This week in politics: Trump v. DeSantis warms up; Santos investigation starts; SCOTUS takes on Biden's student loan debt
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This week underscored how much the 2024 presidential race is warming up as former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are heading to Iowa in the coming days.
Recent polling shows Republican voters could be swinging back to Trump over his presumed chief rival after previous surveys found the former president slipping.
On the Democratic side, the biggest tussle was over President Joe Biden's goal to erase billions of dollars in student loan debt, which was picked apart by the Supreme Court.
And former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who was soundly defeated in her GOP primary last year for defying Trump, has a new gig.
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What happened this week in politics?
Donald Trump, who is running for president in 2024, and Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce, will be heading to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa in what could be a preview of their primary clash.
Hundreds of grassroots activists attended the Conservative Political Action Conference to hear what Republicans plan to boot Biden from office.
The president's goal to forgive student loans was met with sharp skepticism by conservative-leaning justices on the Supreme Court.
Rep. George Santos's multiple scandals may have finally caught up with him as congressional colleagues launch an ethics probe.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney is coming back to politics, but this time in the classroom at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Trump, DeSantis journey to Iowa
The tug-of-war Trump and DeSantis are waging for top dog in the Republican Party will come more into focus this month as both are making the political pilgrimage to The Hawkeye State.
DeSantis is up first, with stops in Davenport and Des Moines on March 10. Trump will be in Iowa three days later at Davenport's Adler Theater.
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Iowa has been good to the former president in the past. Trump carried the state in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and a 2021 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed 57% of Iowa Republicans wanted him to run again versus 33% who did not.
DeSantis is the most often mentioned GOP alternative to Trump, but a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll released last month shows the Florida governor trailing by roughly eight percentage points.
CPAC or Trumpalooza?
The annual conservative conference didn't always embrace Trump, but many supporters have dominated the stage this year and he is closing the event as the keynote speaker on Saturday.
Other presidential hopefuls — such as DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence — have skipped it entirely.
One exception is Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who is the only big-name Republican to announce a presidential run against Trump so far.
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The former UN ambassador has staked her campaign on carving out an alternative, and younger, GOP vision.
SCOTUS knocks student debt relief
One of President Biden's big priorities has been to cancel $400 billion in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans.
But the plan's chances of survival appear grim after oral arguments this week heard by the Supreme Court and its 6-3 conservative majority.
Chief Justice John Roberts struck at the heart of the matter and questioned if the president has the power to cancel student loans without a thumbs up from Congress.
"We take very seriously the idea of the separation of powers and that power should be divided to prevent its abuse," he said.
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U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who is arguing on behalf of the Biden administration, pushed back, saying that if the president can postpone payments—as was done during the COVID-19 pandemic—he can cancel the debt.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
Cheney's new job
Rep. Liz Cheney paid the price for being one of the few elected Republicans willing to stand against Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Wyoming voters last year sided with a Trump-backed primary challenger by a whopping 37%, which is one of the more lopsided loses for an incumbent in U.S. history.
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But Cheney isn't done with politics just yet.
She is joining the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and will teach through the fall 2023 semester holding university-wide lectures and contributing to the center's politics research.
Is this Rep. George Santos's reckoning?
The New York Republican has been caught in a series of lies about his personal life and employment history. That has blossomed into serious questions about his campaign spending, multiple criminal investigations and a sexual abuse claim by a staffer.
In one of the easiest decisions for the 118th Congress, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to investigate Santos for any "unlawful activity" during his 2022 campaign and the staffer's claims.
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in January he would consider removing Santos from Congress if an investigation into his background by the ethics committee found he broke the law.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Santos investigation launched, SCOTUS jabs Biden's student loan debt
