The House met at noon to consider 18 bills under suspension of the Rules with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. The Senate met at 10 a.m. and is again considering the nomination of Christopher Charles Fonzone to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and will also consider the nomination of Kiran Arjandas Ahuja to be Director of the Office of Personnel Management whose confirmation was held up by Republican senators over critical race theory and abortion rights. The senators, led by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), objected to a quick confirmation of Ahuja, so the Senate will now hold a floor debate ahead of a final vote.
At 2 p.m. Fed Chair Jay Powell will testify in front of the House Oversight COVID-19 subcommittee on “Lessons Learned: The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Committee Memo.
The Senate votes today at around 5:30 p.m. on whether to advance a sweeping voting rights package, with Republicans poised to use the filibuster to block the legislation. Democratic leaders plan to call the test vote to try to advance the bill, known as the “For the People Act”, though they are all but certain to fail. As Republican-led states rush to enact restrictive voting laws, Democrats have presented the legislation as the party’s best chance to undo them, expand ballot access and limit the impact of special interests on the political process. Senator Joe Manchin III (D-West Virginia), who opposes the bill as it is now, may still support this procedural step to start debating it. Manchin has offered a compromise that has the support of former president Barack Obama. Former president Obama said Monday that he supports Manchin effort to scale back the sweeping voting rights bill in hopes of securing some Republican support, he told grass-roots activists during a call for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Last week, Manchin proposed the compromise bill that would make voter registration automatic, set Election Day as a federal holiday, require at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections, prohibit partisan gerrymandering and require voter IDs with several ways to prove an individual’s identity.
The White House, meanwhile, continues its behind-the-scenes push to secure a bipartisan deal on infrastructure before the Senate adjourns on Thursday and plans to invite senators to meet with President Joe Biden to discuss it this week. President Biden expects to meet with lawmakers as a group of Democrats and Republicans try to forge an infrastructure plan that could get through Congress with bipartisan support, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. At least 21 senators from both parties have backed a framework that seeks to spend roughly $1 trillion on transportation, broadband and water systems. Biden and Democratic congressional leaders have raised questions about how lawmakers plan to pay for the plan, while liberals have called it inadequate to fight climate change. The plan put forward by the Democratic and Republican senators focuses on what the GOP has called physical infrastructure. Biden and his party have pushed to pass policies including care for dependent family members and upgrades to housing and schools as part of their infrastructure plans, contending they are necessary to boost the economy. If Democrats cannot strike a deal with the GOP, they could push ahead with a multitrillion dollar proposal that would not only upgrade transportation, utilities and broadband, but also accelerate the adoption of clean energy, expand child care and boost job training programs. To be successful, all 50 Senate Democrats would have to vote for that bill.
The president has a meeting this afternoon with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell to discuss how the agency is preparing for natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires this summer.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
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