The New York Times - USA (2020-07-31)

THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2020 Y A

As the Kansas Senate primary
barrels to a close, tensions are ris-
ing between Senate Republicans
and the White House over the po-
tential nomination of Kris Kobach,
who party officials fear would
jeopardize the seat and further
imperil their Senate majority.
Senator Mitch McConnell is
worried that Mr. Kobach, the con-
troversial former Kansas secre-
tary of state who lost the 2018 gov-
ernor’s race, may win the nomina-
tion Tuesday only to lose the seat
in November — and he is frus-
trated that Mr. Trump is not inter-
vening in the race, according to
multiple G.O.P. officials.
Mr. McConnell and other Sen-
ate Republican leaders have made
urgent pleas to the president to
block Mr. Kobach by endorsing his
strongest opponent, Representa-
tive Roger Marshall. But Mr.
Trump has so far declined to do so,
and his aides said they had no
plans to change course. Com-
pounding the frustration of Capi-
tol Hill Republicans, aides have
refused to tell Mr. Kobach, a long-
time booster of Mr. Trump, to stop
using the president’s imagery in
his campaign materials.
With a number of incumbent
Senate Republicans trailing in
polls, and being out-raised by
their Democratic rivals, they have
little margin for error as they seek
to protect their 53-47 majority.
And because of Mr. Trump’s broad
unpopularity, and a health crisis
that has devastated the economy,
even a deeply conservative state
like Kansas, which has not sent a
Democrat to the Senate since the
1930s, is no sure thing for Republi-
cans this year.
“We have eight months of data
that says the majority is gone if
Kris Kobach is the nominee,” said
Josh Holmes, a top lieutenant to
Mr. McConnell. “It’s that simple.”
Mr. Trump’s reluctance to wade
into the race illustrates his grow-
ing anxiety about his conserva-
tive base, the core of which is sup-
porting Mr. Kobach in Kansas.
The president has recently sought
to shore up his standing on the
right by taking a series of posi-
tions, particularly on race and
protests, aimed at solidifying Re-
publican voters who have drifted
from him over his ineffective re-
sponse to the coronavirus out-
break.
On a related note, Mr. Trump,
even as he sinks in general elec-
tion polling, is proud of his win-
loss record in those Republican
primaries where he has endorsed
candidates, and he is skittish
about being seen as having dimin-
ished clout within the G.O.P.
Mr. Kobach has long been an in-
cendiary figure in Kansas politics,
associated with hard-line views
on immigration, guns, voting
rights and a host of other issues.
He is especially unpopular in the
Kansas City suburbs, home to tra-
ditionally moderate Republicans
who have drifted further from the
party in the Trump era. Republi-
cans in Kansas and in Washington
remain frustrated that he cap-
tured the nomination for governor
two years ago, which they feel
cost them the seat.
Senate Republicans have long

been concerned about Mr.

Kobach’s candidacy, and for

months they sought to woo Secre-

tary of State Mike Pompeo, a for-

mer Kansas congressman, into

the race. They have grown even

more uneasy in recent days,

though, after reviewing the re-

sults of Senate Republican

polling: The surveys showed Mr.

Trump leading only narrowly in

the state and found that nearly 30

percent of Republican primary

voters indicated they would sup-

port the Democrat in the Senate

race, state Senator Barbara Bol-

lier, if Mr. Kobach were the nomi-

nee, according to two Republicans

familiar with the data.

Mr. Trump has expressed frus-

tration that he endorsed Mr.

Kobach’s bid for governor two

years ago only to watch him lose

in a deeply conservative state,

and many congressional Republi-

cans believed the president would

try to halt Mr. Kobach’s candidacy

this year.

But party officials became grav-

ely alarmed Thursday after get-

ting word that the president was

not inclined to support Mr. Mar-

shall.

According to two people famil-

iar with the conversation, Senator

Ted Cruz of Texas used an Air

Force One flight with the presi-

dent on Wednesday to steer Mr.

Trump away from supporting Mr.

Marshall. Mr. Cruz told Mr. Trump

that Mr. Marshall had supported

former Ohio Gov. John Kasich,

now a vocal Trump critic, in 2016.

Mr. Cruz, who himself ran against

Mr. Trump, is deeply conserva-

tive. His 2016 campaign manager

has supported another candidate

in the race.

Representatives for Mr. Cruz

declined to comment.

The push and pull between Mr.

McConnell and Mr. Cruz reflects

the degree to which Mr. Trump is

increasingly being used by com-

peting G.O.P. factions, who recog-

nize that he’s a useful ally in intra-

party fights and that the way to

appeal to him is to play to his inse-

curities.

On the ground in Kansas, too,

there are growing anxieties about

how the race is shaping up, and

about Mr. Trump’s role in it.

“I don’t understand it,” Robert

Blizzard, a Republican strategist

and pollster for Mr. Marshall, said

of Mr. Trump’s perch on the side-

lines so far. “Given how tight

things look in terms of holding the

majority, why we wouldn’t be all in

on trying to make sure we have a

chance of winning, holding this

Kansas Senate seat. It’s concern-

ing for sure.”

David Kensinger, a veteran

Kansas Republican strategist,

noted that Mr. Trump’s 2018 en-

dorsement of Mr. Kobach had not

been forgotten.

“Kris Kobach’s career would

have been over two years ago but

for the Trump endorsement — this

is the opportunity for the presi-

dent to put it right,” he said, still

hoping for a Marshall endorse-

ment.

But asked if he had seen any in-

dication that Mr. Trump would do

so, he replied, “I have not,” a view

shared by another Republican

strategist directly involved in the

race.

Mr. Kobach and Mr. Marshall

are brawling in a brutal, crowded

contest that has been defined by

negative ads and mailers. The

group Sunflower State, which ap-

pears to be linked to Democrats,

has also been advertising heavily

and has attacked Mr. Marshall.

Some strategists see that as an ef-

fort to elevate Mr. Kobach, whom

Democrats would prefer to run

against in the fall.

In a statement, Mr. Kobach said

that data showed that he would

also be competitive against Ms.

Bollier.

“They know that their claimed

reason for supporting Marshall is

a false one,” he said of what he

called the Republican establish-

ment. “The real reason is that they

want a yes man in the Senate —

not a principled conservative.”

Certainly, a statewide race in

Kansas remains a challenge for

any Democrat, regardless of op-

ponent, in a state where many reli-

gious voters prioritize issues like

abortion and the courts, and some

moderate voters are leery of the

prospect of a Democratic-con-

trolled Senate, whatever their

feelings about Mr. Trump, who is

still expected to win the state.

And there are plenty of promi-

nent party leaders who are hoping

that in the end, Mr. Marshall will

prevail. The crowded, negative

nature of the Republican primary

has made the race fluid and unpre-

dictable, and Mr. Marshall has

support from a stable of promi-

nent, deep-pocketed groups and

influential figures including for-

mer Senator Bob Dole, the Cham-

ber of Commerce and a host of

other conservative groups.

“Next week is a huge week for

the Republicans’ chance to hold

onto the Senate,” said Scott W.

Reed, the senior political strat-

egist at the U.S. Chamber of Com-

merce, pointing to the race in Kan-

sas as well as one in Tennessee.

“Nominating a stone-cold loser in

Kansas will guarantee we lose in

the fall.”

The winner of the primary is ex-

pected to face Ms. Bollier, a retired

anesthesiologist who was until re-

cently a Republican and did not

have a significant primary battle

of her own.

The chairman of the Kansas Re-

publican Party, Mike Kuckelman,

said he did not fault Mr. Trump for

not intervening, but he said that

the president “probably would

have affected the race had he en-

dorsed someone.”

“Maybe it would have made the

race a little easier,” he said.

Kansas Senate Race Divides G.O.P. and White House

By JONATHAN MARTIN

and KATIE GLUECK

Kris Kobach, left, the former Kansas secretary of state, may win

the primary against rivals like Representative Roger Marshall.

CHARLIE RIEDEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS JOHN HANNA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A deeply conservative

state is no sure thing

for Republicans.

to renew the program to cover

school closures in the fall. The

House, which is controlled by

Democrats, renewed and ex-

panded Pandemic-EBT as part of

a $3 trillion relief package it

passed in May. The Republican-

led Senate proposed a $1 trillion

aid package this week with no re-

newal of the feeding program.

Surveys have found high rates

of food hardship during the coro-

navirus pandemic, especially

among families with children. But

critics have questioned the preci-

sion of the measures and their

comparability to pre-crisis rates.

The Brookings study focused

most closely on one question from

weekly Census Bureau surveys,

which ask whether in the last

week children in the household

WASHINGTON — An emer-
gency federal program created in
March to offset the loss of school
meals led to substantial short-
term reductions in child hunger,
according to a new analysis of
census data by the Brookings In-
stitution.
As the coronavirus pandemic
closed the nation’s schools, the
program, Pandemic-EBT, aimed
to help the 30 million children who
rely on subsidized breakfasts and
lunches, an often-overlooked part
of the American safety net. The
program distributed lump-sum
payments equal to $5.70 for each
lost school day, or roughly $
per eligible child in a typical state.
In the week after each state is-
sued its payments, child hunger
fell by about 30 percent, the re-
searchers found, reducing the
number of hungry children by at
least 2.7 million.
“That’s a large reduction, from
a rate that was disturbingly high,”
said Lauren Bauer, a Brookings
researcher who was one of four
co-authors on the study. It is not
clear how long the reduction
lasted.
With more than half of Ameri-
can school children eligible for
subsidized meals, school closures
eliminated an important source of
food aid. While many school sys-
tems worked hard to distribute
grab-and-go meals, they appear to
have reached a limited share of el-
igible families.
By placing the value of the lost
meal on benefit cards accepted in
most grocery stories, Pandemic-
EBT (for Electronic Benefit
Transfer) promised more ease
and choice, with payments pro-
jected to reach as much as $10 bil-
lion. But states have been slow to
issue the payments and some
families are still awaiting aid.
Congress is debating whether

“were not eating enough because

we just couldn’t afford enough

food.” Among low-income house-

holds, the share saying that was

sometimes or often the case fell to

26 percent in the week after the

Pandemic-EBT payments began,

from 37 percent before the pay-

ments.

Food hardship appeared to rise

again the following week, though

the change was not statistically

significant. The study, by Ms.

Bauer, Abigail Pitts, Krista

Ruffini, and Diane Whitmore

Schanzenbach, did not include

subsequent time frames.

Angela Rachidi of the American

Enterprise Institute said the Cen-

sus Bureau data generally over-

states food hardship and ex-

pressed doubt about the precision

of the Brookings study, though she

supports an extension of Pan-

demic-EBT, which is also known

as P-EBT.

“I think it’s likely that P-EBT

has reduce food problems among

households with children, but it’s

very difficult to specify how

much,” she said.

Is a 30 percent reduction in

hardship a lot or a little? A bit of

both, said Elaine Waxman, a

hunger expert at the Urban Insti-

tute.

“Anything we can do to buffer

the effects of hunger on children is

really important, but even the

school lunch program didn’t solve

the whole problem,” she said.

“The study is an early indication

that P-EBT is one effective tool in

the tool kit.”

By JASON DePARLE

Program Helped Reduce Child Hunger, Study Says

Families with children have lost subsidized school meals, putting many at risk of food hardship.

SAUL MARTINEZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — President

Trump’s nomination of a retired

general with a history of inflam-

matory comments to serve in the

Pentagon’s top policy job was

abruptly postponed on Thursday,

as senators from both sides of the

aisle indicated an unwillingness to

back Anthony J. Tata, a novelist

and Fox News commentator.

Half an hour before Mr. Tata’s

hearing was set to begin, Senator

James M. Inhofe, the Oklahoma

Republican who serves as the

chairman of the Armed Services

Committee, announced that he

was delaying it.

“There are many Democrats

and Republicans who didn’t know

enough about Anthony Tata to

consider him for a very significant

position at this time,” Mr. Inhofe

said in a statement. “We didn’t get

the required documentation in

time; some documents, which we

normally get before a hearing,

didn’t arrive until yesterday.”

Mr. Inhofe said he talked to Mr.

Trump on Wednesday night and

told him that “we’re simply out of

time with the August recess com-

ing, so it wouldn’t serve any useful

purpose to have a hearing at this

point, and he agreed.”

The nomination of Mr. Tata, a

retired Army brigadier general,

was in trouble, facing a wall of

Democratic opposition and grow-

ing concerns from vulnerable Re-

publicans who are up for re-elec-

tion in November.

At the same time, several senior

retired military officers have

dropped their support for Mr.

Tata. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the for-

mer head of the Central Com-

mand; Gen. Tony Thomas, the for-

mer head of the Special Opera-

tions Command; and Lt. Gen. Da-

vid A. Deptula, a former top Air

Force general, all asked in June

that their names be removed from

a letter sent by 36 current and for-

mer leaders to the Armed Serv-

ices Committee backing the nomi-

nation.

Mr. Tata’s views, expressed in a

series of tweets, strike a jarring

note, particularly as the country is

seized by a growing movement for

change. He called Islam “the most

oppressive violent religion” and

referred to former President

Barack Obama as a “terrorist

leader.” He has since apologized

for the remarks, which were first

reported by CNN.

Mr. Tata was meant to succeed

John Rood, who resigned in Feb-

ruary at Mr. Trump’s request. Mr.

Rood had pushed back on efforts

to withhold military aid to

Ukraine, a central issue in Mr.

Trump’s impeachment hearings.

But Mr. Tata’s chances look bleak

now, congressional staff members

said.

One Republican on the armed

services panel, Senator Kevin

Cramer of North Dakota, had pub-

licly indicated that he was pre-

pared to block the nomination. Mr.

Cramer said he would oppose Mr.

Tata’s nomination unless he re-

versed a policy that prevented

adding the names of sailors who

died aboard a naval destroyer to

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a

longstanding personal crusade of

the senator’s.

But other Republican lawmak-

ers were privately unsettled by

Mr. Tata’s inflammatory remarks,

and taking a vote on the nomina-

tion would have put four Republi-

cans on the panel, who are facing

difficult re-election battles, in a

particularly unsavory position:

Senators Joni Ernst of Iowa,

Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom

Tillis of North Carolina and David

Perdue of Georgia.

Democratic lawmakers on the

panel were united in opposing Mr.

Tata, making the threat of Mr.

Cramer’s opposition potentially

fatal to moving the nomination out

of committee.

“No one with a record of re-

peated, repugnant statements like

yours should be nominated to

serve in a senior position of public

trust at the Pentagon,” the Demo-

cratic lawmakers wrote in a letter

to Mr. Tata. “Your views are

wholly incompatible with the U.S.

military’s values.”

Senator Jack Reed, the ranking

Democrat on the Armed Services

Committee, said after Mr. Inhofe

canceled the hearing that “it’s fair

to say members on both sides of

the aisle have raised serious ques-

tions about this nominee.”

“We had a closed-door session

on Tuesday and today’s public

hearing has now been canceled,”

Mr. Reed added. “Chairman In-

hofe did the right thing here, and

it’s clear this nomination isn’t go-

ing anywhere without a full, fair,

open hearing.”

It remained unclear whether

Mr. Tata could eventually get a

hearing, or if his nomination was

dead.

During his conversation with

Mr. Inhofe on Wednesday night,

Mr. Trump could be heard indicat-

ing that he might give Mr. Tata a

different appointment.

The call was overheard because

Mr. Inhofe put it on speakerphone

to hear better as he sat in the Trat-

toria Alberto restaurant in Wash-

ington.

The conversation, recorded by

someone in the room, ranged from

a discussion about Mr. Tata to Mr.

Trump’s desire to preserve the

name of Robert E. Lee, the com-

mander of the Confederate Army,

on a military base.

“We’re going to keep the name

of Robert E. Lee?” Mr. Trump

asked Mr. Inhofe. The senator put

the phone to his ear but put Mr.

Trump on speakerphone, and the

president’s voice was audible to

people sitting at other tables.

Mr. Inhofe replied: “Just trust

me. I’ll make it happen.”

Mr. Trump went on. “I had

about 95,000 positive retweets on

that. That’s a lot,” he said, appear-

ing to refer to a Twitter post last

Friday in which he said that Mr.

Inhofe had assured him that he

would not change the names of

“military forts and bases” and

that the senator “is not a believer

in ‘Cancel Culture.’ ”

Mr. Trump could be heard on

the call criticizing cancel culture

and told Mr. Inhofe that people

“want to be able to go back to life.”

He then appeared to dismiss the

focus on the cultural shift taking

place across the country with an

expletive.

An aide to Mr. Inhofe declined to

comment on the conversation.

Aides to Mr. Trump did not imme-

diately respond to requests for

comment.

Tweets From Ex-General

Delay Bid for Policy Job

This article is by Helene Cooper ,

Catie Edmondson and Maggie Ha-

berman.

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