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PRESENTED BYBY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPRemember we told you the Senate would probably finish Thursday and head home for the Memorial Day recess? Yeah, no. The world’s greatest deliberative body is … still deliberating. Or something. They have barely moved past their first procedural vote on the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, the large-scale package aimed at confronting China’s rise. When will they finish? Unclear. The Senate is in recess until 9 a.m. this morning. See you there. Such fun! Memorial Day recess! Awesome! What happened? Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) happened. He derailed everything late Thursday night when he objected to a “manager’s package” to revise the underlying bill, complaining he hadn’t had enough time to read the revisions. This package — negotiated out between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — included one of his own amendments, but that didn’t matter. Johnson, who is up for reelection this cycle, wanted votes on border security provisions, and Democrats said no. So Johnson blocked the Senate from finishing up. BTW: Johnson already got a vote on border security during this process. His amendment failed. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) joined Johnson in objecting. “So now here we are, at 11 o’clock, we come into the chamber, for the first time, I see what the amendments are in the manager’s package,” Johnson complained on the floor late Thursday night, pointing out that the bill had grown to more than 2,000 pages. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what these amendments are. I know what my amendment is. I don’t know what the rest of these are, I haven’t seen them,” So when will the final vote happen? No one is sure right now. Could be this morning, could be later today, could be tomorrow. Could be after recess. Who knows? This isn’t the endgame that Schumer had in mind when the Senate came into session on Thursday. His plan was for a smooth finish, he gets a win on this massive research and technology package to take on China, Republicans block a Jan. 6 commission, the Senate leaves. But the whole process was off from the start. This is the peril of a 50-50 Senate, where any one senator can tip the balance on any issue, and a Republican Party that’s still largely under the control of former President Donald Trump. After a three-hour delay Thursday afternoon, the Senate was able to cut off debate on USICA and pass a trade amendment by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). The Crapo amendment caused hours of delays, but eventually passed with 91 votes. Then Johnson & Co. did their thing. That dragged on until late into the day before the Senate adjourned to try again today. Johnson, Lee, Scott and possibly Rand Paul (R-Ky.) may each speak for an hour today. The Senate still has a lot to finish. → Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told us Thursday that he would force an amendment vote to strip Davis-Bacon language in the China bill. → There could be a vote on a budget point of order. → The aforementioned Schumer amendment to the China bill. The Senate already has cut off debate on this bill, but is running out the clock on post-cloture time. → Another procedural vote on the China package. There may be up to 30 hours of additional debate after that. It’s not clear if and how some of this time can be yielded back. → Then there will be a final passage vote on the China package. → A procedural vote to begin debate on the Jan. 6 commission. This is expected to fail, since there are not 10 Republicans who support the commission. → Two nomination votes: One on Anton Hajjar to be on the U.S. Postal Service board, and another on Eric Lauder to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. This entire episode helps explain our constant skepticism about the Senate. It has a hard time doing anything substantive. This China bill — Schumer’s signature legislation — is going to pass overwhelmingly, yet it’s going to take days just to finish it for reasons that have nothing to do with the underlying legislation. Remember this moment when you consider what else the Senate might pass this Congress. This is a largely non-controversial bill with wide bipartisan support. And it’s being considered before a holiday recess, which usually helps force compromise. This is like putting a ball on a tee for Juan Soto. He should hit it out of the park. But what the Senate is doing here is like if Soto weakly grounded out to second. BTW: Will this China bill pass the House? We honestly have no idea. There’s been some skepticism in the Democratic leadership that it will get through. Remember: Speaker Nancy Pelosi only has a three-seat cushion for passing bills. We will be on the Hill today — so subscribe to premium for more updates. 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 BIDEN BUDGET What Biden’s budget means — and what it doesn’t President Joe Biden’s White House will release his budget today: a $6-trillion blueprint that increases spending and imagines a larger and more muscular federal government. In other words: If there wasn’t a messy enough legislative flurry, we’re now in budget season. OK — to be clear: Presidential budgets have very little real impact. They’re not binding on Congress or the administration. They’re a statement of the president’s priorities, an aspirational document. But there are steep political impacts: → The White House budget may never get a vote on Capitol Hill. Or, as often happens, the opposition tries to force a vote on the president’s budget plan in a bid to embarrass vulnerable lawmakers in the president’s party. You can bet that the National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee will hang Biden’s proposed tax increases and new spending proposals around every Democrats’ neck. → Senate and House Democrats will release their budget at some point in the next month, and those will become the precursor to reconciliation. Those budget proposals matter. Democrats need to pass a budget resolution through both chambers if they want to consider bills using the reconciliation process, which allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority. This will be a huge issue for the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Thursday that he plans “to begin work as soon as this recess ends,” meaning early June. “Soon, when we come back.” Sanders was asked about his and Schumer’s aides’ recent meetings with the Senate parliamentarian. The parliamentarian will rule on what can be included in reconciliation bills. “A reconciliation bill is a long and complicated piece of legislation with many, many different provisions. It’s our job to make sure the provisions are consistent with the chamber’s rules.” Fact! AP’s Andy Taylor: “Social spending, business tax hike drive $6T Biden budget,” HOW THE BUDGET IS PLAYING The NYT, WSJ, WaPo and N.Y. Post front pages on the budget this morning. A LOOK INSIDE SENATORS’ POCKETS OK, we’re public record nerds, and we love looking at financial disclosures. A bunch of them came out in the last 10 days, and here are some highlights. → Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) got $13,000 in checks for his wedding. → Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) reported getting $382,500 in book payments. → Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made $250,000 on a book advance. Warren reported signing a contract to write a book called “Pinkie Promises.” → Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made $170,000 in book royalties. → Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) got $23,427 from Florida International University for teaching a class there. MOMENTS 9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his intelligence briefing. 10 a.m.: VP Kamala Harris will deliver the keynote at the U.S. Naval Academy graduation. 10:45 a.m.: Biden and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam will speak about Covid-19 in Alexandria. 11:45 a.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will leave Andrews for Hampton, Va. They’ll arrive at Joint Base Langley-Eustis at 12:30 p.m. Karine Jean-Pierre will brief on the flight. 1:20 p.m.: The Bidens will speak at Langley-Eustis. 2:40 p.m.: The Bidens will leave Hampton for Wilmington, Del., where they will spend Memorial Day weekend. CLIP FILE NYT → “Russia Appears to Carry Out Hack Through System Used by U.S. Aid Agency,” by David Sanger and Nicole Perlroth → “U.S. Is Said to Have Unexamined Intelligence to Pore Over on Virus Origins,” by Julian Barnes and David Sanger: “President Biden’s call for a 90-day sprint to understand the origins of the coronavirus pandemic came after intelligence officials told the White House they had a raft of still-unexamined evidence that required additional computer analysis that might shed light on the mystery, according to senior administration officials. “The officials declined to describe the new evidence. But the revelation that they are hoping to apply an extraordinary amount of computer power to the question of whether the virus accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory suggests that the government may not have exhausted its databases of Chinese communications, the movement of lab workers and the pattern of the outbreak of the disease around the city of Wuhan. “In addition to marshaling scientific resources, Mr. Biden’s push is intended to prod American allies and intelligence agencies to mine existing information — like intercepts, witnesses or biological evidence — as well as hunt for new intelligence to determine whether the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak.” → “Biden’s Fossil Fuel Moves Clash With Pledges on Climate Change,” by Lisa Friedman WaPo → “Blinken heads to Central America as relations with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala fray,” by Karen DeYoung → “Biden administration wants to give more power back to states to block pipelines,” by Dino Grandoni → “With Belarus isolated by the West, Russia’s Putin meets with his ally Lukashenko,” by Mary Ilyushina and Isabelle Khurshudyan in Moscow → “Sicknick’s family and the police officers who protected lawmakers Jan. 6 plead with GOP senators to back investigation,” by Felicia Sonmez, Karoun Demirjian and Peter Hermann WSJ → “FDA, J&J Near Deal for Covid-19 Vaccine Production at Baltimore Plant,” by Thomas M. Burton Politico → “Neera Tanden is back. Could she be more powerful?” by Natasha Korecki and Anita Kumar Boston Globe → “Claire Cronin, the No. 2 Democrat in Mass. House, is being vetted as Biden searches for US Ambassador to Ireland," by Matt Stout and Liz Goodwin 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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