THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS: House Punts Fiscal Deadline, Senate Passes Something & More 1/6 Committee

by Doctor Who

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Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 at 12:18:29pm PST

As part of a photo opp, Garrett Schaffel, left, and Judy Beard, national legislative and political director of the American Postal Workers Union, carry a custom made Priority Mail box that organizers of the event said contained two million signed petitions from postal customers asking Congress to approve emergency funding for the Postal Service, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Postal Service employees are urging Congress to to invest $25 billion to help the public Postal Service 'weather the pandemic and the deep recession.' (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) — Congress Goes Postal!

This Week In Congress (TWIC)

Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!

Every week Congress is in session (usually on Sunday evening or Monday morning) I will recap the previous weeks important legislative and committee activity and look ahead to what Congress has planned for the coming week, with my 2 cents of opinion from time to time of course. Hope you find it both informative and worthy of discussion in the comments section.

Last Week in Congress: Here is your C-Span Link where you can view some of last week’s events.

Here Are The Previous Week’s Headlines:

House Passes Continuing Resolution (CR) Again to Avoid Government Shutdown

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House & Senate Pass Bill Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault/Harassment

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House Passes Bill To Keep Postal Service Solvent

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Jan. 6 Committee Has Another Very Busy Week

Legislative Activity -

House:

1. 2/7/22 — House Resolution 4445 (H.R. 4445) - Vote on Passage of H.R.4445 - Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 — This bill invalidates arbitration agreements that preclude a party from filing a lawsuit in court involving sexual assault or sexual harassment, at the election of the party alleging such conduct. (You can read the Full Text of the Bill HERE).

Democrats- 222 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Republicans- 113 Yes 97 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting

Independents- 0 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Totals- 335 Yes 97 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting

PASSED

Voting Details HERE.

2. 2/8/22 — House Resolution 3076 (H.R. 3076) - Vote on Passage of H.R.3076 - Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 — This bill addresses the finances and operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). (You can read the Complete Bill Summary HERE and/or the Full Text of the Bill HERE).

Democrats- 222 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Republicans- 120 Yes 92 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Independents- 0 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Totals- 342 Yes 92 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

PASSED

Voting Details HERE.

3. 2/8/22 — House Resolution 6617 (H.R. 6617) - Vote on Passage of H.R.6617 - Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act — This bill provides continuing FY2022 appropriations for federal agencies and extends several expiring authorities. Specifically, the bill provides continuing FY2022 appropriations to federal agencies through the earlier of March 11, 2022, or the enactment of the applicable appropriations act. (You can read the Complete Bill Summary HERE and/or the Full Text of the Bill HERE).

Democrats- 221 Yes 1 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Republicans- 51 Yes 161 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Independents- 0 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

Totals- 272 Yes 162 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting

PASSED

Voting Details HERE.

Details & Commentary —

- H.R.4445 - Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act — This Bill ends the practice of forced arbitration in the private and public sector for claims of sexual assault/harassment. In many of these cases the offender was a higher ranked male in the company and the arbiter is of course paid by the company, meaning the arbiter is inclined to do what’s best for the company and not the victim in these cases. That usually translates into paying the victim a small some of $$ in exchange for her silence in the matter and giving up her (or his ) right to sue or file a legal complaint. This Bill has been pushed heavily by a well known victim of such harassment, Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox Anchor who was sexually harassed/assaulted, by the not so dear departed Fox Chief ~~Executive~~ Slime-ball Roger Ailes.

With regard to the vote, I don’t know if I’m more amazed by the fact that 113 Republicans voted for the Bill, or that 97 Republicans voted against it. Of the Republican no votes, I am curious how many were women, but not curious enough to look through all 97 to figure it out. Although I did notice that crazy Lauren Boebert was a “no” vote. My guess is she just votes against any Democrat House Bill without paying much attention to what it is. Either that, or she doesn’t mind being sexually harassed and not being able to prosecute or sue her harasser. BTW, this Bill also passed the Senate. More on that amazing result later in this TWIC post.

- H.R.3076 - Postal Service Reform Act — One of the most important things this Bill does is it repeals the requirement that the USPS annually prepay future retirement health benefits, which is not required of any other quasi-Federal agency that I know of, and that has crippled the Postal Service financially for years. Republicans have opposed this financial rescue of the Postal Service up until now. Why? This DK Diary by thomhartman offers an interesting explanation having to do with keeping the Postal Service fiscally strapped to prevent them from replacing their fleet of gas powered delivery vehicles with electric powered vehicles as a gift to their Oil Baron masters. So why did 51 Republicans now help pass the Bill? Well voting against the much beloved US Postal Service is in most cases not popular with their voters. Furthermore, as long as they can keep Trump Postmaster Louis DeJoy in place, they know their will be no mass purchase of electric postal vehicles. BTW, Senate Republicans are apparently blocking Biden’s new appointments to the Postal Board, who if appointed would give the Board a Dem. majority to fire DeJoy.

- H.R.6617 - Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act — Yes, this is yet another Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded past the February 18 deadline established by the previous CR. This one would keep the government funded (open) until March 11. Before I go further, don’t you just love the title of this Bill “Further Additional Extending...”. Besides the fact that only one of these three words are needed to describe the Bill, it seems the Bill’s Democrat authors wanted to add words to make sure folks notice how many times over the last year Congress has had to pass these CRs. Of course this is all due to the plan of Senate Republicans to continue to stall the Omnibus Spending Bill and keep the government funded at the now woefully inadequate levels put in place under Trump, only made worse by recent inflation which diminishes what the government can pay/purchase under their stagnant budget. This also greatly effects the military whose top brass has wrote letters to Congress informing them that the currently stagnant spending levels are hurting military readiness. While the military has historically been important to the GOP, so far they have been willing to let the military suffer in order to prevent Biden and the Democrats from increasing popular domestic spending in the draft Omnibus Spending Bill. Just another example of our un-democratic, minority controlled government brought to you by the Senate Filibuster. Anyway, I expect the Senate will pass this new CR this coming week.

Senate:

1. House Resolution 4445 (H.R. 4445) - Vote on Passage of H.R.4445 - Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 — This bill invalidates arbitration agreements that preclude a party from filing a lawsuit in court involving sexual assault or sexual harassment, at the election of the party alleging such conduct. This Bill passed the Senate by Voice Vote, so there is no record of how each Senator voted.

Details & Commentary — I guess the good news is that the Senate actually passed a piece of legislation, which is amazing in itself these days. It’s also amazing because this is an important piece of legislation primarily designed to protect women as discussed above. But the fact that it was done by Voice Vote, tells you everything you need to know about today’s male dominated GOP Senate Caucus who doesn’t want to go on the record as being for or against a sexual harassment Bill that will give women more power to confront their male harassers.

Nominations — The Senate confirmed fifteen (15) Biden appointees this week, including five (5) judgeships.

1. Confirmation: Ebony M. Scott, of the District of Columbia, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia — Vote 55-38.

2. Confirmation: Donald Walker Tunnage, of the District of Columbia, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia — Vote 54-39.

3. Confirmation: John P. Howard III, of the District of Columbia, to be an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals — Vote 62-34.

4. Confirmation: Loren L. AliKhan, of the District of Columbia, to be an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals — Vote 55-41.

5. Confirmation: Amy Gutmann, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Federal Republic of Germany — Vote 54-42.

6. Confirmation: Lisa A. Carty, of Maryland, to be Representative of the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador — Vote 68-27.

7. Confirmation: Chantale Yokmin Wong, of the District of Columbia, to be United States Director of the Asian Development Bank — Vote 66-31.

8. Confirmation: Scott A. Nathan, of Massachusetts, to be Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation — Vote 72-24.

9. Confirmation: Douglas R. Bush, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army — Vote 93-2.

10. Confirmation: John Patrick Coffey, of New York, to be General Counsel of the Department of the Navy — Vote 79-17.

11. Confirmation: Alexandra Baker, of New Jersey, to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense — Vote 75-21.

12. Confirmation: Reta Jo Lewis, of Georgia, to be President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States — Vote 56-40.

13. Confirmation: Leonard Philip Stark, of Delaware, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit — Vote 61-35.

14. Confirmation: Neil Harvey MacBride, of Virginia, to be General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury — Vote 61-33.

15. Confirmation: Max Vekich, of Washington, to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner — Vote 51-43.

Details & Commentary — The Senate had an amazing week confirming Biden nominations with another 5 Judges added to the Federal Bench. What’s even more amazing is that Democrats got all these people confirmed despite being short one Senator (New Mexico Senator Lujan is recovering from a stroke). Still, these nominees are probably all “low hanging fruit” without any significant GOP opposition. Once the low hanging fruit runs out, look for the Senate confirmation train to slow down until Senator Lujan returns to help confirm more controversial nominees.

Committee Activity:

House Jan. 6 Select Committee: Let me apologize upfront in case I missed some important development last week with respect to the Select Committee’s work. Frankly, there is so much happening so fast it’s hard to keep up. But I’ll do my best.

- Former White House Press Aide Appears Before Jan. 6 Committee — From ABC News:

Sarah Matthews, a Trump White House press aide who resigned over the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, appeared Tuesday for an interview with the House select committee investigating the attack, sources familiar with her appearance told ABC News.

Matthews, who declined to comment, appeared before the committee voluntarily, a source told ABC News. She is one of several former Trump aides approached by the committee who now work as GOP congressional staffers.

"I was honored to serve in the Trump administration and proud of the policies we enacted," she said in a statement announcing her resignation on Jan. 6, 2021. "As someone who worked in the halls of Congress, I was deeply disturbed by what I saw today. Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power."

The committee questioned Matthews about activities inside the White House on Jan. 6, according to a source, as investigators work to reconstruct then-President Donald Trump's actions on Jan. 6 using official records and call logs obtained from the National Archives.

Committee officials declined to comment.

- Committee Gets More Phone Records — Again from ABC News:

The panel has also successfully subpoenaed the phone records of Trump White House staffers including former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, ABC News previously reported.

- Committee Subpoenas one-time Trump Trade Adviser Peter Navarro — The Famous, or rather Infamous MSNBC Guest Star, Peter Navarro has earned a subpoena from the Committee curtesy of his own big mouth. From CNN:

The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection issued a subpoena Wednesday to Peter Navarro, former President Donald Trump's one-time trade adviser who following the US Capitol riot has consistently defended efforts to overturn the election.

In its subpoena letter, the panel said it wants to speak to Navarro because of press reports that suggest Navarro worked with Trump ally and adviser Stephen Bannon, among others, to help develop a plan to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

The panel also cited lines from Navarro's new book where he calls the plan to delay and change the outcome of the election as "the Green Bay Sweep," and describes the effort as the "last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats' jaws of deceit."

In response to the subpoena, Navarro told CNN that the committee must negotiate his potential appearance with Trump's attorneys, claiming like others who have resisted subpoenas that the former President has asserted privilege.

- Committee Discovers Significant Gap in White House January 6 Phone Logs — From the White House Records the Committee obtained from the National Archives, the Committee noted a Nixon-like gap in the phone records on January 6. From CNN:

White House call records now in the possession of congressional investigators do not reflect calls made to or from then-President Donald Trump as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, leaving them with gaps so far in their understanding of what transpired that day, three sources familiar with the House investigation into the insurrection tell CNN.

The records the House select committee has obtained do not contain entries of phone calls between the President and lawmakers that have been widely reported in the press. Trump was known to make calls using personal cell phones, which could account for those.

Two of the sources, who have also reviewed the presidential diary from that day, say it contains scant information and no record of phone calls for several hours after Trump returned to the Oval Office after giving a speech to his supporters at the Ellipse until he emerged to address the nation in a video from the Rose Garden.

- Cheney Fires Back — From CNN:

Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday hit back at critics of the House select committee investigating January 6, saying the panel will move ahead with its investigation of the US Capitol attack regardless of criticism or intimidation attempts.

Cheney, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday, vowed that the committee, of which she is vice chair, "will demonstrate in hearings later this year, no foreign power corrupted America's voting machines, and no massive secret fraud changed the election outcome."

"Those who do not wish the truth of Jan. 6 to come out have predictably resorted to attacking the process—claiming it is tainted and political," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "Our hearings will show this charge to be wrong. We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face."

- Full List of Committee Subpoenas & Requests — If you’re having trouble keeping track of all the subpoenas and request that have come out of the Jan. 6 Committee, you’re not alone. To help us all, CNN is maintaining a running list of who the January 6 committee has subpoenaed or requested to appear. Check it out HERE.

Details & Commentary — Once again there is a lot to digest this week involving the constantly exploding Insurrection investigation. I worry that it’s becoming an ever expanding web of criminality that has the Committee chasing down ever expanding evidence of new and more blatant Trump crimes. I sometimes wonder if that isn’t part of Trump’s un-intended game plan. The more crimes, the more investigations that need to be conducted, preventing any from being completed. At some point the Committee may have to pick a set of Trump crimes and go with it, despite possibly not being able to complete investigations on his other crimes.

Anyway, the thing that had me screaming into the TV this week was MSNBC’s Ari Melbar’s follow-up interview with Navarro after he was subpoenaed. After having blurted out the whole plot on TV and in his new book (which I would recommend burning in the fireplace if you’re cold), he says the Committee needs to get “President Trump” to waive “Executive Privilege” before he will agree to honor the Committee’s subpoena. Someone needs to remind him that Trump is no longer President and the Supreme Court has already ruled in the White House Records’ case, that FORMER President Trump no longer has any legitimate basis for claiming Executive Privilege. Look for the Committee to make a quick Contempt of Congress referral to DoJ, so Navarro can join Bannon in jail.

House Oversight Committee:

- Investigation of Trump’s Violations of the Presidential Records Act — Just so the Jan 6 Select Committee doesn’t have to have all the fun, the House Oversight Committee announced it will be looking into Trump’s stealing/destruction of official White House records. Per NBC News:

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, said Thursday that the panel is opening an investigation into the 15 boxes of documents that were taken from the White House by former President Donald Trump.

Maloney, in a letter to Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, said she is "deeply concerned" that the records were not provided to the agency promptly at the end of the Trump administration "and appear to have been removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA)."

The Presidential Records Act mandates that all presidential records must be properly preserved by each administration so a complete set of records is transferred to the National Archives at the end of an administration.

Senate Just May Pass Postal Service Reform Act This Week

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Senate Will Pass House CR To Keep the Government’s Lights On

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Giuliani Weighing Cooperating With the Jan. 6 Committee

Legislative Activity —

House: The following are links to the House Calendar of Floor and Committee Activity for February 14 thru February 17 (there are no scheduled activities for February 18):

Feb. 14 House Schedule

Feb. 15 House Schedule

Feb. 16 House Schedule

Feb. 17 House Schedule

Not expecting much in the way of House legislative activity this week as lawmakers prepare for the President’s Day Recess. The House has already passed the CR to keep the government open and sent it to the Senate, and there are no other urgent legislative matters for the House to deal with that I know of.

But looking at the above House Schedule for this coming week, there are a few Committee Meetings/Hearings that you might find interesting. The first is a Feb. 15 Homeland Security Committee Hearing on CONCEALED CARRY-ONS: CONFRONTING THE SURGE IN FIREARMS AT TSA CHECKPOINTS. Might be interesting to see who is trying to extend their Second Amendment rights. Next is a Feb. 15 House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Hearing on KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON: STRATEGIES FOR GRID RESILIENCE AND RELIABILITY. I wonder how many times the topic of Texas comes up. Then on Feb. 16 The House Subcommittee on National Security will hold a topical Hearing on Defending U.S. Allies and Interests Against Russian Aggression in Eastern Europe. Lastly on Feb. 17 The Committee on House Administration will hold a Hearing on Oversight Of The January 6th Capitol Attack: Ongoing Review Of The United States Capitol Police Inspector General Flash Reports. Might be interesting to see how much “legitimate political discourse” was going on that day.

Senate: Per the Senate's Web Site, the Senate will convene on Monday, February 14 at 3:00 pm to resume consideration on the Motion to Proceed to H.R.3076 - Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (that’s Senate speak for trying to bring the Bill to the floor for debate). The Senate is also certain to take up and pass the CR the House passed to fund the government from Feb. 18 thru March 11. In addition, it is also likely that the Senate will consider some nominations during the week. Also, here is the schedule of the Senate Committee Hearings/Meetings for February 14 thru 17.

- Senate to Take Up H.R.3076 - Postal Service Reform Act — According to the Senate Calendar a Cloture Vote on the Motion to Proceed to consideration of the Bill will take place at 5:30 pm on Monday, February 14. If it passes by the required 60 votes, debate on the Bill itself will begin. Here is the latest on the Bill’s chances in the Senate from NPR:

Bipartisan legislation that boosts the U.S. Postal Service and saves nearly $50 billion in the next decade is potentially set for a Senate vote by the end of next week.

The bill, called the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, passed in the House on Tuesday night with overwhelming support of 342-92.

"Americans rely on the Postal Service for medicines, essential goods, voting, correspondence, and their livelihoods," tweeted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "With the overwhelming House vote for postal reform—I intend for the Senate to quickly take up and pass the bill!"

As for the Bill itself:

Key parts of the bill include requiring Postal Service employees to enroll in Medicare, which would cut down on premiums, according to the House Oversight Committee. Currently, about a quarter of retired postal workers do not enroll in Medicare, even when they are eligible. The committee estimates this would save approximately $22.6 billion over 10 years.

Additionally, USPS would no longer be required to pre-fund health benefits for its current and retiring employees, which saves about $27 billion over 10 years. This is where the greatest cost savings for the Postal Service would come.

- H.R.6617 - Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act — The Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through March 11, 2022 will be introduced and passed by the Senate this week.

Details & Commentary — Usually these days, the senate never passes legislation from the House unless it’s absolutely necessary, thanks to McConnell and his Senate GOP obstruction machine. But this week might be different. Schumer will bring the House passed Postal Service Reform Act which will face its first Cloture Vote on Monday. Since this Bill passed the House with almost 60% of the House Republican Caucus voting for it, expectations are high that it will get the support at least 11 GOP Senators in order to clear all the Cloture Vote hurdles. Still, I believe it when it happens.

Committee Activity:

House Jan. 6 Select Committee: According to the Committee's Official Schedule there are no Hearings or Meetings this coming week. But a lot may be happening behind the scenes according to this latest report from The Hill:

Rudy Giuliani, previously former President Trump's personal lawyer and adviser, is in discussions with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol about testifying, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Giuliani was slated to give a deposition before the committee on Tuesday but was allowed to reschedule the appearance at "his request," a committee aide told the Times. The House panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, is pushing for Giuliani to "cooperate fully," the aide added.

Giuliani, meanwhile, is still mulling whether to invoke executive privilege or attorney-client privilege with Trump to shield certain information from the committee and negotiating over whether to give an informal interview or a formal deposition, the Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

But he has indicated to the committee through his attorney that he is more open to engaging with its requests than some other Trump allies who have refused to cooperate, according to the outlet.

Details & Commentary — I have no idea how far Giuliani will go in his reported desire to cooperate with the Committee. Will he totally throw Trump under the bus, or will he do just enough to dodge a Congressional Contempt referral to DoJ and avoid the fate of his co-conspirators Meadows and Bannon. My money is on the latter. The other question with Giuliani is does he have enough of his mind left to come back to “reality” and testify truthfully about the BIG LIE, or is he permanently lost to Trump “Stolen Election” Fantasyland? Who knows?

Stay Tuned!

That’s All until Next Week! See Ya Then!