Tag: U.S. House

House passes bill to grant flexibility for small business aid program

The Hill logoThe House on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation to provide struggling small businesses with more flexibility while using loans provided through the Paycheck Protection Program, in the latest effort by lawmakers to help limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill passed easily by a vote of 417-1.

The legislation, authored by Reps. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), expands the terms of the loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created by the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that Congress and the Trump administration enacted in late March.

But lawmakers say that additional changes to the program are needed following complaints from small businesses that they’re not able to take advantage of the loans under the current terms. Restaurants and hair salons, for instance, largely still face coronavirus-imposed safety restrictions and aren’t in a position to rehire all their employees in the time currently required to qualify for loan forgiveness. Continue reading.

House passes Uighur human rights bill via proxy vote

Axios logoThe House voted 413-1 on Wednesday in favor of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, a Senate bill that would sanction Chinese officials responsible for detaining up to 2 million members of the ethnic minority in forced labor camps in Xinjiang.

Why it matters: The passage of the bill will further exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and China, which are already running extremely high as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s aggressive actions toward Hong Kong.

  • The bill requires President Trump to submit reports to Congress identifying Chinese officials and others who’ve played a role in human rights abuses toward the Uighur population.
  • Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the bill, which has widespread bipartisan support. It will now go to the president’s desk for a signature, though Trump has not yet indicated whether he will enact it into law.
  • Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the sole “no” vote. Continue reading.

Tensions flare over GOP’s Obama probes

The Hill logoTensions are flaring in the Senate as Republicans prepare to ramp up their investigations into Obama-era officials.

Amid public and private pressure from President Trump, GOP senators are increasingly embracing calls to use their congressional power to investigate some of Trump’s biggest grievances stemming from the Obama administration, including the origins of the Russia investigation, the court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Hunter Biden.

Democrats argue Republicans are using their committee gavels to probe Trump’s political enemies, an effort they say is designed to hunt for political fodder against former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, while inadvertently spreading Russian misinformation. Continue reading.

House adopts historic rules changes to allow remote voting

The Hill logoThe House on Friday adopted historic rules changes to allow lawmakers to cast votes and conduct committee meetings remotely during the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to resume legislative work that has been on hold amid safety concerns over gathering in the Capitol.

The vote to enact the resolution fell along party lines, 217-189, with three Democrats — Reps. Rick Larsen (Wash.), Elaine Luria (Va.) and Tom O’Halleran (Ariz.) — joining Republicans to vote no.

Lawmakers have been frustrated over the last two months that much of their usual legislative and oversight work has been effectively sidelined while they largely stayed away from Washington, D.C., out of concerns about traveling to and congregating in one of the nation’s coronavirus hot spots. Continue reading.

5 takeaways from coronavirus whistleblower Rick Bright’s testimony

Washington Post logoA Trump administration vaccine expert who says he was removed from a key role for raising concerns about the federal government’s coronavirus response — and its promotion of unproven drugs to treat the virus — testified Thursday before Congress.

Rick Bright became a whistleblower after being removed from his post as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services.

Here are some takeaways from Bright’s testimony. Continue reading.

House Democrats ready proxy voting rules change

Democrats, Republicans unable to reach virtual task force deal

Unable to reach an agreement with their Republican colleagues, House Democrats will again attempt to change chamber rules to allow members to vote by proxy on legislation brought to the floor and to let committees use technology to hold official business meetings.

“The intent of this is to allow the Congress to remain operative. We are the policymaking body and we cannot be neutered, if you will, by a virus,” Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told CQ Roll Call on Wednesday, right around the time Democrats unveiled their proposal.

The 13-page resolution introduced by House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., was not born out of the bipartisan Virtual Congress Task Force and returns largely to an April effort to allow proxy voting in the House. Continue reading.

House Democrats unveil $3 trillion coronavirus relief package

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their latest round of coronavirus relief legislation as they seek to put pressure on Republicans to start negotiations for additional measures to contain the pandemic’s impact on U.S. workers.

The package, estimated to cost about $3 trillion, is a grab bag of top Democratic priorities ranging from funding for food assistance, state and local governments, contingency plans for vote by mail in the November elections, another round of direct stimulus payments to individuals and hazard pay for essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic.

The House Democrats’ legislation is meant to serve as a documentation of their priorities heading into any future talks with Republicans and the White House, although most of its provisions are not expected to become law. Continue reading.

Problem Solvers show how Congress can work from home with virtual floor debate

Bipartisan caucus used Zoom to host a mock floor session debating state and local aid

Two dozen members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus hosted a virtual floor debate on state and local funding Thursday, hoping to illustrate that the House can conduct official proceedings remotely. But the experimental session was not without a few technological hiccups.

Caucus members used the Zoom videoconferencing app to connect with one another for the mock debate, telecasting the proceedings to the public through Facebook Live.

Most of the problems seemed to occur with the Facebook Live feed cutting off even as the Zoom debate continued. The first video showing the beginning of the mock proceedings cut out after three-and-a-half minutes and a second after just 33 seconds. A third video remained functional through the end of the debate, which lasted an hour in total. Continue reading.

House releases transcripts of closed-door Russia probe interviews

The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released thousands of pages of transcripts from more than 50 of its closed-door interviews from the panel’s two-year Russia investigation in 2017 and 2018.

The transcripts posted online Thursday, along with some of the committee’s correspondence, marked another endpoint to an investigation into Russian election interference that was marred by partisan infighting, setting the stage for an even bigger fight over the Ukraine impeachment inquiry, led by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.
The transcripts include interviews that the committee, then chaired by GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of California, conducted with key members of the Trump team and President Donald Trump’s family, including Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks, Brad Parscale and Carter Page. Continue reading.

House panel: White House blocks Fauci testimony on coronavirus

Axios logoThe Trump administration has blocked Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from testifying on the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: Fauci has often given Americans a reality check on the administration’s response to the coronavirus and has garnered bipartisan credibility for his straight-forward approach to the crisis.

  • The Washington Post first reported that the administration rejected the House committee’s request for Fauci’s testimony, quoting a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee.

Flashback: Fauci testified in March that America’s system of making coronavirus tests available is not set up in a way it needs to be.

  • Fauci and Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, are set to “take a back seat” to the White House messaging on coronavirus, a White House official told Axios’ Jonathan Swan this week.