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PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN
WITH MAX COHEN AND CHRISTIAN HALL

THE TOP

Good Monday morning. There are 11 days until government funding expires.

House and Senate appropriators from both parties negotiated throughout the weekend on a “topline number” for the FY 2022 spending bills. But the two sides didn’t come to an agreement, according to a half-dozen sources close to the situation.

So with no deal in hand, the House is expected to vote on a short-term funding bill this week. Leaders are discussing March 11 as an expiration date for the continuing resolution, but like everything else about this appropriations season, it’s not finalized yet. The Senate could take up the CR this week or next, depending on how quickly the House acts. Funding expires on Feb. 18.

The partisan dispute is centered around two main issues – “parity” for defense vs. non-defense spending increases, and the treatment of policy riders, such as the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds for abortions.

Both sides have basically agreed to increase defense spending by roughly $25 billion, the amount called for in the annual defense authorization bill. The NDAA passed both chambers with strong bipartisan majorities.

Democrats, though, are pushing for additional funding for social programs beyond $25 billion, while Republicans counter that means there’s no parity in defense vs. non-defense spending. So this hasn’t been resolved.

As for policy riders, the likelihood is status quo, which leaves whatever policy riders are in effect now in place – including the Hyde Amendment. This isn’t going to please progressives or pro-abortion rights lawmakers, but the reality is the Democrats don’t have the votes to force the issue.

There’s also a push to include funding for earmarks, one senior lawmaker told us, which doesn’t sit well with those Republicans who oppose them.

So as we said at the top, there’s no deal on a topline number at the moment. Work on the 12 individual appropriations bills hasn’t begun yet. The federal government is already more than four months into FY 2022. Sooner or later, Congress and the White House have to either pass an omnibus package or a full-year CR, which would keep spending flat and policies at status quo – not a good outcome for Congress. That won’t make anyone happy, especially at the Pentagon. Yet with the Democrats’ Build Back Better Act stalled – perhaps permanently – the biggest impediment for an omnibus deal is gone, in the GOP’s view.

All that being said, even if there is a topline deal early this week, finishing an omnibus package by March 11 will be tough. Republicans have refused to allow negotiations on the individual spending bills up until now, so a lot of the standard legwork hasn’t been completed. Omnibus bills can run thousands of pages. And as everyone who works in or covers Congress knows, everything always takes longer than you think it will.

A couple of notes here: 1) House Democrats have an “issues retreat” scheduled for March 9-11 in Philadelphia, so if there’s an omnibus on the floor that week (and/or the Senate floor), that’s a concern. The House could come back if needed. 

2) The House will vote this week on the short-term CR. It’s not clear if the Senate will take it up this week or next. The House is out of session next week (with codels to Israel and elsewhere), while the Senate is in.

3) There’s still talk of attaching additional Covid relief funding and/or disaster aid to a bipartisan omnibus spending deal, if it ever happens.

50-50 SENATE

Senate Dems adjust schedule with Luján out

The absence of Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), combined with a stalled Build Back Better Act and other parts of the Democratic legislative agenda, will lead to some adjustments in the Senate schedule during the next two weeks.

As we covered above, the Senate will take up a short-term funding bill either this week or next, depending on when the House passes it. The current continuing resolution funding federal agencies runs out on Feb. 18, giving Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer some flexibility to deal with this before the chamber adjourns for the Presidents’ Day recess. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session the week of Feb. 21-25.

There are also a number of nominations that Schumer has filed cloture on already, and the Senate will continue work on them during the early part of this week. There are two confirmation votes on D.C. Superior Court judges on Monday, and there’ll likely be more nomination votes on Tuesday.

But after that, the Senate’s agenda is uncertain. With Luján out for at least the next few weeks, Schumer can’t move any nomination that requires all 50 Senate Democrats to be present. Which also means that reconciliation bills, such as the Build Back Better Act in whatever form, are out as well.

The Senate could move to take up legislation to end forced arbitration in sexual assault and sexual harassment cases. The House is voting Monday on a bipartisan bill on that topic offered by Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.). The Senate has an identical bill offered by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 

The Judiciary panels in both the House and Senate have approved these bills.

The legislation “would prohibit the enforcement of mandatory, pre-dispute arbitration (‘forced arbitration’) provisions in cases involving sexual assault or sexual harassment” by amending the Federal Arbitration Act, first enacted nearly a century ago. Thousands of such cases are now moved into arbitration against the wishes of victims, according to victims’ rights groups. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who was allegedly sexually harassed while at that network, has been a vocal advocate for the legislation.

Other Senate co-sponsors include Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Altogether, more than a dozen senators on the Judiciary panel back the proposal.

Postal reform is another issue that could come up. The House is scheduled to vote on the Postal Service Reform Act this week, which is authored by Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and James Comer (R-K.Y.). This legislation would change the way the U.S. Postal Service handles it’s retirement benefits; under current law, the Postal Service “prepays” future retirement health benefits, which costs it billions of dollars annually. The bill also makes other changes to Postal Service operations.

And finally, there’s USICA. The House passed the America COMPETES Act last week, which is designed to help the United States compete with China in high-tech research and manufacturing. The Senate passed its own version of this legislation last summer – the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act – which is a major Schumer priority.

The current plan is for the Senate to take up the House bill, swap in USICA for that legislation, and pass the amended bill. Then the House and Senate can actually go to conference on the two competing bills, which is something that Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced they’d do months ago.

However, whether this happens before recess or not is unclear. There’s opposition from some Republicans to USICA, which means that the Senate may not have time to pass the amended bill before the recess.

Also worth watching:

→ Electoral reform talks: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) seemed to have surprised some colleagues when he said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that a rewrite of the Electoral Count Act will pass the Senate. The bipartisan group, led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), is expected to meet again this week to discuss their legislative efforts. Remember: the group has split up the details of the package, with pairs of senators overseeing action on different sections. They expect to touch gloves on them in the next few days.

→ Russia sanctions: Negotiations are continuing on a new sanction package targeting Russia over its threatened invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed at the border, and Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley has warned lawmakers that they could seize Kyiv in three days while causing huge numbers of civilian casualties, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich and Adam Sabes reported over the weekend.

New German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Washington and will meet with President Joe Biden on Monday. Scholz told the Washington Post that the Western response will be “united and decisive” in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine, but he was vague on the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has been a major sticking point in the sanctions negotiations. The White House, under pressure from the Germans, has leaned on Hill Democrats to leave Nord Stream 2 sanctions out of the proposed package, while Republicans are pressing hard for its inclusion.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Biden on Sunday, will visit Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron, who has taken a leading rule in trying to defuse the Ukraine crisis, heads to Kyiv on Tuesday. Scholz is also meeting with Putin soon.

👀

Who we’re watching

→ House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.): As we noted, government funding runs out on Feb. 18. DeLauro is in her first omnibus talks as House Appropriations chair, and her GOP counterpart – Rep. Kay Granger of Texas – has so far opposed any of the proposals being floated by the two parties. So a lot is riding on DeLauro here.

→ Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho): The chair and the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are trying to hammer out a deal sanctioning Russia over the threatened invasion of Ukraine. But there’s a disagreement over punishing Russia now or waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin to order military action – if he does.

→ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus: The RNC voted last week to censure Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). The once-powerful Freedom Caucus has been pushing McCarthy to take action against the pair. This RNC action gives them a new opening. So what does McCarthy do if the Freedom Caucus acts?

Also, McCarthy is certain to be asked whether he believes Jan. 6 was "legitimate political discourse" – as the RNC stated in its resolution censuring Cheney and Kinzinger over the weekend. Which, of course, it wasn’t.

📅

What we’re watching

→ Tuesday: The Senate Armed Services will hold a confirmation hearing for Michael Kurilla to serve as commander of U.S. Central Command. The House Intelligence Committee will hold a closed briefing to examine intelligence about the August 2021 U.S. attack on Kabul. Senate HELP will hold a hearing on “Examining Our COVID-19 Response: Improving Health Equity and Outcomes by Addressing Health Disparities.” Senate Foreign Relations will hold a confirmation hearing for several nominees, including Deborah Lipstadt to be the antisemitism envoy. 

→ Wednesday: House Oversight will hold a hearing on WMATA. Senate Commerce will hold a confirmation hearing on Gigi Sohn to be an FCC commissioner. Senate Judiciary will hold a hearing on “’Targeted Killing’ and the Rule of Law: The Legal and Human Costs of 20 Years of U.S. Drone Strikes.” Senate Foreign Relations will get a briefing on the Iran nuclear talks. Robert Malley, the U.S. envoy for Iran, will meet with the committee. Foreign Relations will also hold a hearing on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. Senate Homeland will hold a hearing on Shalanda Young’s nomination to be OMB director.

→ Thursday: Senate HELP will hold a hearing on the healthcare workforce shortage.

→ Team PAC, a super PAC bankrolled by billionaire GOP donor Richard Uihlein aimed at boosting Eric Greitens’ bid for the Senate, has a new ad suggesting that Missouri AG Eric Schmitt is too cozy with China. Thanks to AdImpact. 

DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD

→ ExxonMobil has signed Michael Best Strategies to lobby on “[c]arbon Capture and Sequestration Energy Policy Carbon Pricing Tax and Fuels Policy.” 

→ ​California Association of Port Authorities has signed Platinum Advisors to lobby on “issues related to US marine ports.” On the registration: Billy Tranghese, who was, until recently, Ways and Means Committee Chair Richie Neal’s (D-Mass.) chief of staff.

MOMENTS

10:15 a.m.: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will get the daily intelligence briefing.

1:30 p.m.: Biden will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

1:45 p.m.: Jen Psaki will brief.

3:15 p.m.: Biden and Scholz will hold a news conference. 

7 p.m.: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a moment of silence for the 900,000 people who died from Covid-19.

Week ahead: Wednesday: Biden will host CEOs of utility companies to talk about “his Build Back Better agenda, which will be the largest investment in combating climate change in U.S. history, lower energy costs for working families, create good-paying, union jobs, and build a clean energy future.” 

Thursday: Biden will travel. Friday: Biden will go to Camp David for the weekend.

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “N.J. Governor to End School Mask Mandate in Move to ‘Normalcy,’” by Tracy Tully

→ “Macron Tries to Avert a European War and Reshape European Security,” by Roger Cohen in Paris and Andrew Kramer in Kyiv

→ “California’s Supreme Court Was Split. Leondra Kruger Found the Center,” by Shawn Hubler in Sacramento and Katie Benner

WaPo

→ “Trump and allies try to redefine racism by casting White men as victims,” by Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

→ “‘Remain in Mexico’ is back under Biden, with little resemblance to the Trump version,” by Nick Miroff in El Paso and Arelis Hernández in San Antonio

Politico

→ “Retiring Senate spending chiefs go for broke,” by Burgess Everett and Jen Scholtes

→ “The GOP’s Jan. 6 committee dilemma: Disband it, or turn it on Dems?” by Olivia Beavers and Kyle Cheney

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