TRUMP BUDGET ALUM LAUNCHES THINK TANK: Former Trump budget aide Paul Winfree is launching his own economic think tank, just as Republicans gear up for a government funding fight this fall. — The right-leaning organization, called the Economic Policy Innovation Center, or EPIC, will focus on the country’s long-term fiscal picture, advising GOP presidential candidates and educating members of Congress about basic fiscal issues and Republican priorities, with an emphasis on the federal budget and annual spending bills. — Winfree, who has overseen economic policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said GOP presidential campaigns and newish Republican members have so far been eager to learn about curbing federal spending and major upcoming fiscal fights, like the expiration of Trump tax cuts and another debt ceiling deadline in 2025. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: “Long before the National Rifle Association tightened its grip on Congress, won over the Supreme Court and prescribed more guns as a solution to gun violence — before all that, Representative John D. Dingell Jr. had a plan,” The New York Times’ Mike McIntire writes in a deep dive on how members of Congress like Dingell, who simultaneously sat on the NRA’s board of directors, helped shape the gun rights group — and by extension the gun rights movement — into the political force that it is today. — The late congressmember “was one of at least nine senators and representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, with the same dual role over the last half-century — lawmaker-directors who helped the N.R.A. accumulate and exercise unrivaled power.” — “Their actions are documented in thousands of pages of records obtained by The New York Times, through a search of lawmakers’ official archives, the papers of other N.R.A. directors and court cases. The files, many of them only recently made public, reveal a secret history of how the nation got to where it is now.” — McIntire notes that these lawmakers were “far from the stereotype of pliable politicians meekly accepting talking points from lobbyists” and “served as leaders of the N.R.A., often prodding it to action. At seemingly every hint of a legislative threat, they stepped up, the documents show, helping erect a firewall that impedes gun control today.” UNDER THE HOOD OF NEVER BACK DOWN: “Never Back Down, the outside group spending heavily to make Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis president, has raked in donations of $1 million or more from at least seven wealthy Republican benefactors or their companies, according to internal documents from the group,” The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer and Maeve Reston report. “It had nearly $97 million in cash-on-hand at the end of June.” — “The super PAC’s fundraising haul includes millions of dollars from former supporters of Donald Trump who publicly cut ties after the 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, including Nevada hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, who gave more than $20 million, and Silicon Valley investor Douglas M. Leone, who gave $2 million. The two biggest donors in Republican politics during the 2022 midterm cycle, packaging magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, also gave $1 million each.” — Other nuggets from the super PAC’s as-yet-unfiled report, per the Post: Officials for the super PAC are seeking to limit its vendors’ profit margins, and DeSantis adviser Jeff Roe’s Axiom Strategies was paid $16.4 million, which CEO Chris Jankowski said “included $14.8 million worth of media buys” with a 1.75 percent commission for media placement. The firm “had a net loss for its work with the group in the current reporting period,” though, as a result of a $409,000 in-kind donation the super PAC will report from Axiom due to Roe’s initial contract with the super PAC. — “Faithful & Strong Policies Inc., a group that matches the name of a nonprofit social-welfare organization that was founded last year in Florida,” donated $5.5 million to the super PAC, its filing will show. “A website for a group of the same name describes Faithful & Strong as an operation accepting donations that is ‘committed to promoting and supporting conservative policies and ideas rooted in freedom and our founding principles that better the lives of individuals and families.’”
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