There are many people, many voters, simply stunned at how the Democrats are trying to use the COVID-19 economic emergency to add unrelated ideological elements to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Senator Tom Cotton walks through some of the items the Democrats are demanding before they will allow economic relief to U.S. companies and workers. MUST WATCH:

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Democrats are blocking Senate Bill S.3548, The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act.   House Speaker Pelosi is instructing Senator Schumer not to support any relief bill unless it includes: cancellation of college student debt, union protections, tax subsidies for windmills/solar, and new airline emission standards.

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Man-o-man, this is some high-stakes poker playing, and it’s the United States economy on the table.   Mitch McConnell is going to put S.3548 The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, back on the senate floor at 9:45am ET tomorrow, 15 minutes after the stock market starts collapsing.

[Read Bill Here]

[Link To Tweet]

Sweet Baby Jesus… I can’t remember ever seeing anything like this.  A $20 trillion U.S. economy, and tens-of-millions of American jobs and businesses on the line….  And McConnell is calling Pelosi’s bluff.    P.U.B.L.I.C.L.Y!

Talk about seriously high stakes politics.   Yikes.  McConnell is going to make every democrat senator vote again to close debate and advance the bill; putting them on record for negotiating a deal and then walking away from the deal they assembled.

I would imagine Senator McConnell has talked to President Trump about this….

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears on Fox News to discuss the financial legislation (likely vote tomorrow) to support workers and businesses immediately impacted by President Trump’s proactive shut-down of the U.S. economy.

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The House Rules Committee previously released the text of proposed changes to FISA (full pdf).  The “deal” is intended to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  However, key Senators and President Trump say not enough being done to change it.
The current FISA authorities expire on March 15th; it looks like they will lapse as Mitch McConnell tries to regroup for a possible vote next week.  McConnell was forced to delay consideration past the expiration date after Senators Mike Lee (R), Rand Paul (R) and  Ron Wyden  (D) said they would object.

WASHINGTON DC – President Trump told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Thursday that he does not support a House-passed surveillance bill— raising fresh questions about the fate of the legislation.
A spokesman for Lee confirmed the conversation and that the president told the Utah Republican that he does not support the House legislation. Officials speaking for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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One of the biggest fears I have is that in 2024 people will not understand just how bad Nikki Haley is.
Electing Haley after President Trump in 2024 is the equivalent of electing George Bush following Reagan in 1988.  This scheming, conniving, lying and corrupt politician is worse than John McCain, George Bush and Mitt Romney combined.
Nikki Haley is bad news.  Very bad news.
Today Romney in a skirt, aka Nikki Haley, endorsed Kelly Loeffler over Doug Collins for the Georgia senate seat.

[…] Haley, a Republican governor of South Carolina before serving as the Trump administration’s U.N. ambassador, headlined a campaign event in Marietta, Georgia, and officially endorsed Loeffler’s election bid. The rally, which was billed as Loeffler’s biggest since being appointed to the seat, was aimed at shoring up GOP support for her campaign. (read more)

Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Georgia Governor Kemp because Loeffler is married to Jeffrey Sprecher; a GOPe party insider, mega-donor, and multi-millionaire CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).  Jeffrey Sprecher is the founder and CEO of ICE, which now owns the New York Stock Exchange. Kelly Loeffler’s company, the financial platform Bakkt, is a subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange.
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An interesting on-the-fly interview with Mark Meadows on the topics of FISA renewal and the nomination of John Ratcliffe for DNI.  The incoming White House chief-of-staff notes an internal executive debate is still happening about how best to reform the FISA process as it is used upon/against American citizens.
AG Barr, Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham insufferably want a clean renewal.  President Trump, the righteous House team and Senators Paul, Lee and Cruz want far more substantial reform.  Senator Paul has the best proposal which is to force the DOJ, FBI or domestic intelligence apparatus to go before a traditional Title-3 court any time a U.S. citizen is identified as a target for surveillance.  Save FISA for foreign targets.
Additionally, Meadows notes the shift in support for John Ratcliffe as DNI comes as an outcome of SSCI Chairman Richard Burr likely supporting the nomination.  Unspoken, albeit obvious implication: McConnell green-lighted Burr to support Ratcliffe.

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Earlier today New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo complains to the media about only getting $35 million in initial emergency funding for Coronavirus impacts.  WATCH:

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Last night CTH did our first review of the $8.3 billion COVID-19 appropriation as it passed through congress.  It is loaded with pork spending and foreign aid.  The bill was $7.8 billion at the beginning of the day and ended with $8.3 billion on final passage.
The emergency Coronavirus appropriation passed 96-1 in the Senate. The Senator voting against the bill was Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The foreign aid section is roughly $3 billion of the spending.  Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment to rescind unobligated balances of current foreign aid appropriations because so much new money is being spent on this bill.  His amendment was defeated.
Here’s the breakdown:
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Representative Doug Collins appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the expiring FISA authorization and a push by some in DC for a clean renewal instead of structurally changing the FISA system to prohibit abuse.
Additionally, Mr. Dobbs asks Collins about Mitch McConnell’s back-room effort to block his senate campaign.  McConnell has a well-used playbook he deploys to retain power at all costs and select candidates that will be indebted to his Senate schemes. Doug Collins is up against the same Senate machine readers here are very familiar with:

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This is a fantastic and well-timed video that cuts to the heart of the matter.  John Spiropoulos has produced an exceptional video outlining the structural issues within the FISA process.  This video succinctly outlines the modern history of FISA abuse issues and highlights why we must use this critical moment to reform the FISA process.  WATCH:

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Share this video with those who need a fast encapsulation of the FISA issues at hand.
According to Senator Rand Paul, President Trump is committed to seeing that FISA is not reauthorized without “significant” reform.  Senator Paul has proposed to significantly change the FISA process by forcing the DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community to apply for search and surveillance warrants to Title-3 courts in order to access any NSA database containing private information of American citizens.
Current FISA authority expires on March 15th.  The Senate is scheduled to go back into recess March 13, 2020.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  If congress is going to reauthorize the controversial FISA provisions, they now have nine days.
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