At 11:00 a.m. President Joe Biden will meet with Republican and Democratic leaders from both houses of Congress for the first time since taking office, pressing them on his proposals to spend $4 trillion for infrastructure and families. Mr. Biden is scheduled to meet with Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, and their counterparts in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader. They will discuss the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which seeks to expand access to education, reduce the cost of child care and support women in the work force, and the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, which is aimed at infrastructure spending. Republicans have balked at the idea of spending an additional $4 trillion after they helped pass $1.9 trillion in stimulus spending at the start of Mr. Biden’s term. Some Republican members of Congress have proposed smaller packages aimed at more targeted improvements to infrastructure and have said that Mr. Biden’s proposals amount to a tax increase on middle class Americans which data does not support. During the meeting, President Biden hopes to find common ground with Senator McConnell and Minority Leader McCarthy, the latter who successfully ousted Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) from House Republican Leadership this morning as he continues to back former President Donald Trump’s myth that he really won the 2020 presidential election. House Republicans purged Cheney from their leadership ranks on Wednesday, voting to oust their number three for her refusal to stay quiet about Trump’s election lies, in a remarkable takedown of one of their own that reflected the party’s intolerance for dissent and unswerving fealty to the embattled former president.
The House meets at noon for legislative business and will consider 21 bills under suspension of the Rules as well as the Rule Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2547 – Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act and H.R. 1065 – Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Of note, at 10 a.m. the House Oversight Committee began a hearing on “The Capitol Insurrection: Unexplained Delays and Unanswered Questions.” Two senior Trump administration officials will defend their actions during the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol incited by former President Trump in testimony before Congress, with former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller standing behind every decision he made that day according to written testimony.
The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and will resume consideration of the motion to discharge the nomination of Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from the Finance Committee and will consider the nomination of Ronald Stroman to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service.
In hearings of note, at 9:30 a.m. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Biden’s 2021 trade policy agenda and at 10 a.m. the Senate Commerce Committee will mark up 10 bills, including the Endless Frontier Act which will advance and solidify the United States’ leadership in scientific and technological innovation through increased investments in the discovery, creation, and manufacturing of technology critical to U.S. national security and economic competitiveness. Finally, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on domestic violent extremism in America.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
