As the House and Senate reconvene this week, both infrastructure bills, voting rights legislation, and the January 6th Commission will be center stage. Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-West Virginia) refusal to support the centerpiece of President Biden’s climate agenda puts the Democrats’ entire infrastructure and social spending agenda at risk. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-New York ) two-track strategy for passing Biden’s agenda was based on the expectation that Senator Manchin would give ground to progressives in exchange for their support of the hard infrastructure bill that he negotiated with Republicans. But Manchin’s infrastructure bill, including billions of dollars in new money for West Virginia’s needs, such as the Appalachian Development Highway System, has passed the Senate and he’s still not signing on to the climate investments that are a key demand of progressive Democrats. His staunch opposition to a $150 billion clean electricity plan that was supposed to be the backbone of Biden’s transition to clean energy puts what was supposed to be a grand bargain between moderate and progressive Democrats in great danger.
President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders continue to push to reach compromise on the president’s economic agenda, and will hold back-to-back meetings with liberals and moderates at the White House today. Nine House Democrats, including Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), will meet with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at 2 p.m. Then at 4:30 p.m., Biden, Harris and Yellen will meet with eight centrist Democrats, including Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia. The goal is for the factions to settle on a list of policies to include in the legislation that can appeal to the broadest swath of the party — including two key moderate holdouts, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), and progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). With an eye on the November 2 Virginia governor’s election, Senator Warner has advocated for Congress to clear the infrastructure bill for Biden to sign as negotiations continue on the social-spending bill. But House progressives say they won’t support the infrastructure legislation unless a deal is sealed with Manchin and Sinema on the larger bill, which would carry many of their priorities into law.
For today, the Senate convened at 10 a.m. and resumed consideration of the nomination of Christine P. O’Hearn to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey as well as the nomination of Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon, of California, to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
The House will convene for votes at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to consider up to twelve bills under suspension of the Rules. The House committee investigating the Trump induced January 6th US Capitol attack is expected to formally kick off, holding Steve Bannon, one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies, in contempt of Congress on Tuesday night with a crucial meeting to set up a House vote. The criminal contempt report is expected to move to the floor without any opposition from the committee members and marks a critical milestone in the investigation as the panel hopes the threat of jail time inspires more Trump-aligned witnesses to cooperate. Any individual who is found liable for contempt of Congress would be guilty of a crime that may result in a fine and between one- and 12-months imprisonment. But this process is rarely invoked and rarely leads to jail time — though the House’s pursuit of criminal charges may be more about making an example out of Bannon and sending a message to other potential witnesses. The contempt report, which was released Monday night, outlines the efforts the committee made to get a witness to comply with the subpoena, and the failure by the witness to do so.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
