Democrats celebrate historic Supreme Court vote

Congress sends Biden two bills to punish Russia for Ukraine invasion

President Biden wins Senate approval for his first Supreme Court nominee. Congress finally moves to punish Russia. And the Coronavirus makes an unwelcome return on Capitol Hill. This is “Regular Order” for April 8, 2022.

JUSTICE JACKSON. One of the last racial barriers in the United States Government came down on Thursday, as the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. "She is the justice we need now," Sen. Patrick Leahy said of soon-to-be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. "History will remember the votes cast here today," Leahy added.

• THE MOMENT. From the giant smile of Vice President Kamala Harris, to the exuberance of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and the cheers of Black members from the U.S. House, it was a day for the history books. "What a great day it is in America," said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).

• GEORGIA. Warnock also again reminded everyone why this happened. "The people of Georgia made this appointment possible," he said, referring to the double Senate victory for Democrats in a pair of Georgia runoffs which wrested control of the Senate from the GOP in January 2021.

• TIMING. What's the weirdest thing about this Supreme Court vote? Jackson won't join the Court until after Justice Stephen Breyer resigns at the end of this term - which should be late June. Until then, she’s still Judge Jackson.

President Biden @POTUS

Historic moment for our courts and for our country. Congratulations, Judge Jackson.

VOTE. Three Republican Senators broke ranks and voted for Jackson, ensuring that there was not a 50-50 tie vote: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Romney was clapping by himself on the GOP side as the vote ended.

• DEBATE. To the end, GOP critics denounced her confirmation. "Judge Jackson will be an activist jurist on the Supreme Court, and a consistent vote to undermine our fundamental rights, such as free speech, religious liberty, and the Second Amendment," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

• GOP. Overall, Republicans ended this Supreme Court nomination fight on the same note that they struck during the hearings with Jackson - complaining about treatment of past GOP nominees. After voting from the confines of the cloakroom, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) put out this slickly-produced video.

Lindsey Graham @LindseyGrahamSC

The game has changed. Remember Amy Coney Barrett. Remember Brett Kavanaugh. I do.

RUSSIA. After dickering for weeks over the details of how to economically punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, the House and Senate on Thursday finally sent two bills to President Biden to penalize Moscow. "These actions will further isolate Putin," said Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA). "It's time to act now," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX).

• VOTES. The Senate approved both bills 100-0 - a rare unanimous outcome - while the House only had a handful of lawmakers voting 'No.' "It's high time that we come together in an action like this," said Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE).

• RUSSIA TRADE. The House voted 420-3 to strip normal trade relations status from Russia and Belarus. That will restrict their exports to the U.S. Three Republicans voted ‘No’ - Gaetz FL, Greene GA, and Massie KY.

• RUSSIAN OIL. The House then voted 413-9 to ban imports of Russian oil and gas. Seven Republicans voted against the bill: Biggs AZ, Bishop NC, Gaetz FL, Gosar AZ, Greene GA, Massie KY, and Roy TX. Two Democrats joined them: Omar MN and Bush MO.

UKRAINE. In a hearing with Senators on Thursday, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Ukraine faces a 'long slog' ahead in its war with Russia. "I think it's an open question right now how this ends," said Gen. Mark Milley.

• SECDEF. Both Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin defended U.S. efforts to send military aid to Ukraine. "We are flowing resources into Ukraine faster than most people would have ever believed conceivable," said Austin.

• CRITICS. But there was criticism from both parties. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called U.S. policy 'schizophrenic.' "We want the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians but we're afraid that pushing Putin into defeat may provoke escalation," Blumenthal said.

• GOP. Republicans also pressed for more. "As much as we have done, we're still engaged in too many half measures, there's still too much hesitancy and tentativeness in our posture towards this war," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

COMPETITIVENESS. House leaders on Thursday announced the members of a special panel tasked with negotiating a final deal on a major competitiveness bill, featuring $52 billion to boost domestic production of semiconductors. It's one of the few big ticket items which have a chance to become law this election year.

• HOUSE. Speaker Pelosi named 50 Democrats to the House-Senate conference - 13 of them were committee chairs, signifying the importance. House GOP Leader McCarthy added another 31 Republicans. They'll join a number of Senators for what's going to be a gigantic negotiation process.

• CAP HILL. Why am I making a big deal out of this? It's because this is the way Congress used to do business. The House passes a bill. The Senate amends it. And they negotiate a final deal. But this is the first conference committee of the entire 117th Congress.

IMMIGRATION. A day after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to ship illegal immigrants from his state to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said his Governor should do the same, to send a message to the White House and Democrats. "It's time they see reality," Biggs said on Thursday.

• VIRUS. Republicans say phasing out a restriction which had helped block migrants the past two years would be a disaster. "Abruptly ending Title 42 border policies without a coherent plan to deal with the aftermath is irresponsible, dangerous, and reckless," said Sen. John Thune (R-SD).

• ABBOTT. Oddly enough, the plan of Gov. Abbott to bus an unknown number of migrants from Texas to the U.S. Capitol would send them to a jurisdiction which considers itself a 'sanctuary city.' It's not clear when the Lone Star State will follow through on Abbott's plan.

• PLAN B. One Texas lawmaker had another idea. “Send the 8,000 illegal immigrants who cross our border every day to Wilmington, Delaware and watch how fast the border gets secured,” said Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX).

COVID. This has not been a good week on Capitol Hill when it comes to the Coronavirus. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the latest to test positive on Thursday, along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). As of last night, 12 lawmakers had tested positive this week.

• CONTACTS. Pelosi's positive test raised immediate concerns, as she had joined President Biden and other lawmakers for a White House bill signing on Wednesday. Her office said the Speaker is now isolating, and she has scrapped plans to lead a delegation to Asia in coming days.

• SENATE. Collins had a mask on when she was voting on Thursday. Warnock was not wearing a mask as he presided over the Senate before it adjourned late Thursday afternoon.

• EASTER BREAK. Lawmakers won’t have to worry about spreading the virus to each other on Capitol Hill, as the House and Senate won’t be back for legislative business until the week of April 25.

COVID RELIEF. The House on Thursday approved a $55 billion plan to funnel more relief to restaurants and other small businesses hit hard by the Coronavirus outbreak. "This bill is about economic resilience," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. "You can't be independent if you go bankrupt."

• GOP. But while Republicans supported past relief measures, this was a step too far. "This bill is a disingenuous attempt to posture to small businesses," said Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), as GOP lawmakers warned the billions in new aid would spur more inflation.

• VOTE. The final vote was mainly along party lines. Four more fiscally moderate Democrats were opposed: Golden ME, Himes CT, Murphy FL, and Rice NY. Six more moderate Republicans voted 'Yes': Fitzpatrick PA, Herrera Beutler WA, Katko NY, Kinzinger IL, Obernolte CA, and Reed NY.

• SENATE. Right now, I don't see any future for this bill in the Senate - but we'll see where things stand after Easter.

ETHICS. The House Ethics Committee revealed Thursday that it was conducting an investigation of Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX). The panel did not explain what was at issue, only noting that an outside ethics board had referred information about Jackson to the committee back on December 22, 2021.

• CONGRESS. Since getting elected to the House in 2020, Jackson has made his mark not with legislation, but with frequent attacks on President Biden. “He’s lost and confused,” Jackson said this week, as he claims Biden is cognitively impaired.

• PENTAGON. When Jackson was nominated for VA Secretary by Donald Trump, his conduct as White House Physician derailed that nomination. A Pentagon report found that Jackson bullied subordinates, drank excessively on presidential trips, and verbally harassed women under his command.

ECONOMY. The White House can tout a lot of strong economic numbers like job growth, GDP growth, higher tax revenues, and lower deficits. But the double gut punch of higher inflation and high gas prices present a big hurdle for Democrats this election year. More in my column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MUSE OF HISTORY. April 8, 1846. Some of the origins of the Know Nothing party were clearly visible on this day during debate on the House floor. At issue was a plan to raise a regiment to protect settlers traveling the Oregon Trail - it required those soldiers to be 'American born citizens.' "For such a service there can be no doubt but our own native-born citizens," said Rep. W.W. Campbell of New York. In his speech, Campbell roundly attacked immigration and naturalization laws, which he said had brought 'cheap foreign labor' into the U.S., and raised questions about the 'purity of the ballot box.' Campbell concluded, "Americans should rule America."

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on April 26.

The Senate does not have votes until April 25.

President Biden’s daily schedule link.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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