WASHINGTON UPDATE
July 12, 2024
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACTIVITY
The House has been busy moving the appropriations bills forward. The House Appr opriations Committee has approved all twelve of their bills. They completed action on the Transportation-HUD, the Labor-HHS-Education and Agriculture bills on July 10.
The House has passed the following bills on the floor: Defense, Homeland Security, Military Construction-VA, and the State- Foreign Operations. The House Republicans attempted to pass the Legislative Branch bill this week also; however, it was defeated 205-213. The bill would block a cost- of-living adjustment (COLA) for members as h as been done for more than a decade. Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-GA) led a charge against the bill, saying the COLA provision violates the Constitution's 27th Amendment because pay legislation must be considered separately and not take effect until after an intervening election. Ten Republicans voted against the bill due to the COLA provision and the increase in spending the bill provides.
The House leadership still hopes to complete action on the floor for all twelve bills before the August recess. However, the House will be in recess next week for the national convention of Republicans as they nominate their Presidential candidate next week. That leaves eight bills for the floor and some of those bills tend to be the more difficult bills to pass.
The Senate has also finally made progress on their spending bills . The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA bills this week. All three bills were adopted by strong bipartisan votes of 27 to 0. Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Patty Muray (D -WA), released subcommittee allocations or 302(b) allocations. This allows the subcommittees to draft their bills. Four more bills are expected to be marked up in two weeks: Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, Transportation-HUD, and State-Foreign Operations.
NOTEABLE ACTIONS
The House considered holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress this week. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has led the charge on this concern. The charge stems from DOJ’s failure to turn over the audio recording of the interview of President Biden with Special C ounsel Robert Hur . A transcript of the interview has been provided to the House . The resolution to fine Garland $10,000 per day was rejected 204- 210. Luna amended her resolution that previously had called for the House Sargeant at Arms to arrest Attorney General Garland.
The Senate took a step toward imposing hefty fines on members of Congress and their families who trade individual stocks. A bipartisan group comprised of Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced legislation that seeks to bar members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from buying and selling stocks. The idea is popular but similar proposals have faced hurdles in the past. Under the bill, offending lawmakers would face fines equal to their monthly salary or 10% of the value of each improper investment. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will consider the legislation on July 24.
QUOTABLE QUOTE(S)
Mr. Ron Klain, former Chief of Staff to President Biden, said in an interview, “I think if a meteor came down and hit Joe Biden in the Rose Garden and squished him…she (Vice President Kamala Harris) would do a great job as President. But I think, with no disrespect to the vice president and all her skills and talents, President Biden is the person who’s beaten Trump.”
WASHINGTON UPDATE
July 26, 2024
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACTIVITY
The House Appropriations Committee has approved all twelve of their bills . The House has passed the following bills on the floor: Interior-Environment, Defense, Homeland Security, Military Construction-VA, and the State- Foreign Operations. The House Republicans attempted to pass the Legislative Branch bill; however, it was defeated 2 05-213. The bill would block a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for members as h as been done for more than a decade. Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-GA) led a charge against the bill, saying the COLA provision violates the Constitution's 27th Amendment because pay legislation must be considered separately and not take effect until after an intervening election. Ten Republicans voted against the bill due to the COLA provision and the increase in spending the bill provides.
The House has also attempted to pass the Energy and Water Development bill but had to pull it from the floor before a final vote. The leaders did not have the votes to pass it as there were issues related to the lack of funding needed to dredge the channel to the Port of Sava nnah deeper to accommodate the larger ocean cargo ships.
The Senate continues to make progress on their spending bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Transportation-HUD, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, State- Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction-VA bills.
The House is now in recess until the beginning of September. The Senate will be in session next week.
NOTEABLE ACTIONS
Senator Bob Menendez (D -NJ) was convicted of all sixteen federal charges against him related to bribery and acting as a foreign agent. He has now indicated that he will resign on August 20.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. This led to many protests outside the Capitol including the protest at Union Station, which is one block from our office.
QUOTABLE QUOTE(S)
House Republican leaders are urging members to stick to policy arguments, not personal or demographic ones when discussing the candidacy of Kamala Harris. “This election … is going to be about policies, not personalities. This isn’t personal with regard to Kamala Harris,” Speaker Johnson said in a press conference Tuesday. “Her ethnicity, her gender, has nothing to do with this whatsoever.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) added, saying Harris will be held to account for Biden’s record. “This has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the competence of the person running for president, the relative strength of the two candidates and what ideas they have on how to solve America’s problems.
And I think in that comparison, we’ll win in a landslide,” Johnson said.
WASHINGTON UPDATE
August 2, 2024
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACTIVITY
The Senate continues to make progress on their spending bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Defense, Financial Services , Energy- Water Development and Labor-HHS- Education this week. The Senate Appropriations Committee has one bill left to markup – the Homeland Security bill. This is contentious as it funds border security and the Secret Service.
The House Appropriations Committee has approved all twelve of their bills . The House has passed the following bills on the floor: Interior-Environment, Defense, Homeland Security, Military Construction-VA, and the State-Foreign Operations.
The House recessed a week early after they could not complete action on other spending measures.
They will be in recess until the beginning of September . The Senate will be gin their August recess next week.
NOTEABLE ACTIONS
The Senate passed by unanimous consent the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) yesterday.
This legislation is normally passed every two years and authorizes water projects for the Army Corp of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. This sets up a conference with the House.
The Senate failed to invoke cloture to limit debate on a bipartisan tax package that would expand the child tax credit and reauthorize small business tax deductions. The bill had passed the House by a vote of 357 to 70 in January. The Senate may bring it up again in September.
The Veterans Administration (VA) reported a projected $3 billion shortfall for this year. The Senate tried to take up a bill to plug the hole by unanimous consent, but it was blocked. It will now have to wait until September. Members have complained about the late notice and the need for a hearing. The VA says the shortfall is due to increased care for those exposed to toxic substances.
The three individuals held at Guantanamo Bay who planned the 9 -11 attacks have agreed to plead guilty, in exchange for not being executed.
Trump has pitched a plan to not tax social security earnings. This will prove as popular as it is costly.
It is estimated to cost $1.6 trillion over ten years. About 40 percent of seniors who receive Social Security have to pay taxes on the benefit, according to the Social Security Administration.
Beneficiaries earning less than $25,000 do not have to pay the tax; above that threshold, up to 50 percent of income is subject to the tax, and starting at $34,000, up to 85 percent is taxed.
QUOTABLE QUOTE(S)
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the current Senate Republican Leader, sat for an interview with a hill publication, below are some of his quotes.
“That’s what some people were trying to do January 6 — to break the system of handing an administration from one to the next,” McConnell said. “We can have our arguments, but we ought to not try to break the rules.” He said this in reference to Biden’s proposal to reform the Supreme Court. “It’s not my job to tell the president (Trump) who he ought to run (as Vice President),” McConnell said when asked if he agreed with Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as the VP nominee. “With regard to Senator Vance… yeah, we have a different point of view.” And on discussing the fact that Republicans have lost winnable seats in recent Senate races he said:
“The way you win the argument is to get more people elected and (Democrats) have done a better job of that over the years than we have.”
WASHINGTON UPDATE
September 6, 2024
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACTIVITY
The new fiscal year begins on October 1. It is not likely that Congress will pass and send to President Biden the twelve spending bills before that date.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has begun to prepare a temporary spending plan. The plan includes a six-month continuing resolution (CR) (funding the government at current levels and preventing a shutdown through March 2025) that will be paired with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (this legislation requires proof of citizenship to register to vote).
The Speaker’s plan is not likely to pass the Senate . There is doubt as well amongst the House Republicans that they can pass the bill with their slim majority. In the past, some conservatives vote against any spending measures and some moderates fear this plan may hurt them in marginal districts.
Two House Republicans have already come out against the plan. The House Republicans have a four- vote cushion.
NOTEABLE ACTIONS
Former President Donald Trump in a speech to business leaders on Thursday called for the creation of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund, a government-owned investment fund, to finance “great national endeavors.”
Former President Trump said he would establish a "government efficiency commission" if he wins in November, and billionaire ally Elon Musk would lead the effort.
QUOTABLE QUOTE(S)
“We all know the only thing that will get through is a clean CR! Other than that, it’s shut down city!” one anonymous member who was on the call with the Speaker told The Hill, calling the Speaker’s plan “fruitless.”
Both Republicans and Democrats believe raiding Congress for Cabinet positions in the next administration is a bad idea as whoever wins the House and Senate will face very slim majorities. But some are already warning against pillaging Congress to the point of losing power. “It would be unfortunate if we sought to mess up our [potential] majority because of ambition and asininity,” Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said.