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August 7, 2023
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PRESENTED BY
THE TOP
Happy Monday morning.
The Senate will be busy this fall with must-pass legislation, from appropriations to FAA reauthorization to the farm bill. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he wants to do more than just the bare minimum during the home stretch of 2023.
Schumer has been banging the drum on a variety of bipartisan initiatives — some that already have enough buy-in across the aisle, and others that don’t. Of course, Schumer will need cooperation from Senate Republicans in order to move anything, and that’s not a given.
Plus Congress will be busy in September trying to avoid a government shutdown when lawmakers return early next month. The Senate will need several days to process any continuing resolution.
And Schumer has a growing crisis on his hands when it comes to Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blockade of military promotions. Some Democrats want Schumer to use floor time to move high-profile nominations if Tuberville doesn’t relent soon. There are no indications that Tuberville is even close to backing off, and just this weekend the Alabama Republican Party passed a resolution backing his blockade.
An equally important part of this process is House Republicans’ willingness — or lack thereof — to engage on legislation that falls outside the “must-pass” category.
So in addition to the dearth of floor time in both chambers, it’s not clear that Speaker Kevin McCarthy has any interest in bipartisan legislating.
McCarthy didn’t support much of the bipartisan legislation that came out of the Senate during the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency. Now that he’s speaker, putting these bills on the floor could risk splitting his conference. McCarthy may decide he has enough on his hands just trying to keep the government open.
With all of those caveats, we wanted to do a status update on some of the bipartisan measures that Schumer outlined in a “Dear Colleague” letter last month. It’s worth noting that the Senate has already passed some of what Schumer mentioned in that letter — most notably, a bill to crack down on fentanyl trafficking. This was added to the annual defense authorization bill in July.
Railway safety: The dangerous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, six months ago brought Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) together on a bipartisan bill aimed at bolstering railway safety. The Commerce Committee passed the measure in May.
A handful of Donald Trump-aligned conservatives have signed onto the effort, but party leaders on both sides believe the legislation in its current form lacks enough GOP support to clear the 60-vote threshold.
The problem for most Republicans is that the bill goes too far in imposing new regulations on the industry. Vance may have his work cut out for him here.
Bank executive clawbacks: On a near-unanimous vote, the Senate Banking Committee approved legislation that would allow financial regulators to claw back executives’ pay when a bank fails.
There’s little doubt that the full Senate would likely approve this measure overwhelmingly. But in the House, there’s not much urgency around the issue, even as the banking crisis from earlier this year remains a priority for many on the Hill.
Cannabis banking: This has been a years-long push by a surprisingly eclectic group of senators, including Schumer and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) — the NRSC chair whose goal for the next 15 months is to dethrone Schumer as majority leader.
The legislation, known as SAFE Banking, would allow cannabis companies to do business with federally regulated banks.
But senators from both parties have reported very little progress on the issue in recent weeks. Brown, who chairs the Banking Committee, has said it’s up to Daines to help deliver some additional GOP sponsors.
The challenge for Daines is that Democrats are trying to expand the legislation to address expungements for non-violent cannabis-related crimes. This makes the effort a tougher pill to swallow for some Republicans.
Insulin and prescription drugs: Schumer has long said he wants to cobble together a comprehensive drug-pricing bill this year, and there are two bipartisan duos competing on a major aspect of the initiative.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have proposed legislation that would cap insulin prices for Americans with diabetes at $35. There’s a separate but similar proposal from Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Kennedy (R-La.).
There’s enough appetite from other Senate Republicans that this could feasibly get to 60 votes at some point. Senators from both parties are already in agreement on efforts to reform the practices of pharmacy benefit managers, including the chair and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, who released their own legislation on the matter.
As is the case with Schumer’s other bipartisan objectives, success or failure will ultimately come down to floor time and McCarthy’s eagerness to take up Senate-passed legislation.
“We’re making progress in a whole lot of these,” an optimistic Schumer said at a news conference before the recess. “And I think you’re going to find a very, very productive fall in the Senate.”
Also: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared at Kentucky’s annual Fancy Farm picnic on Saturday and declared that it “won’t be my last,” noting he has attended the confab for 28 years straight.
— Andrew Desiderio
House Republicans continue to investigate the investigators
It flew under the radar last week, but a trio of House Republican chairs are mounting yet another investigation into the investigators.
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jason Smith (R-Mo.) are demanding the Justice Department provide information on the plea deal federal prosecutors reached with Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son.
The Republican chairs are requesting the DOJ respond to their questions by Aug. 14 – a week from today. The trio allege that Hunter Biden received a so-called “sweetheart deal” because of his political connections. The testimony of two IRS whistleblowers is critical to GOP claims that the president’s son benefitted from preferential treatment.
The judge in the case also didn’t like the plea deal either, and both the Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s lawyers are scrambling to keep it intact.
U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss — who is overseeing the Hunter investigation — has repeatedly said he was given full independence to prosecute the case. Weiss has offered to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to tell his side of the story.
In a sign of the sprawling nature of the House GOP investigations, the July 31 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland launching the latest Hunter Biden probe was overshadowed last week. That same day, Devon Archer — a former business associate of Hunter — testified in front of the House Oversight Committee.
In short, it’s all Hunter Biden, all the time for the House GOP.
— Max Cohen
WASHINGTON X THE WORLD
Duckworth heads to Asia with a message on Tuberville’s military blockade
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) began a trip to Asia this past weekend vowing to enhance military cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific as an increasingly aggressive China has the West on edge.
Before heading to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, Duckworth highlighted what she sees as a major vulnerability in the chain of command as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) continues his unprecedented blockade of senior-level military promotions.
Duckworth, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, told us she expects the issue to come up during her travels, especially since many of the stalled promotions are for positions in the Indo-Pacific.
As of this week, two of the eight spots on the Joint Chiefs of Staff are occupied by “acting” officers who have less authority with their foreign counterparts than if they were Senate-confirmed. Other high-level positions throughout the military are vacant with no interim officer.
Here’s what Duckworth said:
We were the first to report that an active-duty officer — the Army’s No. 2 in Europe — had spoken out publicly against Tuberville’s tactics during a Senate delegation’s visit to Lithuania for the annual NATO summit. The message from these officers is that they can’t have military-to-military partnerships with U.S. allies without Senate-confirmed general and flag officers.
The dilemma over Tuberville’s actions has led some Democrats to call for individual floor votes on some of the stalled promotions. But Senate Democratic leaders have insisted that it’s up to Republicans to convince Tuberville to back down.
With no indication that that’s likely to happen, there’s a belief that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should try to prioritize some of the more significant stalled-out promotions — such as the Marine Corps commandant and the U.S. military representative to NATO — for floor votes.
Duckworth said it isn’t practical to process the promotions on the floor, noting that there are nearly 300 pending and each would take several days of floor time. Of course, as we outlined above, the Senate already has a full plate in the fall and winter.
“There’s not enough time to do that. The backlog is growing faster than the Senate, per Senate rules, could proceed,” Duckworth said. “We could never dig ourselves out of this hole without Sen. Tuberville actually dropping his hold on the promotions.”
— Andrew Desiderio
PRESENTED BY FUEL CELL & HYDROGEN ENERGY ASSOCIATION
America needs clean, domestic hydrogen to reach our goals.
Additionality would put an unnecessary and inequitable burden on producers.
Government shutdown likely, K Street says
Nearly two-thirds of K Street leaders — 65% — think the government will likely shut down on Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Even more — 80% — think there will be a government shutdown sometime before January, according to the results of our latest The Canvass K Street survey.
The House and the Senate still need to pass the 12 appropriations bills, but they currently have very different approaches to FY2024 spending. In the House, appropriators are marking up funding bills at levels significantly lower than what was agreed to in the debt-limit compromise between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden. The Senate has been using the levels outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The House is having trouble bringing these bills to the floor, abandoning efforts to consider the Agriculture funding bill just before recess because GOP leaders didn’t have the votes.
The Senate, meanwhile, cleared all 12 appropriations bills out of committee on a bipartisan basis before leaving for the August recess.
Both chambers are in recess until after Labor Day. When Congress comes back in September, lawmakers will only have a few weeks to reach a government funding agreement.
And it’s unclear right now if Congress can even pass a short-term continuing resolution in September to give both parties more time to reach a longer deal.
If Congress doesn’t pass all 12 appropriations bills by Jan. 1, 2024, a 1% across-the-board cut will be enacted, as laid out in the debt-limit compromise.
K Street Democrats were a lot more pessimistic about the government shutting down sometime before 2024 — 91% versus 73% of Republicans.
Other legislative priorities: Here’s what else K Street thinks Congress will — or won’t — pass this year:
The farm bill: A majority of K Street leaders (66%) from both sides of the aisle agree it’s likely Congress will reauthorize the Farm Bill.
Lobbyists are less optimistic about Congress passing cannabis banking reform, with only 14% of those surveyed saying they think that’ll happen.
When it comes to the FAA, 80% of K Street leaders think it’s likely Congress passes a reauthorization bill. Just 49% think it’s likely Congress will pass legislation to address rail safety.
The Canvass K Street survey was conducted July 10-28 in partnership with Locust Street Group.
Interested in taking part in our survey? The Canvass provides anonymous insights each month from top Capitol Hill staffers and K Street leaders on key issues facing Washington. Sign up here if you work on K Street. And click here to sign up if you’re a senior congressional staffer.
— Robert O’Shaughnessy
THE CAMPAIGN
News: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC is endorsing Michelle Vallejo in Texas’ 15th District, Allyson Muñiz Damikolas in California’s 40th District and Marlene Galán-Woods in Arizona’s 1st District.
Vallejo is seeking a rematch against Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) in a heavily Latino south Texas district. As we scooped last week, EMILYs List recently backed Vallejo.
Damikolas is running in the Democratic primary to challenge Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.). Kim, a perennial target of House Democrats, has shown electoral strength in a district won by President Joe Biden in 2020.
Galán-Woods’ district is currently represented by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.). Schweikert is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, but departed the group in February.
— Max Cohen
PRESENTED BY FUEL CELL & HYDROGEN ENERGY ASSOCIATION
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