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July 21, 2022
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PRESENTED BY
THE TOP
Happy Thursday morning.
Frontline Democrats are making a big push to move a package of police funding bills before the House leaves for the August recess, according to multiple members and aides.
Vulnerable Democrats raised the issue in a weekly “Crescendo” meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday. Those sessions include a cross-section of lawmakers from throughout the Democratic Caucus. Pelosi reiterated that leadership is looking at ways to advance consensus bills, per attendees.
A smaller group of these Democrats – Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.), Abigail Spanberger (Va.), Dean Phillips (Minn.) and Katie Porter (Calif.) – also met privately with Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn last week to lobby them on the issue.
“The discussion was on a range of policing bills,” a senior Democratic aide said about the meeting. “They had a positive conversation with leadership and then were told they needed to talk to House Judiciary Committee Chair [Jerry] Nadler and the CBC.”
We’re told some sort of police funding package could move on the House floor as soon as next week, according to multiple Democratic aides. The Gottheimer group is also consulting with the Congressional Black Caucus and Senate Democrats involved in the issue. But this is still fluid and will likely face strong opposition from several progressives.
Vulnerable Democrats are upset that legislation to boost police funding has yet to get a vote, despite their months-long campaign.
As we reported in June, a group of 30 House Democrats led by Gottheimer sent a letter to party leaders urging them to bring a package of police funding bills to the floor for an up-or-down vote.
In that letter, the group chided the House Judiciary Committee for refusing to consider any of the bills, which would boost funding for smaller police departments and provide grants to address police staffing shortages and train mental health responders.
The CBC, meanwhile, briefly discussed the policing bills during their weekly meeting on Wednesday, members told us. However, the topic was essentially tabled as lawmakers decided they would need a separate gathering to discuss the legislation in detail.
And that doesn’t even touch on the progressives, many of whom are very vocally opposed to providing any additional funding for police departments.
This debate over police funding – a hugely sensitive issue among Democrats since George Floyd’s murder in May 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests nationwide – comes as party leaders are also trying to address gun violence and rising crime.
The House Judiciary Committee approved an assault weapons ban just after 10 p.m. Wednesday night following a contentious, day-long markup filled with barely veiled insults and partisan grandstanding.
This is the first time the panel has marked up an assault weapons ban in nearly three decades. Twenty-five Democrats voted in favor of the bill, led by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), while 18 Republicans on the panel opposed it.
Cicilline’s bill would ban the manufacturing of new semi-automatic assault rifles, as well as pistols and shotguns with similar “military features.” Million of existing weapons would be grandfathered in, but federal background checks would be required on any sale or transfer.
Democrats defeated a number of GOP attempts to amend the bill, including one proposal that would allow Supreme Court justices and their families to have such weapons. Republicans, in turn, mocked Democrats at a number of points for their unfamiliarity with guns and weapons terminology.
Both sides spent much of the markup just hammering on each other. Democrats noted these weapons have been used in a number of horrific mass shootings, including recent massacres in Uvalde and Buffalo that shocked the nation. Republicans countered that Democrats were infringing on gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.
Here’s Nadler, who said the vote was “an easy choice” for him:
Now comes the real question — Can Democratic leaders pass the assault weapons ban on the floor?
The bill could come up for a floor vote as early as next week. Yet as of now, Democratic leaders don’t have the votes to pass it. We have covered the issue extensively the last few days. Pelosi and her leadership team can only lose four votes on the floor, and they can’t count on any GOP support, especially for the rule laying out the floor debate. Currently, Democrats don’t even have enough votes for that rule.
There’s already four Democrats expected to vote against the bill: Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Kurt Schrader (Oregon) and Ron Kind (Wis.). And several other Democrats, including O’Halleran and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), remain undecided or non-committal.
Vulnerable Democrats, especially those in the toughest districts, are desperate to see action on their priorities ahead of the August recess. And they’re privately frustrated that leadership is focused on moving an assault weapons bill – something that won’t become law – when other pressing issues remain unaddressed in their minds.
Related: President Joe Biden will visit Wilkes-Barre, Pa., today to tout the new gun control law and discuss other ways to “reduce gun crime and save lives,” according to the White House.
We also found this tidbit about his trip particularly interesting given the current dynamics:
– Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman
Next week: Don’t miss our conversation with Commerce Dep. Sec. Don Graves about the chips shortage and Congress’ proposed CHIPS legislation in-person on Tuesday, July 26 at 9 a.m. ET. RSVP today!
Correction: In our Midday edition yesterday, we said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was opposed to same-sex marriage legislation. He’s actually undecided.
Read our rundown from the Midday edition on where Senate Republicans stand on the same-sex marriage bill.
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Presented by Wells Fargo
At Wells Fargo, we cover more rural markets than many large banks, and nearly 30% of our branches are in low- or moderate-income census tracts. What we say, we do. See how.