Both the Senate and House are now in recess. The Senate will reconvene at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 10th at which time it will resume consideration of the nomination of Andrea Palm, to be Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. Next week, the Senate will have brief pro forma sessions on Monday, May 3rd at 12:45pm; and Thursday, May 6th at 4:00pm.
The House will again be in a committee work week next week, and will reconvene for votes at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11th.
Before leaving, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a $35 billion measure to clean up the nation’s water systems, offering a brief moment of bipartisan cooperation amid deep divisions between the two parties over President Biden’s much larger ambitions for a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure package. Republicans and Democrats alike hailed passage of the bill on an 89-to-2 vote as evidence that bipartisan compromise is possible on infrastructure initiatives, but lawmakers in both parties suggested that the spirit of deal-making could be fleeting.
Today, President Biden plans to travel to Philadelphia to join Amtrak in celebrating its 50th anniversary and promote his sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure package, which would spend $80 billion on improving rail service throughout the country. His trip is part of a “Getting America Back on Track Tour” that the White House is holding to promote spending plans that Biden detailed in his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Vice President Harris is heading to Cincinnati on Friday as part of the tour. The president is scheduled to appear at the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and highlight the investment his infrastructure package would spend on rail. According to a White House fact sheet, “President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $80 billion to address Amtrak’s repair backlog; modernize the high-traffic Northeast Corridor; improve existing corridors and connect new city pairs; and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail safety, efficiency, and electrification.” Biden has said Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor is a critical part of the U.S. economy and after Biden announced the plan Amtrak said that the corporation would upgrade and expand service, including by adding 30 new routes and adding trains on 20 existing routes across the U.S. by 2035. New service would begin in portions of northeast Pennsylvania including Scranton, where Biden was born, as well as Nashville, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Houston; Dallas; and Austin, Texas, if approved by Congress. He is to be introduced by a conductor who worked the route when Biden was a regular passenger while in the Senate. The next generation of Amtrak’s high-speed Acela train, scheduled to enter service next year, will be on display today at the event.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
