Biden waffles on federal funds for abortions

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Biden unveils climate plan calling for $1.7 trillion in federal spending

Biden's agenda moves further left; reaction from radio talk show host Larry Elder and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

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On the roster: Biden waffles on federal funds for abortions - Time Out: Whether the weather - Trump way under water in Michigan - GOP senators send warning to White House over tariffs - Is Styrofoam a carb?

BIDEN WAFFLES ON FEDERAL FUNDS FOR ABORTIONS
NBC News: “[His] presidential campaign confirmed to NBC News that [Joe] Biden still supports the Hyde Amendment, a four-decade-old ban on using federal funds for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman. Biden’s continued support for Hyde not only sets him apart from the rest of his 2020 Democratic competitors, but it may surprise progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which promoted a recent tweet by one of its activists appearing to get Biden to commit to ending Hyde during a rope-line exchange in South Carolina. Biden’s campaign told NBC he would be open to repealing Hyde if abortion avenues currently protected under Roe were threatened.”

Beto backs term limits - Politico: “Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday called for a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress and limiting the service of Supreme Court justices to a single 18-year term, part of a sweeping series of electoral and government reforms the Texas Democrat pledged to pursue if he is elected president. In addition to term limits, O’Rourke is pressing for laws to reduce the influence of corporate money in politics and to expand voter turnout, including making Election Day a national holiday. The former congressman is expected to highlight his plan during a NowThis town hall in Atlanta on Wednesday evening.”

Dem fracas intensifies ahead of debates - The Hill: “Democratic candidates for president are increasingly throwing barbs and exchanging swipes with one another ahead of their first debate in just three weeks. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg took aim at one another over former Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) resignation, with Buttigieg implicitly criticizing Gillibrand by saying he wouldn’t have pressured Franken to resign over sexual misconduct allegations based on what was known at the time. … Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have taken swipes at former Vice President Joe Biden over his willingness to attend high-dollar fundraisers with Wall Street supporters.”

Dems pile on big business - NPR: “Bernie Sanders may not have his usual adoring crowds at his Wednesday campaign stop. That's because he'll be speaking to Walmart shareholders at their annual meeting. The Vermont senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate will present a proposal aimed at giving workers representation on the company's board, echoing a policy he is reportedly working on. … It's not just Sanders; this is an example of a tactic that has gained traction in the 2020 presidential race, of candidates calling out specific companies in their campaigning and their policies. … Technology firms have also come under scrutiny among candidates, as they are under scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in March released a plan to break up big tech companies, with the aim of allowing smaller companies to thrive. … In addition, strikes at the grocery store chain Stop and Shop drew support from candidates including Warren, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden.”

THE RULEBOOK: RATIONAL THINKING  
“If it be true, as has often been remarked, that sayings which become proverbial are generally founded in reason, it is not less true, that when once established, they are often applied to cases to which the reason of them does not extend.” – Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 53

TIME OUT: WHETHER THE WEATHER
History: “…June 4, 1944 … Years of preparation had been invested in the invasion of Normandy, but now, just hours before the launch of D-Day operations, came the voice of Group Captain James Stagg urging a last-minute delay. As Operation Overlord’s chief meteorological officer [held the] fate of D-Day … in his decision-making. …[T]he list of potential invasion dates were only a precious few because of the need for a full moon to illuminate obstacles and landing places for gliders and for a low tide at dawn to expose the elaborate underwater defenses installed by the Germans. … In the early hours of June 4, Stagg believed foul weather was only hours away. He sided with his fellow British colleagues and recommended a postponement. Knowing that the weather held the potential to be an even fiercer foe than the Nazis, a reluctant [Dwight] Eisenhower agreed in the early hours of June 4 to delay D-Day by 24 hours.”

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SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 40.6 percent
Average disapproval: 52.8 percent
Net Score: -12.2 points
Change from one week ago: down 0.6 points
[Average includes: CNN: 43% approve - 53% disapprove; CNBC: 40% approve - 50% disapprove; CBS News: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Monmouth University: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 57% disapprove.]

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TRUMP WAY UNDER WATER IN MICHIGAN 
Detroit News: “While most Michigan voters don’t want Congress to impeach President Donald Trump, a majority said they would vote against him if the election were held today, according to a new statewide poll. Both former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont showed 12-point margins over the first-term Republican incumbent… Three years after he became the first Republican to win the state since 1988, fewer than 36% percent of Michigan voters say they would vote to re-elect Trump, compared with more than 51% who said they plan to vote for someone new. … South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (6 points), U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (4 points) and Kamala Harris of California (3 points) polled ahead of the president in the Glengariff poll, but the advantages of Warren and Harris were within the 4-percentage-point margin of error.”

Amash Libertarian candidacy would drain support from Biden in Michigan - Detroit News: “The survey found that [Rep. Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican who supports impeachment proceedings against President Trump] would draw nearly 10 percent of the vote in Michigan if he ran as a third-party Libertarian, while Biden received 45 percent and Trump 39 percent. Six percent were undecided. The poll, conducted May 28-30, had a margin of error of plus-minus 4 percentage points. Amash, who represents the Grand Rapids area in Congress, basically reduces Biden's lead if he's on the ballot: In a traditional head-to-head match-up, Biden led Trump by 12 percentage points, but the lead narrows to 6 percentage points when Amash is included in the field.”

Kraushaar: Trump Faces a Rocky Road to 270 - National Journal: “President Trump is stuck on 259 electoral votes, and his campaign is trying to scheme any way possible to get him back to a majority. That’s the takeaway from a new Politico story outlining the Trump campaign’s intent to target three Democratic-leaning states—New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada—as part of its battleground state strategy. On paper, it looks like the campaign is going on offense in states that should be solidly in the Democratic corner. In reality, it’s a concession that the traditionally Democratic Rust Belt states that fell to Trump in 2016—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan—are turning away from the polarizing president, and he may need to look elsewhere to make up that ground. If he fails to breach that ‘blue wall’ again but holds the other swing states, Trump will still need 11 additional electoral votes to prevail.”

David Brooks: Demographic tsunami may swamp GOP - NYT: “In 2018, voters under 30 supported Democratic House candidates over Republican ones by an astounding 67 percent to 32 percent. A 2018 Pew survey found that 59 percent of millennial voters identify as Democrats or lean Democratic, while only 32 percent identify as Republicans or lean Republican. The difference is ideological. According to Pew, 57 percent of millennials call themselves consistently liberal or mostly liberal. Only 12 percent call themselves consistently conservative or mostly conservative. This is the most important statistic in American politics right now.”

GOP SENATORS SEND WARNING TO WHITE HOUSE OVER TARIFFS

Politico: “Republicans are warning that President Donald Trump could face a shocking rebellion against him on the Senate floor if the president slaps Mexico with wide-ranging tariffs. At a closed-door lunch Tuesday, two Trump administration officials laid out the president’s view: There is a crisis at the border and Mexico needs to stem the surge of migrants to avoid the new levies. But White House deputy counsel Pat Philbin and Assistant Attorney General Steve Engel faced brutal push-back from the GOP, according to multiple senators, with some threatening that Trump could actually face a veto-proof majority to overturn the tariffs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters the party spent ‘almost our entire lunch’ going back and forth with the administration and warned afterward ‘there is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that's for sure.’”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
House Dems won’t budge on vote to hold AG Barr in contempt - NYT

Fox Poll: 71 percent say gun violence a 'major problem' government should address - Fox News

House passes Dreamer protection bill - The Hill

AUDIBLE: WHAT ABOUT THE JETS? 
“Becoming the president obviously is a life aspiration but having them come as Super Bowl champions when I'm there, that would be one of the greatest moments of my life.” – Sen. Cory Booker told SportsNet New York he hopes the New York Giants will win a Super Bowl while he is president.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Good Morning Chris, Is there a time limit on how long someone can serve in a position in the cabinet as the ‘Acting’ such and such? If there isn't, what keeps a President from just saying who cares about the Senate, I will just put who I want in as an Acting such and such and call it a day?” – Jeff Cox, Broken Arrow, Okla.

[Ed. note: Why the Senate itself! I imagine that at some point the grumbling will be sufficient to push the administration and Mitch McConnell into confirmation hearings for all of the “actings,” but with GOP control in the Senate, I wouldn’t look for much barking anytime soon.]

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IS STYROFOAM A CARB?
Fox News: “A Texas woman was shocked when she cut into her daughter’s graduation cake over the weekend only to find that their local Walmart provided the family with a prop cake made of Styrofoam instead. Nellie Flores posted a video to Facebook on Friday that showed the moment her sister, Marsy Flores, cut into her daughter’s graduation cake only to find that that it was actually a piece of Styrofoam covered in frosting with a picture of the graduate as decoration. According to Nellie, her sister initially ordered a two-tier cake from a Walmart in Pasadena but when she went to pick it up, she was told that they had lost the order. She was then told that she could pick a cake for free to make up for the mishap and the bakery would decorate it for her. Marsy picked a smaller cake Walmart had available and the bakery added the decorations. However, once Marsy got home and the family cut into the dessert, she realized something was wrong. The family took a video showing a prop cake that had been decorated to look like the Flores’ actual cake.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“[Americans] can rouse themselves for a one-day parade to celebrate the most lopsided military victory since Agincourt, but even that merriment, which elicited considerable editorial grumbling about hubris and expense, seemed a bit forced.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in The New Republic on July 29, 1991.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.