'Energy Week' features bills already passed by House GOP

March Madness as Congress faces Friday shutdown deadline

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for March 18, 2024:

• Busy day at the Supreme Court.

• When a ‘bloodbath’ is not a ‘bloodbath.’

• Trump again calls for release of Jan. 6 'hostages'

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THIS WEEK. Congress stares at another shutdown deadline. No action expected on aid for Ukraine. A two-week Easter break is next for lawmakers.

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ENERGY WEEK. Republicans are bringing a series of energy bills to the House floor this week to hammer the White House and the Biden Administration over energy policy. It sounds pretty normal. But if you dig into the details, you'll notice something right away.

• TRIFECTA. Three of the bills on this week’s House schedule were approved by the House last year. You read that right. And my regular readers will know exactly what I'm talking about. All of this goes back to how the House approved a major GOP energy bill - but never sent that bill to the Senate.

• H.R. 1121. The 'Protecting American Energy Production Act' would block any federal moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing. The exact same language was already approved by the House as part of H.R. 1 - the big energy bill that passed on March 30, 2023, but was never sent to the Senate.

• H.R. 1023. This bill repeals section 134 of the Clean Air Act, which is a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that Republicans don't like. The exact same language was already approved by the House, as part of H.R. 1 - the big energy bill that passed on March 30, 2023, but was never sent to the Senate.

• H.R. 1141. The Natural Gas Tax Repeal Act repeals Section 136 of the Clean Air Act relating to methane emissions and waste reduction. The exact same language was already approved by the House, as part of H.R. 1 - the big energy bill that passed on March 30, 2023, but was never sent to the Senate.

MISSING BILLS. Why didn’t Republicans send H.R. 1 to the Senate after passing it in March 2023? I can’t get any Republicans on Capitol Hill to give me a straight answer. Now the GOP will pass these measures for a second time - which seems like a waste of time - unless you weren’t serious about making a law in the first place.

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MARCH MADNESS. Buckle up for possible shutdown turbulence this week on Capitol Hill. Congressional leaders did not release the text of the second batch of six funding bills as planned last night - increasing the chance of a partial government shutdown starting Friday night at midnight.

• HOMELAND SECURITY. We've been told for a while that there might be trouble with the bill funding border security and the Department of Homeland Security. As I reported last week - if Congress can't agree on legislation to secure the border, why should lawmakers be able to agree on a budget for DHS?

• SIX BILLS. Homeland Security is one of six bills which have a shutdown deadline on Friday night. The other bills fund the Pentagon, the Legislative Branch, Financial Services/General Government, Labor-HHS, and State-Foreign Operations.

• TSA. If a funding lapse occurs starting on Saturday, where would you see the impact first? Spring break travelers at America's airports would be greeted on Saturday by TSA screeners and air traffic controllers who would have to work - without getting paid.

OUTCOME. Once the details are finalized, everyone knows the next funding package will pass in the House and Senate, no matter the grumbling of some more conservative Republicans. "It'll be full of corrupting earmarks," protested Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) last night. "It doesn't have to be like this."

• BOX AND ONE. The scenario being floated in recent days has been to leave the Department of Homeland Security on a temporary funding plan - while approving the other five funding bills. The House and Senate are back on Tuesday. Congress is slated to leave town on Friday for a break until the week of April 8.

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UKRAINE. There is nothing on the House schedule again this week about aid to Ukraine, as Republicans refuse to allow a vote on a Senate-passed aid package. At this point, it looks like Congress won’t do anything until after Easter, as Ukraine suffers from ammunition shortages.

• ATTACKS. After 20 civilians were killed in a Russian missile strike on Odesa, foreign leaders pleaded with the Speaker to act. "Look at Odessa Speaker Johnson!" tweeted Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "How many more arguments do you need to take a decision?"

ST. PATRICK'S LUNCH. There was an interesting scenario which developed on Friday at the U.S. Capitol when House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted President Biden and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar for a St. Patrick’s Day lunch. In their remarks, Biden and Varadkar both noted their support for Ukraine. One person did not.

• THE WORD NOT SAID. While Speaker Johnson spoke of how 'stability is threatened in Europe' - Ukraine was nowhere to be found in his remarks. "Our allies and friends such as Israel and Taiwan fight for the right to exist," the Speaker said - missing an easy spot for a mention of Ukraine.

• DEMS. "I’m disappointed the House still hasn't passed aid to Ukraine," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). "Speaker Johnson's comments make it clear that he doesn't have a real plan to pass Ukraine aid," added Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). "That is unacceptable."

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TRUMP RALLY. There was a lot of controversy this weekend about what Donald Trump said - or didn't say - at a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday. At one point, Trump threatened to slap a 100 percent tariff on cars made in Mexico at plants funded by Chinese investors. "You're not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected," Trump vowed.

• BLOODBATH. This is where the semantic dispute begins. "Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole - that's going to be the least of it - it's going to be a bloodbath for the country, that'll be the least of it,” Trump said. “But they're not going to sell those cars."

• BACKERS. Trump supporters accused the press of twisting Trump's words, calling the news coverage a 'hoax.' "The Democrats and the media lie constantly," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). "When Trump said there will be a bloodbath if Biden wins, he was talking about the auto industry."

• MESSAGE. "Headline writers," tweeted Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). "Don’t outsmart yourself. Just do 'Trump Promises Bloodbath if he Doesn’t Win Election.'"

• DEMS. President Biden used ‘bloodbath’ to go after Trump on Sunday. "It’s clear this guy wants another January 6," Biden said. "But the American people are going to give him another resounding electoral defeat."

UPON FURTHER REVIEW. What I have always found unique about covering Trump is how he says something, and yet his supporters maintain that he didn't say what he said, or that he meant something else. We can all agree that Trump said ‘bloodbath’ - which is not usually used to describe automobile imports.

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PENCE. Maybe the most interesting criticism of Trump this weekend came from his former Vice President, Mike Pence. "It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," Pence said in an interview with Fox News. Pence kept going down that road on Sunday as well.

• VEEP. “The reason why I won't endorse Donald Trump this year is because I see him departing from the mainstream conservative agenda that has defined the Republican Party over the last 40 years,” Pence said on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation.’

• JAN. 6. Pence also criticized Trump for calling those convicted for Jan. 6 crimes, ‘hostages.’ "It's just unacceptable,” Pence said. “The people that ransacked the Capitol need to be held to the fullest account of the law.”

• SPEECH. 'Hostages' isn't just a throwaway line for Trump. He has a section of his stump speech where he plays a video from Jan. 6 convicts. "You see the spirit from the hostages,” Trump said on Saturday. “That's what they are - is hostages.”

• DEMS. "He isn’t talking about the people taken hostage by Hamas," said Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). "He’s talking about those in jail because of their efforts to violently overturn a free and fair U.S. election."

• VEEP. While it's easy to joke about Pence not endorsing Trump, historically, this is a very big deal. And it's a very big deal as it relates to Jan. 6. Pence was Trump's Vice President. He was Trump's running mate in two elections. Trump supporters might have killed Pence on Jan. 6 if they got the chance.

PARDONS. Last week, Trump again vowed to release everyone convicted of a Jan. 6 crime. The weekend's events were a reminder of how Republicans in Congress are still trying to run interference for Trump when it comes to January 6. More in my column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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SUPREME COURT. With Congress not in session, the biggest news hotspot on Capitol Hill may well be over at the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Justices hear arguments today in a pair of controversial cases. The first deals with social media postings about the Coronavirus outbreak - the second involves the National Rifle Association.

• SOCIAL MEDIA. The social media case is really interesting. At issue is whether the feds - through their contacts with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube - wrongly convinced Big Tech giants to restrict accounts which trafficked in misinformation about the Coronavirus, COVID vaccines, and more.

• FREE SPEECH. At first glance, this does not look like a First Amendment case. But the states of Missouri and Louisiana argue that because there is 'overwhelming evidence of federal interference' - those companies were acting as government agents - and thus the First Amendment comes into play.

• RULINGS. Lower courts ruled that the feds - through their pressure campaign on Big Tech companies - were 'suppressing millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens.'

NRA THEATER. The second case up today before the Supreme Court is also about the First Amendment - centering on how a top official in New York urged financial groups to stop doing business with the National Rifle Association, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

• APPEALS COURT. The NRA lost in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as the gun-rights group said that decision 'gives state officials free rein to financially blacklist their political opponents.' It could be a potent argument before a Supreme Court which obviously tilts to the conservative side.

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FIGHTING ILLINI. Two days before primaries in Illinois, Donald Trump again publicly endorsed Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), who's getting a spirited primary challenge from conservative Darren Bailey. Bailey has been getting help from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), which obviously hasn't gone down well with Bost and other GOP lawmakers.

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RAP SHEET. Two Indiana men have been arrested and are now facing charges for their actions on Jan. 6. Donald Moss and James Behmer both pushed and hit police officers outside the Capitol. Both men then made it into the Capitol with other rioters soon after the first breach at the Senate Wing Door.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  March 18, 1836.  The Senate on this date began debate on a resolution offered by Sen. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri to expunge an 1834 Senate censure of President Andrew Jackson.  The battle centered on Jackson's fight over removing deposits from the Bank of the United States.  Benton's resolution called that rebuke an 'evil example and dangerous precedent.'  The Senate would finally reverse the censure two years later.

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on Tuesday.

The Senate has votes on Tuesday.

Check President Biden’s schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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