The Senate has adjourned for the week for the Yom Kippur Holiday. The next roll call vote will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, September 20th, on confirmation of the nomination of Veronica S. Rossman to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit. The House will also reconvene on Monday, September 20th with first votes at 6:30.
The House Ways and Means Committee today is holding its fourth and final day of the markup of its portions of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending package. Lawmakers are expected to vote to advance a large section of the bill that includes infrastructure financing tax preferences, renewable energy tax incentives, health-care provisions, tax credits for low- and middle-income families, and tax increases on high-income individuals and corporations. Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a historic package of climate and environmental policies in a two-day markup. The panel’s $456 billion section of the bill includes funding for a huge variety of programs to boost electric vehicles, electric transmission and environmental justice, as well as a fee on methane emissions at oil and gas facilities. The most consequential piece of the E&C portion, however, is the $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program, or CEPP. Along with the tax credit expansions making their way through the Ways and Means Committee this week, Democrats are hoping the policy could transform the power sector to 80 percent clean energy by 2030. The Committee is looking to wrap up its broader bill today after two days and more than two dozen hours of debate.
President Joe Biden will meet separately today with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) to hear their concerns about Democrats’ plans to pass a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. The meetings will take place at the White House and show that Biden is becoming more personally involved after taking a relatively hands-off approach to the debate over the Democratic reconciliation package. Both Democrats have pushed back on Democratic leaders’ top-line spending target of $3.5 trillion, which would be paid for in part by raising taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals earning more than $400,000 annually.
President Biden on Wednesday will also meet with business executives at the White House to discuss coronavirus vaccine requirements for the private sector. The meeting comes roughly a week after Biden announced a new Labor Department rule that will require businesses with more than 100 employees to require that workers either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to testing. The White House believes the rule is necessary to get more of the U.S. population vaccinated and eradicate the virus. Wednesday’s meeting will include among others: Microsoft President Brad Smith, Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer, Kaiser Permanente Chair and CEO Greg Adams, Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Columbia Sportswear President and CEO Tim Boyle and Louisiana State University President William Tate.
Washington, D.C. Daily Update will next publish on Monday, September 20th when the House and Senate reconvene.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
