Harris Spends Big on Congress Races: What to Know in Washington

Kamala Harris is sharing the considerable wealth from donors to help Democrats in Congressional races . But first, you should know:

• Donald Trump can’t transfer his New York hush-money case to federal court ahead of his September sentencing.
• Expiring tax breaks give Congress an opening to save a highway trust fund headed toward bankruptcy.
• Joe Biden sent Congress asks for a CR, including funds for shipbuilding, a presidential transition, and Ukrainian refugees.

Harris Opens War Chest to Congressional Races

Vice President Kamala Harris is opening her election war chest to move $24.5 million to downballot Democratic races for Congress

She’s handing out $10 million each to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Her campaign and the Democratic National Committee also plan to give $2.5 million to candidates for state legislatures and $2 million to back gubernatorial and attorney general campaigns, according to a person familiar with the campaign’s plans.

Harris will need a congressional majority to get a potential Harris administration agenda enacted. Both chambers are narrowly divided, but Democrats will have to run the table in competitive Senate races just to hold the chamber by the slimmest of margins. Republicans hold 49 seats and need to flip two for a majority. The GOP is defending 11 seats, none of which are close races, according to the Cook Political Report. Democrats are likely to lose retiring Sen. Joe Manchin’s West Virginia seat and must defend 22 others. Cook rates Michigan, Montana, and Ohio Democratic seats as “toss ups.”

Eleven House seats held by each party are toss-ups, according to Cook, with both having plausible paths to winning the majority. Republicans hold the majority by two seats at 220, Democrats have 212, with three vacant. Read More

Highway Fund Insolvency Looms as 2025 Tax Cliff Tests Congress

Addressing the problems of the Highway Trust Fund, which is on track for bankruptcy in a few years, could become part of the broader discussion on how to handle the expiration of much of the 2017 GOP-led tax law.

The Highway Trust Fund, which uses an increasingly obsolete gas tax rate to support transportation spending, would be exhausted in 2028 as spending outpaces revenue. Transportation and tax experts said addressing the trust fund insolvency and the tax cliff offers lawmakers an opportunity.

“There’s not going to be a silver bullet that solves both problems, but they may have tools to help them solve both problems,” said Ray Beeman, a former House Ways and Means GOP tax counsel who now leads EY’s Washington Council practice.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost of extending the 2017 tax breaks at about $4.6 trillion.

“With that big cliff coming, people are going to look for revenue options,” Alex Muresianu, senior policy analyst at the right-leaning Tax Foundation, said. “Fixing how we do transportation funding and fixing how we do transportation finance would probably be a better option than a lot of other possible revenue raisers.” Read More

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To contact the reporters on this story: Giuseppe Macri in Washington at gmacri@bgov.com; Jeannie Baumann in Washington at jbaumann@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com