The House of Representatives returns to work this week after a super-long August/Labor Day recess, but not until Tuesday, when it will do some legislative business and then adjourn briefly in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. Both the House and Senate will pass a bereavement resolution at some point this week. Beyond that, officially not a lot of import will be happening legislatively. But behind the scenes, there will be a great deal of negotiating among themselves and likely with the Senate over the government funding bill they have to pass before the end of the month.
Democrats are working on a continuing resolution proposal that would last until December 16. As of now, Republicans leaders in the Senate are not opposing that, but could balk in favor of a 2023 expiration date in hopes that one or both of the chambers of Congress flips to them in the midterm elections, giving them spending control. There’s not a whiff of shutdown talk from any Republicans this time around—even from the worst of the worst in the House—but there’s plenty of controversy.
That deal Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) made with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that helped get the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) done is the main problem right now. The agreement made between the two, which the White House supports, would set time limits on agency review and litigation timelines for permits on energy projects. It would designate some projects for fast-track review and require that a pet project of Manchin’s, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, be completed.
RELATED: Sanders reveals 59 House Dems have signed letter opposing Inflation Reduction Act side deal
Campaign Action
The promise from Schumer was that it a vote on it would be done as soon as possible, and that would mean in this continuing resolution, the only big vehicle available before the end of the year. Senator Bernie Sanders and 70 House Democrats are opposed to the change to both permitting and public comment policies established under the National Environmental Policy Act. “[They] are among the only tools local communities have to force careful review of federal projects that may have serious, long-term, environmental, and public health consequences in those communities,” a letter from Democrats to House leadership notes. They are urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to keep the bill out of the continuing resolution “or any other must-pass legislation this year.”
They could be getting jammed by leadership on that. Hoyer told Bloomberg TV and Radio Monday that the Senate will likely move first on the bill, including the permitting change, and dump it on the House putting those 70 progressives in the position of potentially being responsible for a government shutdown, which of course they don’t want to do. There’s no reason to give Manchin this win at this point—they got his vote on the big IRA. House leadership should be standing members on it; after all, Schumer made this deal, not them. They’ve got 18 days to figure it out.
The other elements of the continuing resolution that have to be negotiated come with the $47.1 billion in emergency supplemental funding the White House has asked for, including disaster aid, more funding military and economic assistance to Ukraine, and more emergency funding to address what will likely be a fall surge in COVID-19. Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans want the bill to be “as clean as possible,” leaning toward approving the Ukraine aid but little else.
Two key Senate bills—on election reforms and enshrining marriage equality in federal law—are also churning in the Senate. Both are being negotiated by Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the member McConnell usually designates to “work” with Democrats on important bills for so long they die of attrition. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is the lead Democrat on the marriage bill, for which Schumer inexplicably is trying to get 10 Republican votes. She expects a vote by next week on it. That needs to happen one way or another—if 10 Republicans do decide to break a filibuster, great. If they don’t, it’s a clarifying moment for voters, defining Republicans.
Republican support for election reforms is also slow to materialize, despite the fact that the bill has been in the works for months. Collins and Manchin, the lead on this one for Democrats, have decided to split the original bill into two, one that would clarify how the Senate certifies electoral votes, and the second which would enhance election security both for electronic records and for human poll workers and election officials. Republicans say they want to pass the legislation which would make it harder for a future Trump-like figure to try to subvert the electoral college count, but so far, not the bill to keep election workers safe. Given the shortness of time—the Senate is tentatively scheduled to work some in October, but that’s not likely to happen—this legislation is the likeliest to drop off the agenda between now and the election.
In the meantime, the Senate will spend a good chunk of this week and the rest of the time not devoted specifically to legislation on judicial nominations.
Abortion rights, climate change, and gun safety are all on the ballot this fall, and there are literally thousands of ways to get involved in turning our voters. Plug into a federal, state, or local campaign from our GOTV feed at Mobilize and help Democrats and progressives win in November.
RELATED STORIES