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More than a dozen Republicans ditched a vote on the $2 trillion COVID relief bill to attend CPAC
CPAC proved such a draw, conservative Republicans chose the conference over their constituents.
Why it matters: More than a dozen House Republicans voted by proxy on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in Washington so they could speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. And Sen. Ted Cruz skipped an Air Force One flight as President Biden flew to Cruz's hometown of Houston to survey storm damage.
- The proxy votes were particularly strident, given the GOP sued to stop the practice when Democrats created it to allow safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
- And Cruz's diversion to Florida — which, he joked, wasn't as nice as his much-maligned trip to Cancún — cost him the same facetime that Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got when he flew with the president to Texas.
- Cruz's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The big picture: CPAC attracted a bevy of Republicans across four days, some simply looking for the party limelight and others positioning themselves for the 2024 presidential campaign.
- All had to tread the fine line between advancing their own interests and paying homage to former President Trump, who delivered Sunday's closing address.
- The lure of thousands of attendees — and near gavel-to-gavel coverage on Fox News — prompted some to put their personal politics ahead of constituent responsibilities.
At least 13 Republicans in Congress who were scheduled to speak at CPAC requested colleagues cast their votes by proxy — a voting procedure allowing House members to vote remotely during the pandemic.
- Reps. Ted Budd and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube of Florida, who were all scheduled to speak at the conference Friday, requested colleagues to vote on their behalf.
- "I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency, and I hereby grant the authority to cast my vote by proxy to the Honorable Scott Franklin (FL-15), who has agreed to serve as my proxy," Gaetz wrote in his explanatory letter.
- Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Mark Greenof Tennessee, Darrell Issa and Devin Nunes of California, Ronny Jackson of Texas, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Ralph Normanof South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado all voted by proxy after being listed as scheduled speakers, CNN reported.
- A spokesperson for Budd told Yahoo News the congressman still opposes the procedure but was forced to use it because "Democrats rearranged the House schedule with extremely late notice." Budd also donated his day's salary to the North Carolina Restaurant Workers Relief Fund, the spokesperson said.
Background: Republicans have been the leading critics of proxy voting, despite their embrace of it over the last few days.
- Last May, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), 20 other House Republicans and four constituents filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of proxy voting. It was dismissed, but McCarthy filed an appeal.
- The same day, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) urged his conference to forgo proxy voting if members couldn't appear for an in-person vote.
- “They are encouraged to submit their vote positions for the Congressional Record rather than utilizing the Democrats’ proxy voting scheme,” he wrote.
- More than a dozen Republicans did not vote on May 27, including Rep. Don Young, effectively disenfranchising the entire state of Alaska. Overall, more than 9 million constituents were not represented on a vote to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
Republicans aren't alone in some questionable uses of the procedure.
- Democratic Reps. Charlie Crist and Darren Soto of Florida attended a rocket launch in their home state after requesting to vote by proxy last Congress.
- While the launch was canceled due to inclement weather, McCarthy blasted the two by posting a copy of their proxy letter next to the photos of Crist and Soto at the event.
Commodities hit 8-year high as market divergence continues
Tech stocks suffered some big losses on Monday, as the specter of higher U.S. borrowing costs continued to weigh on their share prices, while bullish vaccine expectations helped make the Dow the only major U.S. index to end in the green.
What happened: The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.37%, a fresh one-year high, showing investors remain bullish on the economy and a recovery in inflation.
- Yields on the 10-year have risen by around 26 basis points since the start of the month and are on track for their largest monthly gain in three years.
- That's good news for the broader economy, as it shows investors foresee higher growth and rising inflation, but bad news for stocks that have flourished in the negative real-rate environment that has been in place since early in 2020.
- That's when the Fed unveiled its QE4ever program and announced it would buy an unlimited supply of U.S. government bonds as well as some corporate bonds — buoying tech stocks, especially, to record high prices and extreme valuations.
The big picture: Along with the jump in bond yields, oil jumped by nearly 4%, gold and silver rose and commodities rose to their highest in almost eight years, as investors continued to buy assets that will benefit from reduced COVID-19 cases and a growing economy.
Between the lines: Despite a 2% decline in Boeing stock after the grounding of 69 of its 777-model jets following the engine failure on a United Airlines flight from Denver on Saturday, U.S. airlines soared with the JETS ETF up 3.5%.
Heads up: In another sign of the mood shift in the stock market, Tesla's stock declined again, dropping 8.6% on Monday. The stock is down 14.9% so far in February and has gained just 1.3% year to date.
- Tesla shares rose 743% in 2020.
What's next: Investors will be anxiously awaiting statements from Fed chair Jerome Powell today and tomorrow as he testifies before Congress about monetary policy.
- Powell and other members of the Fed's rate-setting committee have consistently talked up their desire to see consistently higher U.S. inflation.
- Now that inflation expectations are moving the price of food, gas, mortgages and other staples of the economy higher, investors are anxious to see if the chairman sticks to his guns.
Don't sleep: Despite protestations from Powell that the Fed "isn't even thinking about thinking about thinking about" raising rates, speculators are beginning to price in a Fed rate hike this year.
- CME Group's FedWatch tool shows Fed fund futures pricing in an 11% chance of a hike by December.
Trump floats delaying November election
President Trump suggested delaying November's election in a Thursday tweet, again claiming without evidence that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud.
The state of play: While this is the first time that Trump has actively floated changing Election Day, he does not have the power to do so. That lies exclusively with Congress, per a Washington Post breakdown of the issue.
- The National Constitution Center also has done a deep dive on the subject, which found that many states have the power to delay general election voting due to an emergency — though postponing a presidential election would be completely unprecedented.
What he's saying: "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" Trump tweeted.
Flashback: Trump called suggestions by Joe Biden that he was considering changing the date of the election "made-up propaganda" during an April press briefing.
- "I never even thought of changing the date of the election. Why would I do that? November 3rd. It’s a good number. No, I look forward to that election."



