The Senate has just sent the COVID relief bill it passed on Saturday back to the House and the Rules Committee plans to meet today at noon to prepare the bill for a floor vote Wednesday after Senate officials took longer than expected to send over the necessary paperwork. House Democratic leadership vowed a one-day delay would not have an impact on boosted jobless benefits set to expire this weekend. Some of the changes the Senate made to the bill are unlikely to be popular among progressive House members including eliminating a $15 minimum wage increase, which the Senate parliamentarian said violated the reconciliation rules; lowering income cutoffs for direct payments from $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for families to $80,000 and $160,000, respectively; and reducing the weekly federal unemployment benefit from $400 to $300. However, the bill is expected to quickly pass the House and be sent to President Biden’s desk so it can be signed before the President delivers the first prime-time address of his presidency on Thursday, marking one year since the adoption of sweeping measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which subsequently killed more than 525,000 Americans and battered the economy.
For today, the Senate meets at 3 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. the Senate will proceed to roll call votes on the motion to invoke cloture on the nominations of both Marsha Fudge to be HUD secretary and Merrick Garland to be attorney general. If cloture is invoked, the confirmation vote for Fudge and Garland will occur on Wednesday. At 9 a.m. the Senate Judiciary Committee began a committee hearing on the nominations of Lisa Monaco to be deputy attorney general and Vanita Gupta to be associate attorney general. While both nominees have submitted letters of support from a broad, bipartisan coalition of former department officials and law enforcement groups, some Republicans have already signaled that they will oppose Ms. Gupta. Senator Mike Lee of Utah said on Twitter last month that she had taken “dangerous, radical positions,” an assertion that police and sheriffs groups have blunted. Gupta told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she regretted having sent strident tweets attacking Republicans, seeking to convince lawmakers that the messages should not dissuade them from supporting her nomination. Gupta, a longtime civil rights lawyer previously led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and most recently led the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
The House will meet at 12 p.m. for legislative business and will continue work on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021. The Rule provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order 19 amendments and allows for amendments to be offered en bloc. A full list of amendments can be found here. Following amendment debate, the House is expected to consider the Rule providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
As he continues to capitalize on a major political victory for his young presidency, President Biden earlier today visited a hardware store in Washington that benefited from the pandemic PPP loan program after his administration changed the rules to give preference to “mom-and-pop” businesses.
