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News and updates

What We’re Reading this Week (November 30th-December 4th, 2020)

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Election Fraud Claims: In a 46 minute-long video filmed at the Diplomatic Reception Room, the President continued to push unsubstantiated claims of a “rigged election”. US Attorney General Bill Barr has confirmed that there is no evidence of widespread election fraud. Read more.

Federal Budget: Certain provisions related to environmental protection, the National Academies, and the US Capitol Police are holding up a potential omnibus spending bill to fund the Federal Government after December 11th. Appropriators have turned to leadership to resolve the differences. More.

Lame Duck Nominee: The Senate confirmed Christopher Waller to the Federal Reserve Board in a 48-47 partisan vote. Sen. Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote against his confirmation. Waller is the first Board nominee to be confirmed during a lame duck session. Read more.

Facebook Lawsuit: The US Department of Justice has sued Facebook, alleging the company hired several thousand foreign workers under the H-1B program, without considering qualified American applicants. Full story.

Marijuana Vote: Today, the House will vote on a bill removing marijuana from a federal list of controlled substances and expunge some marijuana-related convictions. More.

Census Delays: The US Census Bureau has conveyed to Congress that they will need until at least January 23rd to review anomalies and transmit results to the President, potentially thwarting plans to exclude undocumented persons. More.

DeLauro Wins Appropriations Gavel, Kelly Sworn In

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Earlier today, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut was chosen by the House Democrats to serve as the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee when the new 117th Congress convenes in January.  She beat out Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.  Marcy Kaptur, who was expected to run as well, dropped out at the last minute.

DeLauro won the vote of Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday but she needed the approval of the full Democratic caucus.  She is currently the chair of the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee and takes over the full committee’s gavel from Nita Lowey of New York, who is retiring at the end of this Congress.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, Democrat Mark Kelly of Arizona was sworn in yesterday as the newest member of the Senate.  He defeated Martha McSally in a special election, which enabled him to be sworn in this Congress.  With Kelly, the Republican majority in the Senate now stands at 52 – 48.  Two Senate elections are scheduled in Georgia for January 5.

Bipartisan COVID Relief Bill Unveiled

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A bipartisan group of Senators have introduced a “middle ground” COVID relief bill which they hope can work for both sides of the aisle and pass before the holidays. The $908 billion bill includes some relief for state, local, and tribal governments, the USPS, $300/week unemployment supplements, help for small businesses, testing and tracing, housing assistance, a reauthorization of the paycheck protection program, and more. The bill does not include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.

An overview is available here, however the actual bill has not been made available yet.

Some of the $908 billion is repurposed from prior spending bills, rather than new spending.

It is unclear whether the bill has enough support to pass in either chamber, or whether the President would sign it. Democrats continue to push for greater spending while Republicans want a smaller price tag.

Read more here.

FY2021 Spending, New Appropriations Chair (and More COVID Relief?) on Deck This Week

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Congress returns to Washington this week after its annual Thanksgiving break.  It has a number of items to address on its collective plate in short order.

Before the current funding mechanism runs out at the end of next week, Congress must pass, and the president must sign, spending bills for FY2021.  Before Congress went home for Thanksgiving last week, an agreement was reached between the leading Democratic and Republican appropriators on how much each of the 12 individual spending bills would receive for the fiscal year.  Those details have not yet been made public.  The deal was centered around a move to push a large omnibus package of bills for FY2021 rather than individual bills.

Although the current belief is that the president would sign the final omnibus package, that is not guaranteed.  The last time President Trump signed such a bill, he warned that he would not sign another one in the future.  The White House has not yet provided any assurances that the president will sign such a measure.

While progress was made before the Thanksgiving recess with respect to FY2021 spending, there was little movement in terms of trying to pass another COVID relief package.  The House Democrats were insisting on a measure totaling more than $2 trillion, while the Senate Republicans were dug in on something much smaller, in the neighborhood of approximately $500 billion.  A number of provisions currently in place are scheduled to expire at the end of the year and it remains to be seen whether the various parties can come to an agreement on new legislation.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are scheduled to pick a new Appropriations Committee chair for the 117th Congress, with current chair Nita Lowey (NY) retiring at the end of this year.  Three women are competing to replace Lowey:  Rosa DeLauro (CT), who chairs the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee; March Kaptur (OH), who has the most seniority ofthe three; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), who is the biggest fundraiser of the three.