (D-Hawaii).

The administration will secure 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Biden will announce today. The president will meet this afternoon with the CEOs of J&J and Merck to make the announcement, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Christopher Rowland report. 

The jury selection in Derek Chauvin’s trial for George Floyd’s death continues today. When the trial begins, much of the argument will center on autopsy details, most specifically whether fentanyl and underlying health conditions — not Chauvin’s actions — killed Floyd, Lenny Bernstein and Holly Bailey report. “Seven experts in toxicology, cardiology and illegal drug use consulted by The Post largely disagreed with that idea, most of them strenuously. All but one said the autopsy findings and other court documents, coupled with the well-known chain of events that evening, made death by a fentanyl overdose unlikely to impossible.”

• “China and Russia to open moon base, expanding space cooperation,” by Eva Dou: “The lunar base will be open to ‘all interested countries and international partners,’ according to an online statement Tuesday from the China National Space Administration. The Chinese announcement did not give a target date for when the station will be complete. China’s space administration said the research base will be located on the moon’s surface or in orbit, with capabilities for ‘long-term autonomous operation.’ It will engage in research activities, including ‘lunar exploration and utilization.’” 

• “How does the $1.9 trillion stimulus package impact food and farming?” by the Counter’s H. Claire Brown: “$29 billion in restaurant relief. … $4 billion for Black farmers. … This is a huge one — and unprecedented at the United States Department of Agriculture. … Anti-poverty measures including SNAP expansion. … The relief package appropriates $4 billion for a handful of supply chain support measures.”
• “Bank regulator could block disgraced ex-Wells Fargo CEO from $20 million payout,” by the American Prospect’s Patrick Rucker: “Tim Sloan, the former Wells Fargo CEO who left his position two years ago, is seeking a $20 million deferred-compensation payout, and he could get it, if the bank secures the go-ahead from its regulator: the OCC. But the current head of the agency, a holdover from the Trump administration, has taken no action on the matter, regulatory sources said.”
• “$2.4B from COVID-19 stimulus ‘totally changes the dynamics’ of Kentucky state budget,” by the Courier Journal’s Joe Sonka: “Kentucky state budget director John Hicks raised the eyebrows of legislators Tuesday as he detailed the $2.4 billion soon to come into state coffers with the imminent passage of the [relief bill]. This comes as those same legislators try to finalize a state budget bill by the end of this week. … [The act] would deliver $1.6 billion directly to local governments in the state.”

Today we’re lunching with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a long-time champion of reining in presidents’ powers to use military force. We talked about President Biden’s surprise embrace of repealing and replacing the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Kaine: It’s a three-step process. Really the first two steps are the most critical to this reviewing of the global war on terror. Repeal the two Iraq war authorizations, 1991 for the first Gulf War, 2002 for the Iraq War. They’re out there, they were both authorizations to wage war against the nation of Iraq. But now Iraq is a partner, we’re working together with Iraq, they’ve asked us to be there in the country to help them deal with the terrorist threat. 

Congress has to show that, having passed war authorizations, we don’t just leave them out there to create mischief forever. It’s been a long time since Congress has repealed an authorization for use of force. 

Second, we need to take the 9/11 authorization, passed 20 years ago this September, and dramatically reform it so it’s not completely open-ended in time, scope and geography. And the good news is last week we got a really positive public statement from the White House that they want to engage with bipartisan members of Congress to do that, and hopefully to do it in time for the 20th anniversary of passage.

There’s still a terrorism threat there, but the way that authorization has been used in dozens of countries that were never contemplated by the Congress that passed it, it’s time that we reined that back in.

Knox: Were you surprised when the White House came out last week and said that? And had you been in touch with them on this issue?

Kaine: I had been in touch with them about the Syria strikes, which I had some concerns about both in terms of congressional involvement but even just how do you stop this from leading to escalation and getting us into a war we don’t want to be in. We talked about that, at the end of that conversation, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said “what about the AUMF, what should we do about that?” and I walked through with him the things that I hope to do. Repeal the zombie authorizations that are no longer needed. Redraft the 9/11 AUMF. Ultimately might need to revise the War Powers Resolution because it’s proved unworkable in some respects.

That conversation led the White House to say a few days later — and it did surprise me — they came out and said “we want to engage a bipartisan group of congressmen and -women on this task because American cannot be in forever wars in the Middle East.”

We will have to come up with the right formulation for when America can take military action against non-state terrorist groups. But what we’ve lacked in the past is a White House that’s really wanted to do it. If the White House really wants to do it, with some good bipartisan colleagues — Todd Young of Indiana in particular — I think we can do it.

Knox: What did you make of the White House justification for the strikes in Syria?

Kaine: The fact that they didn’t invoke the AUMFs was positive, because neither the 2001 nor the 2002 would have covered it. But that wouldn’t have stopped other administrations from trying to pretend that they did.

The Article II rationale troubles me. If a president can say “hey look, I didn’t need to come to Congress because I have Article II power to protect America’s interests,” then that means no president would ever come to Congress. 

So I worried a little bit about that about the legal justification but maybe a little more — it was a prudent and limited strike, but what you see in a situation like that is even something limited can lead to next consequence. [Iran rejecting overtures for nuclear talks]. And then Iran-backed militias fired more missiles at US positions in Iraq.

Even a prudent, small military strike is going to create a response, and then you could potentially find escalation for escalation, you’re in the middle of a more major military involvement that you haven’t talked with Congress about, that the American public hasn’t been read into.

That’s why action should follow strategy rather than precede strategy.

Kaine: Every time I make an effort like this it gets a little more support. So for example, last year, after the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani we brought a resolution to basically say to President Trump: No war against Iran unless you get Congress to vote for it. And I got significant Republican support in the Senate for that. Not enough to override a veto, but significant bipartisan support.

The bill that I filed with [Sen.] Todd Young [R-Ind.) to repeal these zombie authorizations included some Republican sponsors who’ve not voted with me in the past, (Sen.) Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), for example. People are realizing more and more the need to get this right.

And the other thing that’s different is we have a president who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was in the Senate for 36 years. No one has been president for a very long time who understands the Article 1 side of this question, congressional prerogatives with respect to war-making, as well as Joe Biden.

He’s going to guard Article II. And I want a president who will inhabit every acre of the commander-in-chief powers. But I want a Congress that will inhabit every acre of the legislative powers.

And Joe Biden understands that in a way that very few people do.

• Biden plans on signing the legislation as soon as it reaches his desk, John Wagner and Felicia Sonmez report. 
• Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) are bickering over the lack of GOP support for the relief package. Last night, Schumer told CNN that Democrats made a “big mistake” in 2009’s battle for a stimulus bill by making compromises designed to bring some Republicans on board. “Susan Collins was part of that mistake,” he said, Wagner reports. This morning, Collins said Schumer’s comments were “bizarre” and that she was one of three Republicans who joined Democrats to pass that stimulus.
• House chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben delivered a blistering critique of lawmakers this morning. During her opening prayer ahead of the House vote on the bill, Kibben said lawmakers are “failing” to overcome partisanship and unite to address the pandemic, Felicia Sonmez reports.
• The House debate on the relief plan was delayed by about 45 minutes to allow for vote on a motion to adjourn offered by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). The House voted against the motion, 235 to 149. Forty Republicans sided with Democrats on the vote, Wagner reports.
• A solid majority — 61 percent — of Americans support the relief package, according to a new CNN-SSRS poll. Thirty-seven percent of American adults oppose it.

• “We’re hoping for a flood by April, and we will be enthusiastically ready to say, ‘yes,’” Margaret Fisher, a special adviser to New Jersey’s health commissioner who has been carefully rationing shots, said about the surge in supply that Biden promised last week, reports.
• State and local health officials have been “advised to plan for between 22 and 24 million doses a week by early April, an increase of as much as 50 percent from current allocations.” This time around, officials want to avoid obstacles hindering early rollout, when doses sat on shelves while sign-up systems crashed.
• Still, “enlarged supply will intensify pressure to address yawning racial gaps that have opened in early vaccination data. And holes in coverage, whether of homebound seniors or people in homeless shelters, may become all the more glaring when there are more doses to go around,” Stanley-Becker writes.
• Alaska, which has become a leader in quickly inoculating its residents, made vaccines available to those 16 and older. The state is the first to remove eligibility requirements for the vaccine, Stanley-Becker reports.

• Texas’s mask mandate expired today and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) presided over a near-total reopening of the state’s economy, despite health experts’ warnings that it is too soon, Erin Cunningham and Kim Bellware report. “Abbott has urged Texas residents to “not abandon safe practices” when it comes to the virus, but cited growing vaccinations and declining case numbers as evidence that state mandates are ‘no longer needed.’”  
• Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will lift capacity limits on indoor and outdoor dining, retail, gyms and religious establishments — the most dramatic steps taken toward reopening in the region since a winter surge in cases. The order takes effect at 5 p.m. Friday, Rebecca Tan and Erin Cox report. 

• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 7 to 6 to advance floor Young’s nomination as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Budget Committee is scheduled to hold a separate vote later today on Young’s nomination, Wagner reports. Yesterday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that Young could become the acting director, per Wagner.

• The Senate is poised to confirm Garland as well as Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), the nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Michael Regan, nominated to lead the EPA. 

• The act “would strengthen workers’ rights to strike for better wages and working conditions, strengthen safeguards to ensure that workers can hold fair union elections and allow the National Labor Relations Board to fine bosses who violate workers’ rights,” NBC News reports.
• While the legislation passed the House with three Republican co-sponsors, it faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where Republicans will likely filibuster the effort. Still, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) one of the co-sponsors, said “The PRO Act is not and shouldn’t be political or controversial,” Vox reports.
• Big business is already rallying against it. The Chamber of Commerce said the legislation could “destabilize America’s workplaces and impose a long list of dangerous changes to labor law,” while the National Retail Federation said it is “the worst bill in Congress.” 

“Jan. 6 was the best of times, and it was the worst of times,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) about the day he achieved his longtime dream of becoming Senate majority leader. He was being evacuated to a safe room just moments after Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D) win in Georgia handed him the role. 

“Stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us,” Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan shouted from a lectern on the House floor yesterday as he berated Republicans for opposing the a pro-labor bill. Ryan — who once chided Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during a debate by noting that he didn’t “have to yell” — said he didn’t regret his tone. “Republicans, though, quickly borrowed from Ryan’s presidential debate tactics to respond to the raucous speech,” Katie Shepherd reports. “’Mr. Speaker, I’m using my inside voice,’ Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said immediately after Ryan’s address.”

Piers Morgan, the controversial British commentator left “Good Morning Britain” after making contentious comments about Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. He says he has no regrets. Thousands complained to U.K. media regulator Ofcom about Morgan’s comments on Meghan in which he questioned whether she really had suicidal thoughts, CNN reports. The Duchess herself made a formal complaint to broadcaster ITV about the comments. Morgan took to Twitter to address his critics, saying the fallout did little to change his opinion on the matter:

Biden will host an event with the CEOs of pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Merck at 3 p.m. today. 

The Senate will vote to confirm Garland as attorney general at 2:15 p.m. 

Seth Meyers took a look at the Major troubles the White House faced yesterday: