Post Politics Now Ukraine aid, baby formula shortages, high gas prices on agenda for Congress

The influential conservative group Club for Growth is challenging former president Donald Trump’s picks in key Senate races as Republicans nationwide set their bids for the MAGA mantle.

David McIntosh, the group’s president, used to be a close Trump ally. Until recently, the two would meet at Mar-a-Lago to coordinate endorsements in Republican primaries and even urge others to leave races. The Club for Growth backed up those decisions with millions of dollars in campaign ads.

But now, they’re not speaking, Trump advisers told Josh Dawsey and Isaac Arnsdorf:

People who have spoken to Trump say he regularly rails about the Club for Growth and the organization being disloyal.

The alliance cracked open after they backed different contenders in the Ohio senate primary two weeks ago. And it has fractured further as the Club for Growth has doubled down by pumping millions into Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary to boost late-surging Kathy Barnette against Trump’s candidate, the physician and television personality Mehmet Oz — putting two of the most influential forces in the GOP, Trump and the Club for Growth, at odds.

The shift further highlights the divisions within the GOP over who gets to claim the “Make America Great Again” title in their campaigns.

Read more about this division here.

The Senate voted 81 to 11 on Monday evening to advance a bill that would secure nearly $40 billion in additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

The chamber invoked cloture, capping further debate on the bill and setting up a final vote that is likely to come later this week. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have stressed the importance of securing the aid this week, given that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that the previous funding the United States sent to Ukraine will run out by Thursday. It also comes on the heels of a surprise trip over the weekend to Ukraine by McConnell and a group of Republican senators.

A bipartisan group of 81 senators voted in favor of advancing the measure. Eleven Republicans, including Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and John Boozman (Ark.), voted against it.

President Biden had expected the measure to land on his desk last week, but the Senate’s move to quickly advance the bill was delayed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who demanded a provision be added establishing an inspector general to oversee the disbursement of the funds. While Schumer and McConnell told Paul he could have a vote on the addition, he declined.

On the Senate floor Monday, Schumer alluded to the Paul impasse, accusing him of “needlessly” delaying the help for the people of Ukraine.

“I urge him to drop his opposition so we can reach an agreement to get this package passed through the Senate as soon as we can,” Schumer said.

The Senate, Schumer said, has a “moral obligation” to pass the assistance quickly.

While Paul could again delay advancing the bill this week, he cannot block final passage of the legislation, as he made clear in a tweet Friday.

“They’ll eventually pass the spending without me, as they always do, but at the very least they need to include oversight,” he wrote.

There’s another round of primaries on Tuesday, and while much of the national attention will be centered on the Pennsylvania GOP Senate race — where Trump-endorsed TV host Mehmet Oz is virtually tied against both a billionaire and a far-right favorite — here at Post Politics Now we are also keeping an eye on the fascinating North Carolina 11th District race. There, the state’s establishment Republicans have turned their backs on incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R), who still has Trump’s support.

So, our question is: Could voters oust Cawthorn on Tuesday?

Well, first you have to consider primary rules in North Carolina. Cawthorn is facing a packed primary — he’s running against seven Republicans, including state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who has the support of Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Per the AP, if the top vote-getter on Tuesday does not receive more than 30 percent of votes, they will advance to a runoff against the second leading candidate. That election would happen in July.

Republicans seeking to unseat him are thus counting on both their support of Edwards and the ability of the other candidates to split the vote to keep Cawthorn from garnering the 30 percent of the votes he needs to advance to the November election, during which he’ll face one of six Democrats.

Congress will hold its first public hearing on unidentified flying objects in over 50 years on Tuesday.

The House Intelligence Committee’s subcommittee on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and counterproliferation will hear from officials about “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” The open morning hearing will be followed by a classified briefing.

The hearing comes nearly a year after the intelligence community released a report on the unexplained sightings of more than 140 unidentified flying objects. Many of these objects were reported by Navy aviators, and the government was unable to determine whether the objects were atmospheric events playing tricks on sensors or crafts piloted by foreign adversaries, or whether the objects were extraterrestrial in origin.

“The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks — especially those we do not fully understand,” said Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), the subcommittee’s chair. “[This hearing] will give the American people an opportunity to learn what there is to know about these incidents.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) concurred, saying in a statement that the purpose of the hearing “is to give the public an opportunity to hear directly from subject matter experts and leaders in the intelligence community on one of the greatest mysteries of our time, and to break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency.”

Witnesses will include Ronald S. Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, and Scott W. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) directly accused Fox News and host Tucker Carlson of fomenting hate in the nation by “spewing” the “poison” of the racist “great replacement theory.”

Schumer, in an emotional Senate floor speech, also accused Republicans beholden to former president Donald Trump of spreading rhetoric echoing the baseless “replacement” concept that appears to have inspired the alleged Buffalo shooter.

Schumer said “hard-right MAGA Republicans” are arguing “that people of color and minority communities are somehow posing a threat … to the American way of life.”

“Not long ago, views like replacement theory were only found in the darkest places, in deranged minds,” Schumer said. “[But] replacement theory and other racially motivated views are increasingly coming out into the open, and given purported legitimacy, by some MAGA Republicans and cable news pundits.”

Schumer said it is clear that this messaging has found a “special home in several right-wing outlets, and on one cable news channel in particular — Fox News.” Specifically, he said, Carlson’s show.

“If organizations like Fox News truly want to condemn this weekend’s violence,” Schumer said, “they need to stop spreading ideas like replacement theory on their shows.”

Schumer will join President Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on a visit Tuesday to Buffalo, where they will meet victims’ families and local officials.

The Food and Drug Administration will announce a plan later Monday to reopen the Abbott Nutrition facility in Michigan that produces much of the nation’s supply of infant formula, which is in shortage.

“The FDA is working closely with Abbott to bring the facility back online safely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “That’s the key here — safely.”

The factory in Sturgis, Mich., has been shut down for 3½ since the FDA began an inspection following allegations of unsanitary conditions. The closure drastically reduced the availability of baby formula across the country.

“We’re also moving as quickly as possible to safely bring in additional product from other countries,” Jean-Pierre said. She said that as soon as Monday evening, the administration will “make an announcement on the expedited process to bring additional safe product to the American stores.”

She said the White House spent the weekend working with manufacturers and retailers “to identify transportation and logistical needs to increase the amount and spread of FDA-approved formula” across the country.

Vice President Harris’s chief economic adviser, Mike Pyle, will temporarily leave her office to fill in as acting deputy national security adviser for international economics at the National Security Council, according to a person familiar with the personnel move.

The Post’s Tyler Pager reports that Pyle will fill in for Daleep Singh, who is taking an extended leave of absence beginning at the end of May because of family reasons. Singh, who has dual roles on the NSC and the National Economic Council, has overseen the Biden administration’s sanctions response against Russia.

White House officials declined to comment.

Before joining the White House, Pyle worked at BlackRock as the global chief investment strategist. He also worked in the Obama administration.

Harris has had significant turnover in her office, as her chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, national security adviser, communications director and press secretary have all departed in recent months.