Today is Jan. 6, the fourth anniversary of the attack on the Capitol. And it’s the constitutionally appointed day for Congress to certify Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory.
It snowed in D.C. It’s pretty significant snow, meaning several inches are on the ground already with more expected. Maybe lots more. The federal government and D.C. public schools are closed.
Keep an eye on the Metro website to see if your train is messed up. Bus service is already reduced due to the weather. And remember, roads are closed around the Capitol today because of the election certification proceedings.
On any other day, Congress would just fold it up and cancel everything. But not today!
What a snowy Washington means for certification. Let’s start with this: Speaker Mike Johnson is intent on having Congress certify the presidential election today. The House GOP leadership told members to stay in town over the weekend and many did. Many House Democrats left town. But Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are expected to have enough lawmakers present to conduct the proceedings.
If any of this changes before the appointed time of 1 p.m., we’ll let you know on our texting platform.
Johnson and Thune could theoretically delay the proceedings if necessary. The statute says Congress “shall be in session” but doesn’t say it needs to finish on Jan. 6. But we’ve been told that congressional leaders want to start and finish today.
Your Congress this week. This week is going to be pretty quiet in the Capitol. Between the snow and former President Jimmy Carter lying in state in the Rotunda, there’s not much for lawmakers to do.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced two bills would be considered pursuant to a rule: the Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29) introduced by Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), and Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) H.R. 23, which would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
However, Johnson hasn’t yet appointed a Rules Committee chair or named members to the panel. We’re told those selections could come this week.
House Republicans also have a number of bills related to Amtrak and disaster relief lined up.
House GOP weekend plans. We scooped on the Punchbowl News text platform Sunday that Trump will host a broad cross-section of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago next weekend. As we all know, Trump enjoys a give-and-take with elected officials.
The House Freedom Caucus will be first up, with a meeting on Jan. 10. Theoretically, the HFC should be Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill. But there are factions in the group that will drive a hard bargain with Trump over deficit reduction and other fiscal matters.
On Jan. 11, Trump will have meetings with House Republicans focused on the state and local tax deduction. This is mostly blue state Republicans — think New Yorkers, New Jerseyans and Californians. The SALT cap, instituted as part of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, is one of the gnarliest issues Trump has to solve in renewing and expanding the tax rates. Trump has said he wants to fix the SALT cap, but he hasn’t provided details on how. He faces a skeptical House GOP leadership and membership in getting this done.
House GOP committee chairs will also be at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 11. And a broad selection of the House Republicans will be there on Jan. 12.
But there’s a risk here. When it comes to legislating, Trump is susceptible to latching onto the advice of the last person he spoke to. He’ll have literally dozens of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago on the brink of his inauguration. This will be a challenge for Johnson. He may want to sit in on all these meetings.
Case in point: Johnson told House Republicans at an off-campus retreat over the weekend that Trump favors a single, large-scale reconciliation package, which we also scooped. Trump publicly voiced support for this approach in a social media post Sunday. This comes after people in Trump’s orbit and Thune had spent weeks advocating for a two-step approach. Much more on reconciliation below.
Noms. This is the final week for Trump’s Cabinet nominees to assuage senators’ concerns before confirmation hearings begin next week.
The focus will shift to Senate Democrats, as many of Trump’s nominees have already met with nearly every GOP senator. It’ll be interesting to see which Democrats step forward for this, especially with some of the more controversial nominees. Most Democrats haven’t met with any yet.
Here’s some news: Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, is picking up support from the parents of Kayla Mueller, a U.S. aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria and killed by ISIS terrorists. Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, spoke at the RNC convention in 2020 as well.
Gabbard’s record and public comments on Syria have been under a microscope, including her secret 2017 meeting with recently-deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Carter in the Capitol. Carter will lay in state in the Capitol ahead of his funeral service on Thursday. Congressional leaders will hold a ceremony for Carter in the Rotunda on Tuesday, followed by a two-day viewing period. Carter’s state funeral in Georgia took place over the weekend.
