Axios

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday railed against a sweeping election reform and anti-corruption package by House Democrats that includes a proposal to make Election Day a federal holiday, which he claimed would hand Democrats too much power.

"This is the Democrat plan to restore democracy? A brand-new week of paid vacation for every federal employee who would like to hover around while you cast your ballot? A Washington-based taxpayer-subsidized clearinghouse for political campaign funding? A power grab that’s smelling more and more like what it is.”

The big picture: Other provisions in the bill, which McConnell mocks as the "Democratic Politician Protection Act," would increase federal funding and provide paper ballots for state voter systems, expand access to early and online voter registration, restrict big money in politics, and require presidents to disclose their tax returns.

Several key figures within the conservative movement are condemning White House counsel Pat Cipollone following an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which claims Cipollone is holding up three of President Trump’s judicial nominations for the Ninth Circuit Court because of ongoing negotiations with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

The big picture: The growing criticism on the right is that Cipollone and other White House staff are trying to undermine what they consider one of the president’s greatest achievements — packing the courts with conservatives — to appease liberal Democrats.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) told the Independent Journal Review Wednesday that he will support President Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, saying it’s the “right thing to do for Colorado.”

"Look, I’ve made it very clear that where I agree with the president, we will agree or where I disagree, we will disagree. But I’m going to fight like hell for Colorado. ... I know what Kamala Harris and I know what Bernie Sanders will do to Colorado, and that’s why I’ll be supporting the president."

Why it matters: Gardner, a "Never Trump" Republican who opposed Trump in 2016, is one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2020 in a state carried by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, another vulnerable Republican who cast the decisive vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh last year, told IJR she's not ready to say whether she will endorse Trump.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 259-161 on Wednesday to give federal employees a pay raise of 2.6%.

Why it matters: President Trump signed an executive order in December — just days into what would be the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — that eliminated a 2.1% pay raise for federal workers slated to take effect in January. Earlier in the year, Trump wrote that the pay freeze is intended to "put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course," and that "federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases."

Go deeper: Treasury will again borrow $1 trillion to pay for tax cuts, spending

Furious Democrats hope to pound Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz into an early departure from his exploration of an independent 2020 bid.

The state of play: These Democrats want to prevent the coffee king from siphoning anti-Trump votes and perhaps unintentionally helping re-elect President Trump. We're hearing threats of boycotts and social isolation, attacks on Starbucks, and emotional, insistent lobbying of his advisers.

The Trump Organization plans to implement the federal background check program E-Verify at all of its U.S. properties to determine whether employees are legally eligible to work, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: The revelation Tuesday comes days after a Post exposé about the Trump National Golf Club in New York, which has reportedly employed undocumented immigrants for years. It's the first acknowledgment by the company that it has failed to properly screen its employees, despite President Trump calling during the 2016 campaign for E-Verify to be used by all employers. Media reports over the past year have suggested that Trump's properties have at times turned a blind eye to the immigration status of its workers.

Firearm sales dropped by 6.1% in 2018, marking the second straight year since the 2016 election that gunmakers and dealers have had to grapple with what industry groups call the "Trump slump," Reuters report.

The big picture: Trump's 2016 victory has largely eliminated concerns among pro-gun advocates that fear a crackdown on gun ownership. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates sales have plunged from 15.7 million in 2016 to 13.1 million in 2018 — a two-year drop of 16.5%. "Obama was the best-selling president for guns," Trisha Kinney, owner of a firearm retailer in California, told Reuters. "Every time he opened his mouth."

Hillary Clinton's former campaign chairman John Podesta told CNN's Erin Burnett Tuesday evening that Clinton has said she is not running for president in 2020, and that recent reports that she has not closed the door on another White House bid are "media catnip."

Go deeper: The quiet race to win Hillary Clinton's endorsement

Venezuela’s government-stacked Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday prohibiting National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó from leaving the country, just hours after Attorney General Tarek William Saab requested that the court restrict Guaidó's travel and freeze his financial accounts, the AP reports.

Details: The chief prosecutor announced a criminal probe into Guaidó has been launched, but did not explain what for crimes the opposition leader — who has been recognized by the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries as Venezuela's interim president — is being investigated. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton denounced Saab's threats and vowed that "there will be serious consequences for those who attempt to subvert democracy and harm Guaido."

Go deeper: U.S. sanctions Venezuela's state oil company in push for regime change

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, widely expected to be a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, announced Tuesday night that he will not be running this cycle.

Go deeper: Track which candidates are running in 2020

If the future is female, as the slogan dating back to the '70s suggests, the current state of the Democratic Party is well on its way.

Why it matters: This is the first time in history that being a woman, particularly for Democrats running in 2020, "is probably more a political asset than a liability," per the LA Times.

The Democratic chairs of the House Intelligence Committee, Financial Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee have asked the Treasury Department to hand over documents related to the Trump administration's decision to ease sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The backdrop: Treasury lifted sanctions Sunday on three companies linked to Deripaska, who once employed former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and is under scrutiny for his possible involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 election. When Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin briefed lawmakers on the decision to lift sanctions, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "one of the worst classified briefings" she'd ever received.

Jared Kushner ran a white board planning session last week at the White House with the Koch network and other people who worked with him on criminal justice reform. The purpose: to see if the administration can replicate the approach they took to pass criminal justice reform to overhaul America’s immigration system.

“They would like to try and replicate at some level a bipartisan coalition on immigration issues, something paired with border security as well,” said Koch Industries senior vice president Mark Holden, who attended the meeting.

Former Trump aide Roger Stone pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges from special counsel Robert Mueller's office that he lied to Congress about communications with the Trump campaign about hacked emails possessed by WikiLeaks.

The big picture: Stone's plea isn't a surprise. He said last week after his arrest that he looked "forward to being fully and completely vindicated" and stated that he'd never testify against President Trump.

Tom Steyer announced Tuesday he's launching "Operation Accountability," a grassroots campaign putting some of his 7.1 million impeachment supporters on the ground in districts represented by Democratic Reps. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

Why it matters: Steyer decided he doesn't need to run for president to try to bring about political change. He's investing $40 million to impeach President Trump, some of which will go toward this campaign. The 3 House members were selected because of their leadership on crucial committees, "giving them the power to investigate the president and begin the process towards impeachment," his campaign wrote in a statement.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake announced on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday he will not run for president in 2020 against President Trump.

Details: “I have always said that I do hope that there is a Republican who challenges the president in the primary. I still hope that somebody does, but that somebody won't be me. I will not be a candidate,” Flake said. The former Arizona senator will join CBS News as a contributor in a new series called "Common Ground."

President Trump disavowed his former staffer Cliff Sims, whose White House insider memoir "Team of Vipers" was released Tuesday, in a tweet, calling Sims "a mess" and "nothing more than a gofer."

"A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!"

Behind the scenes: Trump has been toying with attacking Sims on Twitter for the best part of a week. Some staff have counseled him against tweeting about Sims — arguing it would only elevate him and help sell his book — but, as ever, Trump couldn't help himself. One issue for Trump: there are numerous photographs showing that Sims was in many of the meetings he describes in the book. And one of the chief complaints about Sims from former White House colleagues who loathe him is that he "was in rooms he wasn’t supposed to be in."

Former Starbucks CEO and potential 2020 presidential contender Howard Schultz blasted some of the Democratic Party's biggest 2020 candidates during a Tuesday media blitz, calling Sen. Kamala Harris' support for Medicare for All "not American" and Sen. Elizabeth Warren's "wealth tax" proposal "ridiculous."

The big picture: The billionaire told Axios' Mike Allen this week that he was "unfazed" by criticism from the left as he flirts with launching a "centrist independent" bid for the White House.

Voter opposition to a second term for President Trump is significantly higher than the opposition former president Barack Obama encountered in 2011, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll on the 2020 presidential election outlook.

By the numbers: 56% of Americans say they definitely wouldn’t vote to re-elect Trump, double the number who say they’d definitely vote for him. In 2011, 46% said they wouldn't vote for Obama.

Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz is a long shot to win the White House, but he's a sure bet to create headaches for the coffee chain he turned into a global empire.

Why it matters: Schultz's reputation and fortune come from his time as the Ray Kroc of coffee, turning a small Seattle roaster with four stores into a 28,000-store phenomenon spanning 77 countries. That means massive scrutiny of Starbucks, by both the media and political opponents, unlike anything the company has yet experienced.