LIVE: Tennessee General Assembly votes on school vouchers
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) brought forth three amendments she said would create more accountability for private schools that take vouchers, largely relating to student testing. All three amendments were tabled along largely party-line votes.
Amendment allowing undocumented students to access vouchers fails
11:30 EST: Rep. Gabby Salinas's (D-Memphis) amendment 14 called for removing a provision that would prevent undocumented students from using vouchers. Johnny Garrett's motion to table is approved 74-25 after Salinas refers to the Pleier v Doe position, which prevents public schools from discriminating against or denying education to undocumented children.
11:15 EST: Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga) calls for an annual audit of private schools that accept vouchers to try and prevent what he says has been a problem in other statewide voucher states — for-profit schools that 'pop up' to take advantage of the new opportunity. Hakeem called it an additional accountability measure. Rep. Jeremy Faison's (R-Cosby) motion to table, saying parents are the primary means of accountability because of their ability to choose their child's school. The amendment was tabled.
11:11 EST: Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville) offers an amendment (Amendment 8) that school systems receive inflation-adjusted 'hold harmless' payments if they have loss of enrollment. As with previous Democrat-generated amendments, this one was tabled on a largely party line vote.
After the bill's sponsor, Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) brought the bill to the House floor, discussion was opened.
Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) was the first to be recognized amid discussion of the bill and called it a 'scam' multiple times and referenced previous times the vouchers had been considered in Tennessee. He argued that the bill ought to stand on its merit alone instead of rebranding it.
Mitchell had proposed an amendment that aimed to change the verbiage of the bill and retitle it the 'Governor Bill Lee Private School Voucher Bribery Scam Subsidy Act.' Mitchell failed to get the necessary votes to pass the amendment.
Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) also spoke on behalf of an amendment he had proposed to the bill in relation to Tennessee Lottery funds. Lamberth responded and moved to table the amendment, which was passed by the majority.
Hemmer then spoke to another amendment he filed that he said called to attention the hypocrisy of the bill, but he withdrew it.
Rep. Jason Powell (D-Nashville) began the discussion of his amendment by reflecting on the recent fatal school shooting in his district at Antioch High School. He said after the shooting, he wrote to Governor Bill Lee and asked him to expand the special session to address school shootings and how they could be prevented.
Powell said little action was taken after Lee called a special session after the Covenant School shooting.
'And here we are yet again facing another school shooting in our community,' Powell said.
Powell said several of his constituents had expressed their opposition to school vouchers, which he mirrors. However, Powell said the feelings he and his district have toward vouchers is eclipsed by the horror students have experienced returning to the place where a shooting occurred. As a result, Powell said he has filed an amendment to allocate funds that would allow the portion of a school where a shooting occurred to be torn down and rebuilt differently to spare students the pain of returning to it.
Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) responded to Powell and said that while he recognizes the difficulty students at Antioch face, he did not see the relevance of the amendment and moved to table it.
That move drew a loud and emotional reaction from Powell who insisted that the time to address gun violence and help children was now.
'We can do this right now on behalf of Antioch High School,' Powell said.
The motion to table Powell's amendment passed.
Before Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) began the discussion of his amendment, House Speaker Cameron Sexton warned people in the gallery to remain quiet and not interrupt the proceedings.
Clemmons' amendment sought to make a provisional $2,000 bonus for teachers that is part of the voucher bill as part of their base salary instead.
Garrett again responded and said while he hopes the bonus does eventually become part of the salary, he asked to table Clemmons' amendment. Clemmons argued that that seems hollow as the bonus is conditional on the passage of the vouchers.
Clemmons' amendment was also tabled.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Tennessee lawmakers are deciding the fate of Governor Bill Lee's Education Freedom Act on Thursday.
The act, commonly referred to as school vouchers, would provide families with publicly-funded scholarships that could be put toward tuition at a private school or any other school of parents' choice.
The Tennessee House of Representatives will take up the bill, HB6004, first at 10:30 a.m. ET. If the bill passes the House, it must then clear the Tennessee Senate, which convenes at noon.
The school voucher bill is the first item on the agenda for the House and the second of only two items on the Senate's agenda.
Establishing the voucher program was a primary reason Lee called the ongoing special session, in addition to passing Hurricane Helene relief for East Tennessee and passing legislation related to immigration.
The Education Freedom Act has drawn heavy criticism from public school boards and superintendents, and Northeast Tennessee lawmakers found themselves split on their opinions of the bill before heading to Nashville.
Lee attempted to push the voucher program through last year, but it failed to pass the legislative bodies at the time.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's tariffs are making money. That may make them hard to quit.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!' Trump said on social media shortly after a weak jobs report showed signs of strain in the labor market. Advertisement Over time, analysts expect that the tariffs, if left in place, could be worth more than $2 trillion in additional revenue over the next decade. Economists overwhelmingly hope that doesn't happen and the United States abandons the new trade barriers. But some acknowledge that such a substantial stream of revenue could end up being hard to quit. Advertisement 'I think this is addictive,' said Joao Gomes, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. 'I think a source of revenue is very hard to turn away from when the debt and deficit are what they are.' The Port of Baltimore on June 30, 2025. ALYSSA SCHUKAR/NYT Trump has long fantasized about replacing taxes on income with tariffs. He often refers fondly to American fiscal policy in the late 19th century, when there was no income tax and the government relied on tariffs, citing that as a model for the future. And while income and payroll taxes remain by far the most important sources of government revenue, the combination of Trump's tariffs and the latest Republican tax cut does, on the margin, move the United States away from taxing earnings and toward taxing goods. Such a shift is expected to be regressive, meaning that rich Americans will fare better than poorer Americans under the change. That's because cutting taxes on income does, in general, provide the biggest benefit to richer Americans who earn the most income. The recent Republican cut to income taxes and the social safety net is perhaps the most regressive piece of major legislation in decades. Placing new taxes on imported products, however, is expected to raise the cost of everyday goods. Lower-income Americans spend more of their earnings on those more expensive goods, meaning the tariffs amount to a larger tax increase for them compared with richer Americans. Tariffs have begun to bleed into consumer prices, with many companies saying they will have to start raising prices as a result of added costs. And analysts expect the tariffs to weigh on the performance of the economy overall, which in turn could reduce the amount of traditional income tax revenue the government collects every year. Advertisement 'Is there a better way to raise that amount of revenue? The economic answer is: Yes, there is a better way, there are more efficient ways,' said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab and a former Biden administration official. 'But it's really a political question.' Workers welded steel components together at a Thomas Built Buses plant in High Point, N.C., on July 21, 2025. TRAVIS DOVE/NYT Tedeschi said that future leaders in Washington, whether Republican or Democrat, may be hesitant to roll back the tariffs if that would mean a further addition to the federal debt load, which is already raising alarms on Wall Street. And replacing the tariff revenue with another type of tax increase would require Congress to act, while the tariffs would be a legacy decision made by a previous president. 'Congress may not be excited about taking such a politically risky vote when they didn't have to vote on tariffs in the first place,' Tedeschi said. Some in Washington are already starting to think about how they could spend the tariff revenue. Trump recently floated the possibility of sending Americans a cash rebate for the tariffs, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., recently introduced legislation to send $600 to many Americans. 'We have so much money coming in, we're thinking about a little rebate, but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt,' Trump said last month of the tariffs. Democrats, once they return to power, may face a similar temptation to use the tariff revenue to fund a new social program, especially if raising taxes in Congress proves as challenging as it has in the past. As it is, Democrats have been divided over tariffs. Maintaining the status quo may be an easier political option than changing trade policy. Advertisement 'That's a hefty chunk of change,' Tyson Brody, a Democratic strategist, said of the tariffs. 'The way that Democrats are starting to think about it is not that 'these will be impossible to withdraw.' It's: 'Oh, look, there's now going to be a large pot of money to use and reprogram.'' Of course, the tariffs could prove unpopular, and future elected officials may want to take steps that could lower consumer prices. At the same time, the amount of revenue the tariffs generate could decline over time if companies do, in fact, end up bringing back more of their operations to the United States, reducing the number of goods that face the import tax. 'This is clearly not an efficient way to gather revenue,' said Alex Jacquez, a former Biden official and the chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal group. 'And I don't think it would be a long-term progressive priority as a way to simply collect revenue.' This article originally appeared in
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
It's Trump's economy now
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco Good Sunday morning. It's Zack Stanton. Get in touch. THE CONVERSATION: Within days of her election in November, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), faced backlash from some House Republicans for being transgender. In the face of those attacks, McBride has sought ways to forge ties across the aisle, animated partly by her hope of bringing 'a sense of kindness and grace' to Congress despite the 'reality TV show nature' of today's politics, she tells Playbook's Dasha Burns on today's episode of 'The Conversation.' Listen in: The two also discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, how the Democratic Party can rebuild its coalition without 'reinforcing right-wing framing' over 'culture war' issues and why her pursuit of bipartisan legislation is in part a direct response to President Donald Trump. Watch the full episode … Subscribe to 'The Conversation' on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify DRIVING THE DAY WELCOME TO THE VIBE SHIFT: For months, Trump has boasted that under his leadership, America is the 'hottest' country in the world. (He repeated that claim overnight in a social media post at 1:49 a.m.) Now, he's at risk of being burned by those expectations. On Wednesday, new GDP numbers showed that in the first half of the year, the economy grew at an annual rate of less than 1.3 percent. On Thursday, new inflation numbers showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index jumped by 2.6 percent in the year ending in June — an acceleration of the inflation rate from April. On Friday, the new jobs report showed that net hiring has 'plummeted over the past three months with job gains of just 73,000 in July, 14,000 in June and 19,000 in May,' in the words of the AP. And behind those topline numbers was a striking datapoint, the WSJ's Te-Ping Chen and Harriet Torry note: 'The number of people unemployed for at least 27 weeks topped 1.8 million, the highest level since 2017, not counting the pandemic's unemployment surge.' This morning, it's clear that a new consensus is emerging: For all the talk of a new 'Golden Age,' there are abundant signs that the economy, while at times glittering, may not be gold. Simply put: 'Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared with last year,' AP's Josh Boak and Christopher Rugaber write. '[T]his is not the boom the Republican president promised, and his ability to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for any economic challenges has faded as the world economy hangs on his every word and social media post.' Indeed, nearly 200 days into his second term, even members of Trump's administration are signaling that the window during which Biden could be blamed has now passed. The 'Trump economy has arrived,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday. 'Biden's first quarter is behind us, and growth is already accelerating.' Trump has made himself central to the economy. 'After campaigning on a pledge to free business from worrying about Washington's dictates, Trump has made public policy — and his own norm-busting behavior — the primary variables affecting the $30 trillion U.S. economy, economists said,' WaPo's David Lynch and Abha Bhattarai report. Washington, they write, is now 'the focus of business and investment decision-making.' That's unlikely to change anytime soon. Among the reasons why, two loom large: the coming economic impact of Trump's tariffs, and new concerns about the reliability of government economic statistics going forward. ON THE TARIFFS: 'Companies are starting to shift more tariff-related costs onto consumers,' NYT's Sydney Ember reports in an A1 story this morning. 'Many businesses chose to absorb the additional tax during the early days of President Trump's trade war. But evidence is emerging that they are running out of options to keep prices stable in the face of deteriorating profit margins, suggesting that the tariffs could have a more pronounced effect on prices in the months ahead.' Yes, the inflationary effects of Trump's tariffs have been muted thus far. But economists 'cite several reasons for that limited impact,' Ember writes. 'Companies across the country raced to stockpile goods before any tariffs kicked in, giving them a significant cushion before they had to import goods subject to higher levies. Many businesses, big and small, were reluctant to pass along higher costs to their inflation-weary customers without more clarity on where the tariffs would settle.' A new economic divide: Now that the policy is settling into place, a 'divide is widening in the US economy as the biggest banks and technology groups shrug off Donald Trump's tariffs to post huge earnings gains while consumer-facing companies struggle with rising costs,' FT's George Steer writes this morning. Stat of the day: In total, 52 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have posted Q2 results reported declining profit margins, FT reports, citing Société Générale, a financial services company based in France. Companies reported margin pressure even as their sales rose, which suggests 'that their costs are going up but that companies aren't yet passing this on' to consumers, Andrew Lapthorne, the firm's head of quantitative research, told the FT. ON THE DATA: On Friday, Trump ordered his team to fire Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after the jobs report showed weaker numbers than expected for July and downgraded the May and June figures. That's igniting 'worries that Trump's volatile temperament could cause additional economic harm by undermining market confidence in the government data that investors, business executives and policymakers require to make decisions,' WaPo's Lynch and Bhattarai write. 'If policymakers and the public can't trust the data — or suspect the data are being manipulated — confidence collapses and reasonable economic decision-making becomes impossible,' Heidi Shierholz, the president of the center-left Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist of the Labor Department, told the Post. 'It's like trying to drive a car blindfolded.' SUNDAY BEST … — U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the new tariffs and future trade deals, on CBS' 'Face the Nation': 'These tariff rates are pretty much set. I expect I do have my phone blowing up. There are trade ministers who want to talk more and see how they can work in a different way with the United States, but I think that we have, we're seeing truly the contours of the president's tariff plan right now with these rates.' — National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on the jobs numbers on 'Fox News Sunday': 'When the data are unreliable, when they keep being revised all over the place, then there are going to be people that wonder if there's a partisan pattern in the data. … And so, I think what we need is a fresh set of eyes at the [Bureau of Labor Statistics], somebody who can clean this thing up.' — Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on the firing of the head of the BLS, on NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'That's what confirmation hearings are supposed to be about, is it going to be somebody that will maintain the independence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, like so many other departments and agencies that need to have the independence from political pressure of the White House to do their job reliably? Or will this be another yes person for the president that's going to be more interested in propaganda than statistics, more interested in propaganda than the facts?' — Doctors Without Borders USA CEO Avril Benoît on the starvation in Gaza on ABC's 'This Week': 'We need to flood the zone with as much food as possible. The problem with the [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] is, of course, it's unsafe. It's an inefficient way to deliver aid. People have to cross very unsafe zones to reach those areas that are controlled by the IDF and military contractors from the U.S., and then there are insufficient quantities.' TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces. 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. RECESS BEGINS: Senators left Washington yesterday to begin their long-awaited August recess. Republicans left without locking in a deal to confirm dozens of nominations that Trump has put forward, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has vowed to return in the fall to clear the deck after Trump privately told Republicans to go home and cut negotiations with Democrats, POLITICO's Jordain Carney reports. The U-turn: Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had a path forward on the floor (which hadn't been formalized) that would have exchanged a tranche of confirmations for the release of withheld NIH and foreign aid funding, Jordain writes. That came after Republicans seemed adamant on Saturday about getting the nominations resolved this weekend, whether by cutting a deal, changing the confirmation rules or by adjourning to allow recess appointments. The Trump of it all: 'The president is fed up,' Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said. Trump manned the phones yesterday for conversations with some key GOP senators, and late last night he blasted Schumer for 'political extortion' on Truth Social and urged all Republicans to head out. Thune teed up seven final nominees for confirmation votes last night before moving on to recess. Among the newly confirmed: Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host, now formally the U.S. attorney for D.C. following a 50-45 vote. What Thune is thinking: He's already preparing for the possibility of speeding up the process with a rules change come September. 'I think they're desperately in need of change,' Thune said, per AP's Mary Clare Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti. 'I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.' What Schumer is thinking: He defended the Democrats' response, saying 'historically bad nominees deserve historic levels of scrutiny.' Still in limbo: The nominations of Mike Waltz as UN ambassador and Kimberly Guilfoyle for U.S. ambassador to Greece, CBS' Cristina Corujo notes. It's still unclear if the Senate will take up nominations as soon as they come back on Sept. 2, or if they'll wait until after the shutdown deadline. 2. PROMISES BROKEN?: 'White House has no plan to mandate IVF care, despite campaign pledge,' by WaPo's Riley Beggin and Jeff Stein: 'The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, two people with knowledge of internal discussions said … In addition, White House officials are backing away from proposals discussed internally to mandate IVF coverage for the roughly 50 million people on the Obamacare exchanges … It is unclear whether the administration plans to ask lawmakers to take up a bill, but the two people said that forcing insurance companies to cover IVF is not currently on the table.' 3. TRADING PLACES: India will continue purchasing Russian oil even as Trump threatens penalties, Reuters' Shivam Patel and Chandni Shah report. Trump said Friday that he was told India would stop the trade with Russia. But sources in India's government said no policy changes have been made. It's the latest instance of an increasingly sour relationship between the U.S. and India, one tied not just to trade, but also Trump's claimed credit over the end of India's brief conflict with Pakistan, WSJ's Alex Ward and colleagues write. On the tariffs: As the final deals in Trump's trade war emerge, Myanmar is still optimistic it can come to an agreement with the U.S. that would decrease its new 40 percent tariff levels, per Bloomberg's Khine Lin Kyaw. But in Switzerland, investors are bracing themselves for the market's reopening tomorrow after Trump's 39 percent tariff announcement came during Swiss National Day, Bloomberg's Gary Parkinson and colleagues report. Elsewhere on the economy: Though Washington has increasingly come down on electric vehicles, they're not going anywhere, writes NYT's Jack Ewing, as the cars become cheaper and tariff resilient. … Fed officials say the U.S. labor market is still solid despite the July jobs report, WSJ's Nick Timiraos scooped. … As Fed Governor Adriana Kugler announced her resignation on Friday, Trump now has an opportunity to install someone at the Fed to push for interest rate cuts, Bloomberg's Christopher Condon and Amara Omeokwe report. 4. THE CRISIS IN GAZA: Special envoy Steve Witkoff told the families of Israeli hostages yesterday that the U.S. has a plan to bring home all of the remaining hostages in a deal with Hamas that could soon end the war, WaPo's Gerry Shih reports from Jerusalem. Trump 'now believes that everybody should come home at once, no piecemeal deals. That doesn't work and we've tried everything,' Witkoff said. He added that Hamas was ready to disarm itself, which the group denied. Not a moment too soon: The starvation and struggle over aid continues to ravage the Gaza strip. Hundreds of thousands of people are overrunning aid convoys out of desperation for access to food, WaPo reports. Though the Trump administration claims it has given over $60 million in aid to Gaza, the State Department has only pledged half that amount and only a fraction has been issued in Gaza so far, per WaPo's Karen DeYoung. More on the starvation in Gaza from the NYT Back in Washington: Pro-Israel Democrats are increasingly publicly breaking with PM Benjamin Netanyahu and circulating a letter in the House to potentially recognize a Palestinian state, CNN's Isaac Dovere reports. Related read: 'Mike Huckabee, Israel's Passionate Defender as Gaza War Drives Allies Away,' by NYT's Elisabeth Bumiller 5. IMMIGRATION FILES: DOJ is walking back Stephen Miller's touted goal of 3,000 ICE arrests per day, as the Trump administration told federal judges last week that this quota doesn't exist, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. That figure has emerged in multiple lawsuits over the administration's deportation drive, and its denial is the 'latest example of a gulf between what White House advisers say in public and what the Justice Department says in court.' It also comes as an appeals court on Friday upheld the block on the seemingly indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles. Dade County, all day: Billionaire Michael Fernández is behind the new ads in Miami blasting its representatives in Congress over the mass deportations of immigrants, telling NYT's Patricia Mazzei that he hopes to 'wake up the conscience' of Miami's Cuban GOP voters. … But Latino representatives in Congress, including Miami's own Cuban Republicans, are already concerned Trump's deportations could backfire with Latino voters, WaPo's Marianna Sotomayor writes. Deep in the heart: 'Trump's Border Wall Is Back—and So Is His Fight With Texas Landowners,' by WSJ's Elizabeth Findell 6. FROM THE WILDERNESS: New campaign finance filings reveal some Democrats are already revving themselves up for 2028, with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg raising $1.6 million with his PAC and some Democratic governors raising hundreds of thousands as well, POLITICO's Jessica Piper and Elena Schneider report. … Kamala Harris told Stephen Colbert she doesn't 'want to go back in the system' right now, and some Democrats are hoping she doesn't in 2028 either, POLITICO's Dustin Gardiner and colleagues write. … Democrats are increasingly turning to veterans across the country, NYT's Shane Goldmacher reports, as the party tries to shift away from its currently unpopular branding. Survey says: Democratic voters see their party as 'weak' or 'ineffective,' with one-third describing the party negatively in a new AP-NORC poll, per AP's Steve Peoples and colleagues. 7. A HOMECOMING FOR WILES: White House chief of staff Susie Wiles returned to her home state of Florida on Saturday night to receive the 'Statesman Award' from the Republican Party of Florida, Kimberly Leonard writes in to Playbook. Speaking before the Red Florida Dinner at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Wiles called her job 'a dream beyond anything I could ever have imagined,' adding: 'The golden age of America is here, because Donald Trump is in the White House.' The evening was a testament to how Wiles helped transform Florida from a purple to a red state in just a few election cycles — first with Rick Scott's 2010 campaign for governor, then for Gov. Ron DeSantis' first gubernatorial campaign in 2018. She also led Trump's Florida operation in 2016 and 2020 and ultimately led his 2024 comeback to the White House. Now, many Floridians she has worked with over the years are in the administration. 'Honestly, Floridians overpopulate the West Wing in a really big way,' Wiles said to applause. Wiles' band of loyalists heaped praise on her throughout the evening. Top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio called the award 'long overdue.' Chris LaCivita praised Wiles as 'inarguably' the best in the field. Deputy chief of staff James Blair said Wiles 'deserves all the credit she gets and then some.' VP JD Vance delivered a surprise video greeting, crediting Wiles with keeping the White House 'on track and on schedule' while also being a 'ruthless political operator.' And Trump capped off the love fest in his own video message, saying he was unsure whether to call her a 'statesman' or 'stateswoman,' but concluding: 'You are the person of the year in my book.' 8. DEMOCRACY WATCH: DOJ is expanding its efforts to get access to voter data and election information, sending letters and emails and phone calls to get copies of voter registration lists in at least 15 states, AP's Ali Swenson and Gary Fields report. That includes 'all records' from the 2024 election and any records retained from 2020, and it's raising red flags with some state officials. In one instance in Colorado, consultant Jeff Small asked Republican officials if they would give a third party access to election information, and that he was acting on a request from Stephen Miller, per CNN's Fredreka Schouten. 9. RETRIBUTION CORNER: 'Agency Scrutinizes Jack Smith After Republican Complaint,' by NYT's Devlin Barrett: 'An agency that scrutinizes the conduct of federal employees has opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who investigated Donald J. Trump before he returned to office … The Office of Special Counsel confirmed on Saturday that it had opened an investigation into Mr. Smith for a possible violation of the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits federal workers from using their government jobs to engage in political activity. … Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, had asked the agency to investigate.' TALK OF THE TOWN PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — 'Smithsonian to restore Trump to impeachment exhibit 'in the coming weeks,'' by WaPo's Jonathan Fischer and Samantha Chery: 'The Smithsonian said on Saturday that it would restore information about President Donald Trump's two impeachments to an exhibit in the National Museum of American History within weeks.' SOUNDS LIKE VEEP — After Alan Dershowitz got into it with a farmer's market vendor on Martha's Vineyard who refused to sell him a pierogi, Crooked Media's Matt Berg published the corresponding police report. The highlight: 'Dershowitz stated he was going to spread the word to others at the market to not buy from the pierogi booth,' the report reads. At a nearby lemonade stand, a cop warned him not to. It concludes: 'Shortly after, the lawyer departed, pierogiless.' FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — K STREET FILES: AECOM, the giant infrastructure firm the White House picked to lead the engineering team for the construction of the $200 million White House ballroom being built with private money, is registered with Ballard Partners, the powerhouse lobbying firm with ties to chief of staff Susie Wiles, POLITICO's Daniel Lippman writes in. AECOM has paid Ballard Partners $120,000 to lobby the White House and Congress this year, according to lobbying records. The firm run by Brian Ballard, a top Trump fundraiser, registered for AECOM a week after the election. The initial listing said it was lobbying Congress and the State Department, but in the second quarter it added the White House. Wiles told Playbook in an email that she has never represented AECOM, adding she didn't 'know how they were selected, but I was never lobbied about any of the contractors or involved in any way.' Ballard declined to comment. Spokespeople for AECOM didn't respond to a request for comment. AECOM has received numerous federal contracts since the start of the Trump administration, including an Air Force contract worth up to $1.5 billion and at least two major contracts from the Army Corps of Engineers. A White House official pointed Playbook to data showing AECOM has also been a major contractor for the government during Democratic administrations and that two-thirds of AECOM's contributions in the 2024 cycle went to Democrats. Wiles worked for Ballard from 2011 to 2019, helping open up its D.C. office. Stories about the firm often include the fact that he used to employ Wiles. AG Pam Bondi also is an alum of the firm. Ballard Partners has risen to the top of the K Street ranks in the months since Trump's reelection. Speaking of the ballroom: 'Experts Raise Concerns Over Trump's White House Ballroom Renovation Plans,' by NYT's Ashley Ahn HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Reps. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) … Bernadette Meehan (5-0) … KFF Health News' Rachana Pradhan … Matthew Foldi … ABC's Ben Siegel and John Parkinson … Scott Parkinson … Claire Olszewski of the Obama Foundation … Jeff Dressler of SoftBank … Tom Freedman … Matt Compton … former Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) … Jordan Burke … Erikka Knuti … Katherine Robertson of Alabama AG Steve Marshall's office … Graham MacGillivray … Jessica Ennis Kitelyn … Brian Morgenstern … City Journal's Brian Anderson … Dow Jones' Clarissa Matthews … Joe Ramallo of Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-La.) office … Jay Caruso … Rachael Shackelford Dussuau … Reuters' Brad Brooks … Ken Nahigian … DNC's Emma Bailey … James Wegmann of Stand Together … Jacob Weisberg of Pushkin Industries … Andrew Craft … POLITICO's Jasmine Turner and Bemi Ukuedojor … Dmitri Mehlhorn … Sydney Hilbush of Rep. John Garamendi's (D-Calif.) office Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Kamala Harris announces she will not be running for governor of California in 2026
Former vice president Kamala Harris has announced she will not be running for governor of California in 2026, ending months of speculation. In a statement released by her office Wednesday, Harris said she had reached the decision after 'deep reflection' and vowed to 'remain in the fight' despite not holding an official political office. 'Over the past six months, I have spent time reflecting on this moment in our nation's history and the best way for me to continue fighting for the American people and advancing the values and ideals I hold dear,' the statement read. 'I have given serious thought to asking the people of California for the privilege to serve as their governor. I love this state, its people and its promise. It is my home. But after deep reflection, I've decided that I will not run for Governor in this election,' she said. Speculation about Harris' next steps has been rife ever since her dramatic loss to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race – having taken over from Joe Biden after he stepped down mid-campaign. The former VP and US senator from California has spent time largely out of the limelight, with many believing she was mulling a run for governor, stepping away from politics entirely, or plotting another stab at the presidency in 2028. In her statement, Harris did not rule out another presidential bid, despite unsuccessful bids in both 2020 and 2024. It is not known if or when she will make that decision. Harris' statement Wednesday did not mention her 2024 adversary, Donald Trump, by name but wrote that 'our politics, our government, and our institutions have too often failed the American people, culminating in this moment of crisis.' 'For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office. I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans,' the statement added. 'In the United States of America, power must lie with the people. And We, the People must use our power to fight for freedom, opportunity, fairness and the dignity of all. I will remain in that fight.' Harris may well have been a frontrunner in the race to succeed current Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is reaching the end of his term-limited tenure. Before serving as U.S. senator and vice president, she was elected state attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco. Newsom has also been touted as a potential name for the Democratic presidential ticket in 2028 – meaning a potential Californian head-to-head, should Harris choose to try again. Prior to her stint as Joe Biden's second-in-command, Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race before the leadoff Iowa caucuses — the first defeat of her political career. After Biden chose her as his running mate, she made history as the first woman, Black person or person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president. In 2024, Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden left the race months before Election Day and endorsed her. She lost that race to Trump, who won every swing state. Should she want to run for the third time, Harris may face an uphill battle – having to convince Democrats to back her again, despite the resounding defeat to Trump last November. Many still associate her with some of the perceived failings of the Biden administration, which she failed to adequately distance herself from after taking the reins of the campaign. Biden's legacy was tarnished as he left office, after holding out on stepping down despite consistent pressure from Democratic heavyweights to do so. Since his exit new questions have swirled about his physical and mental abilities as his term ended. Looking ahead to 2028, whoever runs for Democratic leader will have to unify a fractious party with low approval ratings that is struggling to slow Trump's agenda in Washington.
