The House is in its last day of a committee work week and held a brief pro forma session and will reconvene at 6:30 p.m. on Monday for votes. The Senate stands adjourned and will reconvene at 3:00 p.m. on Monday and is expected to resume consideration of the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be US Circuit Judge for the DC Circuit and the nomination of Lina M. Khan to be a Federal Trade Commissioner.
A bipartisan group of 10 Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a new deal on infrastructure on Thursday, which calls for about $974 billion in infrastructure spending over five years, which comes to about $1.2 trillion when extrapolated over eight years. The package includes roughly $579 billion in new spending. The new blueprint marks a fresh attempt to resurrect negotiations between congressional lawmakers and the White House after an earlier round of talks between President Joe Biden and the GOP fell apart this week. But it remains unclear if the early accord will prove to be enough to satisfy either the White House, congressional leadership or a sufficient number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The new deal is the product of five Democrats and five Republicans, Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin III (D-West Virginia), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), Jon Tester (D-Montana), and Mark Warner (D-Virginia). The plan does not include any new tax increases to finance the spending but it does propose changes to the gas tax. Senators do not plan to raise the rate, but they do seek to index it to inflation meaning consumers’ costs at the pump could rise. Fearing any compromise could quickly collapse, Senate Democrats say they are starting to lay the groundwork to try to advance infrastructure spending on their own using reconciliation that requires 51 votes, not 60, to pass. Even that process, however, is fraught with political difficulty since some Democrats, including Manchin, say they are not yet ready to abandon bipartisan talks. It is also unclear if the spending will be broad enough to win over Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-(New York), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,( D-California) or progressives who have grown impatient with Biden’s efforts to reach a bipartisan deal. While all this plays out, the $547 billion surface transportation funding bill was advanced by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week. Democrats could use the measure, which the House could vote on as soon as the end of the month, to approve parts of Biden’s agenda. The panel on Thursday ended more than 17 hours of debate with a 38-26 vote authorizing $547 billion in additional spending for surface transportation. The Senate Commerce Committee also unveiled a $78 billion surface transportation bill on Thursday. TEXT; SUMMARY; SECTION BY SECTION.
President Biden, along with the leaders of the Group of Seven economies are meeting in Cornwall, in the southwest of England, for the G7 Summit, which runs from Friday to Sunday. Key items under discussion include the coronavirus, climate, Russia, China, and the Middle East. The global economy is also expected to take center stage, according to a White House statement. President Biden and G7 leaders agreed to continue providing policy support to the global economy for as long as necessary to create a strong, balanced, and inclusive economic recovery. In addition, leaders are expected to announce that the G7 is Rallying around the US proposal for Strong Global Minimum Tax. The Group is also expected to pledge one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to poor and middle-income countries on Friday as part of a campaign to ‘vaccinate the world.’
Earlier today, the White House announced Biden will welcome German chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House next month. The White House said Merkel will visit on July 15th. It will be her first visit to Washington during Biden’s presidency, and likely her final US visit in a long era as chancellor.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
