How can we protect ourselves from the drag of the White House?” asks Republican strategist Vin Weber.
It’s a question many top Republicans are asking themselves — and each other — particularly in the U.S. Senate, reports The Hill.
“GOP senators, with a few exceptions, have been reluctant to criticize the administration,” The Hill says, “but they are starting to re-evaluate that kid-glove treatment amid public frustration over the lack of virus testing kits and protective equipment and reports of taxpayer dollars going to questionable causes.”
In other words, they’re starting to worry about their own political futures, and their 53-47 Senate majority.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Finance Committee, recently wrote President Trump, warning him not to interfere in congressional oversight of coronavirus relief legislation.
“Grassley said he was alarmed by a signing statement Trump affixed to the CARES Act last month asserting that the White House would supervise the special inspector general for pandemic recovery’s reports to Congress,” The Hill says.
“Over time, politicians in both the legislative and the executive branches have attempted to politicize [inspectors general] and use them for gain,” Grassley warned in the letter, but “even the appearance of political interference in their process cannot be tolerated.”
Politico has another take on the situation, saying that Republicans “are trying to pull off a high-wire act” — by simultaneously reopening the economy, putting most of the jobless back to work and avoiding another costly round of economic stimulus.
“If they fail, they’ll face a coronavirus cliff — an even deeper collapse in spending and sky-high unemployment in the months before Election Day,” Politico says. “That could both damage President Donald Trump’s reelection prospects and put the party’s Senate majority at serious risk.”
If the GOP does stumble, and tumble, Democrats would have a “better shot at flipping the three or four seats they will need to control the Senate,” says Politico, noting that they’d need just three if Joe Biden wins, giving his vice president the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate.
In a Tuesday conference call, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and his colleagues said they would make congressional oversight of Trump’s handling of the pandemic and his implementation of relief legislation their top focus next week, The Hill reports, citing “a Democratic source familiar with the meeting.”
During that call, Schumer said the party “must hold the administration accountable for the mistakes they are making on the small-business program, hospitals, testing and more,” according to The Hill’s source.
And with Election Day just six months away, that’s precisely what worries Republicans.
