The House convened at 9 a.m. and will complete work on H.R. 3985 – Allies Act of 2021 which will amend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to expedite the special immigrant visa process for Afghan allies.
The Senate convened at 10:30 a.m. with votes at 1:30 p.m. and will consider the nomination of Jill Hruby to be Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Department of Energy.
Senate Republicans rejected an effort Wednesday to begin debate on the infrastructure deal that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with President Joe Biden, but pressure was mounting as supporters insisted they just needed more time before another vote possibly next week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-New York), had scheduled the procedural vote to nudge along negotiations that have dragged for weeks. But Republicans mounted a filibuster, saying the bipartisan group still had a few unresolved issues and needed to review the final details and sought a delay until Monday. The setback on the floor Wednesday, when all 50 Senate Republicans voted to block a motion to proceed to a legislative vehicle that will be used to advance any bipartisan infrastructure deal, means there’s little chance of getting the $1.2 trillion package passed before month’s end. That in turn will delay consideration of the Senate budget resolution to begin work on the $3.5 trillion package, which Leader Schumer pledged to complete before the Senate leaves for the August recess on or before August 6th. This is playing out as the Labor Department’s report on jobless claims, remain perplexing, and suggest a much slower rebound in the U.S. jobs market. The department said Thursday that first-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 419,000 for the week ended July 17, well above the 350,000 Dow Jones estimate and more than the upwardly revised 368,000 from the previous period.
The President delivers remarks and signs H.R. 1652, the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021, into law with the Vice President. The VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act glided out of the upper chamber after passing the House in March. It adds revenues collected from deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements to the Crime Victims Fund and allows states to waive matching requirements for state grants for one year following a pandemic.
President Joe Biden will host business and labor leaders at the White House on Thursday as a bipartisan group of senators nears an agreement that will allow the chamber to begin debating infrastructure legislation. Attendees representing business groups at Thursday’s meeting are expected to include Josh Bolten, the chief executive officer of the Business Roundtable and a former White House chief of staff to President George W. Bush, and Suzanne Clark, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Union presidents including Lonnie Stephenson of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Terry O’Sullivan of the Laborers’ International Union of North America and Kenneth Rigmaiden of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, are also scheduled to be at the session.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
