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![]() PRESENTED BY![]() BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPTwo days of congressional drama ended with wins for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership on Tuesday. All 220 Democrats voted for a $3.5 trillion budget resolution embedded in a House rule. The measure also set a Sept. 27 deadline for a House vote on the Senate’s $1 trillion infrastructure package. The clock now starts on passage of a massive reconciliation bill that’s key to enacting President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, especially the American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan. Several hours later, the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. This is the Democrats’ latest effort to restore provisions on minority voting originally enacted as part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but that were struck down by the Supreme Court several years ago. However, like the “For The People Act,” the Democrats’ big election reform bill, this legislation isn’t going anywhere in the Senate unless the filibuster disappears, and that ain’t happening. There’s a big march for voting rights in D.C. this weekend, which is the 58th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial. So this was a high-profile moment on an issue that has transfixed the nation since November’s presidential election. Suddenly House Democrats were all about love and togetherness. Well, not really. But House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) suggested it was the media, not his colleagues, who were responsible for the theatrics. “So am I to understand that the media, after suggesting that we were in chaos the last 24 hours, and we’re on the brink of success in moving this forward, is now moving onto the next controversy — allegedly — without us being given the opportunity to work through the committee process in a collaborative way, which I expect will be done?” Jeffries said. “And notwithstanding whatever drama people are going to put on the Democratic Caucus, as has been the case since Jan. 3 of 2019, we’re going to continue to get things done for the people.” → Quick aside: You have to admire someone who says “notwithstanding” in the middle of a conversation. So what did we learn from the House’s colorful two-day Washington jaunt? Here are five takeaways that we had: 1) September is gonna be brutal. As we’ve pointed out repeatedly, the number of high-profile political and policy issues that hit in September is stunning. Enhanced federal unemployment benefits, instituted during the Covid-19 pandemic, expire Sept. 6. We mentioned the Democrats’ big reconciliation package above; the (non-binding) deadline for House committees to craft their individual portions of that bill is Sept. 15. There’s the debt limit, which CBO estimates the Treasury Department will reach sometime in October or November, so Congress will need to move legislation on that soon. Government funding runs out on Sept. 30; those two issues could be paired together in a really high-profile partisan fight (more on this below.) The federal highway program authorization expires on Sept. 30, as does the National Flood Insurance Program authorization. The authorization for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) ends at the same time. Increased benefits under SNAP, the massive food assistance program, end on Sept. 30 too. All of these issues are important individually. Collectively, they’re enormous. 2) The House of Threats. There haven’t been margins this tight in the House (or Senate) in a generation. For Democrats, the razor-thin ratio has only exacerbated the split between their moderates and progressives. This week, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and the moderates got all the attention. Their threat to oppose the budget resolution unless they got a date certain for a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill forced Pelosi to negotiate when she didn’t want to. Then, as soon as the budget resolution passed, progressives renewed their threat to oppose the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless moderates back the upcoming reconciliation package, which is going to be a big problem. 3) The order matters. Continuing in this line, the order in which the House votes on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package may turn out to be very important. There’s a Sept. 27 deadline to vote on the infrastructure bill. And there’s only an outside chance the House will be ready to vote on reconciliation by then. It’s doable, but very tough. Progressives fear that moderates will call for party unity on the infrastructure bill in order to give Biden a win, and then turn around and oppose the reconciliation package over tax increases and big social program spending. So how does Pelosi and the leadership manage this? 4) The debt limit-CR fight is coming. Tuesday’s vote on the rule for the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution made it official — there’s going to be a partisan showdown over government funding and the debt limit this fall. We all know it’s coming, but the rule included language preventing a clean vote on a separate resolution raising the debt limit. Democrats are now expected to pair a debt-limit increase next month with a continuing resolution to keep federal agencies open beyond Sept. 30, which is when government funding runs out. “That’s the tentative plan,” House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richie Neal (D-Mass.) told us. When asked about GOP threats to oppose a debt-limit increase because of Democratic plans for trillions of dollars in tax increases and higher spending, Neal argued Republicans are being hypocritical. “The problem they’re going to have is they have voted for many of these issues,” Neal insisted. “This is about past spending, not new spending. 5) Biden stayed out of it. With so much at stake this week, we thought there’d be more direct involvement by the president in the House action. After all, Biden and senior White House officials were a key part of the Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. But like his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, Biden has largely left the House action to Pelosi and her top lieutenants, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. He and his staff know everything that’s going on, of course — his leg affairs staff played a key role — and Biden did make phone calls. He just hasn’t weighed in as much as he did on the Senate side. That may change during the reconciliation debate, we’ll keep an eye on it. Reminder: Punchbowl News is off next week.
PRESENTED BY CLIMATE POWER It’s time for Congress to pass the Build Back Better plan. This plan from President Biden and Democrats in Congress will lower costs for America’s working families, create millions of new jobs and put our clean energy economy into hyperdrive. It does all of this by making sure big corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. This is a win for everyday American families when they could really use one. WONKERY House Democrats can still be rolled ![]() Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that not only is she “committing to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27,” she’s going to “rally House Democratic support for its passage.” That’s a pretty strong statement from the speaker. Pelosi also told CNN’s Daniella Diaz that she never really had a deal with the moderates who were threatening to bring down the $3.5 trillion budget resolution, saying they just wanted “clarification” on the timeline for a vote. Classic. But the Democratic landscape quickly has gotten complicated once again. Progressives say they won’t vote for the $1 trillion Senate bipartisan infrastructure package until after reconciliation is passed. This was about as predictable as the sun rising. And, of course, it flies in the face of what the moderates demanded, which is the infrastructure vote first, and then reconciliation. However, Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership have options to wiggle out of this Sept. 27 deadline, if they need to for any reason. → First of all, the rule that the House passed Tuesday after Pelosi’s non-deal deal with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who took the lead for moderates, says that the House needs to “consider” the infrastructure bill by Sept. 27. That doesn’t mean that the House needs to wrap up consideration of the bill. It just needs to begin consideration. The rule does not mandate a vote. → Secondly, the leadership can change this agreement by inserting new language in a different rule, thereby nullifying the deal with the moderates. This would require a House vote, but Pelosi can do anything with 218 votes. → Pelosi has a third option, which we’ll call the “Break-the-glass” plan. Clause 1(c) of House Rule XIX allows Pelosi to unilaterally reschedule the vote. This is called “time-out authority.” Pelosi can “postpone further consideration of [a] measure in the House to such time as may be designated by the Speaker.” This was designed for emergency situations, but like any rule, can be applied however the majority wants. JAN. 6 UPDATE Will Jan. 6 probe run up until Nov. 2022 elections? Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss..) chair of the select committee investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, made some news this week when he said his panel may seek to obtain phone, text and email records for “several hundred people” as part of its probe. That’s a hugely ambitious task that could require months to complete. Which got us thinking again: How long will this committee take to wrap up its work? You’ll recall that the bipartisan commission first proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to handle the Jan. 6 investigation would’ve been required to finish up by year’s end. Senate Republicans blocked that proposal from being enacted — despite bipartisan support in the House — fearing the investigation would drag into 2022. So Pelosi went ahead with the select committee, which pretty much guarantees that’ll be the case. As for when he hopes to finish, Thompson was cautious, although he didn’t put any time limits on the panel’s probe. “I think if Congress had done the initial [proposal], with the Dec. 31 sunset, it could be done by then,” Thompson said. “Because [Republicans] delayed the process, it now pushes that Dec. 31 timeline back. Now how far back, we’re not sure yet.” Asked if the investigation could extend up until the midterm elections, Thompson said, “I would say our goal is not to. But a lot depends on the complexity of the information we collect.” Thompson noted that other House committees that had been looking into the Capitol attack are turning over their findings to the select committee, which should make the process run more quickly. However, the select committee hasn’t even fully staffed up yet or even begun to send out letters to telecom and social media companies to obtain phone records, the first step in obtaining such data. There are potential legal fights over subpoenas or executive privilege claims if the panel seeks to interview former Trump administration officials. Or even Donald Trump himself. PRESENTED BY CLIMATE POWER President Biden and Democrats in Congress have a plan to lower costs for America’s working families. The clean energy investments in the Build Back Better plan will lower our electric bills and create good-paying jobs. It’s a win for everyday American families when they can really use one. VP HARRIS ABROAD VP Kamala Harris visits McCain memorial ![]() Vice President Kamala Harris visits a memorial for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the third anniversary of his death. The memorial is located where his plane was shot down in Hanoi, Vietnam. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? Moulton and Meijer went to Kabul, for some reason In the midst of the largest airlift in decades, back-bench Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) — both Iraq combat veterans — secretly flew to Kabul to do, well, something. The Washington Post scooped this yesterday evening. The Post reported Moulton and Meijer flew on an empty military plane from the United States to Kabul, and then took a flight home after a few hours in country. The Pentagon and Biden administration are furious. Speaker Nancy Pelosi already disdains Moulton, so this will only add to her dislike of the Massachusetts Democrat. (We can’t wait to hear what she says about him today at her news conference.) Interestingly enough, Moulton and Meijer both had proxy voting letters filed with the House. Moulton told Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), his proxy, that he was going to be in Massachusetts, not Kabul — a bit of a difference, we’d say! Here’s his proxy letter, which states “I continue to be unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.” Meijer voted by proxy yesterday, as well, and his letter says: “I am unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.” Of course, neither of their absences has anything to do with the public health emergency. Pelosi sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday, reminding them they have no business in Afghanistan right now. It seemed obvious, but alas. MOMENTS 9 a.m.: Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly news conference. 9:30 a.m.: President Joe Biden will receive the daily intelligence briefing. 10 a.m.: Biden will get briefed on Afghanistan. 11 a.m.: Pelosi will speak after meeting with the Poor People’s Campaign. 11:30 a.m.: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will hold a press briefing. Noon: Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Jason Crow (D-Ga.) will speak about the evacuation process from Afghanistan. 1 p.m.: Jen Psaki will brief. 2 p.m.: Biden will meet with members of his Cabinet on cybersecurity. 4:30 p.m.: Biden will sign two bills into law in the Oval Office. CLIP FILE NYT → “Military Ramps Up Evacuations From Kabul, but Bottlenecks Persist,” by Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt → “Supreme Court Allows Revival of Trump-Era ‘Remain in Mexico’ Asylum Policy,” by Adam Liptak → “New Israeli Leader Backs Hard Line on Iran but Softer Tone With U.S.,” by Patrick Kingsley and Isabel Kershner in Jerusalem → Media Equation Column: “How Mexico Helped The Times Get Its Journalists Out of Afghanistan,” by Ben Smith WaPo → “Biden pushes to complete Afghan evacuation by Aug. 31 — but orders backup plan,” by Sean Sullivan, Anne Gearan, Dan Lamothe and John Hudson → “Separation mixes with hope and uncertainty in the U.S. base hosting Afghan evacuees,” by Loveday Morris at Ramstein Air Base in Germany → “In latest bow to Trump, GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania plan to launch hearings on 2020 vote,” by Elise Viebeck WSJ → “In Kabul, Private Rescue Efforts Grow Desperate as Time to Evacuate Afghans Runs Out,” by Dion Nissenbaum → “New U.S. Intelligence Report Doesn’t Provide Definitive Conclusion on Covid-19 Origins,” by Michael R. Gordon and Warren P. Strobel AP → “Duterte confirms he’ll run for Philippines VP next year,” by Kiko Rosario and David Rising → “1st sentence to be handed down in Michigan gov’s kidnap plot,” by David Eggert and Ed White LAT → “Coronavirus cases lead to missed school days for 6,500 LAUSD students during first week,” by Howard Blume Politico → “How screwed is Adam Kinzinger?” by Ally Mutnick PRESENTED BY CLIMATE POWER President Biden and Democrats in Congress have a plan to lower costs for America’s working families. Tax cuts for clean energy and clean transportation will put our economy into hyperdrive. They’ll support companies that are deploying and building wind, solar, electric vehicles, and battery storage — helping them do so faster and at a bigger scale. This will save American families money on their energy bills and create millions of new good-paying union jobs. This plan will create jobs in cities, suburbs, and rural communities across America — 75 percent of the new jobs won’t require a college degree — AND save Americans millions of dollars by lowering electricity bills. It’s a win for everyday American families when they can really use one. Congress, let’s get it done. ![]() 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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