TODAY IN CONGRESS (TIC):
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
NOTE: Once Again, PLEASE accept my apology for the late post!
Here Are The Headlines:
A Great Man Gets Laid To Rest TODAY!
____________________________________________________________________________________
Day 78 Since the House Passed the HEROES Bill and GOP Can’t Agree on Anything as Benefits & Moratoriums Expire at the End of the Week!
___________________________________________________________________________________
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
Today’s Events:
House —
10:00 am — House Session (The U.S. House begins the day with Morning Hour speeches. Legislative work begins 10am ET.)
Senate —
10:00 am — Senate Session (Senators will vote on confirmation of Derek Kan to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.)
10:00 am — Senate Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on China and U.S. Economic Policy (The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Security holds a hearing on China and U.S. economic policy.)
Other —
11:00 am — Representative John Lewis Funeral Service in Atlanta, Georgia (A funeral service was held for Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) in Atlanta, Georgia.)
Wednesday Votes:
House —
1. House Resolution 7027 (H.R. 7027): Vote on Passage of H.R.7027 - Child Care Is Essential Act (This bill establishes and provides $50 billion in appropriations for the Child Care Stabilization Fund to award grants to child care providers during and after the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency.
The bill establishes the fund within the existing Department of Health and Human Services Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, and the grants must be administered by the existing CCDBG lead agencies of states, tribes, or territories.
Child care providers that are currently open or temporarily closed due to COVID-19 are eligible to receive grant awards, which are based on the provider's operating costs before the COVID-19 public health emergency and adjusted to account for the increased costs of providing child care as a result of COVID-19.)
Democrats- 231 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Republicans- 18 Yes 162 No 0 Present 18 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 1 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 249 Yes 163 No 0 Present 18 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
2. House Resolution 7327 (H.R. 7327): Vote on Passage of H.R.7327 - Child Care for Economic Recovery Act (This bill provides additional funding in FY2020 for taxpayer services, social services block grants, and infrastructure grants to improve child care safety, including needs assessments.
The bill adds and modifies certain tax provisions to
- increase and make refundable the child and dependent care tax credit;
- increase the exclusion from employee income for employer-provided dependent care assistance;
- allow employers payroll tax credits for certain fixed expenses of child care facilities closed due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), certain employer-paid employee dependent care expenses, and the employment of workers who perform domestic service in the private home of an employer; and
- allow a carryover of unused benefits or contributions remaining in a dependent care flexible spending arrangement from the 2020 plan year to the 2021 plan year.
The bill increases funding (1) in FY2020-FY2024 for the general child care entitlement under the Social Security Act, and (2) for child care services for the children of essential workers.
The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct an immediate needs assessment of the condition of child care facilities throughout the United States and authorizes HHS to award grants to acquire, construct, renovate, or improve child care facilities, including expanding facilities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Democrats- 230 Yes 0 No 0 Present 1 Not Voting
Republicans- 20 Yes 160 No 0 Present 18 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 1 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 250 Yes 161 No 0 Present 19 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Senate — No significant votes.
Comments:
Legislative (IN-) Action —
H.R.6800 - HEROES Act — Well here we are at Day 79 (by my count) since the House passed the HEROES Act (a comprehensive Bill to provide additional Federal Aid related to the health and economic hardships caused by COVID-19) and we are no closer to passing a Bill in the Senate than we were on Day One. While a lot may be going on behind the scenes, there is no indication that we are anywhere near agreement on a Bill or Bills. Not only is there the usual disagreement between Democrats and Republicans, there is still no agreement among the GOP on any Bill or Bills. As the Unemployment benefits get slashed, the eviction notices go out and utilities get turned off, all at the end of this week, we will see if that lights a fire under the GOP next week as they continue to fiddle as the Country burns.
Wednesday’s Votes — RANT WARNING — On Wednesday, the House passed two (2) EXCELLENT pieces of legislation to help fund Child Care Services through the COVID-19 pandemic. They are especially timely as many working parents will be faced with the dilemma in the Fall of having school aged children either partially or totally learning from home without an affordable child care option. But, although I hate to sound like a broken record, we all know that these Bills are likely to be added to the huge pile of House passed Bills sitting on Mitch’s desk with little chance of seeing the Senate floor this term. If that is not frustrating to us all by itself, what is also frustrating is how little attention the Media pays to the fact that the House passes excellent Bills such as these only to see them gather dust on MoscowMitch’s desk. Frankly, it’s enough to make my head explode! I only hope that the DSCC uses this backlog of excellent House Bills in adds for Dem. Senators to show voters what will be possible in a Dem. controlled Senate, with Biden as President of course.
Today’s C-Span TV Picks — Please tune into the Funeral for Congressman and Civil Rights Icon John Lewis (already in progress) to see eulogies by former President Obama and others. Be sure to have kleenex tissues on hand.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction:
NOTE #s1 — 4: To keep this diary as short as possible while still providing a means for new readers to obtain a chronological history on each Committee Activity topic/event below, I have squirreled away the Background information on these topics in other previously posted diaries. So each topic’s Background section below will include links to my September 26, 2019 Diary for Background prior to November 22, my November 22, 2019, 2019 Diary for Background between November 22, 2019 and January 30, 2020, and my January 30, 2020 Diary for Background from January 30, 2020 until today. This and other regular TIC diaries will only include Recent Developments (stuff that happened the day before) and New Developments on each Committee topic/event. Also, I will discontinue posting Committee topics/events that have been inactive for weeks, but their histories will remain in the Background Diaries. If something new happens on these discontinued topics/events, I will bring them back from the dead and post it in the regular TIC.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
Senate Judiciary Committee — Police Reform Legislation —
Background — See my June 8, 18 & 23 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Mueller Grand Jury Materials —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 19, 20, June 5 & July 21 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 5 TIC for details on the April 28 DC Circuit Court (virtual) Hearing in this case.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, awaiting SCOTUS.
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee News —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House Intelligence, & Judiciary Committees’ Impeachment Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House & Senate Impeachment Proceedings.” But since Trump’s first impeachment is over, I have changed the heading again.
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 TIC, June 5, 8, 11, 15 & July 22 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Whistleblowers (Berman & Others) —
Background — See my June 24, 25, 29, July 21, 22 & 29 TICs.
Recent Developments — Barr appeared before House Judiciary on Tuesday as you all know by now. Since much has already been posted about Barr’s testimony, I will not try to recap it by writing paragraph’s of text. However, I have provided a number of links below to previous excellent posts that can provide you with the juicy details:
1. Kerry Eleveld's Post
2. Walter Einenkel's Post
3. CNN Report
4. The Oregonian Report (Fact Checking Barr on Portland Protests)
5. NY Times Report
Not much left to say, except Barr’s responses throughout the day seemed to ooze of arrogance and despise-ment towards Democrats, with a “you can’t touch me” attitude. Noe let’s see if Dems. allow him to go untouched?
On a humorous note, I caught Barr lying within the first minute of his testimony when he said to the Committee:
“I am very pleased to be here.”
An obvious lie. The truth is he would rather be undergoing numerous root canals without Novocain, then to sit in a Congressional Hearing.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee Flynn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 19, 20, 27, June 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 18, 23, 29 , July 22 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Committees Subpoenas/Requests for Trump Banking/Financial Records & Taxes:
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13, 14, July 22, 23 & 29 TICs.
NOTE: In previous TICs, there were 3 separate topic threads (1. Deutsche/Capital One Bank Subpoenas, 2. Mazars’ Subpoena, and 3. Trump Taxes) covering 5 different court cases. Since they are all dealing with the same general topic (Trump’s hidden financial history) and were starting to get intertwined in my brain, I have rolled them all under the single header above to hopefully make things less confusing.
Also, to further help keep things organized, below are the five (5) ongoing court cases dealing with Trump’s Banking/Financial Records and tax returns.
1. Trump vs. Deutsche Bank and Capital One — Case brought by Trump against the the two banks in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees for the Trump Organization’s banking records, including tax returns.
2. Trump vs. Mazars (Congressional Case) — Congressional Mazar’s case brought by Trump against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee for the Trump Organization’s financial records, including tax returns.
3. Trump vs. Vance (Criminal Case) — Case brought by Trump against against the Manhattan DA for Trump’s tax returns and other financial records. Trump is attempting to block a subpoena from the Manhattan DA to Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm). The DA has subpoenaed these takes returns in conjunction with his criminal investigation of Trump’s hush money pay off to Stormy Daniels.
4. Congress vs. the IRS & Treasury Department (Trump’s Federal Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by the House Ways & Means Committee against the IRS and Treasury Department for their failure to turn over Trump’s tax returns upon the Committee’s request as required BY LAW.
5. Trump vs. NYS Tax Department (Trump’s State Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by Trump to block NYS from turning over his State tax returns to Congress.
I will use these case #s below to help keep things organized.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — I just caught this story from Salon:
Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate in 2018 and sworn in as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Democrats feared that he would be very sympathetic to President Donald Trump's agenda — more so than former Justice Anthony Kennedy, the right-wing libertarian he replaced. But Joan Biskupic, a CNN legal analyst, is reporting that according to "multiple sources," Kavanaugh "urged his colleagues in a series of private memos this spring to consider avoiding decisions in major disputes over abortion and Democratic subpoenas for President Donald Trump's financial records."
Now I will leave it up to you whether to believe this story or not. But if SCOTUS had sat out the Trump tax cases, the lower court rulings would have stood which were not in Trump’s favor and would have required required the subpoenas for Trump’s financial records (both Congress’s and the Manhattan DA’s) to be immediately complied with by Mazars who said they would comply and hand over the records. Since the cases have now gone back to the lower court and will likely be appealed again to SCOTUS, Kavanaugh will get another shot at keeping SCOTUS out of it, if the above story is true.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY!