Post Politics Now No near end in sight for Pa. GOP Senate primary

Democrats, a year ago, were in quite a good place: They control of the House, the White House and, even if it is by the skin of their teeth, the Senate. Biden was still popular, and the party was making big plans.

But then the pandemic resurged, the Afghanistan withdrawal was poorly coordinated, and the party’s own moderates began blocking its moves in the Senate.

Now, Philip Bump notes, the picture for Democrats has flipped 180 degrees:

Biden is broadly unpopular, and if the November midterms merely result in Democrats losing their congressional majorities — instead of decimation — it will be viewed as a best-case outcome. It’s likely that Republicans will control the Senate in 12 months’ time and nearly certain that they’ll control the House.

In other words, Democrats have a closing window to enact their agenda or guide the priorities of either chamber. Come January, for example, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot will almost certainly be shut down. But if history is a guide, as it tends to be, the window for passing legislation is even smaller than that.

Democrats have, at best, just a few weeks to take full advantage of their majorities.

We know the midterms are still far away, and that the new Congress will take over in January. But the reality is, the House and Senate take a lot of recesses. As Phil writes:

We are assured that this does not mean they’re not working; they are simply back in their districts tending to constituents (a process that involves a lot of golf and fundraisers). But it does mean they aren’t in Washington and that — even with proxy voting having been implemented during the pandemic — they aren’t casting votes, either.

Phil has crunched the numbers and, while we can expect plenty of congressional activity in June, July and September, things will slow down in the fall, when lawmakers will be back in their districts, campaigning.

Read more on what little time Democrats have left here.

A judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration from reopening the borders to migrants and asylum seekers, a position backed by 24 states with concerns about the costs of illegal immigration and the spread of the coronavirus, Maria Sacchetti reports.

U.S. Judge Robert R. Summerhays issued a preliminary injunction Friday, siding with states that argued the expected border influx would impose costs on them for services such as health care and education.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Justice Department will appeal the decision.

Jean-Pierre, in her statement, said that “the authority to set public health policy nationally should rest with the Centers for Disease Control, not with a single district court.”

The injunction is a blow to Biden, who’d promised to reopen the border. Migrant advocates have said the Trump-era rule is inhumane, but now border authorities are expected to continue expelling migrants as the lawsuit makes its way through the courts.

The ruling, however, offers the White House a respite from border-related political pressures ahead of the November congressional elections, when Democrats risk losing their narrow hold on the House and the Senate.

Read more on this ruling here.

The Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, archbishop of San Francisco and one of the country’s most conservative Catholic leaders, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will be denied the sacrament of Holy Communion because of her vocal support for abortion rights.

The order to deny Communion to Pelosi applies only to Catholic churches within the San Francisco archdiocese under Cordileone’s purview, including the speaker’s home church. Communion is the central sacrament of Catholicism and the centerpiece of Catholic Mass.

Cordileone’s edict, Felicia Sonmez and Mike DeBonis report, represents an extraordinary rebuke of Pelosi’s Catholic faith. The 82-year-old speaker frequently invokes her faith when discussing her family, her policies and her politics.

Cordileone has previously called for Communion to be withheld from public figures who support abortion rights but did not mention Pelosi by name at the time.

On the other hand, Pope Francis said the decision about granting Communion to politicians who support abortion rights should be made from a pastoral point of view, not a political one.

“I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,” Francis told reporters, while adding that he has never knowingly encountered during Communion a politician who backs abortion rights. Francis, however, reiterated that abortion is “murder.”

A Pelosi spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cordileone’s statements.

Read more about this here.

The Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary between David McCormick and Mehmet Oz is too close to call, the Associated Press said Friday.

The news organization said it is not able at this time to project a winner in the race between the McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, and Oz, a celebrity physician endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

The race is likely to be headed to a recount, Colby Itkowitz reports.

As of Friday, Oz led McCormick by 1,079 votes with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Pennsylvania’s secretary of state has until May 26 to announce a recount that must begin no later than June 1 and be completed by noon on June 7, with the results likely to be released the next day.

Read more here.

Some Democratic lawmakers spent part of the week reminding Biden that there is still a lot of interest across the party in securing some sort of student loan forgiveness.

The Congressional Black Caucus, in a statement Friday, called on the administration to “implement broad-based student loan debt cancellation by executive action.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), the caucus chair, said in the statement that the student loan crisis is disproportionately affecting Black communities across the United States.

“We are committed to working with the Administration to explore all options and we are requesting to meet with the President,” Beatty said. “This is a crisis created through policy decisions, and we have a responsibility to address it head-on.”

On the other side, however, the interest is not there.

Republican Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), led by Mitt Romney (Utah), introduced a bill Wednesday that would prohibit Biden from canceling student loan debt.

In a statement, the senators said canceling debt for millions would come at the expense of those Americans who “chose to not go to college or worked diligently to pay off any student debt.”

The Republicans’ bill is unlikely to go anywhere in the evenly divided Senate, but it served as a reminder that the party is unwilling to negotiate on this key Democratic proposal.

Romney, who has suggested that the move to lift debt is little more than a political payout to win votes, said in the statement that cancellation “would be wildly inflationary at a time of already historic inflation.” Republicans are counting on inflation and the economy to be the top issues of concern among voters in November’s midterm elections.

While Biden has been reluctant to endorse a plan to cancel $50,000 in debt, for which many Democrats are calling, he has signaled that any debt forgiveness plan would include sharp limits, for example erasing no more than $10,000 in debt for any individual and benefiting only those who make less than $125,000 a year.

The bill securing $40 billion in aid for Ukraine that the Senate passed Thursday is being flown to South Korea, where Biden is expected to sign it.

A White House official told The Post’s Tyler Pager that the bill will be carried by someone who was already traveling to the region on commercial air as part of their official duties.

It was not immediate clear when the president will sign the measure, which he originally expected to see on his desk last week. The Senate’s approval of the bill was delayed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Biden is touring South Korea, where on Friday he visited a Samsung Electronics factory with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Biden will travel to Japan on Sunday.