After a long recess, Congress is finally back. There are 57 days until Election Day and just a few weeks until a possible government shutdown.
President Joe Biden will be in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon for 9/11 events this week along with Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden welcomes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the White House Friday. Biden and Harris will then attend CBC events in Washington next weekend.
Harris will be in Pennsylvania today preparing for her critical debate with former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Following the 9/11 memorials, Harris heads to North Carolina on Thursday and is back to Pennsylvania on Friday. The Keystone State is where all the action is until Nov. 5.
This is a huge week for American politics. As we noted, Harris and Trump will meet in their first and potentially only debate in Philadelphia tomorrow night. A new New York Times/Siena poll has Trump leading Harris by a single point nationally but the vice president leading or tied with Trump in all the key battleground states. CBS News has similar results in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. This is going to be a slug match the rest of the way.
In reality, the debate is one of the only events that could dramatically alter the trajectory of the 2024 race. Harris has been hunkered down in Pittsburgh, preparing at the Omni William Penn Hotel with Karen Dunn and Sean Clegg. Philippe Reines is reprising his role as Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump has held a “handful” of sessions and would rather be refreshed on the particulars of his record, according to the NYT’s Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Katie Rogers and Reid Epstein. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has been involved in the prep sessions, as has former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii.).
But there’s a massive amount going on on the Hill this week now that lawmakers will be in town.
At 4 p.m. today, the House Rules Committee will take up Speaker Mike Johnson’s six-month stopgap funding bill, which has the SAVE Act attached to it. The 46-page bill would extend government funding through March 28. It’s scheduled to get a vote on Wednesday.
But the bill is silent on a whole host of priorities important to Democrats and many Republicans, including funding for telehealth programs and various other health care initiatives.
In quick succession on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and OMB Director Shalanda Young said that the CR was inadequate. Schumer reiterated Democrats’ position in a Dear Colleague letter on Sunday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned House and Senate appropriators in a letter that a six-month CR “would set us significantly behind our pacing challenge in the National Defense Strategy – the People’s Republic of China… The PRC does not operate under CRs.” House Republicans have scheduled a “China Week” this week to focus on legislation aimed at U.S. competition with the PRC.
And Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and House Appropriations Committee Democrats note that no “initial” CR in more than 40 years has been extended until March 28. Over the last decade, the appropriations process has only extended longer than that date in one year — 2017. That’s when House Republicans dragged out the process until May following Trump’s victory in November 2016. So yeah.
Republicans counter that Democrats will look out of touch by rejecting a provision that requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections.
But Democrats seem completely comfortable opposing the House Republican measure and demanding a three-month funding bill. There are a host of statutory provisions that expire in September and December, so the White House is keen on that date too. And the debt limit looms out there as well.
All this means the GOP proposal is a bit of a political theater. It will never become law. The worst part for the House GOP leadership is that they’re going to have to work overtime just to pass it.
As of now, we don’t anticipate that the Republican leadership will have trouble getting the bill out of the Rules Committee, although Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) says he’s opposed. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) is expected to vote yes on the rule and the underlying bill. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another Rules Committee member, has notched a big victory here, as the SAVE Act is his bill and it’s attached to the CR.
But we’re getting the sense that moderates are a bit queasy about this tactic. While they’re supportive of the SAVE Act, they aren’t interested in shutting down the government ahead of the election. So they may hold their nose and get this across the finish line, although several moderates we spoke to want to know what’s the next move and when Johnson will accept a clean stopgap bill.
Also: Here is the House GOP’s internal planning document detailing what they plan to vote on this month.
Senate tea leaves: In his Sunday Dear Colleague letter, Schumer hinted at a possible “show” vote on the long-stalled railway safety bill. The intention here would be to embarrass Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), whom Schumer has been slamming for being unable to bring along enough GOP support for the bill.
