NRCC Weekly Rundown: Pelosi runs from Sanders, Zephyr Teachout announces carpetbagging campaign, and more!
Here’s the Weekly Rundown:
National: Nancy Pelosi tried to distance House Democrats from new Democrat frontrunner, socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. Pelosi told reporters that the centerpiece of his extreme agenda, single-payer healthcare, was “not going to happen.”
National: In honor of the House Democrats’ retreat to Baltimore this week, the NRCC created a handy quiz to help determine whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders at the top of the ticket would be worse for their caucus. Click here to take this fun, interactive quiz!
National: Speaker Paul Ryan raised $5.3 million in the final quarter of 2015. Since becoming Speaker, Ryan has given $4.1 million to the NRCC, including $2.5 million in December alone.
CA-36: Rep. Raul Ruiz marked the anniversary of the Citizens United decision by hypocritically decrying the influence of Super PACs in politics. But, in 2013 Ruiz was committed to helping to promote a Super PAC that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get him elected, going as far as filming a testimonial for them.
NY-19: Carpetbagging tax evader Zephyr Teachout officially announced her campaign for Congress. The NRCC reminded New York of her history of tax evasion. The very next day, Teachout justified her carpetbagging by saying that her upbringing in Vermont gave her a good sense of the “struggles of former agricultural communities.” This is an interesting statement considering her support of the estate tax on family farms, directly contradicting the stance of the New York Farm Bureau, as well as her home state’s Vermont Farm Bureau.
VA-10: The NRCC did a #TBT to 2009, when LuAnn Bennett and her ex-husband, former Rep. Jim Moran, berated a Capitol police officer for not letting Bennett into a secure zone at the inauguration.
NEWS AND NOTES:
WSJ Rep Will HURD: The Data Breach You Haven’t Heard About
A security breach recently discovered at software developer Juniper Networks has U.S. officials worried that foreign hackers have been reading the encrypted communications of U.S. government agencies for the past three years. This is why I and my colleagues on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently wrote a letter to the heads of 24 federal agencies demanding an inventory of their systems running the affected software, and whether or not they have installed the patch. READ
Bruce Poliquin’s fundraising doubles his two Democratic opponents’ combined
Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District reported Monday that he raised $330,000 toward his re-election campaign in the fourth quarter of 2015 and that he has more than $1.55 million in cash on hand to spend on an election that is still 10 months away. His overall haul is north of $1.85 million READ
Davis decries Obama’s veto of WOTUS disapproval
“It’s disappointing that just days after President Obama spoke about cutting ‘red tape’ in his State of the Union address, he doubles-down on a rule that could add burdensome permitting requirements for any farmer with a drainage ditch or pond on their land,” Davis said. “This is just another overstep by the administration that will be battled out in the courts leaving much uncertainty for the agriculture community and our nation’s economy. READ
Knight plans legislative package aimed at preventing another Aliso Canyon
Santa Clarita Valley Congressman Steve Knight hopes to soon unveil a legislative package aimed at preventing another Aliso Canyon, he said this week. Knight said Thursday his legislation — a response to the massive months-old natural gas leak near Porter Ranch — would focus primarily on “the standards of testing, the standards of underground piping and how we check underground piping.” READ
Freshman congressman looks forward to changes in education
Bishop, a Republican freshman in Congress, sits on the House Education Committee. During a visit to The Oakland Press office in Pontiac Friday, he said he is eager to see changes come as a result of the Every Student Succeeds Act. “(Washington) D.C. has no business telling states what to do,” Bishop said. READ
McSally outraises Democratic opponent
Freshman Rep. Martha McSally, who’s become one of the top Republican fundraisers in the House, raised about $738,000 in the quarter, according to her campaign, giving her nearly $2 million in cash on hand. Former state Rep. Matt Heinz, one of two Democrats running for McSally’s seat in Arizona’s 2nd District, raised about $203,000 in the quarter, giving him about $306,000 in cash on hand. The other Democrat in the race, former state Rep. Victoria Steele, declined to release her numbers on Tuesday. READ