#DemsGetThingsDone: The Bipartisan Background Checks Act
Tag: Democratic House
#DemsGetThingsDone: The SHIELD Act
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Dems eye payback against Trump’s immigration tactics
A fight with Trump over his border wall, however, could fracture the Democratic caucus.
Democrats say they’re no longer willing to throw cash to President Donald Trump for his border demands.
But they still can’t escape making a deal with Trump — a scenario that could divide the caucus over exactly how far to take their fight against the president.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are preparing to rebuff Trump’s requests for additional wall money this month as payback for Trump’s summer of hard-line immigration moves — a position that’s in contrast to the billions of dollars that Democrats have handed over for border fencing and security since the start of Trump’s term, according to half a dozen lawmakers and aides.
Freshman Democrats to chairs: Follow PAYGO, get CBO scores before markups
Letter led by Rep. Sharice Davids asks House committee chairs to ensure legislation does not add to deficit
Ten moderate Democratic freshmen are sending a letter Wednesday to House committee chairs asking that their panels better adhere to the chamber’s rule for offsetting legislation that would add to the deficit.
Back in the majority for the first time in eight years, Democrats kicked off the 116th Congress by reinstating a pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, provision in House rules. Under the provision, legislation that would increase the deficit must be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.
(When Republicans took the majority from Democrats in 2011, they replaced PAYGO with cut-as-you-go, or CUTGO, which required deficit-increasing legislation be offset with only spending cuts, preventing the use of revenue increases as pay-fors.)
View the complete September 4 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.
GOP on defensive over Dem votes on policies geared toward women
House Republicans are playing defense as Democrats hold votes on a series of measures that could make it more difficult for the GOP to recoup losses with female voters in 2018.
The House on Wednesday approved the Paycheck Fairness Act, which strengthens penalties against employers that discriminate against female workers with lower wages.
And this week, the House is set to vote on a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) after it expired in late December.
View the complete March 31 article by Cristina Marcos on The Hill website here.
House passes sweeping electoral reform bill
House Democrats passed a sweeping electoral reform bill in a 234-193 party-line vote on Friday.
The For The People Act, better known as H.R. 1 — spearheaded by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) — aims to expand voting rights, implement new ethics rules and increase transparency in elections, according to its proponents.
The bill includes provisions to enable automatic voter registration, strengthen resources to stave off foreign threats on elections and make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers.
View the complete March 8 article by Juliegrace Brufke on The Hill website here.
House Democrats’ latest gambit for ending shutdown involves bills Republicans negotiated
Plan is to bring up spending bills next week that both chambers agreed to in conference last year
House Democrats plan to ramp up the pressure on Republicans to reopen the government by holding votes next week on spending bills the GOP helped negotiate.
The plan is to hold a vote on a package of six fiscal 2019 appropriations bills that were agreed to by House and Senate negotiators last year but never brought to the floor.
The package also includes language to pay federal employees who have been working without pay or who have been furloughed during the partial government shutdown.
View the complete January 17 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.
Pelosi asks Trump to delay State of The Union until government reopens
The speaker asked the president to delay the address scheduled for Jan. 29 or deliver it in writing
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday asking he delay his Jan. 29 State of the Union address, or deliver it in writing, unless the government is reopened.
The California Democrat said a State of the Union address has never been delivered during a government shutdown “since the start of modern budgeting” in fiscal 1977. Pelosi also cited security concerns because the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security are not funded.
Wednesday marks the 26th day of the government shutdown over border security funding, the longest in modern history.
Democrats turn down White House invitation for shutdown talks
No Democrats attended a lunch on Tuesday with President Trump designed to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown and fund a border wall, as the president’s attempt to force leaders back to the negotiating table fell flat.
Trump invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.
“Today, the president offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
View the complete January 15 article by Jordan Fabian and Scott Wong on The Hill website here.