On Today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Veterans of the 2011 debt ceiling crisis say this year is different, USA TODAY Politics Editor Candy Woodall has the latest. Plus USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page looks at whether a viable third party candidate could shake up the 2024 presidential election, the Idaho ‘Doomsday Mom‘ has been convicted of murder, and Twitter has a new CEO. Finally, Daniel Snyder formalizes a deal to sell the Washington Commanders.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know, Saturday, the 13th of May, 2023.
Today, the clock is ticking on the debt ceiling. Plus, what could a third party candidate look like in the 2024 election? And Twitter has a new CEO.
Congressional leaders had planned to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House yesterday to try and make progress on debt ceiling talks. But the meeting was canceled. That leaves us wondering where things stand this weekend.
I spoke with USA Today Politics Editor, Candy Woodall for the latest and how this debt limit crisis compares with another back in 2011.
Hello again, Candy.
Candy Woodall:
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for hopping back on. Debt ceiling talks continue, even though congressional leaders canceled their Friday meeting. What do we know right now?
Candy Woodall:
That’s a sign of how serious these negotiations are, how serious this debt selling crisis is at the moment. Our latest story shows that top aides who were on the front lines of the debt crisis in the room where these negotiations were happening, they told our reporter, Ken Tran, they’re concerned. One even said scared. Much more this year than they were back then. And that came up to the brink of 72 hours before the US went into default. The credit rating of the United States went down. So it wasn’t completely without consequence.
The reason they are so worried is because this time the main principles aren’t in the room enough in their opinion. And the reason why that Friday meeting was canceled is because they are nowhere near ready to bring in the top negotiators of President Joe Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the other top congressional leaders including House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They’re not ready to have all of them come in the room yet because there hasn’t been enough progress on the back end. And that’s what they are worried about. They think we should be farther along in that process.
Taylor Wilson:
Candy, we’ve heard about the 14th Amendment a lot in recent days in relation to the debt ceiling. Can you give us a refresher on what its significance is?
Candy Woodall:
There’s been talk of President Biden possibly evoking the 14th Amendment that would require the United States to essentially pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last Sunday, we had a story, she said, “Please don’t do that.” And Leader McConnell said, “Please don’t do that.” So he has been encouraged not to use that option.
The reason people should be taking this seriously, that this is not just government fighting, is because if the US defaults, this would affect every American. This would create a situation, economists agree, the current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agrees, as well as previous treasury secretaries from both parties agree that this would be, as they’ve said, “a catastrophe.”
It would not just raise interest rates on things that people use every day like their credit cards or a home loan or an auto loan, but also it could crash the stock market, send the country into recession. There could be massive job losses, and not to mention the major unknowns of what would happen in a situation like that because the government has always paid its bills. And a default just means the government would run out of money to pay its obligations, that its obligations are wide-ranging. The government pays millions of bills per day. That includes things like social security checks.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah, so Candy, let’s just try to define where the countdown clock is right now. We’ve heard that lawmakers might need to iron this out before June 1st, the date that you mentioned as well. Is that still the date that they’re kind of circling on the calendar?
Candy Woodall:
Yes, and in fact, more organizations such as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, they came out saying the first two weeks of June. That moves up from their earlier prediction when they had said sometime this summer. Pretty much everyone agrees now we’re looking at early June.
And the reason for that is the United States took in fewer tax collections than it had been projected to, which means less revenue, less money. So they have less money they’re working with to pay their bills, which is why we could default sooner.
I should point out it doesn’t mean that we really have from now until June 1st to get something done exactly, unless Congress changes its schedule. But they have days off around the Memorial Day holiday and last count, they had less than 10 days in session between now and the first. So we have to really wait and see what happens in the upcoming week.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. USA Today Politics Editor, Candy Woodall. We’ll be following along with you and your team’s reporting next week. Thanks so much, Candy.
Candy Woodall:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
Biden versus Trump, is that where we’re headed again? Or could a viable third party candidate upend things? I spoke with USA Today Washington Bureau Chief, Susan Page for a 2024 check-in.
Hello Susan. Thanks for hopping back on 5 Things.
Susan Page:
Hey, it’s great to be with you.
Taylor Wilson:
Despite, or maybe even because of Trump’s legal troubles, he continues to be the GOP front-runner. President Joe Biden is also in the race. Susan, do voters want another matchup between these two?
Susan Page:
Yeah, voters tell us in national polls that they do not, that they do not want a rematch of the last presidential race. Voters in both parties, and especially among Democrats, would prefer a different nominee, but it’s not at all clear that they’ll get their wish because at the moment, Biden and Trump are leading their fields.
Taylor Wilson:
So let’s move to third party candidates. Who is hoping to run and who’s backing them at this point?
Susan Page:
We don’t have credible third party candidates running yet, but what we have is an effort by a group called No Labels to get on the ballot in all the states they can with the idea of fielding a unity ticket, a ticket that would include one Democrat and one Republican. And I can tell you, this has put tremors through the Biden White House.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah, I was wondering, if we do get a viable third party candidate at this point, does that hurt Biden or Trump more?
Susan Page:
Oh, I think that most analysts think it clearly hurts Biden more. And here’s why. Trump has a core of voters who are with him through rain and shine. That’s one reason why even his losses in the courtroom in recent weeks have not hurt his standing among his voters. But Biden’s voters are less enthusiastic about him. They’d be easier to peel away, at least that’s the thinking. So the thinking is if you have a unity ticket to offer a moderate alternative, that is going to sap away more Biden voters from his column than it will Trump voters.
Taylor Wilson:
And Susan, the US hasn’t really had a viable third party candidate since maybe Ralph Nader in 2000. In the wake of that election, there was a lot of hand wringing about if only Nader hadn’t run, what would the outcome look like? How do you think the public would receive a third party candidate for 2024?
Susan Page:
Well, Americans tell us that they’re interested in a third party candidate. There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with the two existing major parties. More and more Americans tell us they are independents, not either a Democrat or a Republican. And you’re right that third party candidates don’t win the White House, but third party candidates in modern time have affected the outcome and Ralph Nader is the best example of that. Ralph Nader running for the Green Party got more than 97,000 votes in Florida, and that was a state that Al Gore lost by 537 votes. So in that case, it is reasonable to say that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the presidency.
Taylor Wilson:
Susan Page, always great insight for us. Thanks so much.
Susan Page:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
Lori Vallow Daybell, also known as the Idaho Doomsday Mom, was found guilty yesterday of killing her two youngest children and her husband’s former wife. An Idaho jury came to the verdict after a five-week trial. The decision comes nearly three years after the bodies of seven year old J.J. Vallow and 16 year old Tylee Ryan were discovered by authorities in her husband’s backyard near a pet cemetery. She was convicted of first degree murder in their deaths and was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her husband’s ex-wife, Tamara Daybell. She still faces another charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow. He was fatally shot by her brother in 2019.
Twitter has a new CEO. Elon Musk tapped NBCUniversal Advertising Sales Chief, Linda Yaccarino to succeed him in the job. He said she’ll focus mainly on Twitter’s business while he focuses on product design and new technology. Musk said, “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.” Twitter’s advertising business model has struggled since Musk bought the platform six months ago. During his tenure, he’s overseen mass layoffs, loosened content moderation, and overhauled the blue check verification system. It’s not entirely clear what his new role with the company will look like, but stock for Tesla, where he’s CEO, tumbled late this week on the news that he would maintain a substantial role at Twitter.
Daniel Snyder and billionaire Josh Harris announced yesterday that they’ve reached a deal for the sale and purchase of the NFL’s Washington Commanders. The move formalizes an agreement that was made last month. They did not disclose the financial terms of the sale, but a person familiar with the deal previously told USA Today Sports it was worth $6.05 billion, the largest price tag ever for a North American professional sports team. The deal now only needs approval from NFL ownership to be finalized.
The sale marks the end of Snyder’s 24 years as owner of the Washington football team. Under his stewardship, they went from one of the NFL’s most consistent and iconic franchises to a perennial bottom feeder. They started 28 different quarterbacks during the 24 seasons. Off the field, things were even rockier. A series of reports by The Washington Post uncovered allegations of harassment within the franchise. A separate investigation is looking into impropriety by team officials and sexual harassment by Snyder.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you get your podcasts. The Sunday edition is tomorrow, and I’ll see you Monday with more of 5 Things from USA Today.
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