TODAY IN CONGRESS (C-SPAN TV SCHEDULE):
I am posting the daily C-Span TV schedule, when I can, for those here who may be interested in tuning in to see what Congress is up to. Also, I have provided the results of yesterday’s votes on some significant Bills/Resolutions when Congress was in session the previous day. In addition, I will recap some of the work of the House Investigative Committees this week under “Other”.
NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events later in the day that are not on my list.
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE.
House:
9:00 am — House Session (House members debate and vote on a bill that would restore FCC rules on net neutrality.)
9:00 am — House Education and Labor Committee Hearing (Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the House Education and Labor Committee.)
10:30 am — House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on the rising costs of insulin. (Pharmaceutical industry executives testify at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight subcommittee hearing on the rising costs of insulin.)
Senate:
9:15 am — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on State Department 2020 Budget (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the president’s 2020 budget request.)
9:45 am — Senate Session (The Senate works on more U.S. District Court and sub-Cabinet level nominations under the new 2-hour post-cloture debate time rule.)
10:00 am — Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on DoJ 2020 Budget (Attorney General William Barr testifies before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee regarding the president’s 2020 budget request for the Justice Department as lawmakers await the release of a redacted version of the Mueller report.)
10:15 am — Senate Finance Committee Hearing on 2019 Tax Returns (IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig testifies on his agency’s operations and the 2019 tax filing season before the Senate Finance Committee.)
Yesterday’s Voting Results:
House:
1. House Resolution 294 (H.R. 294) — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1644, Save the Internet Act (Agreement to advance H.R. 1644 to the House Floor.)
Democrats- 219 Yes 7 No 0 Present 8 Not Voting
Republicans- 0 Yes 194 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Totals- 219 Yes 201 No 0 Present 11 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Senate:
No significant votes.
Comments:
Today’s Events –
House – Today the House is expected to vote on Net Neutrality or saving the internet from Trump’s deregulation of it. I don’t expect any Republicans to jump on board, but I could be surprised. Also, it will be interesting to see if there are any Democrat defections, since 7 voted against bringing the Bill to the floor yesterday. Also, the Hearing starring Betsy DeVos is always bound to be entertaining.
Senate — All the popcorn action today will be in the Senate Hearing rooms. First up will be Barr in front of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. Like yesterday on the House side, he will get almost no questions on his proposed 2020 Budget (the topic of the Hearing) since this is really all about his handling (or rather mis-handling) of the Mueller Report. It will be interesting to see if he says anything new, or if he contradicts any testimony he gave yesterday. Also, the Hearing starring the IRS Commissioner is a MUST WATCH since today is the day he is supposed to hand over Trump’s tax returns to the House Way and Means Committee Chairman. Will He Or Won’t He?
In addition, it appears McConnell slipped one by me. I originally thought the Senate was waving the rule requiring 30-hours of post-cloture debate on nominations on a case by case basis. But according to C-Span, McConnell has apparently succeeded in making a change to the Senate Rules reducing the post-cloture debate time on ALL nominations from 30 hours to 2 hours, putting the Conservitization of our Courts into high speed overdrive.
Yesterday’s Votes –
House – The House voted to bring the “Save the Internet Act” to the floor for debate and amendment under a semi-open rule (i.e., Under a rule passed by the Rules Committee that provides for the introduction of a limited number of amendments). For unknown reasons there were 7 Democrats who voted against bringing this Bill to the floor, and they are: Brindisi; Cunningham; Horn, K.; McAdams; Phillips; Spanburger; and Torres, S. They also started the amendment process yesterday with several passing on Bipartisan voice votes.
Senate – No significant votes. Just more Judge nomination confirmations.
Other: Committee Hearings — Let the Subpoenas Fly!
House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing (Barr Testifies) — Here are the highlights (or lowlights if you prefer):
- Barr says Congress will get his Swiss Cheese, Redacted Mueller Report within a week.
- Barr indicated that the redactions in the report would be color-coded to indicate which of the four broad categories of exceptions he had used in blocking out the text. (Great, we get Swiss Cheese in Rainbow Colors.)
- Barr will NOT ask the Courts to allow Congress to see portions of the Mueller Report redacted due to confidential Grand Jury proceedings. (Likely one of the biggest Swiss Cheese holes in the report.)
- Barr said he was justifying the redactions he was applying to the report, to “department policy” that those not under indictment were not to be talked about “in a way that could cause reputational damage.” (Another big Swiss Cheese hole. God Forbid we hurt little baby Trump’s feelings.)
- After first saying that the White House was not given an advanced copy of lis letter to Congress Barr later stated, on the advise of staff that he “did advise the White House counsel” that the March 24 letter had been sent and “I think it may have been read to them” while still claiming they didn’t get a chance to revise the letter.
- When asked about whether he was claiming executive privilege to avoid revealing internal discussions with the White House—after saying that he could not claim executive privilege, Barr responded “call it what you will.” (i.e., I won’t answer, and you can’t make me!)
- On Obamacare, Barr responded with a jaw-dropping “defense” by claiming that he wasn’t obligated to look at what was best for the nation, or even use his best legal judgement, but that so long as there was any way to view Trump’s demands as “reasonable” he had to follow them. (i.e., Mine is not to reason why, it’s to do or get fired.)
Also, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has announced that he will subpoena the full Mueller report if Barr follows through on his statement to deliver a redacted version to Congress within the week. More details of Barr’s testimony can be obtained from Mark Sumner’s Diaries HERE and HERE.
NOTE: It appears Barr’s pending release of the Swiss Cheese version of the Mueller Report will just happen to coincide with the beginning Congress’s 2 week Holiday recess. So he and the White House will be able to spin this thing for 2 weeks with little or no push back from those pesky Democrats in Congress.
House Financial Services Committee Hearing (Mnuchin Testifies) — Here are the highlights (or lowlights if you prefer):
- When asked about releasing Trump’s tax returns to Congress, Mnuchin said he would obey the law.
- But when specifically asked if that meant he would provide them to the House Committee Chair by April 10 as requested, Mnuchin said the matter was under legal review.
- Then when asked if the law which explicitly says Treasury “shall furnish” the tax returns to Congress upon request was the specific law he was saying he would obey, he did not respond. (So what law will you obey Mr. Mnuchin. Oh, that’s right, Trump’s Law)
- Mnuchin also admitted discussing the matter with the White House.
House Appropriations Committee Hearing (IRS Commissioner Rettig Testifies) — Here are the highlights (or lowlights if you prefer):
- IRS Commissioner Rettig said that under an established delegation memorandum from the Treasury Secretary, it is his responsibility (not Mnuchin’s) to release trump’s tax returns to Congress, although he gave no indication whether he would do so.
- Rettig did say he was discussing the matter with Mnuchin
NOTE: Later on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show it was revealed that for Mnuchin to take back the tax release delegation to the IRS Commissioner would be about a 30 day process and Congress would have to be informed in advance. So it looks like Rettig is on the hook for the decision that he must make TODAY! Stay Tuned!