The House convened at noon with first votes expected at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to take up 20 bills under suspension of the Rules, including H.R. 1029 – Free Veterans from Fees Act.
The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. with a vote at 5:30 p.m. on Todd Kim’s nomination as an assistant Attorney General.
Democratic and Republican Senators hope to release today the bipartisan infrastructure bill that would put $579 billion in new funds into transportation, broadband and utilities, however disputes over issues including transit funding have prevented senators from finalizing the legislation. On the Sunday shows, Senators Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) both predicted that the deal was largely in hand and could be ready to go by this week. However, Democratic senators and White House officials sent the Republican side a global framework counteroffer that would address all remaining sticking points last night that was not well received. The group of senators are still negotiating several disputed items, including money for highways and bridges, water infrastructure, transit, broadband and using unspent COVID-19 pandemic relief money to pay for the infrastructure measure. Also outstanding is Davis Bacon, which requires that contractors and subcontractors working on federally funded contracts pay their workers no less than the “locally prevailing wages” for work on similar projects. Part of that offer included a proposed trade-off that Democrats would accept a lower amount of highway funding proposed by Republicans if the Republicans would agree to their call to increase transit funding. Top Senators on the Senate Banking Committee remain at odds over the transit money. Republicans voted against advancing the framework in the Senate last week while the group tried to finish the bill and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-New York), can bring up the procedural vote again once senators release the legislation The Senate plans to leave Washington from August 6th to September 10th and Schumer has said he will potentially keep the chamber in session for as long as it takes to pass the infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion budget resolution. Even if the group were to reach agreement and it passed the Senate, its path forward is complicated. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has said that she will not bring it up for a vote in the House until the far more ambitious budget blueprint, which Democrats plan to muscle through unilaterally over Republican opposition, had also been approved.
This morning, President Biden celebrated the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a sweeping civil rights law, and announced a new program to help Americans experiencing long-term COVID-19 symptoms and conditions. Biden, as a senator, was a co-sponsor of the legislation, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in various settings, including places of employment, schools, community living and transportation. The guidance on the new program does not automatically qualify long COVID-19 as a disability but people experiencing long-term symptoms or conditions can get an “individualized assessment” to determine if the condition “substantially limits a major life activity.”
This afternoon, the President and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi are planning to announce an agreement that will detail a timetable for the drawdown of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. A senior administration official told reporters that the two leaders, who will meet in the Oval Office, are expected to release a “broad communiqué” that will “make very clear that this has been an evolution” regarding the U.S. military’s role in the country, according to a transcript of the press call released by the White House on Monday. The deal will also make clear that both countries agree that Iraq still needs advisory assistance.
