This Week In Congress (TWIC)
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
As you may already know, every week Congress is in session (usually on Sunday evening or Monday morning, but this time I’m late) I recap the previous week’s 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. This week however, we are posting with the Senate in session on a Sunday, a highly unusual occurrence. That’s because, to the Amazement of almost everyone, the Senate is in the process of debating, possibly amending and likely passing the Inflation Reduction Act. Much more on what’s going on with that down the page. But first I will cover last week’s activity.
Here Are The Previous Weeks’ Headlines:
Senate Ratifies Treaty To Allow Finland & Sweden to Join NATO By Nearly Unanimous Margin!
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Jan. 6 Committee — Committee To Get Alex Jones Phone Records Which Were Accidently Released By His Attorneys!
Legislative Activity -
House: The House was not in session last week.
Senate:
Legislation —
1. 8/3/22 — Treaty Document No. 117-3: Resolution of Ratification for Treaty Document No. 117-3, As Amended — Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden — Treaty to allow Finland and Sweden NATO membership. (You can read the Treaty Document HERE.)
Democrats- 46 Yes 0 No 0 Present 2 Not Voting
Republicans- 47 Yes 1 No 1 Present 1 Not Voting
Independents- 2 Yes 0 No 0 Present 0 Not Voting
Totals- 95 Yes 1 No 0 Present 3 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE.
Details & Commentary — No real surprises to the Finland/Sweden NATO Treaty Ratification. If you are wondering which Republican voted “No” and which voted “Present”, the “no” vote was A-Hole Josh Hawley (R-MO) Putin’s Bestie in the Senate , and the “present” vote was Rand Paul (R-KY) for reasons?
Nominations — Last week the Senate confirmed three (3) Biden nominees, including two (2) judges.
1. Confirmation: Elizabeth Wilson Hanes, of Virginia, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. Vote 59-37.
2. Confirmation: Roopali H. Desai, of Arizona, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. Vote 67-29.
3. Confirmation: Constance J. Milstein, of New York, to be Ambassador of The United States of America to the Republic of Malta. Vote 56-35.
Committee Activity:
House:
House Jan. 6 Select Committee: Just to clarify, the TWIC posts only cover the activities of the Select Committee, not all Insurrection/Coup developments. Meaning I don’t try to cover the stuff DoJ or other State/County Law enforcement are doing. With that, onto the latest developments.
- 7/29/22 — Committee To Get Alex Jones Texts — As you may or may not know by now, the attorneys for Alex Jones in the lawsuit brought by two sets of Sandy Hook parents “accidentally” sent the parents’ attorneys 2 years worth of Alex Jones cell phone records (e.g., texts, etc.) including ones dealing with those sent and received on and before Insurrection Day. As a result, the Select Committee requested copies of these records from the parents’ attorneys. Per US News:
The House Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol requested access to two years’ worth of digital records from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ cellphone on Thursday, according to an attorney representing parents who sued Jones over claims he made about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The attorney, Mark Bankston, said the committee requested the information after he revealed in court on Wednesday that Jones’ lawyer had mistakenly emailed him the last two years’ worth of texts from Jones’ phone, which include, among other things, “intimate messages with Roger Stone,” Trump’s former political adviser.
"I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide that phone,” Bankston told Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble. “Absent a ruling from you saying, 'You cannot do that, Mr. Bankston,' I intend to do so."
The judge said the House committee could subpoena the contents of Jones' phone, denied a motion from Jones’ attorney for a mistrial and said she wouldn't seal the entire phone.
"They know about them,” Gamble said. “They know they exist. They know you have them. I think they're going there either way."
The bombshell admission that Jones’ attorney accidently sent Bankston a trove of likely never-before publicly examined texts, photos and other records could produce a windfall for the Jan. 6 committee, which is in the process of holding a series of public hearings aimed at investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
Details & Commentary — Really Bad Week for Alex Jones. Besides losing a lawsuit with two of the Sandy Hook families costing him up to $49 million, his lawyers mistakenly released his potentially incriminating phone texts to the parents’ lawyers who will be turning them over to the Committee and probably later, the DoJ. It couldn’t of happened to a nicer guy!
This Week in Congress: Here is your
C-Span Link where you can view some of next week’s events.
Here Are The Coming or This Week’s Headlines:
Senate Vote-A-Rama on the Inflation Reduction Act Ongoing!
Legislative Activity —
House: According to the House Majority Leader's Page the House will not be in Legislative Session from August 8 through August 11. However, there is a “Voting Day” penciled in for August 12. I suspect that is for a vote on whatever might emerge from the Senate with respect to the Inflation Reduction Act Reconciliation Bill. The House Leadership might decide to hold the vote earlier in the week or simply pass it in a “Pro-Forma” session by unanimous consent if no Republicans show up to object. My guess is they will hold a vote in order to get House Republicans on record as voting against it.
Senate:
Inflation Reduction Act (a.k.a. Reduced BBB) Reconciliation Bill — The only thing the Senate is/will be doing is debating, voting on amendments and voting on final passage of the Inflation Reduction Act Reconciliation Bill. Since I am posting this at a point in time where the Senate legislative process on this Bill is ongoing, some debate/voting may have already happened before you read this post. So since debate / voting is ongoing, feel free to consider this a LIVE BLOG and chime in as you watch C-Span.
To recap a bit, by now you all know that out of the blue, Schumer and Manchin struck a deal on a Reconciliation Bill (only requires a simple majority to pass and is not subject to a 60 vote filibuster threshold) including (in general) tax increases on the super rich and Big Corporations, Health Care Assistance including ACA subsidy extension and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and major provisions to fight Climate Change. You can read more about the original deal at these previous DK Posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. A lot of speculation as to why Manchin finally came around, but since no one really knows for sure why except for Manchin and possibly Schumer, I will go with my Scrooge (a.k.a. Manchin) Christmas Carol story which I linked to in my Last TWIC Post.
From there all attention turned to Sinema. Would she: 1. go along or 2. sink the whole ship, or 3. simply want stuff added/deleted from the Bill for her vote. So on Friday we found out she chose Option 3. In the end, she was able to scrap closing the “Carried Interest Loophole” in the tax code which only benefits her few very rich Hedge Fund Manager friends, make a few exceptions to the 15% minimum corroborate tax to again benefit a few more rich friends and add money for Climate Change drought management for her State. To be fair, she also help add a small tax on corporations when they do stock buy backs which somewhat compensated for the revenue in the Bill she got cut. You can read more about Sinema’s role in the Bill’s development at these previous DK Posts HERE and HERE.
Before I move on with this summary recap, this is probably a good time to highlight who I think is the hero of this legislative story, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. When almost everyone, if not everyone, including yours truly, considered the BBB Bill in any form or magnitude to be dead when Manchin thumbed it down last year and then again a few weeks ago when he announced he couldn’t support any of the climate provisions, Schumer never gave up! He and his staff, with a little help from Senator Hickenlooper of Colorado, quietly kept negotiating with Manchin as well as keeping him away from McConnell. Behind the scenes Schumer and his staff kept chipping a way at Manchin, bit by bit at every aspect of the former BBB until miraculously Manchin caved and agreed to include much of what was in the “dead” BBB in a new Inflation Reduction Bill. So a well deserved round of applause 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 for “Never Say Die” Senator Chuck Schumer!
Also, a little bit about Manchin and Sinema. While they seem to be coming through in the end, they by no means deserve any credit for this Bill. They played games with it for months, then each extracted their pound of flesh off for their votes, and no as we enter the amendment process they each will likely get to decide on each and every amendment during the vote-a-rama, since any changes to the Bill will have to be cleared through each of them to insure they will still deliver their essential “yes” needed for final passage of the Bill.
Next up to wield a hatchet at the Bill was the Senate Parliamentarian to weigh in with recommendations on whether the various aspects of the Bill met Senate Rule requirements for passage using the Budget Reconciliation process (passage by a simple majority and exempt from the filibuster). Well per CBS News:
The Senate parliamentarian on Saturday dealt a blow to Democrats' plan for curbing drug prices but left the rest of their sprawling economic bill largely intact as party leaders prepared for the first votes on a package containing many of President Joe Biden's top domestic goals.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber's nonpartisan rules arbiter, said lawmakers must remove language imposing hefty penalties on drugmakers that boost their prices beyond inflation in the private insurance market. Those were the bill's chief pricing protections for the roughly 180 million people whose health coverage comes from private insurance, either through work or bought on their own.
Other major provisions were left intact, including giving Medicare the power to negotiate what it pays for pharmaceuticals for its 64 million elderly recipients, a longtime goal for Democrats. Penalties on manufacturers for exceeding inflation would apply to drugs sold to Medicare, and there is a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on drug costs and free vaccines for Medicare beneficiaries.
So the Parliamentarian recommended some of the prescription drug price controls did not fit the reconciliation rules and should be removed from the Bill. The key word is recommended, since the Parliamentarian can be overruled by a simple majority vote. But at this time it’s unclear whether Schumer would actually call for such a vote since at least Sinema (and may Manchin too) appear to be reluctant to overrule the Parliamentarian on anything. We will have to wait and see. Still MacDonough did rule that other provisions of the pharmaceutical portion of the Bill and the remainder of the tax, medical and climate change Bill meets Senate Rule requirements to be passed using the Budget Reconciliation process. That’s a good thing since it should protect the remainder of the Bill from GOP “points of order” attempting to strip out various provisions in the Bill.
So with all those hurdles crossed with relatively minor damages to the Bill, the Senate voted Saturday night to begin the 20 hours of debate on the Bill by the expected margin of 50 +VP “YES” and 50 “NO”, which occurred at about 7:30 pm on Saturday. The good news is there was an agreement to end debate at 4 hours instead of the 20. They then began offering and voting on amendments.
One thing I caught while watching the debate is Lindsey Graham and I think some other Republicans are calling this Bill, “the Manchin Tax Increase” Bill. Snidely suggesting that this is Manchin’s Bill to increase taxes on middle class and poor constituents, which is of course A LIE! But I hope Manchin was paying attention to how “his friends” on the other side of the aisle are treating him.
So what’s in the Inflation Reduction Act Reconciliation Bill?
Well quite a bit surprisingly. Here’s a summary of the major aspects of the Bill curtesy of ABC News:
Economy
The new proposal will invest $300 billion in "deficit reduction," backers say, by making the "biggest corporations and ultra-wealthy pay their fair share," and by providing funds to enhance IRS tax enforcement.
But some of Democrats' most ambitious efforts to tax the ultra wealthy were sidelined by Sinema's insistence that so-called "carried interest" tax breaks for wealthy hedge fund managers and private equity executives be retained.
Changes to secure Sinema's backing also included the lessening of a proposed 15% corporate minimum tax by preserving the ability of manufacturers to quickly deduct capital purchases. Proposed changes to depreciation policies had some Republicans concerned that the IRA would disproportionately hit manufactures.
"We remain skeptical and will be reviewing the revised legislation carefully," National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement. "We cannot afford to undermine manufacturing competitiveness."
The proposed corporate minimum tax still apply only to large corporations.
But while Democrats took a loss in revenue to meet Sinema's demands, they made up for it with the addition of a provision aimed at investors -- a new 1% excise tax on stock buybacks that would make companies pay on the amount of stock that they repurchase.
Schumer has said that this excise tax would ensure that the package still reduces the federal deficit by as much as $300 billion, the same amount Democrats aimed for in the original deal and a key priority for Manchin.
"We're adding in an excise tax on stock buy backs that will bring in $74 billion," Schumer said.
Climate
Most of the $369 billion the Inflation Reduction Act would spend on climate would go to renewable energy tax credits that would prop up clean energy technology such as carbon capture, hydrogen, renewables and energy storage. The climate provisions would also provide consumer tax credits for "home energy efficiency improvements" and for the purchase of clean vehicles.
Backers say the package would cut about 40% of the country's carbon emissions by 2030.
The bill includes a methane emissions reduction program, an array of reforms that would have a dramatic impact on both the onshore and offshore federal oil and gas royalty rates and undo a 10-year moratorium on offshore wind leasing established by former President Donald Trump, among other provisions.
Democrats are also excited about the bill's hefty funding initiative -- $60 billion overall -- for environmental justice projects.
Sinema sought a $5 billion boost to the bill's spending on drought resiliency funding in addition to the $575 million already written in the bill that would go to the Bureau of Reclamation for drought response and preparedness and $13 million for drought relief for tribes.
On Friday, Sinema's Arizona colleague Mark Kelly announced a deal to include $4 billion in resources to combat draught in the western U.S. in the bill.
Health care, prescription drug prices
Aside from climate spending, the reconciliation bill also would allocate $64 billion to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies by three years, through 2025.
It also aims to chip away at a long-held Democratic goal of lowering prescription drug prices for seniors by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly.
"The new negotiation policy will ensure that patients with Medicare get the best deal possible on high-priced drugs and pay cost-sharing for those drugs based on the Medicare negotiated price," according to the bill's summary.
The bill would also cap out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 for those who use Medicare drug plans, with the option to break that amount into affordable monthly payments. Currently, no cap exists.
It would also impose penalties on drug companies if they increase their prices faster than inflation, which would incentivize them to keep prices down and expand premium and co-pay assistance on prescription drugs for low-income individuals.
"While we're not there yet, we're on the cusp of passing the most important step we can pass to take -- help Congress to help us lower inflation, the Inflation Reduction Act," Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday, touting healthcare wins for Democrats, among the other climate and tax victories.
You can view another handy individual summaries of each aspect of t5he Bill here at the Senate Democrats Page, Also, curtesy of Senate Democrats, you can read the Full Text of the 755 Page Senate Substitute Amendment to H.R. 5376 HERE which constitutes the entirety of the Inflation Reduction Act. A cautionary note however — The above summaries and text might not have been updated to reflect changes made by Sinema nor to be made to reflect the Parliamentarian's recommendations.
Welcome To The Vote-A-Rama:
As I am posting this, we are in the middle of the Vote-A-Rama, going on on the Senate Floor. For those not familiar with this term, it is used to describe the period in the Budget Reconciliation Senate legislative process where a theoretically unlimited number of amendments are offered and voted on. In a nut shell, every Senator is allowed to offer as many amendments as he/she wants under Senate Budget Reconciliation Rules. Each side is is allowed two minutes to debate the amendment followed by a vote where a simple majority is required to pass the amendment.
As I said, it is going on NOW, and you can watch it via this C-Span Link. So feel free to use this post as a LIVE BLOG as your watching.
So far as I know, all the amendments have been offered by Republicans hoping to amend the Bill in such a way that Manchin or Sinema or potentially any Democrat will decide to vote “no” on the final Bill. Also, so far all of these amendments have ended in 50 Dem. to 50 Rep. votes, meaning they have failed to get the required simple majority. So, so far the “original” Bill negotiated with Manchin and Sinema remains intact.
But as Dem. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse tweeted this earlier today.
The Republican offered amendments don’t concern me as much as any Democratic / Independent ones. The 48 Dems. and 2 Indys. seem to be hanging together to defeat the Republican amendments no matter what they are. But at least Independent Senator Bernie Sanders is reportedly intending to offer a few amendments. That’s fine as long as these amendments have the support of all 50 Dems. / Indys. However, if Manchin or Sinema do not support these Sanders amendments and say or infer they might not vote for the final Bill if these pass, Republicans could pull a fast one and vote with Sanders to amend the Bill. Not likely, but possible.
So when will the Vote-A-Rama end? Who knows?
In many respects it’s similar to a talking filibuster in that it will end when one side throws up the white flag and stops offering amendments, in this case the Republicans, or the Democrats decide to calls it quits and adjourn, killing the Bill process. While the latter is unlikely, it is not certain when the GOP will decide to wave the white flag. The one thing we have in our favor is that Republicans know they can’t stop this Bill as long as all 50 Dems./Indys stick together and they want to go home for the August recess, with some needing to start campaigning. So there is little doubt the GOP will cave, the only question is when? My guess is the wee hours of Monday morning, but I’ll probably be wrong.
Stay Tuned, and LIVE BLOG with me. I will be checking in from time to time.
Committee Activity:
House: No Committee public action as the House is not in session this week. However, the Jan. 6 Committee will continue working behind closed doors, so there could be news that leaks out during the week.
No Committee public action as the Senate this week.
Hope you enjoyed! Hope to post next weekend as usual!