A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news
A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news
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With help from Andrew Desiderio and Nicholas Wu
ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS? — Democrats are hopeful — and they are desperate for that feeling to last.
In a caucus that has been fractured by intra-party disagreements, they are clinging to a united goal: a drama-free September session. They want to hit the final stretch of the midterm campaign trail still riding the high notes of recent wins, including picking up a seat in Alaska and clearing the massive climate, health care and tax bill over the summer.
“We don’t want to see a dustup over anything,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said this week. Democrats' main task this month, he said, is to “just brag about everything we’ve gotten done.”
Senate Dems are taking a similar tack: The schedule is packed with judicial nominees and a promise of a vote on same-sex marriage legislation, safe bets across the caucus.
To-do list…Don’t screw up: But Democrats are also racing to accomplish more in this short sprint before the lame duck session. Will any of their legislative targets trouble the water?
With only eight legislative days left this month, the House will try to avert a government shutdown and lock in more military aid to Ukraine.
They also hope to smooth a bicameral dispute over an energy permitting overhaul brokered by Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Democratic leaders have worked to turn down the heat on the permitting fight. Schumer has been on his flip phone, talking to progressives – including Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) – who see the deal as disproportionately benefitting the fossil fuel industry.
House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wants to see the energy permitting provisions divorced from the must-pass stopgap spending measure and taken up during the lame duck.
“You avoid the drama. You avoid the pressure that members are going to be under. You avoid splitting our caucus. And you avoid a messy situation before the midterms,” Grijalva said in an interview. But Schumer has promised that the two pieces of legislation will move in tandem.
To keep an eye on: Democratic lawmakers have resumed talks over a package of public safety bills that were put on hold amid inter-caucus divisions at the end of July. Black Caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) huddled Wednesday afternoon with moderate Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Dem Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Members were tight-lipped on specifics emerging from the meeting, but Hoyer told reporters he thought they might be able to take the bills up again in the House before the end of the month.
Sarah has much more on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Democrats to avoid self-inflicted political wounds.
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GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, September 15, where Democrats are asking: “Is it me? Am I the drama?”
SECRETS ARE FOR EVERYONE— Dozens more Senate aides could get access to certain classified information under a change to the Senate’s Security Manual that allows every personal office to have one staffer with Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance.
But they’re not just throwing open the doors to the SCIF. Staff who could be eligible for an upgraded TS/SCI clearance must already hold a top secret clearance on a senator's personal staff or be a detailee who already holds an SCI level clearance from their parent agency. Approximately two-thirds of senators do not have any staff in their personal office with SCI access, which has strained Congressional oversight of national security issues. More on this scoop from your Huddle host .
BACK ON TRACK?— There’s a tentative agreement to avoid a crushing rail strike that had the potential to knock the economy off its feet, President Joe Biden announced this morning. Talks brokered by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh lasted through the night and into this morning. But unions have not ratified the deal yet. Workers have agreed not to strike while the union member ratification vote is tallied. More from our labor and transportation teams: Rail unions, carriers reach compromise day of strike deadline
FIRST IN HUDDLE: GUN SAFE TAX CREDIT? — Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) wants to encourage gun owners to store their firearms safely behind lock and key. The Atlanta lawmaker will introduce a bill today that would offer a tax credit for purchasing gun safes. The bill, co-sponsored by New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, would create a 90 percent refundable tax credit up to $500 for individuals or $1,000 for couples to purchase a gun safe.
“I grew up in rural Alabama where I shot my first gun at six years old and by high school, I was an expert marksman. I also send my seven-year-old son to school, fearful of a school shooting. I know we can protect second graders and the Second Amendment at the same time. We must make sure guns are safely stored in our homes to reduce the tragedy of gun violence in our country,” Williams said in a statement to HUDDLE.
A 2018 survey of 1,444 gun owners by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 54 percent of those surveyed did not store their firearms in a locked gun safe, cabinet or case, locked into a gun rack or stored with a trigger lock or other lock.
SCIF-TALK — House Intelligence Committee Republicans are trying to go “beyond the SCIF” in a series of events at think tanks where members can connect with experts and national security insiders, but not behind closed doors. On Friday, House Intel Committee ranking member Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) sit down with RAND Corp. for a discussion on biodefense and on Monday, Turner and Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) head to Heritage to talk about disinformation campaigns by foreign adversaries and how disrupting those intersects with Americans’ first amendment rights.
SHOWDOWN — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Secretary of State Antony Blinken back in July that if he doesn’t designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, Congress will. President Joe Biden says his administration won’t do it, so the bipartisan duo of Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is upping the ante. The senators unveiled a bill on Wednesday that would circumvent the State Department and allow Congress to make the designation itself. It goes further than their non-binding resolution that called on Blinken to do it, which cleared the Senate unanimously.
Democratic leaders have a choice. They can allow the administration to maintain its position that declaring Russia as a terrorist state could backfire. Or, they could pick a fight with Biden at the exact time that they don’t want to be picking fights with him. Pelosi in particular is in a delicate spot here, given her strong support for the terrorist designation. Alex Ward and Andrew have more in NatSec Daily.
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Lawmakers break a streak: Members of Congress defeated the press in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game, the lawmakers’ first win since 2015. The final score was 6-5. More than $540,000 was raised for the Young Survival Coalition, which supports cancer patients under the age of 40. Fans at the game report that the cheers for that announcement topped any in response to game-play on the field. Paul V. Fontelo from CQ Roll Call has a full report: Lawmakers break losing streak at Congressional Softball Game
Spelling is hard: The Washington Post’s Amy B. Wang was the last speller standing Wednesday night at the National Press Club’s press vs. politicians spelling bee. The event had been on hiatus for the pandemic, but returned with enthusiasm.
Lawmakers and politicians alike struggled with words like “brewski,” “blotto,” and “scuzzball,” per our Nick Wu. Adding an extra level of difficulty, contestants had to provide definitions for some of the words too (from a multiple choice list).
Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) took part for the politicians. Wang, NPR’s Ramtin Arablouei, POLITICO’s Eric Geller, the AP’s Farnoush Amiri, The Washington Post’s Martine Powers, and CQ Roll Call’s John Donnelly represented the press. 2021 National Spelling Bee Champion Zaila Avant-garde and 2022 National Spelling Bee Champion Harini Logan served as judges. 1980 winner Dr. Jacques Bailly, the official pronouncer for National Spelling Bee, officiated.
Democrat running for Congress in SC pens children’s book criticizing Republican Nancy Mace, from Caitlin Byrd at The Post and Courier
Jan. 6 committee seeks new trove of John Eastman emails, by Kyle
2 arrested in burglary at Rep. Karen Bass’ L.A. home, LAPD says, by Dakota Smith and David Zahniser
Republicans push for delay on same-sex marriage vote, from Burgess
The House convenes at noon for legislative business and votes today on bills to improve federal government whistleblower protections and streamline U.S. Census Bureau operations, including by preventing last-minute additions to census questionnaires.
The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Sarah Merriam to be a Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, with a vote at 11:30 a.m. on confirmation. The Senate votes at 1:45 p.m. on confirmation of the nomination of David Pekoske to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.
9 a.m. Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to consider six nominations and two bills, including one which would temporarily allow news organizations to band together and negotiate with the likes of Facebook and Google without breaking antitrust laws. (216 Hart)
1 p.m. Reps. David Trone (D-Md.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Ann Kuster (D-N.H.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) and others hold a press conference on combating the drug abuse epidemic. (House Triangle)
3:15 p.m. Republican Study Committee Chair Jim Banks (R-Ind.) joins Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Brian Babin (R-Texas), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) for a press conference following a roundtable on the fentanyl crisis. (House Triangle)
4:30 p.m. Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Texas) and Freedom Caucus members hold a press conference to call on fellow Republicans to block a fiscal 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. (House Triangle)
WEDNESDAY’S WINNER: There were two counties home to three former presidents. Claude Marx correctly answered Albemarle County, Va., birthplace of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. Matthew Shapanka answered Norfolk County, Mass., where John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and George H.W. Bush all hailed from.
TODAY’S QUESTION from Matthew: Forty-one years ago this week (Sept. 16), the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to be an associate Justice of the Supreme Court, with 17 of 18 Committee members supporting her nomination. Which senator did not support her nomination in Committee (on the basis of her refusal to criticize Roe v. Wade) and how did they vote?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]
GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning.
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