Principals

1. Antisemitism vote splits both parties
2. GOP ads on protests
3. Motion to vacate
4. Arizona abortion ban repealed
5. US-China talks
6. America’s pocketbook concerns

PDB: Lindsey Graham warns White House not to “jam” Israel with Saudi deal.

White House announces $3 billion for lead pipe replacement …Biden calls Japan ‘xenophobic’ at fundraiser … Bloomberg: Huawei secretly funding research at US universities

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

As Democrats fret over Israel, antisemitism vote splits both parties

It was a day ending in “y,” so Democrats spent it arguing about Israel. The crackdown on activists at Columbia and other schools is the latest source of tension. “The protesters at Columbia demonstrated that there are two factions of the protesters — there’s the pro-Hamas, and then there’s the really pro-Hamas,” Sen. John Fetterman said, while Rep. Jamaal Bowman delivered a fiery speech accusing the cops of inflicting “brutality” on peaceful demonstrators. According to one senior Democratic aide, the party’s House leaders did not offer any messaging guidance to members. “Democrats don’t want to bring attention to the protests,” they said. Republicans typically have no such angst, but they faced some divisions of their own after Speaker Mike Johnson brought up a bill that would expand the Education Department’s definition of antisemitism to include broad critiques of Israel common among activists. Seventy Democrats opposed it on free speech grounds, but so did 21 Republicans, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned it “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.” It still passed overwhelmingly in a 320-91 vote.

Republican ads link student debt relief to ‘terrorist’ campus protests

New ads from Senate Republicans link five Democrats to “antisemitic mobs” on college campuses, claiming that President Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs will help students who behave “like terrorists.” Starting today in Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the 30-second spots play a montage of scenes from and near campus protests, including American flags being burnt and Palestinian flags being raised. “Using your tax dollars — to fund this mayhem?” asks a narrator. “This is the most toxic issue for Democrats since the 2020 defund the police riots,” NRSC communications director Mike Berg told Semafor. Nearly all Democrats distanced themselves from the 2020 call to “defund” police and spend money on social services instead, and just a handful of progressive House Democrats have appeared with campus protesters or defended them. Republicans are trying a bank shot approach via the student loan forgiveness programs, which have not come up for Senate votes, but are supported by nearly all Democrats and popular with younger voters. Biden announced a new tier of student debt relief at an event in Wisconsin last month, endorsed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a target of the new ads.

— David Weigel

Republicans aren’t worried about saving Mike Johnson

House Republicans say they aren’t worried about paying a political price for backing Speaker Mike Johnson now that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green has promised to force a vote on ousting him, writes Semafor’s Kadia Goba. “Even if it did, I wouldn’t care,” Texas Rep. Jake Ellzey said when asked if backing the speaker could cost him votes back home. “There is no support for this.” Greene announced at a Wednesday press conference that she intended to trigger a motion to vacate Johnson some time next week. The effort is expected to fail after Democratic leaders said this week they would back Johnson. Republicans expressed weary irritation with Greene’s push, but little concern that saving the speaker could cost them back home. “We have a three-vote margin. We should be focused on reelecting President Trump. This does not help President Trump,” said House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, who’s facing a tough primary. A senior House GOP aide allowed that while “the crazies won’t like it,” they didn’t think siding with Johnson would “be the nail in the coffin” for any members.

Abortion ban whiplash in Arizona

Republican candidates in Arizona are breathing a collective sigh of relief after the GOP-led state Senate voted to repeal a Civil War-era ban on almost all abortions. The measure heads to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who plans to sign it — though residents may have to temporarily live with the ban because of the 90 days it usually takes for bills to take effect after the end of a legislative session. Once it does, a more recent 15-week ban will replace it. The sudden ruling by the state supreme court that allowed the 1864 law to take effect in Arizona — a key election battleground — turbocharged Democrats’ efforts to make abortion access and Donald Trump’s role in the death of Roe v. Wade a central campaign issue. The repeal won’t lead to a dramatic change in strategy. An abortion rights amendment is still likely on the ballot in Arizona, but one Democratic strategist acknowledged to Politico the political downside: “Would it be easier if Republicans just stuck to their guns and didn’t repeal this thing and went down with their ship? Sure.”

China rebuffs US on nuclear arms control talks

It’s another tough week for US-China relations. Semafor’s Mathias Hammer reports that Beijing declined a US request to resume talks on nuclear arms control, after a November meeting yielded some hopes of follow-on talks. “Unfortunately, the PRC has declined a follow-on meeting and has not provided a substantive response to our suggested options,” a State Department spokesperson said, while a Chinese embassy spokesman urged the US to “stop its megaphone diplomacy.” Other channels — including talks on climate change and AI — are supposed to be moving forward, however. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies, accusing them of aiding Russia’s defense sector during its war in Ukraine. With election season in full swing, US lawmakers are also doubling down on China criticism. A group of US Democratic senators (including a few facing tight races in November) wrote to President Biden urging him to raise tariffs on China to protect American workers, Politico reported.

Gallup polls America’s kitchen table concerns

Americans are feeling a bit more optimistic about their own finances, according to a new Gallup poll. 43% now say their situation is “getting better,” up from 37% the last two years. But don’t think they’ve forgotten about higher prices: 41% name the cost of living and inflation as their top concern, an increase from 35% last year even as the post-pandemic inflation rate has dipped substantially. Another 14% name housing costs, up 11% from last year, an issue that’s still impacted by the Fed’s inflation-fighting rate hikes.

Punchbowl News: House Republicans finally think they’ve found an issue that their conference can unite around that forces Democrats to confront uncomfortable divisions: combating antisemitism on college campuses.

Playbook: President Biden’s campaign can’t figure out how to get credit with voters on easing marijuana regulations because they don’t go far enough for many on the left.

Axios: Donald Trump and Republican committees are trying to convince their voters that voting by mail is safe, after the former president regularly assailed the practice. It “might be too late” to rebuild that trust.

The Early 202: Democrats have a plan, backed by a $60 million war chest, to flip statehouses by focusing on abortion as a key issue.

White House

• President Biden is headed to Wilmington, N.C., today to announce his administration is putting $3 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law towards replacing lead pipes across the US, including $76 million that will be spent in North Carolina alone. He’ll also spend time in Charlotte meeting with the families of the law enforcement officers killed earlier this week in a shooting there.
• Biden is also scheduled to deliver a speech on antisemitism next week at an annual memorial hosted at the Capitol by the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
• Biden will sign proclamations this morning to expand land protections around two national monuments in California: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
• Some faculty members at Morehouse College have expressed concerns about Biden’s plans to deliver the school’s commencement address later this month and have sought “direct engagement” with him before the graduation ceremony. — NBC

Congress

• Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t want unrelated bills hitching a ride to the annual FAA reauthorization bill. — Bloomberg
• Speaking of the FAA bill, the Senate advanced it in a big 89-10 vote on Wednesday afternoon.
• House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer visited George Washington University with other Republican lawmakers Wednesday to scrutinize the D.C. government’s handling of protests there, and invited D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and police chief Pamela Smith to testify at a hearing next week about the response to antisemitic and unlawful behavior.
• The bipartisan leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Reps. Michael McCaul and Gregory Meeks, wrote to Johnson asking that he invite Kenyan President William Ruto to address a joint session of Congress when he visits Washington for an official visit with President Biden at the end of May.
• Halle Berry will be on Capitol Hill this morning to join a press conference of bipartisan women senators designed to increase federal research on menopause.

Economy

• The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, as expected — but some took Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference comments as dovish signs that future rate cuts are still on the table for this year.
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will speak at the McCain Institute in Arizona on Friday to tout the importance of an independent Federal Reserve, following a report that Donald Trump may look to erode the central bank’s independence if he wins a second term. “As Chair of the Federal Reserve, I insisted on the Fed’s independence and transparency because I believe it matters for financial stability and economic growth,” Yellen will say.

Regulation

• The Federal Trade Commission approved Exxon’s $60 billion takeover of Pioneer, but with an unusual requirement: the Pioneer CEO who orchestrated the deal cannot sit on the combined company’s board, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and Gina Chon scooped.
• Amazon chief executive Andy Jassey violated federal labor law in remarks he made to media outlets about union drives at the e-commerce giant, a National Labor Relations Board administrative judge ruled Wednesday. A company spokesperson told CNBC that Amazon disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal.

Courts

• The Google antitrust case will wrap up today and tomorrow with closing arguments from the tech giant and the Justice Department.
• Harvey Weinstein will be retried on rape charges after his 2020 conviction was overturned

Polls

About eight in 10 Americans hold an unfavorable view of China, according to new Pew Research Center data that is on par with surveys conducted in recent years. Republicans tend to be more critical of China than Democrats.

On the Trail

• Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, Donald Trump confirmed that he demanded his driver take him to the Capitol to join supporters on Jan. 6.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. keeps popping up on conservative networks and podcasts and the Trump campaign isn’t happy about it. — Politico
• President Biden told a group of supporters at a fundraiser in Washington that Trump’s TIME Magazine interview is a “mandatory read.”
• The Commission on Presidential Debates is standing firm on the Sept. 16 date for the first broadcast debate despite suggestions from the Trump campaign to move its general debate calendar forward. The commission said the scheduled date will be the earliest it has held a debate.
• Trump is speaking at the Libertarian National Convention on May 23, as the party gathers to nominate its presidential ticket, Semafor’s David Weigel reports.

Foreign Policy

• The US and Saudi Arabia are closing in on a defense agreement that could pave the way for the kingdom to normalize ties with Israel. According to Bloomberg, the US and Saudi Arabia plan to reach a final agreement and then present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the choice to join the pact. That has generated some criticism on Capitol Hill, where Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned the White House against “jamming” Israel. “I don’t know what’s going on but I can tell you this: There will not be 67 votes for a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia unless there is normalization with Israel,” Graham told Semafor. “I think the Saudis have been very good, but the idea of trying to delay this thing and delay this thing and jam Israel ain’t going to work.”
• A Hamas spokesman said that its current position on the hostage deal proposal is “negative” but signaled the group would keep negotiating with Israel.
• Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine, violating international bans, the US said. Washington sanctioned three Russian state entities, accusing Moscow’s forces of using chloropicrin, a choking agent, and riot control gasses “as a method of warfare.”

Agriculture

Potatoes are, indeed, vegetables, according to the USDA.

Climate

The Treasury Department could finalize rules surrounding tax credits for electric vehicle buyers as soon as Friday. — Bloomberg

Technology

Google has laid off at least 200 employees from its “Core” teams in a restructuring that will include shifting some roles to India and Mexico. – CNBC

Big Read

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is no liberal, but she has been no pushover to the court’s conservative male majority, the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus writes. Her opinions, Rubin says, have shown her as a more cautious technocrat than a fervent idealogue. Last week, she was incredulous when Donald Trump’s attorney in his immunity case argued presidents can only be convicted of crimes after being impeached and removed from office. “There are many other people who are subject to impeachment, including the nine sitting on this bench, and I don’t think anyone has ever suggested that impeachment would have to be the gateway to criminal prosecution for any of the many other officers subject to impeachment,” Barrett said.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Immigration was named the most important problem facing the US by a plurality of Americans for the third straight month, according to Gallup.

What the Right isn’t reading: A nationwide survey found that 12% of people in the US who identify as LGBTQ say they tried to kill themselves last year.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Andy Kim is a Democratic congressman from New Jersey. He is attending Donald Payne Jr.’s funeral today.