Latest news with #JimHimes
The Hill
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
What a GOP bill banning central digital currency means for consumer banking
A proposed GOP ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could pump the brakes on grand visions to reshape electronic payment access around the Federal Reserve. Republican lawmakers pushed the ban through the House on Thursday over concerns the government could use a CBDC to surveil Americans' financial transactions. The banking industry has also lobbied against the currency, arguing the public already has sufficient access to easily usable and safe digital money. 'Nobody yet knows whether a CBDC is a good idea or not,' Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who has pushed for the government to explore a CBDC, said following the House's vote. 'There is potential for abuse and corruption, but also for extraordinary modernization that could serve unbanked communities, support the primacy of the U.S. dollar, and much more,' he added. Fed floated idea in 2022 white paper In 2022, the Federal Reserve issued a study of CBDCs that outlined their risks and benefits. 'All options for private digital money, including stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies, require mechanisms to reduce liquidity risk and credit risk. But all these mechanisms are imperfect,' the report notes. A traditional bank account is backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees individual deposits up to $250,000 in the event a bank fails. But there are also riskier forms of digital financial services. In 2024, a financial technology company called Synapse collapsed and left customers unable to access some $265 million in deposits. A CBDC, backed with the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, would be the safest possible digital asset. The Fed paper said that a CBDC could make cross-border payments easier and potentially improve access to banking for low-income households. A 2022 study by Himes, the Connecticut Democrat, proposed that CBDCs could be used for depositing paychecks or even be integrated into federal programs like Social Security. A more ambitious version of a CBDC could allow Americans to hold digital dollars at a bank account with the Fed, enabling them to make digital payments without an account at a traditional bank. That could, as the Fed paper noted, 'fundamentally change the structure of the U.S. financial system, altering the roles and responsibilities of the private sector and the central bank.' A government-backed digital dollar — especially one that could bear interest — could also drive consumers away from traditional commercial bank accounts. A CBDC still would require significant study, from the impacts on the banking system to the technology that it would run on. A hypothetical CBDC could use existing technology, or it could be distributed on a blockchain, similar to how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are issued. In 2022, former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard estimated that it would take ' a long time ' — at least five years, she said — to launch a digital currency if Congress decided to do so. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in February that the bank would not develop a CBDC under his tenure. His term expires in May 2026. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, would bar the Fed from directly or indirectly issuing a CBDC or studying the issue. Other federal agencies are already barred from studying a CBDC due to a January executive order from President Trump. Republicans cite privacy concerns Privacy is the biggest concern about CBDCs aired by Republican lawmakers. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who led the CBDC ban through the House, said on the floor that a digital dollar would be tantamount to government surveillance. 'It is government-controlled programmable money that, if designed without the privacy protections of cash, this could give the federal government the ability to surveil and restrict Americans' transactions and monitor every aspect of our daily lives,' he said. In contrast to cash, which is essentially untraceable, a CBDC would likely leave a digital record of some form. If the government pursued a CBDC, it would have to balance concerns about privacy with safeguards to curb its use in money laundering or other illegal activities. Many lawmakers have cited China's digital yuan as a worrying example. Tech and China experts, as reported by WIRED, have raised concerns that the Chinese government could use its digital currency to track individual transactions or otherwise scoop up tranches of consumer data. Other Republicans have issued starker warnings about CBDCs. 'CBDC is an existential threat to Western civilization,' Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) wrote on the social platform X. Banking, crypto lobbies strongly oppose Banking and cryptocurrency lobbying groups are staunchly against a centrally issued digital currency. In a letter to Emmer in April, the American Banking Association argued that Americans already had sufficient access to digital payments. Alongside other digital transfer systems pioneered in the private sector, the Fed launched FedNow, an instant payment system that can operate 24/7, in 2023. Banks have to opt in to using the service, whose major clients include JPMorganChase and Wells Fargo. More broadly, the bank lobby argued that a CBDC would undercut the role banks play in the country's economic system. 'For example, a CBDC would be an advantaged competitor to retail bank deposits that would move money away from banks and into accounts at the Federal Reserve, severely limiting the ability of commercial banks to make loans that power economic growth in communities across the country,' the group wrote. A CBDC could also dampen hopes that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or privately developed stablecoins — cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to a reference asset like the U.S. dollar — could become the primary form of digital money. 'You wouldn't need stablecoins; you wouldn't need cryptocurrencies, if you had a digital U.S. currency,' Powell said at a congressional hearing in 2021. 'I think that's one of the stronger arguments in its favor.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Transcript: Rep. Jim Himes on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 20, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on July 20, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Jim Himes. He joins us from Connecticut. Good morning to you. Congressman, you are on the Financial Services Committee, so let's pick up right there. The Supreme Court indicated that the President of the United States does not have the authority to fire the Fed Chair unless there is cause. It sounds like the White House is trying to build a case that they have cause. If they go ahead with it, what happens? CONGRESSMAN JIM HIMES: Yeah, well, you know, Margaret, the last question you asked the Secretary, shows what a con man he is. And I just listened to his whole thing. And, you know, if you're over the age of five, you've dealt with hucksters and con men. Everything is going to be great in two weeks. By August 1st, we're going to have a deal. The American people are going to be so happy. Complete failure to understand the facts, right? He said that tariffs are paid by foreign countries. Tariffs are not paid by foreign countries. He said, Jay Powell is torturing the American people. Margaret, you didn't have the time, but if you'd had a minute, you would have said, wait a minute. There's a Federal Open Market Committee that is comprised of seven Fed governors, and all of the heads of the central bank offices around the country. That committee, comprised of people who have been appointed by Democratic and Republican Presidents, set the interest rates, right? So, this notion that Jay Powell is unilaterally stopping a decline in interest rates, which, by the way, in the of- in the face- for those of those folks who know a little bit about economics, in the face of up-ticking inflation, which we're seeing, would be absolutely bananas. So, what you just saw was a master class by a huckster and a con man who uses words like torture that are very, very dangerous words, not just for the economy, but for the physical safety of people like Jay Powell. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, just to be clear, that's why I said it's not the Chairman's unilateral decision for exactly the reason you raised, that there is a committee that makes the decision. The inflation rate for the CPI was 2.7% if you strip out food- energy and food, which is more volatile, it's up two-tenths of a percent. So, that economic data is what we are pointing to there, not opinion on pricing. But, is there congressional pushback that can be done? I mean, what happens if there's a tweet that says the Fed chair is gone? REP. HIMES: Well, interestingly, inside the White House, and I don't know who it is, my guess is it's maybe the Treasury Secretary is saying, and this is a very difficult thing to say to a person like Donald Trump, that if you fire the Fed chair, either illegally, which they're happy to do, or because you trump up some baloney-like-charge associated with a renovation of the headquarters, there is going to be a massive market reaction, because you cannot lie to the capital markets. We saw this the day after Liberation Day, before we all were familiarized with the TACO trade. The day after liberation day, the stock and the bond markets took a nosedive. So, my guess is that somebody is saying to the president because he doesn't care if he follows the law or not, and the law is very clear that he can't fire the Fed chair. But somebody is saying to the President, the economic instability that gets caused when the cornerstone of the global economy and capital markets all of the sudden has a politically driven interest rate policy. I think that's the one thing that's holding them off. MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, we're going to take a quick break and continue our conversation on a variety of topics. We need to bring up with you on the other side of it, stay with us. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We are continuing our conversation now with Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes, who is the ranking member on the Intelligence Committee. Congressman, I want to pick up on that topic. Just a statement of fact here: A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation found that the US intelligence community assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election was correct. They deemed it to be so on a bipartisan basis. I'm saying that because today and yesterday, the director of the intelligence community, Tulsi Gabbard, has said that she is referring for prosecution former American officials she accused of treasonous conspiracy, a years-long coup against President Trump, because they assessed Russia had tried to influence the election. This is weeks after the CIA Director issued a report critiquing the tradecraft that went into that 2016 assessment. Is there any legal basis for any kind of prosecution here? REP. HIMES: None, absolutely none. Margaret, what you saw from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was not just a lie, but a very dangerous lie, because when you start throwing around language like sedition and treason, somebody is going to get hurt. Now, you pointed out that the Senate committee, then led by Marco Rubio, a Republican and now Secretary of State, found unanimously that Russia meddled in the election to try to assist Donald Trump. John Durham, special counsel appointed by Donald Trump, investigated this, found that the Senate report was correct. Now, what Tulsi is doing it's a little sleight of hand, but it's worth focusing on. She is saying that the Intelligence Committee, early on, said that the Russians could not use cyber tools to mess with the voting infrastructure, the machines that tally our votes. And that was true then, and it is true now, though the Russians tried to break into a couple of states, you know, election technical infrastructure. They didn't do it, but it is well known and well established that the Russians hacked into the DNC and undertook any number of other influence operations, including buying reams of Facebook ads to discredit Hillary Clinton. That is not in contention, right? And what is horrifying about this whole lie out of Gabbard is, number one, it puts people at risk. And right now, you know, the mouth-breathers on MAGA online are just going out of their minds based on a lie. And number two, the intelligence community is full of very, good people who do their jobs every single day, and now they're watching their leader do something that each and every one of them knows is dishonest and it is a really, really bad thing for the safety and security of the American people when that dynamic is- is out there. MARGARET BRENNAN: That Senate report is online, the findings are there, but I understand your distinction there, and it's an important one in influence versus physical hacking. You're-- REP. HIMES: -- By- by the way Margaret, if I may- if I may, you asked about the referral. Here's the test. This is Epstein all over again. Criminal referrals. We're going to prosecute Barack Obama, you know, treasonous and seditious. Here's the thing, and I hope that 4, 5, 6, weeks from now- don't take it from this Democrat. 4,5,6, weeks from now, let's see if this administration, Tulsi Gabbard, accusing a former president of treason. Let's see if they bring charges. They won't. They won't, because there's not a judge in the land, not a single judge who will treat this with anything other than laughter that will be heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific in this country. So the test of this is 4,5,6 weeks from now, is the DOJ bringing charges? And the answer to that is no. And now we're going to be in Epstein world. We're like, wait a minute, treasonous conspiracy by a former president. Why isn't the Department of Justice bringing charges? And the answer to that question is that it is a lie. MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. On the other topic, I want to ask you about as a Democrat, the New York Times-- the DNC-- is reporting the DNC examination of what went wrong in the last election is going to steer clear of the decisions made by the Biden turned Harris campaign. You were very direct early on in calling for then President Biden to drop out of this race. You don't parse your words normally. Do you actually think it is possible for your party to self-diagnose problems without looking at the presidential race itself in terms of the candidates? REP. HIMES: Look, we need to acknowledge and every- and all of America saw it on the night of that disastrous debate in the July before the election that Joe Biden was not going to win the election. That was not just evident in the debate. It was evident in the polling that his people were keeping from him. Okay, so that is a fact. Now, Democrats are a big tent party. We go from Joe Manchin, who's practically a Republican, to AOC who is a Democratic socialist. So, we always have a struggle in coming up with sort of one set of policies, one set of messaging, and it's particularly hard to do when we don't have a presidential candidate. You know, a presidential candidate, of course, attracts the attention, is sort of the one person who must run nationwide and speak for the party as a whole. Right now, we're having a lot of conversations with a lot of different views, and I understand that's enormously frustrating to Democrats who are so upset over the result of the election. But you know, other than fight back with the tools that we have right now, we've got to be introspective about what we have done wrong that resulted in a dramatic win by Donald Trump in 2020*. There's an awful lot of rage in the Democratic Party, and my message to my Democratic friends is fine. I get the rage, believe me. I was in the chamber on January 6, 2021, and worried for my own life. But the thing to do right now is to be introspective and ask yourself, what can we do better to appeal to more people, including those people that we have lost time and time again in elections. MARGARET BRENNAN: 15 months out from the midterm races. Congressman Jim Himes, thank you. We'll be right back. *President Donald Trump won the 2024 election. Former President Biden won the 2020 election. 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CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Transcript: Rep. Jim Himes on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 20, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on July 20, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Jim Himes. He joins us from Connecticut. Good morning to you. Congressman, you are on the Financial Services Committee, so let's pick up right there. The Supreme Court indicated that the President of the United States does not have the authority to fire the Fed Chair unless there is cause. It sounds like the White House is trying to build a case that they have cause. If they go ahead with it, what happens? CONGRESSMAN JIM HIMES: Yeah, well, you know, Margaret, the last question you asked the Secretary, shows what a con man he is. And I just listened to his whole thing. And, you know, if you're over the age of five, you've dealt with hucksters and con men. Everything is going to be great in two weeks. By August 1st, we're going to have a deal. The American people are going to be so happy. Complete failure to understand the facts, right? He said that tariffs are paid by foreign countries. Tariffs are not paid by foreign countries. He said, Jay Powell is torturing the American people. Margaret, you didn't have the time, but if you'd had a minute, you would have said, wait a minute. There's a Federal Open Market Committee that is comprised of seven Fed governors, and all of the heads of the central bank offices around the country. That committee, comprised of people who have been appointed by Democratic and Republican Presidents, set the interest rates, right? So, this notion that Jay Powell is unilaterally stopping a decline in interest rates, which, by the way, in the of- in the face- for those of those folks who know a little bit about economics, in the face of up-ticking inflation, which we're seeing, would be absolutely bananas. So, what you just saw was a master class by a huckster and a con man who uses words like torture that are very, very dangerous words, not just for the economy, but for the physical safety of people like Jay Powell. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, just to be clear, that's why I said it's not the Chairman's unilateral decision for exactly the reason you raised, that there is a committee that makes the decision. The inflation rate for the CPI was 2.7% if you strip out food- energy and food, which is more volatile, it's up two-tenths of a percent. So, that economic data is what we are pointing to there, not opinion on pricing. But, is there congressional pushback that can be done? I mean, what happens if there's a tweet that says the Fed chair is gone? REP. HIMES: Well, interestingly, inside the White House, and I don't know who it is, my guess is it's maybe the Treasury Secretary is saying, and this is a very difficult thing to say to a person like Donald Trump, that if you fire the Fed chair, either illegally, which they're happy to do, or because you trump up some baloney-like-charge associated with a renovation of the headquarters, there is going to be a massive market reaction, because you cannot lie to the capital markets. We saw this the day after Liberation Day, before we all were familiarized with the TACO trade. The day after liberation day, the stock and the bond markets took a nosedive. So, my guess is that somebody is saying to the president because he doesn't care if he follows the law or not, and the law is very clear that he can't fire the Fed chair. But somebody is saying to the President, the economic instability that gets caused when the cornerstone of the global economy and capital markets all of the sudden has a politically driven interest rate policy. I think that's the one thing that's holding them off. MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, we're going to take a quick break and continue our conversation on a variety of topics. We need to bring up with you on the other side of it, stay with us. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We are continuing our conversation now with Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes, who is the ranking member on the Intelligence Committee. Congressman, I want to pick up on that topic. Just a statement of fact here: A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation found that the US intelligence community assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election was correct. They deemed it to be so on a bipartisan basis. I'm saying that because today and yesterday, the director of the intelligence community, Tulsi Gabbard, has said that she is referring for prosecution former American officials she accused of treasonous conspiracy, a years-long coup against President Trump, because they assessed Russia had tried to influence the election. This is weeks after the CIA Director issued a report critiquing the tradecraft that went into that 2016 assessment. Is there any legal basis for any kind of prosecution here? REP. HIMES: None, absolutely none. Margaret, what you saw from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was not just a lie, but a very dangerous lie, because when you start throwing around language like sedition and treason, somebody is going to get hurt. Now, you pointed out that the Senate committee, then led by Marco Rubio, a Republican and now Secretary of State, found unanimously that Russia meddled in the election to try to assist Donald Trump. John Durham, special counsel appointed by Donald Trump, investigated this, found that the Senate report was correct. Now, what Tulsi is doing it's a little sleight of hand, but it's worth focusing on. She is saying that the Intelligence Committee, early on, said that the Russians could not use cyber tools to mess with the voting infrastructure, the machines that tally our votes. And that was true then, and it is true now, though the Russians tried to break into a couple of states, you know, election technical infrastructure. They didn't do it, but it is well known and well established that the Russians hacked into the DNC and undertook any number of other influence operations, including buying reams of Facebook ads to discredit Hillary Clinton. That is not in contention, right? And what is horrifying about this whole lie out of Gabbard is, number one, it puts people at risk. And right now, you know, the mouth-breathers on MAGA online are just going out of their minds based on a lie. And number two, the intelligence community is full of very, good people who do their jobs every single day, and now they're watching their leader do something that each and every one of them knows is dishonest and it is a really, really bad thing for the safety and security of the American people when that dynamic is- is out there. MARGARET BRENNAN: That Senate report is online, the findings are there, but I understand your distinction there, and it's an important one in influence versus physical hacking. You're-- REP. HIMES: -- By- by the way Margaret, if I may- if I may, you asked about the referral. Here's the test. This is Epstein all over again. Criminal referrals. We're going to prosecute Barack Obama, you know, treasonous and seditious. Here's the thing, and I hope that 4, 5, 6, weeks from now- don't take it from this Democrat. 4,5,6, weeks from now, let's see if this administration, Tulsi Gabbard, accusing a former president of treason. Let's see if they bring charges. They won't. They won't, because there's not a judge in the land, not a single judge who will treat this with anything other than laughter that will be heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific in this country. So the test of this is 4,5,6 weeks from now, is the DOJ bringing charges? And the answer to that is no. And now we're going to be in Epstein world. We're like, wait a minute, treasonous conspiracy by a former president. Why isn't the Department of Justice bringing charges? And the answer to that question is that it is a lie. MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. On the other topic, I want to ask you about as a Democrat, the New York Times-- the DNC-- is reporting the DNC examination of what went wrong in the last election is going to steer clear of the decisions made by the Biden turned Harris campaign. You were very direct early on in calling for then President Biden to drop out of this race. You don't parse your words normally. Do you actually think it is possible for your party to self-diagnose problems without looking at the presidential race itself in terms of the candidates? REP. HIMES: Look, we need to acknowledge and every- and all of America saw it on the night of that disastrous debate in the July before the election that Joe Biden was not going to win the election. That was not just evident in the debate. It was evident in the polling that his people were keeping from him. Okay, so that is a fact. Now, Democrats are a big tent party. We go from Joe Manchin, who's practically a Republican, to AOC who is a Democratic socialist. So, we always have a struggle in coming up with sort of one set of policies, one set of messaging, and it's particularly hard to do when we don't have a presidential candidate. You know, a presidential candidate, of course, attracts the attention, is sort of the one person who must run nationwide and speak for the party as a whole. Right now, we're having a lot of conversations with a lot of different views, and I understand that's enormously frustrating to Democrats who are so upset over the result of the election. But you know, other than fight back with the tools that we have right now, we've got to be introspective about what we have done wrong that resulted in a dramatic win by Donald Trump in 2020*. There's an awful lot of rage in the Democratic Party, and my message to my Democratic friends is fine. I get the rage, believe me. I was in the chamber on January 6, 2021, and worried for my own life. But the thing to do right now is to be introspective and ask yourself, what can we do better to appeal to more people, including those people that we have lost time and time again in elections. MARGARET BRENNAN: 15 months out from the midterm races. Congressman Jim Himes, thank you. We'll be right back. *President Donald Trump won the 2024 election. Former President Biden won the 2020 election.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dems grudgingly admit Trump's political savvy at Hill Nation Summit
Some top Democrats at the Hill Nation Summit on Wednesday paid grudging compliments to President Trump's political moves as the party looks to learn from its November losses and chart a new path forward. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) lauded the Republican as a 'very talented politician' despite their disagreements, while Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, offered praise for Trump's foreign policy. The lawmakers' careful acknowledgements come as the Democratic Party broadly tries to learn from their 2024 losses and build momentum for the 2026 midterms, when they'll be looking to cut into the GOP's narrow 220-212 majority. 'Donald Trump's a very talented politician, right? I don't agree with him as a leader. He's a very talented politician,' Khanna said at the Summit. He praised the president alongside progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, despite their stark political split. Later in the conversation, Khanna also contended that Democrats have been 'way too judgmental' of Americans who voted for Trump. 'We acted as if the problem was the voters; the problem was the party, and we acted with a condescension and a judgment on voters,' Khanna told NewsNation contributor Chris Cillizza. The Hill and NewsNation are both owned by Nexstar. Democrats have struggled to redefine the party in the wake of last year's big losses, when the GOP flipped the White House and took control of both chambers of Congress. The party is now pulling in its lowest favorability ratings in decades, and prominent activists within the party have called for a new generation of leaders, stoking intraparty frustration. Frank assessments of both 2024 and the current political landscape are critical, strategists said, to helping Democrats find their footing. 'You can't understand how to win by repeating losing behavior; you have to study winners. And the reality is that Trump has won two of his three elections,' said Democratic strategist Fred Hicks. 'I think it's prudent to understand how Republicans have earned the votes of so many people.' Khanna, a prominent House progressive who's been mired in speculation about potential presidential ambitions, also criticized that his own party 'has not had a compelling economic vision for years.' He said at the Summit that he hasn't yet made a decision on whether to run for president in 2028, but notably suggested that he could bring a better economic vision forward. Himes, also speaking at the Hill Nation event, gave Trump rare kudos on his foreign policy moves, even as he stressed his disagreement on other issues. 'I could spend the next hour talking about things I don't like about this presidency or about MAGA, but I will give him some real credit on foreign policy,' Himes said. He pointed to Trump's 'practical approach' in the Middle East, including the signing of an executive order in January to end sanctions against Syria after the unexpected collapse of Bashar Assad's regime. 'I mean, the opening to Syria, I did not anticipate that. That's pretty amazing…. I give the president and his administration credit for this — to build up and support the Syrian regime,' Himes said. The Connecticut lawmaker has previously scoffed at Trump's claims of success following U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, but told the Summit that there's 'no question' that between the Israelis and the United States, the Iranian nuclear program has been 'meaningfully' set back. 'Now, whether 'meaningfully' is six months or six years is still very much open to question,' he added. Public acknowledgements of GOP wins could serve Democrats, strategists suggested, by helping to rebuild credibility and signal a desire to work across the aisle. 'The problem in American politics right now is that if your team runs the play, then it's OK; if the other team does it, then it's not. What that has done is that's created a deficit of trust in our system, amongst voters, everyday people,' Hicks said. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) at the Hill Nation Summit touted her bipartisan work with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Republicans on the 'Take It Down' Act, criminalizing deepfake revenge porn, which Trump signed into law this spring. 'We have worked together despite having major disputes over judges and other things. We've worked together on a number of these issues. He's been willing to stand up,' Klobuchar told The Hill's Alex Bolton. Next year, Democrats will be vying to take advantage of traditional headwinds against the president's party in midterm years and claw back ground lost in key blue and swing states — and with core demographics — during the presidential election. To that end, Democratic campaign arms are ramping up efforts to generate party enthusiasm — while top Washington figures are leaning in on controversy around Trump's immigration raid protests, Medicaid cuts in the recently signed megabill and other issues as they try to amass fodder for midterm races. Broadly, there's 'a lot' for Democrats to learn from Trump's approach to politics, which has allowed him to 'hypnotize his base' along the campaign trail and in office, said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. 'Two things happen with elections: You win or you learn,' Seawright said of the 2024 results. 'I think there's certainly a lot to learn from Trump's political career and his style, and I think more than anything, to learn that we don't have to continue this idea of doing business as usual, but we must master doing unusual business.' Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) at the Summit stressed that Democrats need to keep up with the changing media landscape as Republicans dominate online arenas. But the Maryland lawmaker told The Hill's Judy Kurtz that he's optimistic about Democrats' chances to win back the House next year, pointing to the president's slipping approval numbers. 'He's hurting himself a lot,' Ivey said of Trump. 'If we later on – we being the Democrats – layer on top of that an affirmative message … we could really have very strong gains.' Trump has seen mixed reviews in recent weeks, even on some of his stronger issues, like immigration. The latest Economist/YouGov polling put Trump's disapproval rating at its highest since the start of his second term. 'If you want to turn voters out, get 'em angry, get 'em excited,' Ivey said. 'We'll see if we can sustain it, but it's certainly heading in the right direction for us at this point.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Iran Will Now Copy North Korea's Nuke Strategy-Top Intel Democrat Fears
Military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites will prompt Tehran to pursue its atomic ambitions in secret, much like the way North Korea operates its program, Representative Jim Himes has said. The Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC how he was worried the attack on Iranian nuclear sites would force Tehran to give up diplomacy and end any chances of transparency over its nuclear program. President Donald Trump has boasted that U.S. strikes had destroyed Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, but early intelligence reports cited by CNN and The New York Timeshave raised doubts about the operation's effectiveness. The comments from Himes echo concerns that if Iran's nuclear program is not fully incapacitated, Tehran will pursue its program in secret, away from the eyes of the West, which could pose a bigger long-term security risk. Himes is a Democrat among the so-called "Gang of Eight" leaders within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters. In his interview on MSNBC, he told host Jen Psaki that from Iran's perspective, the diplomatic route over its nuclear program did not work, given that in 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had slowed Tehran's progress toward a nuclear weapon. Then, when negotiations took place earlier this month, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, which Tehran would take as proof that diplomacy did not work, Himes said. The congressman added that Iran might view its only alternative as taking a leaf out of North Korea's book and developing a bomb in secret, wary of what has happened to the countries that gave up their nuclear weapons, like Ukraine and Libya. Himes also said his worry was not over a military attack on U.S. naval assets in the Middle East, but rather that Tehran would lie low for several months and develop a nuclear weapon in secret. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in October 2024 that military strikes on Iran risked Tehran driving its nuclear development program further underground. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association (ACA) has said that U.S. strikes may temporarily set back Iran's nuclear program, but would likely prove such weapons are needed for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy. National Iranian American Council (NIAC) President Jamal Abdi said in a statement to Newsweek that significant questions remain about key components of Iran's nuclear program, and where it goes from here. Rep. Jim Himes, Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on MSNBC: "My worry is not that there's going to be a military attack on our naval assets in Bahrain or on our airfield in Qatar. My worry is that the going to do exactly what North Korea does. "[Iran's] alternative is to look at North Korea, which developed a bomb in secret," he added. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association (ACA) in a statement: "Military strikes alone cannot destroy Iran's extensive nuclear knowledge." Pending a full damage report, the impact of U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities will remain the subject of speculation. Meanwhile, questions remain over the Islamic Republic's stockpile of enriched uranium, whose whereabouts are unknown, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi. Related Articles Inside Iran's Spy Crisis: Who Helped Israel's Attacks as 700 Arrested?Teacher Interviewer Not Prepared for Candidate's MAGA Hat and Iran Bombing TalkRussia Issues New 'Doomsday' Nuclear World War III WarningIran Admits Heavy Nuclear Damage as Israel Backs Trump 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
