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Congress is back — for a moment — and facing post-Trump conviction world

What we’re watching

Most K Street leaders worry about foreign election interference, predict Biden win

Ohio delegation renews push to aid East Palestine

THE TOP

Congress is back — for a moment — and facing post-Trump conviction world

Happy Monday morning.

Congress is back from the Memorial Day recess. The House and Senate are both in and voting tonight. President Joe Biden will head to France this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy and pay a state visit to Paris. A lot of lawmakers will be heading to Normandy as well, so this is going to be a short week. Both chambers will be gone by Wednesday.

In the House: The first of the FY2025 spending bills — MilCon-VA — will be marked up in the House Rules Committee today. The House Appropriations Committee, along with its Senate counterpart, is scheduled to hold additional hearings with top Biden administration officials and do more markups in subcommittee.

The Rules Committee also will take up legislation sanctioning the International Criminal Court if it moves ahead with arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. The White House indicated last week that it opposes new ICC sanctions.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, will appear today before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. This panel includes Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), so this should be a very sober, rational discussion of Fauci’s role in crafting federal policy during a pandemic that killed 1.1 million Americans. Uhh, maybe not.

Speaker Mike Johnson will also have to address the Friday expiration of the Radiation Exposure Compensation program. Under pressure from lawmakers and advocates, Johnson scrapped his plan to consider a “clean” extension this week that would have left some states out of the program. But Johnson has indicated he opposes the Senate-passed RECA expansion due in part to the $50 billion price tag.

A group of RECA advocates tracked Johnson down at a Lincoln Day dinner in Illinois this weekend and got him to commit to a meeting this week, we’re told. But time is short, especially with both chambers leaving Wednesday.

In the Senate: The Right to Contraception Act will hit the Senate floor this week, with a vote slated for Wednesday. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced this on Sunday as he previewed Democrats’ focus on abortion and related issues throughout June.

To be sure, this bill and others the Senate may consider this month aren’t going anywhere. But this is another way Democrats are trying to use “show votes” to boost their most vulnerable incumbents in November.

Democrats tried it last month with the stalled border security deal, giving their incumbents in red states a chance to vote for the bipartisan agreement once again. And now they’re shifting to abortion, an issue Democrats have capitalized on successfully since Roe was overturned.

The Trump Show: This will be the first day Hill Republicans are back in Washington since former President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in the New York City hush-money trial.

Trump’s Friday “press conference” probably didn’t do too much to reassure GOP leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers that Trump would have an effective response to his conviction.

But his campaign also reported record fundraising in the aftermath of the trial, cutting into Biden’s advantage there. The NRSC and NRCC reported big fundraising boosts too.

Confusingly, however, the RNC is stepping all over the NRSC’s messaging here. On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, RNC co-chair Lara Trump tore into Maryland GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan for not trashing the verdict. She said Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party.”

Let’s be clear: A Hogan victory in Maryland, while still a long shot, would almost guarantee GOP control of the Senate. That’s why NRSC Chair Steve Daines is letting Hogan run his own race in the deep-blue state. So this is yet another reason why Trump’s conviction — and the GOP messaging surrounding it — could hurt the party.

Johnson noted during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has invited Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and another top prosecutor to testify before the Weaponization Subcommittee on June 13.

Johnson also suggested to Fox News’ Shannon Bream that he’s open to cutting off funding for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal cases against Trump. Johnson said Smith is “abusing his authority” and insisted the House has “the mechanisms to try to get control of that.”

This won’t go anywhere with the Democratic-run Senate or the White House, of course. And it’s not entirely clear that House Republicans can pass it. Plus, the FY2025 spending bills aren’t going to be completed until after Election Day.

Yet having the speaker threaten this once again is notable. FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies Tuesday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, and this could certainly come up.

Of note: Longtime Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced that she has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The 74-year-old Jackson Lee — who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Houston last year — was first elected in 1994. Jackson Lee was treated successfully for breast cancer in the past, and she has become a huge advocate on the issue.

— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio

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What we’re watching

Monday: Dr. Anthony Fauci will be in front of the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee charged with investigating Covid-19. The House Rules Committee will meet at 4 p.m. on the MilCon-VA bill and legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court.

Tuesday: The House Appropriations Committee will hold subcommittee markups on the FY2025 Homeland Security and State-Foreign Ops bills. Senate Appropriations will have hearings with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

House Judiciary will have a hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Senate Foreign Relations will have a closed briefing on China with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.

Wednesday: The House Appropriations Committee will have a subcommittee markup on the FY2025 Defense spending bill. House Oversight will have a hearing with EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

— Jake Sherman

Most K Street leaders worry about foreign election interference, predict Biden win

Nearly three-quarters of K Street leaders are concerned about foreign interference in the November elections, according to our latest survey.

Respondents were divided along party lines. The majority of Democratic K Street leaders (90%) reported they were concerned about foreign interference in November compared to 61% of their GOP counterparts.

This result mirrors our survey of senior Hill staffers in April, where 73% of respondents also said the member of Congress they work for is worried about foreign adversaries meddling in the election.

The unease from K Street leaders comes as lawmakers warn of possible foreign interference without a clear plan from Congress on how to address the issue.

Despite this concern, 63% of all respondents, including 43% of GOP K Street leaders, believe that President Joe Biden will get reelected in the fall.

It’s important to note our survey was conducted before former President Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday in his New York City hush-money case. Recent polls from The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer prior to the conviction had shown Biden trailing Trump in key battleground states.

The Canvass K Street was conducted May 6-24 in partnership with independent public affairs firm, LSG.

Want to take part in The Canvass? Our survey provides anonymous monthly insights from top Capitol Hill staffers and K Street leaders on key issues Washington is dealing with. Sign up here if you work on K Street. Click here to sign up if you’re a senior congressional staffer.

— Donna Baeck

THE BUCKEYE STATE

Ohio delegation renews push to aid East Palestine

Ohio lawmakers are upset over the attention given to rebuilding the collapsed Baltimore bridge, arguing there’s been little done to help the Buckeye State in the wake of last year’s disastrous East Palestine train derailment.

Rail safety bills in both the House and Senate are stalled more than a year after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Now, as Congress shifts its focus to repairing the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the Ohio delegation complains they’re being overlooked.

“Look how quickly they ran to aid the bridge in Baltimore,” Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) told us. “We can’t get any discussion on [East Palestine].”

Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) has been pushing the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to hold a hearing on East Palestine. The panel already held a hearing on the FSK Bridge disaster.

Bipartisan push: Sykes has led efforts to get a vote on her rail safety legislation, which she unveiled last year with former Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who represented East Palestine until retiring earlier this year. The bill has nine co-sponsors from the Ohio delegation.

Sykes said she’s had conversations with GOP state Sen. Michael Rulli, who is poised to succeed Johnson, about supporting their efforts.

“When the House refuses to even act like this is an issue, the question I will continue to ask my colleagues is ‘What about the people in Ohio?’” Sykes said.

We’ll note that there has yet to be any legislation passed by Congress to provide funds to rebuild the bridge either. Lawmakers are still waiting on official cost estimates to replace the span, which collapsed after it was struck by a cargo ship on March 26. Six people were killed in the incident.

Bicameral finger-pointing: Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), who co-sponsored the RAIL Act, said it’s emblematic of this Congress that nothing is getting done outside of must-pass legislation and messaging bills.

“This Congress is a mess. We can’t even pass a rule off the floor and everything has to go by suspension,” Miller told us.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said the Senate should focus on passing its own rail safety bill and urged GOP Gov. Mike DeWine to do more. Kaptur added that Johnson’s absence has made it a burden, with East Palestine having no congressional representation.

“The two senators and the governor should take the lead on this and help Congresswoman Sykes,” Kaptur told us. “They’re without a congressman now.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who has been pushing for a rail safety bill with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), blamed the House for not doing more to push their leadership to get a bill on the floor, even while Senate GOP leadership stalls theirs.

“I’ve gone [to East Palestine] nine times,” Brown told us. “We’re working on a provision in the tax bill that has so far been blocked in the Senate, so I’m on it all the time. We need them to pass a rail safety bill in the House and they don’t seem much interested.”

The Wyden-Smith tax bill that Brown referenced would allow people affected by the East Palestine train derailment to avoid paying taxes on relief payments. That tax package is likely dead because of Senate GOP opposition, but there’s Republican support for the disaster tax relief.

The House passed a bill on May 21 to grant the disaster tax relief on its own, including for East Palestine.

Brown is also continuing to press the Biden administration to use its authority to grant disaster benefits for the derailment, arguing the Treasury Department and IRS could act so that Ohioans don’t have to pay taxes on payments from Norfolk Southern.

Biden’s response: The Biden administration settled with Norfolk Southern last week in an agreement that the company will pay $310 million to help with long-term health monitoring and environmental cleanup for East Palestine.

Sykes praised the settlement as “an important step forward” for the community, but she added that “there’s more work to be done,” including passing legislation on rail safety.

But other lawmakers also remain critical of the Biden administration’s overall response to the incident, including delayed site visits.

“It took Biden a year to even get there,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told us. “That to me was the frustrating part.”

— Mica Soellner

K STREET MOVES

Top House Rules staffer heading downtown after more than two decades

Kelly Dixon Chambers, the staff director for the House Rules Committee, is leaving Capitol Hill, ending a nearly 26-year run in Congress. Chambers also serves as parliamentarian for the House Republican Conference. So all those speaker votes and internal GOP fights of the last 18 months have been hers to sort out.

Chambers will serve as vice president of government affairs at SHEIN, the fast-fashion giant. Chambers will work under Kent Knutson, SHEIN’s chief government affairs officer in the D.C. office they opened this year. This is a good get for SHEIN, which has been dramatically stepping up its lobbying presence in Washington. Chambers is well-respected and well-liked on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate.

Chambers began as a staff assistant for Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) and worked her way up to director of legislative operations for then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In 2019, she took over as the top Republican staffer on Rules.

Here’s Rules Committee Chair Michael Burgess (R-Texas): “Congratulations to my Rules Committee Staff Director, Kelly Dixon Chambers, who will be retiring after nearly 26 years of dedicated service in the House of Representatives. On behalf of all House Republicans, I can say that Kelly has played a significant role in providing guidance as well as direction to congressional members when making policy focused decisions.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), top Democrat on the Rules panel, called Chambers “one of the most effective people I have ever worked with on Capitol Hill. I love and respect her a whole lot. And I will genuinely miss her. I only wish she were a Democrat!”

Speaker Mike Johnson said Chambers’ “unique talent and insights will be sorely missed, but we are happy for her and wish her the very best as she begins an exciting new chapter in her life and career.”

— John Bresnahan

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