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WASHINGTONA group of Senate Republicans outlined their roughly $618 billion coronavirus-relief offer Monday, including a round of $1,000 direct checks for many adults, as Democrats began a process that would allow them to pass President Bidens $1.9 trillion plan along party lines.

The 10 Republican senators met with Mr. Biden Monday evening to discuss their proposal, which would provide $300 a week in enhanced federal unemployment benefits through June, versus the $400 a week through September in the Biden plan. The GOP proposal also outlines $20 billion each for child care and schoolsboth lower than the Biden proposalas well as $50 billion for small-business relief and $160 billion for vaccines, testing and protective equipment, according to a summary released Monday morning.

The proposal omits measures favored by many Democrats, such as aid for state and local governments and a plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The meeting lasted roughly two hours, and Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said the two sides explained their proposals further and agreed to keep talking. Nine senators joined in person, with Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) attending remotely.

It was a very good exchange of views. I wouldnt say that we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting, Ms. Collins said outside the White House.

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Biden Meets Republicans to Discuss Their Covid-19 Stimulus Plan - The Wall Street Journal

Michael Regan was in a tight spot.

President Trump had just won North Carolina in the 2016 election, but Roy Cooper, a Democrat, had defeated the state's Republican incumbent in a tight race for governor. And as Cooper prepared to take office, the GOP-held General Assembly passed a series of bills to weaken the governor's power.

One of those measures was to require state Senate approval of the governor's Cabinet. Regan, nominated for secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, was to undergo a new confirmation process.

Before coming to the department, Regan spent more than eight years at the Environmental Defense Fund. Conservative groups pushed back on his nomination. The Civitas Institute called Regan "a very well-connected player in the worldwide radical environmental movement."

It didn't matter. Regan charmed lawmakers during his confirmation hearing and in private talks. He was unanimously approved at the committee level. Five days later, Regan was confirmed unanimously by the state Senate.

Regan will appear today before the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee as President Biden's choice to lead EPA, and charming Republicans will be part of his task.

Back in 2016, then-state Sen. Bill Cook, a Republican, made the motion in committee that Regan be approved as DEQ secretary.

"He was a very personable guy," Cook, now chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party, told E&E News. "Of the choices we had, he was the most reasonable."

Regan's path to confirmation as DEQ secretary did have a hiccup, although it was resolved soon enough.

Citing his environmental consulting firm and work at EDF, the North Carolina State Ethics Commission said Regan had "potential for a conflict of interest," although that potential conflict didn't bar him from service.

Regan then filed a supplement to his financial disclosure report, saying his firm had not won any business and was dissolved.

The Ethics Commission then said in a subsequent letter on Regan, "We did not find an actual conflict of interest or the potential for a conflict of interest."

Cook, who served in the state Senate from 2013 to 2018, said he was supportive of North Carolina's fishing industry, which meant he had to consult often with Regan as the state's top environmental regulator. He found Regan easy to work with.

"Personality can go a long way," Cook said. The former state senator added that he thinks Regan will do well as EPA administrator if confirmed.

"If he acts like he did when he was working with me, he will be OK," Cook said. "He will be reasonable, but he will be liberal."

As DEQ secretary, Regan interacted with industry groups whose members he regulated. He won friends there, too.

Preston Howard, president of the North Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, told E&E News there was some worry when Cooper picked Regan.

"He was coming from a group that we were regularly at odds with on policy matters. There is kind of a natural tension there with the environmental community and manufacturers," said Howard, who also served at North Carolina's environmental agency, including as its water quality division director.

Yet Regan was accessible when Howard had an issue to discuss. He recalls having several meetings with the DEQ secretary.

"Michael worked hard to engage the regulated community," Howard said. "I felt like Michael always told me the truth. When I asked him why he was doing this or that, he gave me a straight answer."

Gary Salamido, president and CEO of the NC Chamber, recalled how Regan reached out after he was picked to lead DEQ. The business group later supported Regan's confirmation.

"Michael reached out to us and said, 'Could I come out and meet with you folks?'" Salamido told E&E News. "He is a really good man of high character. We developed a friendship."

Even regulated companies have had kind words for Regan. He secured a massive settlement with Duke Energy Corp. to clean up close to 80 million tons of coal ash. The utility sent a tweet congratulating him after his nomination was announced.

Regan issued fines against hog farms in North Carolina. The North Carolina Pork Council released a statement yesterday saying it was "proud" that a North Carolina native had been nominated.

"Michael Regan took the time to visit our farms and learn about the pork industry and kept the door open for continued dialogue," the council said.

"It's a tough political environment here. It's partisan. Michael was able to put the relationship before the political here, and that benefited him," Salamido said. "He has the ability to reach a resolution but give certainty to the business community, even if it is not what they wanted."

Donald van der Vaart, who was DEQ secretary for Republican former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, returned to the department's career ranks after Cooper won the 2016 election.

But van der Vaart's membership on the EPA Science Advisory Board and his publishing of opinion articles irked the new Democratic administration. He was placed on leave, and he soon decided to go. His resignation letter addressed to Regan decried the "specter of politicization of science and law" at the department.

Still, van der Vaart said it was Cooper, not Regan, who spurred his exit. "I don't blame Regan for that," van der Vaart, now a senior fellow in environmental policy at the John Locke Foundation, told E&E News. "I don't think he has that political malfeasance in his system."

Van der Vaart said he is glad that a state regulator like Regan has been nominated for EPA administrator, considering that the states carry out most of the agency's environmental programs.

"He's a good guy and has plenty of energy," van der Vaart said about Regan. "He will grow into the job."

A problem for Regan was how North Carolina's DEQ handled the now-abandoned Atlantic Coast pipeline. The Republican Legislature hired private investigator firm Eagle Intel Services to dig into whether Cooper had engaged in "pay to play" politics on the project.

DEQ had signed off on a water quality permit for the pipeline, but critics allege that the governor made the decision to move forward. The department has denied that charge.

Eagle Intel's report said it had found no evidence that Cooper had benefited from the pipeline but that further investigation was warranted. Regan is mentioned several times in the document, including that he declined to be interviewed but would answer questions in a public hearing.

Van der Vaart said Regan could find himself in a similar situation at EPA, with officials elsewhere seen as calling the shots at the agency.

He noted that former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is in the Biden White House running domestic climate policy, while Janet McCabe, who once led EPA's air office, has been nominated for deputy administrator.

"He is going to be between Janet McCabe and Gina McCarthy. Those people are two strong personalities who have a lot of experience," van der Vaart said. "I would find that difficult, not having unfettered access to my boss. I think there will be a lot of fettering going on."

Others believe Regan could be a success as head of EPA if he can operate as he did in North Carolina disagreeing with his opponents but maintaining those relationships to find compromise in the end.

The DEQ secretary is slated to have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee later today.

"He will be able to find progress on meaningful things for both parties," Salamido said. "It's old school. I think Washington needs a little more of that."

Howard said Regan is probably already making inroads with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "I can just see now Michael making appointments with the people who have to confirm him. He can talk to those folks. He can talk to anybody," Howard said.

"Not every EPA administrator not the ones I've seen in 40 years can do that, but Michael can."

Reporter Timothy Cama contributed.

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EPA: 'He can talk to anybody': How Regan works with Republicans - E&E News

Buehler, a longtime Republican, announced he's leaving the party after the Jan. 6 insurrection and a statement from the Oregon GOP calling the attack a "false flag."

PORTLAND, Ore. Knute Buehler, one of Oregon's most well-known Republicans, has announced he's leaving the party to become a non-affiliated voter. Buehler tried to gain statewide appeal as a moderate Republican nominee for governor in 2018 before he was ultimately defeated by Gov. Kate Brown by about 120,000 votes.

In 2020, he returned to politics with a more conservative lean. He ran as a Republican to represent Oregon's 2nd Congressional District, even embracing Pres. Donald Trump and his rhetoric. Buehler lost in the primary to Cliff Bentz, who went on to win that seat in the general election.

In January 2021, Rep. Bentz voted against certifying the presidential election results coming out of Pennsylvania, within just five days of being elected to office. This came on the same day pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Several days later, the Oregon Republican party passed a resolution describing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection as a false flag operation.

Buehler told KGW both of those events influenced his decision to leave the party.

"I don't know what the Republican Party stands for," he said. "It's almost become a cult of personality. Is it possible to re-correct? Absolutely. There's lots of potential both nationally and in Oregon if they do it right."

He's one of 6,145 Oregonians who switched their registration to leave the Republican Party in January, a decline of 0.8% from December 2020.

Likely referencing the "false flag" claim and the GOP selecting a QAnon believer to represent their party in the Senate race against Democrat Jeff Merkley, Buehler said, "Conspiracy theorists have been tolerated in the Oregon Republican Party and have not been dealt with effectively."

Continued here:
Knute Buehler on leaving GOP: 'I don't even know what the Republican Party stands for' - KGW.com

What, then, are the most plausible theories?

First, its worth rejecting a few unlikely possibilities. Congressional control is not the answer. The pattern holds regardless of which party is running Congress. Deficit spending also doesnt explain the gap: It is not the case that Democrats juice the economy by spending money and then leave Republicans to clean up the mess. Over the last four decades, in fact, Republican presidents have run up larger deficits than Democrats.

That leaves one broad possibility with a good amount of supporting evidence: Democrats have been more willing to heed economic and historical lessons about what policies actually strengthen the economy, while Republicans have often clung to theories that they want to believe like the supposedly magical power of tax cuts and deregulation. Democrats, in short, have been more pragmatic.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president, in 1932, he did not have a fully coherent economic plan. He sometimes argued that reducing the deficit was the key to ending the Depression. Above all, though, he called for bold, persistent experimentation. As he explained: Take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

Over time, he and his advisers came to champion the ideas of John Maynard Keynes. In an economic downturn, when companies and households are caught in a vicious cycle of spending reductions, the government needs to step in. The Keynesian approach has shaped Democratic economic policy ever since.

It has made Democratic presidents much more aggressive in responding to crises than Republicans. Not only was Mr. Hoover passive in the face of the Depression, but the first George Bush was slow to fight the 1990-91 recession, and the second George Bush was slow to begin fighting the 2007-9 financial crisis. Mr. Obama and now President Biden, when faced with an economic crisis, have been much bolder.

Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, told me that he believed the overall partisan pattern was mostly coincidence. But, he said, It is certainly a defensible posture that in periods of economic distress Democrats are more concerned about jobs than Republicans.

The past year has offered another case study. Mr. Trump repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, and the country suffered. The economy would have experienced a downturn no matter who was president, but his scattered response aggravated the pandemic and the recession. In some other countries, life is much closer to normal. In the United States, Mr. Trump became the first president since Mr. Hoover to preside over a decline in employment.

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Opinion | Why Are Republican Presidents So Bad for the Economy? - The New York Times

WASHINGTON Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind. joined House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and 83 House Republicans to introduce the Keystone XL Pipeline Construction and Jobs Preservation Act. This legislation authorizes the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline following President Joe Bidens decision to rescind the border crossing permit.

The Biden Administrations decision to rescind this permit negatively impacts hardworking American families in our district and beyond. Pipelines like the Keystone XL Pipeline remain the safest and most environmentally friendly way to move fuel to heat our homes, float our ships, and power our cars. Canceling this pipeline has already cost thousands of working Americans their jobs. First, the liberal agenda goes after the Keystone XL Pipeline, but next theyll attack the over 44,000 miles of pipelines Hoosiers rely on in the Crossroads of America, Pence said in a statement.

Pence also joined Scalise and more than 30 members of the House Energy Action Team to strongly condemn the Biden administrations 60-day moratorium on issuing oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.

For more on this story, see Thursdays Republic.

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Pence joins House Republicans in seeking to restore Keystone XL Pipeline project - The Republic