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PRESENTED BYBY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPCloture Thursday: As he closed the Senate Tuesday night, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) filed a key procedural tactic on two big issues: a motion to begin debate on the Jan. 6 commission, as well as one to close out debate on the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. That’s a wide-ranging China-related legislative package that he’s been trying to guide through the chamber for months. This is a key moment for Schumer. Democrats look certain to lose the Jan. 6 commission vote — meaning fail to overcome a Republican filibuster — as there aren’t 10 Senate Republicans who’ll vote to bring up the House-passed bill. So far, only GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Utah) have indicated they’ll support the legislation, which 35 House Republicans backed. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) have said they’d like to see some changes in the bill and haven’t committed to voting for it. Otherwise, there are not a lot of GOP votes in play. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been vocally opposed to the commission. At this point, Democrats are more likely to get a political issue to hit Republicans with than a commission to determine what really happened that terrible day. On the Innovation and Competition Act, Schumer is trying to use the upcoming Memorial Day recess as a backstop to a bill he very badly wants to pass before the Senate leaves town. If there’s no agreement beforehand, Thursday’s vote to cut off debate will take place one hour after the Senate comes into session. When he announced Thursday’s deadline, Schumer indicated there would be additional amendment votes before then. Schumer also pointed out that he’s given Republicans more amendment votes than he has Democrats. If cloture is invoked, there’ll be up to 30 hours of debate before final passage — unless a deal is cut to shorten that timetable. That could mean late Friday or even Saturday for final passage without a time agreement. It’s clear Schumer wants this bill done before the Senate recesses. “If both sides continue to work in good faith to schedule amendment votes, which has been the hallmark so far, there is no reason we can’t finish the competition bill by the end of the week,” Schumer said last night. “And we will look for a signal from our Republican friends that, when we cooperate, we will move forward and not move to block or delay unnecessarily.” Sen. Todd Young (Ind.), who has been Schumer’s main GOP partner on the legislation, told us before Schumer’s announcement that he didn’t want to see the Democratic leader schedule a cloture vote. But Young also noted he wasn’t trying to suggest to Schumer how to run the Senate either. “It’s more important that my colleagues feel that they’ve been fully heard and we pass it with that sentiment felt,” Young said. “Obviously, he keeps his own counsel and he’s making his own leadership decision, but I think he has got the message that our side wants to be fully heard before cloture is [invoked].” PRESENTED BY FACEBOOK The internet has changed a lot since 1996 – internet regulations should too. It’s been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: – Protecting people’s privacy – Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms – Preventing election interference – Reforming Section 230 THE SENATE GLOSSARY What they say, and what they mean The Senate glossary. Senators talk. Sometimes they talk a lot. They try to wow us with torrents of words. Some of these words are meaningful, some are meaningless. This morning, during this hectic period of legislating, we’re going to try to decode for you just what senators are talking about, and why they’re saying what they’re saying. → Larry Summers: Summers, as Republicans like to remind us, was former President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary. But now he’s speaking out against the Biden administration, warning that President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion dollar spending proposals are the “least responsible” fiscal policy in decades. Summers is the most recent example in a long line of public figures who turn against their own party with some level of glee. Why? Administration aides say Summers wants to remain relevant. The Democratic Party of today wants nothing to do with him because of his corporate ties. And Republicans are gleeful that Summers has turned on Biden. Example: Here’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Remember this is a person who is an ally of the Biden administration, who wants the administration to be successful … Another bit of good advice from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, to his good friends in the Biden administration.” Translation: This is an easy one for McConnell. Anytime you hear a Republican mention Summers, they want you to know that a longtime Democrat who served in senior posts in the Obama and Clinton administrations is now trashing Biden. Summers has put this up on a tee for McConnell. In fact, we’d argue Summers is the best surrogate for Republicans these days. We could not find a single person in the West Wing who’s listening to Summers, however. → Biden is a puppet being controlled by others: This GOP-fed chatter has picked up in recent days. You’ll hear lots of Senate Republicans suggest that Biden isn’t making his own decisions and is controlled by his staff or Democratic leaders on the Hill. Examples: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told us: “If the president gets to make the decision [on the Republican infrastructure offer], he will accept this … Let me just leave it at that.” Or Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.): “My impression is that the staff of the White House isn’t as inclined to make a deal perhaps as the president is.” Here’s Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.): “We were pretty close when we met with President Biden in the White House. So one of two things is happening. Either he has changed his mind, or Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, have overridden what the president told us.” No. 1: This feeds into a trope that Biden is old and not completely with it. Not true. No. 2: It also suggests that Biden himself is a dealmaker, but he’s surrounded by aides or party bosses who’re trying to hold the president back from doing what he really wants to do. This is very reminiscent of “Let Reagan be Reagan” from the 1980s — an older president surrounded by aides and advisers who allegedly undermine his true instincts. → 2019 was the best economy of our lifetime: You’ll hear this a lot these days around the Capitol. Republicans say that their 2017 tax cut gave America the best economy in 60 years, and by reversing the tax cuts, Democrats are seeking to send the country into an economic spiral. Examples: Wicker, on Tuesday: “We’re gonna make an offer, which will mean that we’re not going to disturb the 2017 tax bill which gave us the best economy of my lifetime.” McConnell frequently says that the United State had the best economy in 50 years before the pandemic. There’s some truth to this. Unemployment was historically low, wage growth was strong, and Wall Street was riding high. The Trump economy was good. But it wasn’t that good. Certainly not as good as Clinton’s second term, or a big chunk of the Reagan era. GDP growth was solid but not overwhelming, especially considering that the U.S. government was running a trillion dollar deficit in a growing economy. Trade deficits were enormous, and inequality was — and is — getting worse. Also, there’s that whole 2020 Covid-related recession thing. You may have seen it in the newspaper. It’s almost like Republicans took two 2019s and woke up in 2021. → Big and bold: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) should trademark this phrase. At the very least, he’s gotta make some T-shirts. It’s even on his campaign website. We’re not gonna bore you with how many times Schumer has used this phrase in the last four months, it’s a lot. Like you need an algorithm to figure it out. We’ve got some examples of it here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. → Everything is on the table: This is an all-time Hill favorite, right up there with “The devil’s in the details,” “Kicking the can down the road,” and “I don’t negotiate in the press.” Schumer is often asked whether he’ll blow up the filibuster over any given issue — voting rights, gun laws, immigration, or whatever the issue of the day is. Schumer then responds with “Everything is on the table” This is usually followed by its companion cliche, “Failure is not an option.” We get why Schumer is saying this, and we acknowledge that it’s as much for his own colleagues as it is for Republicans and the press. Yet Schumer has said this so frequently that it’s lost some of its impact. You can find examples of that here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Schumer is carefully working through the Democratic agenda to see if he can get all 50 of his Democrats behind this idea. It doesn’t seem like it will ever happen, yet it definitely helps Schumer to have it out there anyway. And as majority leader, Schumer can keep pressure on everyone, which he seems to be doing. NOMS, NOMS, NOMS Senate Judiciary takes up Chipman’s nomination for ATF If you care about federal gun policy, Wednesday’s hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee should be important to you. David Chipman, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he could face some tough questioning from GOP senators. Chipman worked for ATF for 25 years. His assignments included responding to the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Since leaving the agency in 2012, Chipman has become an outspoken gun-control advocate. For the last five years, Chipman has served as a senior advisor at Giffords, the gun-control group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.). Giffords — who is married to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) — was severely wounded during a 2011 mass shooting in which six people died and 15 others were wounded. For gun rights groups, Chipman’s views — he’s for an assault weapons ban, limits on magazine size, and universal background checks, among other positions — are an anathema, and they strongly oppose him heading an agency that has so much influence over the gun industry and owners. However, Chipman has strong support from the gun-control movement and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Dozens of House Democrats signed onto a letter backing him, as did more than 60 gun control and allied groups. Seventeen current state AGs offered their support as well. ATF hasn’t had a permanent director since 2015, and only one Senate-confirmed director since 2006. “There are some who want no one at the ATF,” Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told us on Tuesday night. “They want to keep it empty, they want to keep as little enforcement as possible. They want to argue we should just live with existing [gun] laws, but they don’t want to enforce those laws. There are others who believe the ATF is a viable, important agency. I think [Chipman] is qualified to do it.” DEAR POTUS Jewish Dems send Biden a letter on antisemitism Antisemitism has been on an upswing in recent months, and a group of Jewish Democrats has sent a letter to President Joe Biden, drawing his attention to the issue and urging him to appoint a “United States Ambassador-at Large to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.” The letter also calls out some progressive Democrats who have criticized Israel in recent weeks, as well as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who likened U.S. vaccination policies to Nazi Germany. Here is a bit of the letter, the full version of which you can read here:
This letter was organized by Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and signed by Reps. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.). MOMENTS 9:50 a.m.: President Joe Biden will receive his daily intelligence briefing. 10 a.m.: The CEOs of Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley will appear before the Senate Banking Committee 12:30 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief in the briefing room. 3:30 p.m.: VP Kamala Harris will meet with members of Congress about broadband. CLIP FILE NYT → “Iran Talks Loom as a New Test of Biden’s Israel Ties,” by Michael Crowley → Tom Friedman: “How the Mideast Conflict Is Blowing Up the Region, the Democratic Party and Every Synagogue in America” WaPo → “McCarthy, other congressional leaders condemn Greene for comparing coronavirus masking policies to the Holocaust,” by Mike DeBonis and John Wagner: “[Greene] attacked two Jewish journalists who criticized her statements. ‘I never compared it to the Holocaust, only the discrimination against Jews in early Nazi years,’ she said, quoting a tweet from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. Greene later called Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman a ‘liar’ and accused him of being ‘all in for this sick Socialism just like good little state run media.’” → “Top U.S. health official calls for follow-up investigation into pandemic’s origins,” by Yasmeen Abutaleb, Shane Harris and Ben Guarino WSJ → “Exxon vs. Activists: Battle Over Future of Oil and Gas Reaches Showdown,” by Christopher M. Matthews AP → “Many wait uneasily as Biden unwinds key Trump asylum policy,” by Elliot Spagat in San Diego Politico → “McConnell, the minority leader with ‘veto’ power,” by Burgess Everett PRESENTED BY FACEBOOK Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It’s time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today’s toughest challenges. See how we’re taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations. Enjoying Punchbowl News AM? Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat! Your referral link is: Or share via You currently have: 0 referrals
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