Both the House and the Senate made significant progress Tuesday on legislation related to the nation’s debt ceiling and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) on Tuesday night teed up a key vote on a deal struck with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to raise the debt ceiling with only Democratic votes. Leader Schumer, before wrapping up the Senate for the night, moved to tee up a vote expected on Thursday, absent a deal to speed things up, on the bill that would prevent cuts to Medicare and also green lights the Senate bypassing the legislative filibuster on a subsequent debt ceiling bill. The final House vote was 222-212 with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois being the only Republican to join Democrats in voting for the bill. The new legislation, if advanced with 60 votes in the Senate, would create a temporary fast-track process to allow Senate Democrats to act on their own to increase the debt limit with 51 votes. The legislation outlines that Congress would have to specify the exact dollar amount of a new national debt limit — likely north of $30 trillion. The fast-track process would expire after January 15, 2022. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the debt limit could be reached on December 15 — otherwise the US would suffer financial catastrophe and endure its first-ever default. Once the president signs the bill, the House and Senate can hold separate votes to raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority, or without Republican support. GOP leaders have said the party will not join Democrats in hiking the borrowing limit, but as part of a new strategy, Republicans also are not expected to block their counterparts from preventing a default.
The House of Representatives also backed a compromise measure on the NDAA, by 363-70 on Tuesday. The bill, the result of intense negotiations between House of Representatives and Senate Democrats and Republicans, includes a 2.7 percent pay increase for the troops, and more aircraft and Navy ship purchases, in addition to strategies for dealing with geopolitical threats. This year, lawmakers agreed to make major changes to the military-justice system, but scrapped plans to require women to register for the draft. The bill boosts military spending by about 5% over last year’s budget, exceeding President Joe Biden’s request of $752.9 billion for the Defense and Energy departments’ national-security programs. The legislation would also establish a 16-member, bipartisan commission to study U.S. involvement in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. Commissioners would be required to report to Congress on their progress annually, and to submit a report containing detailed findings, recommendations and lessons learned no later than three years after the panel’s first meeting. Current and former members of Congress since January 3, 2001, are barred from serving on the commission, as are former cabinet members, four-star flag officers and senior Defense and State Department officials who had direct involvement in U.S. actions in Afghanistan.
The Senate is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday to nullify President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers, giving Republicans a big symbolic victory. Republicans say they expect the resolution will pass with at least 52 votes after centrist Senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) announced their support for the proposal. Every single Republican senator will vote for it. The Congressional Review Act (CRA), which was enacted in 1996, sets up a fast-track process in the Senate that allows the minority party to force a vote on a resolution to disapprove of a federal rule. The CRA, however, does not have a fast-track process for the House. The Senate’s anticipated passage of the resolution will set up a battle in the House, where Republicans plan to circulate a discharge petition to force Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to schedule a vote on the resolution.
For today, the Senate will also consider the nomination of Rachael S. Rollins to be United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and the nomination of Michael D. Smith to be Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The House is scheduled to consider up to 33 bills under suspension of the Rules from a number of different committees including H.R. 4996 – Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
