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. Also, this week, a bonus feature that I include from time to time, the Speech of the Week! 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:
Biden’s SOTU is the Speech Of The Week!
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House Passes PACT Act With 174 Republicans Voting Against Our Veterans
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House Passes Resolution Supporting Ukraine With 3 Republicans Apparently Voting For Putin
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Senate Brings The Postal Service Funding Bill To The Floor
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Jan. 6 Committee — Goes There! Accuses Trump & Company of Multiple Federal Crimes in Court Filing
Speech of the Week (SOTW) — Of course Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) Address is the Speech of the Week, for a ton of obvious reasons. If you haven’t yet seen it or would like to view a rerun to maybe catch something you missed, you can watch the whole thing below:
If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, here’s a quick 3 minute version that hits most of the high points:
Details & Commentary — By now, even if you haven’t hears the speech, you have probably had a chance to read many of the DK Posts and heard from our DK Staff Writers to know that it was a great and highly uplifting speech. From Biden’s rousing support for Ukraine, to our significant progress against COVID, to our economic progress on the jobs front, it was hard to come up with any real criticism of the speech. In fact, except for a couple of Heckle & Jeckle MAGA idiots in the crowd (Greene & Bobert) who found it appropriate to shout out during the part of the speech where Biden was discussing his dead son’s brain cancer, there were few boos from Republicans and surprisingly a lot of applause.
Still the highlight for me was his discussion of his future legislative agenda and the way he presented it. In the lead up to Manchin and Sinem’s torpedoing of Biden’s “Build Back Better (BBB)” legislation, many were criticizing Biden and the Dems. for allowing themselves to get wrapped up in the money part of BBB and not telling folks about all the good things that were in the Bill. But in the SOTU speech Biden managed to touch upon all the major and very popular provisions in BBB (e.g., $35 Insulin Cap, Medicare negotiating drug prices to lower costs, electric vehicle rebates, provisions for tax equity and fairness with regard to the rich and big corporations, etc.) without once mentioning Build Back Better which has somehow become a toxic term. Furthermore, he did it in a way that made anyone watching the speech say to themselves: “Why would any politician oppose such popular things?” Which was likely meant to put heat on Manchin and Sinema, without mentioning either of them. In fact, you could see them squirming in their seats at times when the camera panned over to them.
The proof of how successful this speech was came when polls showed Biden’s approval rating jump up 8 points in one week, Yes, some of this is likely due to the very competent way the Biden Administration has handled the Ukraine crisis, but a lot had to do with the great job Biden did with the SOTU.
So hands clapping 👏👏👏👏👏👏 for Joe Biden, this week’s Speech of the Week WINNER!
Legislative Activity -
House:
1. 3/2/22 — House Resolution 956 (H. Res. 956) - Vote on Passage of H.Res.956 - Supporting the people of Ukraine — This resolution demands an immediate cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and expresses unequivocal support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. It also backs the continued use of sanctions to fully isolate the Putin regime economically and urges the United States and its allies and partners to deliver additional and immediate defensive security assistance to Ukraine. (You can read the Full Text of the Bill HERE).
Democrats- 220 Yes 0 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting
Republicans- 206 Yes 3 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 426 Yes 3 No 0 Present 4 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
2. 3/3/22 — House Resolution 3967 (H.R. 3967) - Vote on Passage of H.R.3967 - Honoring our PACT Act of 2021 — This bill addresses health care, presumption of service-connection, research, resources, and other matters related to veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service. The bill provides eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care to veterans who (1) participated in a toxic exposure risk activity (a qualifying activity that requires a corresponding entry in the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record), or (2) served in specified locations on specified dates. (You can read the Complete Summary HERE and the Full Text of the Bill HERE).
Democrats- 222 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Republicans- 34 Yes 174 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 256 Yes 174 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Details & Commentary — The first vote above was on H. Res. 956, a non-binding Resolution in support of Ukraine. By “non-binding” I mean it is a Bill that doesn’t go to the Senate and doesn’t become a Law. It is simply the House showing its support for the people of Ukraine. Sounds pretty simple and something that you would think EVERY Member of the House could and should support. WRONG! As you can see from the vote, amazingly 3 Republicans voted “no”. They were: Gosar (R-AZ), Massie (R-KY) and Rosendale (R-MT). What Gives? This previous Pennyfarthing Post provides more detail and more outrage by other Members of Congress and the Press, but provides no inside explanation as to why they voted against supporting Ukraine. So we all can scratch our heads or just chalk up to Trump/Putin MAGA craziness.
The second vote was for passage of the PACT Act (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics). This Bill is primarily geared to helping Veterans get VA Medical Benefits for toxic exposures from Burn Pits and other toxic exposures resulting from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, who can be against that? Apparently 174 House Republicans who claim to be from the Party most supportive of our troops. This DK Post by Walter Einenkel provides some background and explanation. Here’s an excerpt:
...the final vote was 256-174, with just 34 Republicans voting over the whining criticisms from their fellow GOP members that this bill was too expensive. That’s a bit different from the 363-70 vote on the National Defense Authorization Act a couple of months ago, where only 19 Republicans were worried about budgets when they added $25 billion on top of the already increased defense budget bill proposed by President Biden.
Got to keep those Billionaire Military Contractors happy. But when it comes to the poor foot soldier, their care is too expensive for some Republicans. So which Party is more supportive of our troops again?
Senate:
1. 2/28/22 — House Resolution 3755 (H.R. 3755) - Vote on On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to H.R.3755 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2021 — This bill prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services. Specifically, governments may not limit a provider's ability to
- prescribe certain drugs,
- offer abortion services via telemedicine, or
- immediately provide abortion services when the provider determines a delay risks the patient's health.
(You can read the Complete Bill Summary HERE and/or the Full Text of the Bill HERE).
Democrats- 45 Yes 0 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Republicans- 0 Yes 48 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Independents- 2 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 46 Yes 48 No 0 Present 6 Not Voting
FAILED (60 Votes Required For Cloture)
Voting Details HERE.
2. 2/28/22 — House Resolution 3076 (H.R. 3076) - Vote on On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to 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- 45 Yes 0 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Republicans- 27 Yes 20 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Independents- 2 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 74 Yes 20 No 0 Present 6 Not Voting
PASSED (60 Votes Required For Cloture)
Voting Details HERE.
3. 3/2/22 — Senate Joint Resolution 32 (S.J.Res. 32) - Vote on Passage of the Joint Resolution S.J.Res.32 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services relating to Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID–19 Health Care Staff Vaccination. — This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination, which was issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on November 5, 2021. The rule requires health care providers, as a condition of Medicare and Medicaid participation, to ensure that staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. (You can read the Full Text of the Resolution HERE).
Democrats- 0 Yes 42 No 0 Present 6 Not Voting
Republicans- 49 Yes 0 No 0 Present 1 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 2 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 49 Yes 44 No 0 Present 7 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
4. 3/3/22 — Senate Joint Resolution 38 (S.J.Res. 38) - Vote on Passage of the Joint Resolution S.J.Res.38 - Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020. — This joint resolution terminates the national emergency concerning COVID-19 declared by the President on March 13, 2020. (You can read the Full Text of the Resolution HERE).
Democrats- 0 Yes 45 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
Republicans- 48 Yes 0 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting
Independents- 0 Yes 2 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 48 Yes 47 No 0 Present 5 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Details & Commentary — This was a real crappy week in the US Senate. It started out on Monday on a relatively “high” note with a Cloture vote on H.R.3076 - the Postal Service Reform Act. In which Schumer got 27 Republicans to vote for Cloture on the motion to bring the Bill to the Senate floor to start debate on it. While they technically spent the week debating the Bill, most centers took the floor to talk about Ukraine and everything else but the Postal Service Reform Act. I suspect Schumer will file Cloture on the Bill sometime next week, and hopefully it will pass without any Senate amendments that would require it to go back to the House. We’ll see.
After that vote, things went down hill. First, Democrats tried to bring a Women’s Rights Bill to the floor to restrict States from enacting laws that would inhibit access to abortion and birth control. It of course failed on a Party line vote, never getting close to the 60 vote threshold. While everyone knew that this Bill didn’t have a chance in hell in the current Senate, I suspect the vote was held to lay down a marker for 2022 to clearly indicate where the Party’s stood with respect to a women’s right to choose. That it accomplished.
From there things went from bad to worse. With Senate Republicans successfully bring to the floor and passing two Joint Resolution pertaining to Executive Branch actions related to the COVID pandemic. The first was to terminate a regulation requiring all healthcare workers whose employers get Medicare or Medicaid funding to be vaccinated. the second was to terminate Biden’s COVID Emergency Declaration. Both passed with only Republican votes. You might be wondering why Schumer even let these Resolutions come to the floor, or why Democrats didn’t use the filibuster to block their passage? It’s because Resolutions to block Executive Branch regulations of declarations are considered “privileged resolutions” which any Senator can bring to the floor and which cannot be filibustered. What makes what the Republicans did here even more insidious and underhanded is that they took advantage of the fact that Dem. Senator Lujan is still out recovering from a stroke, so the Democrats lacked the votes to create a 50-50 tie and have VP Harris break the tie and defeat both resolutions. The good news however, is that these are both “joint” resolutions, meaning that they both must also be passed by the House to be effective, and of course there is no way in hell that Pelosi will ever let either of these resolutions on the House floor. So this was all a Republican show and a waste of time. Still, the fact that the crazy Senate Rules allowed the Minority to effectively control the floor for a good part of the week is so beyond anything the Founding Fathers intended that I’m sure they would be shacking their heads if they were around to witness this Minority Controlled Body.
Nominations — None last week.
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.
- 3/2/22 — Eastman Subpoena — This is where all the action was last week. In a lengthy Court filing in its battle to obtain Eastman’s numerous E-mails from his former College employer, the Committee WENT THERE! Here are some of the news articles from the Committee’s “Lay it All on the Table” Court Filing. First, from NPR:
The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol says the evidence it has leads to the conclusion that then-President Donald Trump broke the law in his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The revelation was detailed in a court filing Wednesday evening. The filing was part of a court case tied to lawyer John Eastman, who has been fighting a subpoena issued by the panel to share additional documents.
The panel says the evidence it has accumulated points to Trump and his allies illegally obstructing an official proceeding — Congress' counting of the Electoral College votes. The committee adds in the filing that it "has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States."
The filing details:
"The evidence supports an inference that President Trump, Plaintiff, and several others entered into an agreement to defraud the United States by interfering with the election certification process, disseminating false information about election fraud, and pressuring state officials to alter state election results and federal officials to assist in that effort."
From POLITICO:
Characterizing excerpts of nearly a dozen depositions from top aides to Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, the committee described a president who had been informed repeatedly that he lost the election and that his claims of fraud were unfounded — only to reject them and continue to mislead the American public.
In 16 accompanying exhibits, the panel showcased testimony it received from key figures in Trump-world, including campaign adviser Jason Miller, White House communications aide Ben Williamson, Pence national security adviser Keith Kellogg, Pence counsel Greg Jacob and Pence chief of staff Marc Short. Top Justice Department officials also provided crucial testimony revealed by the panel Wednesday night, including Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and his top adviser, Richard Donoghue.
Lastly from CBS News:
The filing also describes how Eastman advised Trump to "press an unconstitutional plan" and sought to persuade Vice President Pence and his advisers to go along with the effort. And the committee revealed how, as the January 6 attack at the Capitol was underway, Eastman and Pence's lawyer traded blame over the violence. In one email, Pence's lawyer Greg Jacob wrote, "thanks to your bull***t we are now under siege." Eastman responded, "The 'siege' is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened."
Details & Commentary — On the surface, this Court filing by the Committee is meant to refute Eastman’s phony claims of “Executive Privilege” and “Attorney/Client Privilege” he is using to try to thwart the Committee from obtaining numerous E-mails he sent using his former employer’s servers. The parts where they reveal the numerous alleged crimes by Trump, Eastman and others, is intended to make the case that even if such privileges existed, the law requires that they be waived when it comes to alleged criminal wrongdoing as there is ample evidence of.
But the real audience the Committee is appealing to is not the Judge in this case, nor even the general public. It’s Merrick Garland and the DoJ. It’s the Committee’s not so subtle hint to DoJ that there are criminal referrals coming your way, so you might want to start investigating these alleged crimes NOW!
- 3/3/22 — Committee Issues Subpoena for Kimberly Guilfoyle — After Guilfoyle (Trump Advisor and girlfriend of Don Jr.) stormed out of her voluntary deposition, the Committee was quick to go the subpoena route Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Alex Jones' Security Guard For Phone Records. From CNN:
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol Hill riot has issued a subpoena for Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Donald Trump campaign aide and the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former President.
Guilfoyle's subpoena comes after an ill-fated attempt by the committee to get her to cooperate voluntarily. Guilfoyle appeared via video conference for a deposition on February 25 but abruptly ended the proceedings because she was unhappy that members of the committee were participating in the deposition.
In a statement, Guilfoyle's attorney claimed that the committee had violated the terms of her agreement to appear by allowing committee members to be a part of the session and by leaking news of the interview to the media.
The committee responded that they had made no such arrangement and denied informing the media of her appearance. They also made clear that they were going to take steps to compel her cooperation. A promise they made good on by issuing the subpoena on Thursday.
Details & Commentary — With all that the Committee already knows from numerous cooperating witnesses and documents, one has to wonder how vital testimony/documents from Don Jr.’s girlfriend might be. Sure she was “in the room” before and during January 6, and her turning against the Trump Crime Family to cooperate with the Committee would be some nice icing on Trump’s prison (without a file) cake. But just putting another Trump Crime Family sort of member in legal danger of being found in Contempt of Congress is good enough for me.
Next Week in Congress: Here is your
C-Span Link where you can view some of next week’s events.
Here Are The Coming Week’s Headlines:
Senate/House To Consider Omnibus Spending Bill Including Ukraine Aid Before March 11 Deadline
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Senate May Vote On PACT Act This Week
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Senate Judiciary Committee Sets Schedule For SCOTUS Nominee Confirmation Process
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Jan. 6 Committee In Court This Week Over Eastman Documents
Legislative Activity —
House:
- Omnibus Spending Bill + Ukraine Aid — Well we’re facing another government funding/shutdown deadline on Friday, March 11 when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires. But the Democrats seem more intent this time to try pass the Omnibus Spending Bill to increase both domestic and military spending instead of another CR which continues all spending at woefully inadequate levels. The plan is to link the Omnibus Spending Bill with Ukraine Aid to try to force the GOP in the Senate to decide whether they want to block highly popular Ukraine Aid in order to stop Biden from finally getting to spend according to his Budget and not Trump’s. Here are the details from this March 1 Reuters' Article:
Congress is expected to vote March 8 on a spending bill to fund U.S. government operations through the end of September, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.
"I've urged us to get that done at the beginning of next week so the Senate can get that done prior to the 11th," Hoyer said in a call with reporters. "We have to pass it by then."
And from Schumer:
The quickest way to get $6.4 billion in humanitarian and security aid to Ukraine is to include in the upcoming omnibus spending bill, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.
"We're going to work on a bipartisan, robust aid package with both military and security needs. There are very good discussions going on about that right now. The best place to include it is in the upcoming omnibus bill and that's what we intend to get done," the Democratic leader told reporters.
He said the omnibus bill "is the quickest way to get it done."
More from E&E News:
A Ukraine support package, a policy rider blocking interim nuclear waste storage and disaster aid are among the outstanding issues negotiators are racing to resolve as they try to assemble an omnibus spending package by next week.
“The negotiations are literally in about 1,000 pieces. No one piece will make or break it,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday, adding, “I definitely want to and expect to” have a deal in place by the funding deadline.
Lawmakers are also negotiating attaching emergency aid for Ukraine as well as communities hit hard by natural disasters.
Congress has been eyeing a request that could go as high as $10 billion in military and humanitarian support for Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion. The aid is expected to have wide support in both parties and could help build support for the broader spending package.
“At the present time, the fastest way for us to get the Ukraine money is for us to have it on the [omnibus],” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday.
Lastly this from Roll Call:
House tax writers are preparing to move a bipartisan retirement savings package in the coming days and are eyeing the still-developing fiscal 2022 omnibus appropriations package as a way to send it quickly to the president’s desk.
The appropriations bill, which lawmakers are working to pass before a March 11 government funding deadline, “would be plan A” for passing the retirement legislation, Ways and Means’ top Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, said in a brief interview.
“There’s no question, it would move across the floor with more than 400 votes and a lot of momentum, which is another option for us,” Brady said. “But obviously with this much bipartisan support, we think it fits.”
Details & Commentary — Honestly, I never seen so much optimism expressed on getting a Bipartisan Omnibus Spending Bill done since, well since never. First, whoever came up with the idea of attaching Ukraine Aid to the Omnibus Spending Bill needs a round of applause 👏👏👏👏! It’s a brilliant squeeze play put on our GOP “friends”, most of which in the Senate anyway, don’t want to be seen voting against Ukraine Aid. Now let’s just hope the Dems. have the guts to carry it through.
It also seems like the positive momentum building for the Bipartisan Omnibus deal is motivating folks to try to put as much baggage on this legislative train before it rolls out of the House next week. Many Dems. realize this may be the last best chance to get their particular legislative measures through Congress this year, so they are trying to pack as much into as possible, and still get enough GOP votes in the Senate to obtain Cloture. I’m all for this piling on, as long as it doesn’t cause the GOP to block the Bill. We will see this week!
Senate:
Per the Senate's Web Site, the Senate will convene on Monday, March 7 at 3:00 pm and resume consideration of H.R.3076, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.
Details & Commentary — No real news about what Schumer plans to do with the Postal Service Reform Act this week. However, I expect he will file a Cloture Motion early in the week so a Cloture Vote and final vote can be held on this Bill before Wednesday so as to clear the way for any Omnibus Spending/Ukraine Aid Bill from the House before the March 11 Deadline. Of course any one Senator can screw up the scheduling plans, as Florida “A” Hole Senator Rick Scott already did which delayed getting the Bipartisan Postal Act to the Senate Floor. But all indications are the Senate will “Go Postal” this week, in a good way.
Committee Activity:
House:
The following are links to the House Calendar of Committee Activity for March 8 & 9 (there are no scheduled activities for March 7, 10 or 11):
Committee Activity —
March 8 House Schedule
March 9 House Schedule
Looking at the above House Schedule for this coming week, there are a few Committee Meetings/Hearings that might be interesting.
March 8 —
- Hearing: The Inflation Equation: Corporate Profiteering, Supply Chain Bottlenecks, and COVID-19
10:00 AM | 2128 RHOB & WebEx
- Hearing: The Need for a Supreme Court Code of Ethics
2:00 PM | 2141 Rayburn HOB
March 9 —
- Hearing: "Changing Times: Revisiting Spring Forward Fall Back"
9:30 AM |
2123 Rayburn HOB
10:00 AM |
HVC-301 CAPITOL
Details & Commentary — The last one would be real interesting to watch with regard to the current situation in Europe. Unfortunately it’s a Closed Door Hearing.
House Jan. 6 Select Committee: According to the Committee's Official Schedule there are no Hearings or Meetings this coming week. But a lot continues to happen behind the scenes. But here are some things to watch for this week:
- Eastman Court Date — Here’s the latest from POLITICO:
A federal judge has rejected an attempt by attorney John Eastman — the architect of Donald Trump’s legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election — to slow down the Jan. 6 select committee’s push to obtain documents they say could show the former president criminally conspired with Eastman to subvert the democratic process.
In a late Friday order, Judge David Carter said Eastman’s demand to postpone a March 8 hearing and force the select committee to provide him “exculpatory” evidence was unwarranted and legally misguided .
On Friday, Eastman said the committee’s allegations were so severe that he was entitled to “exculpatory” evidence typically reserved for criminal defendants under Supreme Court precedents known as Maryland v. Brady and Giglio v. United States.
Eastman said granting the committee access to his emails would amount to a historic legal finding that Trump — when he was the sitting president — likely committed a crime. And this, he said, in effect turned him into a “pseudo-defense attorney for the former president.”
“Were this Court to sustain the defendants’ claims, it may be the first formal finding of Presidential criminality by a federal court in United States history,” Eastman wrote.
But Carter, who sits in the U.S. District Court of Central California, summarily rejected Eastman’s argument, noting that the committee had informed Eastman weeks ago that it may invoke the “crime-fraud exception” so he should’ve been prepared to rebut them. And fights over attorney-client privilege in a civil lawsuit — even when they involve allegations of crime — do not warrant protections reserved for criminal defendants, he said, because there’s no risk of jail time.
Details & Commentary — Get your popcorn ready for Tuesday’s Eastman Hearing. It’s bound to be a Hum-Dinger! It sounds like the Judge doesn’t have much patience for the delay tactics of Eastman’s attorney’s and is likely to rule in favor of the Committee before week’s end. Also, watch for developments with regard to the Guilfoyle subpoena.
Senate:
Here is the list of Senate Committee Hearings/Meetings for the coming week. Frankly, none appear all that interesting. The only interesting ones are unfortunately Closed Door Briefings on Ukraine given to the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees.
- Senate Judiciary Committee — SCOTUS Nomination — Nothing happening this week, but the Committee has laid out a schedule. Here’s the latest from CNN:
Confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin on March 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday, with Democratic leaders setting a goal of reaching a final Senate vote by April 8.
"There's no reason to wait on this," said Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who was among the four senators who sat down with Jackson on her first day of meetings on Capitol Hill.
For her historic nomination as the first Black woman on the nation's highest court, Jackson will be formally introduced during televised hearings on March 21, followed by two days of questioning and one day of testimony from additional witnesses.
Plenty of time for us all to go out an buy popcorn. However, I expect these SCOTUS Nomination Hearings will be rather uneventful compared to what we were used to with Trump nominees.
That’s All until Next Week! See Ya Then!
