Tag: U.S. House

Lawmakers face hurdles to COVID relief deal

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Negotiators in the House and Senate are racing to finish a massive end-of-year deal to fund the government and provide help to workers and families struggling through a worsening pandemic.

Last-minute sticking points are threatening to push the talks into the weekend or next week and may scuttle an agreement all together despite momentum for a deal that has been building since last week.

Congress is expected to pass a one-week stopgap measure as soon as Wednesday to keep the government funded through Dec. 18. Without such action, the government could shut down on Saturday. Continue reading.

Pelosi bullish on COVID-19 relief: ‘We cannot leave without it’

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed optimism Friday that the parties will come together to secure a coronavirus relief package before Congress leaves Washington for the winter holidays.

Addressing reporters in the Capitol, the Speaker said party negotiators still have a number of disagreements to iron out to win such an agreement, but indicated the sides are making steady progress and all but guaranteed that a bipartisan deal will be sealed in the coming days.

“We’ll take the time we need and we must get it done,” Pelosi said. “We cannot leave without it.” Continue reading.

McConnell in tough position as House eyes earmark return

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Plans by House Democrats to bring back earmarks at the start of the next Congress have put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a tough spot.

McConnell, a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, isn’t personally opposed to bringing back earmarks, but he is risk averse and doesn’t want to spark a fight with Tea Party conservatives and Republicans considering White House runs in 2024, say GOP lawmakers.

The GOP Senate leader has been coy when asked about the topic. Continue reading.

Emmer, House GOP see majority in reach for 2022

‘High expectations’ after party beat expectations this year

Rep. Tom Emmer, the Minnesota Republican who chaired his party’s House campaign arm this election cycle, sees a GOP majority coming into view in 2022. 

Emmer, who is expected to reprise his role as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the coming election cycle, already has his sights set on districts where Democrats just barely kept their seats on Election Day. Republicans have history on their side too: The party out of power in the executive branch typically picks up seats in midterm elections. 

And with Democrats’ majority in the 117th Congress likely to be razor-slim, Republicans will probably need a net gain in the single digits to retake the gavels in two years. Continue reading.

Uncertainty, Trump loom over packed year-end agenda

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Uncertainty is hanging over the congressional year-end agenda as Washington waits to see who will win the White House and Senate majority and tries to gauge President Trump’s willingness to cut big deals if he loses. 

Doubt about who will hold power, and the appetite for year-end barn clearing, is colliding with a lengthy to-do list that includes a fight over Confederate-named bases and hopes of getting a fifth coronavirus relief deal. 

Lawmakers also need to pass a government funding bill by Dec. 11 to avoid an end-of-Congress shutdown just before the holidays and with only weeks to juggle the competing items.  Continue reading.

Finger-pointing picks up in COVID-19 relief fight

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The blame game is heating up as it becomes increasingly clear there will be no new COVID-19 relief deal before the elections.

Even as party leaders inch closer to a deal on another huge package, both sides are girding for the near-certain prospect that it won’t be enacted before Election Day. 

In a barrage of rhetorical broadsides, both parties are jabbing across the aisle, accusing the other of blocking the compromise that might otherwise bring emergency health and economic relief to millions of Americans before Nov. 3.  Continue reading.

Democrats unveil bill creating panel to gauge president’s ‘capacity’

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House Democrats on Friday unveiled legislation creating a panel to gauge a president’s capacity to perform the job — and potentially remove the commander in chief from office in cases of decided debility.

The commission would be permanent, applying to future administrations, but it’s a clear shot at President Trump, whose treatments for the coronavirus have raised questions about their effects on his mental acuity.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a sharp critic of the president, has fueled those questions in the the days since Trump returned to the White House after three nights in the hospital, floating the idea that Trump’s drug regimen — which includes a steroid linked to mood swings — might be affecting his decisionmaking. Continue reading.

House approves $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill as White House talks stall

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House Democrats on Thursday approved a massive, $2.2 trillion package of coronavirus relief, lending political cover to party centrists in tough races while putting fresh pressure on Senate Republicans to move another round of emergency aid before the coming elections.

The vote arrived only after last-ditch negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday failed to yield a bipartisan agreement — and it sent a signal that the prospects for such a deal before Nov. 3 have dimmed considerably.

The bill was approved by a tally of 214 to 207, but to secure passage, Pelosi and her leadership team had to stave off a late revolt from a surprisingly large number of centrists who were furious that Pelosi had staged a vote on a bill with no chance of becoming law. Continue reading.

Slimmer coronavirus aid package introduced in House

New $2.2 trillion proposal aimed at kickstarting bipartisan talks, placating rank-and-file lawmakers

House Democrats unveiled a $2.2 trillion pandemic relief package Monday night as part of a last-ditch attempt to secure new aid before the Nov. 3 elections.

Even as talks resumed between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a potential compromise, Democrats sought to increase the public pressure by offering their own revised wish list that Republicans have said is still too costly. The White House has sought to hold the line at $1.5 trillion and some Senate Republicans have pushed to keep the price tag even lower.

The new draft Democratic measure, which could get a floor vote later this week if bipartisan talks founder, amounts to a slimmed-down version of a $3.4 trillion bill the House passed in May. After brief talks over the weekend, Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke by phone again Monday and agreed to resume talks Tuesday morning, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted. Continue reading.

House Republican Report On Workers Is Bursting With Lies About Labor Unions

Ten House Republicans who fashion themselves policy wonks are out with their diagnosis of what ails the American worker. Their proposed cure is a future that would be brutish, nasty and short.

The Hobbesian, dog-eat-dog policies the Republican Study Group proposes would enhance the power of those born to privilege, just so long as nothing knocks them off their comfortable perch.

The report proposes:

  1. No forgiveness of student loans even though our federal government authorized students to borrow huge sums to attend worthless commercial schools that went bankrupt, leaving them with no degree, just debt. The Republican plan lacks even the mercy provisions for debtors written into Hammurabi’s Code almost 4,000 years ago, which wiped away debts when storms, war or corruption ruined a borrower’s finances.
  2. A turn away from comprehensive higher education, especially liberal arts, to focus on technical skills and employability. Forget about developing the rigorous and thoughtful minds that enable young people to become informed citizens. Continue reading.