With President Biden readying a speech to Congress next week, the focus turns even more to what’s going on in the halls of the U.S. Capitol. Support independent journalism on Capitol Hill with a subscription to “Regular Order!”
The White House welcomes a GOP offer on infrastructure. Talks are underway in Congress on police reform. And how House Republicans are attacking Democrats over votes that never really happened. This is “Regular Order” for April 23, 2021.
INFRASTRUCTURE. Senate Republicans rolled out their counteroffer to President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, proposing a $568 billion package, which Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and other GOP Senators called 'robust.' "We're ready to get to work," Capito told reporters. "The American people want to see us working together."
DETAILS. This GOP package focuses on what Republicans have labeled, 'core infrastructure.' There's $299 billion for roads and bridges. $61 billion would go to public transit. $44 billion to airports. $35 billion to water infrastructure. “it consists of actual real infrastructure,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).
BROADBAND. Republicans did add in a new category of infrastructure - $65 billion for broadband. During the past year of COVID restrictions, the lack of high speed internet in many areas of the nation has certainly been an issue.
MONEY. Republicans want to use unspent COVID relief money to help pay part of the tab. Capito ruled out the idea of raising gas taxes - but at the same time she mentioned ‘Vehicle Miles Traveled’ - a road user fee idea which can’t be put into effect anytime soon (because every vehicle would need a transponder).
GOP. Here’s the Republican plan social media graphic on infrastructure.
DEMOCRATS. The initial reaction among Democrats was a thumbs down. “Senate Republicans need to go back to the drawing board and present a real offer,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA). The White House was more charitable. "We certainly welcome any good faith effort," said Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "But there are a lot of details to discuss."
POLICE REFORM. With the backing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) has taken the House lead in negotiating a police reform bill with GOP lawmakers. "She knows what our purpose is for all of us," Pelosi told reporters at a Thursday news conference, deferring to Bass on issues like qualified immunity, military equipment for police departments, police chokeholds, no-knock warrants, and more.
DEAL MAKING. While there's no deal right now on police reform legislation, there is clearly some optimism on both sides. Again - this is like infrastructure - everyone wants an agreement and says the right things, but hammering out the details can be tricky. And it’s obvious the verdict in the George Floyd killing has given both sides room to make a deal.
CONGRESS COVID. A group of House GOP doctors has asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi to relax Coronavirus restrictions in the House, in order to make it easier for lawmakers to do their work. "A majority of Members are fully vaccinated," said physician and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX). "It is past time to bring us back together."
VIRUS. At this time, restrictions are still in place, as are special rules which allow for remote voting. But it was very obvious this week that members were gathering on the House floor in larger numbers than earlier this year. It’s not publicly known how many lawmakers have not been vaccinated.
BIDEN SPEECH. A limited in-person audience is expected for next week’s address by President Biden to a Joint Session of Congress. The House will not be conducting legislative business - so many members may be at home.
GOP RESPONSE. Republicans have tapped Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to give the official GOP response to next week's speech to Congress by President Biden. “Senator Tim Scott is not just one of the strongest leaders in our Senate Republican Conference. He is one of the most inspiring and unifying leaders in our nation,” said Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.
SCOTT. It will be the biggest stage yet for Scott, who has served in both the House and Senate from South Carolina. One would assume Scott may talk about police reform. His version of that legislation - put together after the police killing of George Floyd - was blocked last year in the Senate by Democrats.
DC STATEHOOD. As expected, the House voted along party lines on Thursday to approve a plan to make Washington, D.C. the 51st State. Like many other items on the agenda for Democrats, there are not 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a GOP filibuster - and there probably aren’t even 50 votes for the change.
OPPONENTS. We've seen a few very odd statements from Republicans this week about the nation's capital. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) evidently had no idea how many people live in D.C. (over 700,000), or its relative size. On Thursday, Rep. Greg Westerman (R-AR) said residential areas of D.C. should be returned to Maryland and Virginia, as he voted against making D.C. a state.
OLD DOMINION. Talking about returning land to Virginia is a pretty weird thing for anyone to discuss - unless you just don’t know the history of the federal city. That’s because the Congress already gave District of Columbia lands back to Virginia - in 1846 - 175 years ago.
CHANGE THE RULES. Meanwhile, Five House Republicans led by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) want new rules on admitting states to the Union. McClintock has filed H.J. Res. 42, an amendment to the Constitution requiring a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, before a new state can be added.
COVID HATE. The Senate on Thursday approved a bill to have the Justice Department examine COVID-related hate crimes against Asian-Americans. The vote was 94 to 1. That one vote in opposition was Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
VIRUS ORIGIN. Hawley introduced a bill yesterday which would force the U.S. to declassify intelligence about the outbreak of the Coronavirus. U.S. Intelligence officials have publicly testified that they don't have a definitive answer as to whether it was created in a lab, or was sparked naturally.
THE OTHER BLM. President Trump moved the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. Now one key Democrat wants to move it back. "This distance, simply put, serves no legitimate purpose," Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) wrote in a letter to the Interior Secretary.
BLM STAFF. 87 percent of those who worked for BLM at the Interior Department 'either retired, quit, or found other work,' Grijalva noted. The Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee says it’s wrong to make interested parties “travel to both Grand Junction and Washington, D.C., to present their priorities to decision-makers.”
THE VIDEO. It was quite the different reaction this week in Congress to two pieces of video. On George Floyd, the verdict was clear, with video from a bystander showing police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine excruciating minutes. Democrats roundly praised the jury's verdict in Minneapolis.
BUCKEYE STATE. But police body cam video from Columbus, Ohio produced a totally different response from lawmakers. There were few tweets demanding justice after a police officer shot and killed 16 year old Ma'Khia Bryant. The video clearly showed her with a knife, threatening another girl.
MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. It was another over-the-top week for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Whether you like her or not, she is overshadowing almost every single Republican in the Congress. My column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
LEGISLATIVE NERD NOTE. Earlier this year, Democrats changed House rules to stop Republicans from forcing tough votes on the House floor, by limiting a procedural motion known as the Motion to Recommit. But Republicans are trying to act like they still have that parliamentary option. Stick with me here.
RULES. Once all House floor debate is over on a bill, the minority gets one chance to 'recommit' - send the bill back - to a House committee for more work. It used to be that Republicans could offer a highly detailed proposal in that motion to recommit, and put Democrats on the spot. That's no longer allowed.
MOTIONS. But Republicans have decided just to act like they still have that option. Working on an immigration bill on Wednesday, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) moved to recommit H.R. 1333, saying the vote was really about requiring COVID tests of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border. It wasn’t.
D.C. STATEHOOD. On Thursday, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) offered a motion to recommit. He said the motion would change the underlying bill to include his plan on dealing with Washington, D.C. That’s not true. It was a simple motion to recommit. But news organizations ran with the GOP argument.
MOTION. You have to hand it to the GOP. Most people don’t get parliamentary procedure - so why would anyone raise a red flag about how Republicans are describing this? Technically, there was not a House vote on COVID testing of immigrants. But Republicans say there was, and are attacking Democrats over it. This tweet from Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) is one example.
RAP SHEET. It took a while, but some facial recognition and undercover FBI work nailed this Kentucky man for his role in the Capitol Attack. A Delaware man told police the attack at the Capitol for a reason: “This is against our country.” And the father of a Florida man - already arrested for hitting police with his skateboard - has now been arrested and charged as well for assaulting officers outside the Capitol.
THE BIG LIE. The feds have now arrested a New Mexico man - who holds a security clearance, and works for a defense contractor that does business with Uncle Sam. Why did Matthew Martin join in the siege of the Capitol? Because Donald Trump said the election was stolen. (Narrator: “It wasn’t.”)
MUSE OF HISTORY. April 23, 1789. The Senate has thought of itself as the 'Upper Body' since the start. On this date in the very first Congress, that showed. The Senate proposed a way for the House and Senate to exchange formal communications about their work. The Secretary of the Senate would take messages to the House, while two House members would do the duties in return. Under the Senate plan, the House members would 'make their obeisance' to the Vice President three different times during their visit, and Senators would be required to stand. What evolved was something much different. The House simply sends the Clerk over with messages. And no one stands up.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House meets next on Monday.
The Senate meets next on Monday.
President Biden is in Washington. Schedule link.
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