GOP blasts Biden over Russian prisoner swap
House sends marriage bill to President's desk
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for December 9, 2022:
Republicans move slowly on House committee chairs.
FTX chief gets a subpoena threat.
Texas Republicans set out border plans.
BRITTANY GRINER. Republicans in Congress denounced President Biden on Thursday over a prisoner swap that freed WNBA star Brittany Griner from a Russian prison, bitterly attacking the White House for not freeing an ex-Marine being held by Moscow on charges of espionage.
GOP. "Paul Whelan should have been part of this deal," said Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID). "He has spent four years unjustly held and badly mistreated in Russian prisons." Whelan was arrested by the Russians in 2018.
BIDEN. White House aides said they tried. "This was not a situation where we had a choice," one senior official said. "It was a choice between bringing home one particular American - Brittney Griner - or bringing home none."
TRADE. Some Republicans said the White House was more interested in helping a basketball player than an ex-Marine. "I bet when Paul Whelan was learning the skills to be a Marine he never thought that his country would have prioritized him more if he had a jump shot," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
SWAP. GOP lawmakers also expressed outrage at the Russian prisoner who was swapped for Griner. Viktor Bout is an arms dealer who was arrested in 2008. "Another reason to impeach Biden," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
MARRIAGE. The House on Thursday voted 258-169 to approve a bill giving federal protections to same-sex and interracial marriages. "I’m proud to protect marriage as one of my last acts as Speaker," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). 39 House Republicans broke ranks to vote for the bill.
PURPOSE. Backers said action was needed to make sure the courts don't upend same-sex marriage in the same way that the Supreme Court tossed out the Roe v. Wade decision. "The Supreme Court is not poised to overturn its opinions," complained Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
DETAILS. The bill repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as only being between a man and a woman. "That's what the Bible says," argued Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) on the House floor.
OPPOSITION. One Republican almost broke down in tears during debate. "Protect religious liberty, protect people of faith, and protect Americans who believe in the true meaning of marriage," said Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO).
DIFFERENT WORLDS. Hartzler's speech aggravated one newly elected House Democrat - who is gay. "This is shameful," said Rep.-Elect Robert Garcia (D-CA). "I'll be serving with homophobes and members of Congress that don't even view us as people deserving of basic rights."
PRESENT. Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) voted 'Present.' "Religious freedom cannot prevail until and unless individual business owners practicing their sincere religious beliefs have protection under the law," Owens said.
WORDS. I’m still struck by the line from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). “If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get one.”
HOUSE GOP. The next session of Congress begins on January 3. Usually by now, the new party in charge of the House would have a full roster of committee chairs all settled and ready to go. But this year, Republicans are taking their time.
PROCESS. The last time the GOP won the majority in 2010 - they ratified their House committee chairs on Dec. 8. So far in 2022, Republicans have only tapped a handful of committee leaders:
Rep. Glenn Thompson R-PA - Agriculture
Rep. Mike Gallagher R-WI - Select Committee on China
Rep. Patrick McHenry R-NC - Financial Services
Rep. Jim Jordan R-OH - Judiciary
Rep. James Comer R-KY - Oversight
TBD. No choice has been made for powerful committees like Ways and Means (tax policy), Armed Services, Energy & Commerce, and all the powerful Appropriations subcommittees (government spending).
DELAY. There was even talk yesterday that some of those decisions might wait until after the start of the 118th Congress. I will be blunt - I don’t understand this. The longer you wait, it delays all sorts of stuff like staff moves, organization, subcommittee rosters, and the panel’s agenda.
MCCARTHY. There didn't seem to be evidence of progress this week for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's bid to become Speaker. In fact, the opposition was more vocal. The latest salvo came in a Thursday op-ed from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
GAETZ. "There are likely dozens or even hundreds of House Republicans that I would love to support as Speaker," Gaetz wrote. Gaetz met with McCarthy yesterday off the House floor - it did not seem to clear the air.
NOT GOOD. Gaetz wasn't the only one speaking up. "What has Kevin McCarthy done over the last 2 years to demonstrate he will challenge the status quo plaguing Washington,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-VA).
RULES. In a new letter, a group of GOP lawmakers is calling for major rules changes - which is part of the debate about McCarthy. The plans include the ability to force a vote at any time to remove a Speaker of the House.
WHAT'S NEXT? I go back and forth - but Republicans may well just stumble their way into a messy floor fight over the next Speaker.
PENTAGON. Before heading home for the weekend, the House voted 350-80 for an $858 billion defense policy bill. The plan authorizes a budget increase of $77 billion for 2023 - $45 billion over what President Biden requested.
LOCAL PROJECTS. The bipartisan nature of this package was clear in the press releases trumpeting different provisions which authorized new construction projects at dozens of bases. It's little stuff - but very important for the folks back home. Here's a few examples:
$29 million for a child care center at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
$10 million for a Military Working Dog Kennel at Warren AFB in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
$2.4 million to renovate an energy facility at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida.
$24.7 million for a forensic laboratory at Fort Gillem outside Atlanta, Georgia.
$5.3 million for a Physical Fitness Testing Facility at Fort Drum, New York.
NO VOTES. Opponents of the bill were a unique political mix of liberals who wanted to spend less money at the Pentagon, and more conservative Republicans who claimed that the bill was stuffed with all sorts of 'woke' plans for the military. That's why the final vote was so lopsided, at 350-80.
REGULAR ORDER. The holiday season is upon us. Do you need a different kind of gift? Why not give the gift of straight news to one of your friends, someone in your family - or hire me as your own Capitol Hill correspondent. The next few months will be very busy as Congress moves back to divided government - and “Regular Order” will be there in the halls of Congress.
BORDER BATTLE. GOP lawmakers from Texas gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to unveil details of a package of bills to crack down on illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexican border. "What is happening at our southern border,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), “is a disgrace and totally unacceptable.”
LONE STAR. The Texas GOP package emphasizes finishing the border wall, targeting drug cartels, enforcing immigration laws, and reforming various border policies. The proposal covers nearly 50 different pieces of legislation.
BIDEN. "From day one, the Lone Star State has had to fill the void left by a President who abandoned our southern border,” said Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX). "I have never seen the border this broken,” added Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
NEW CONGRESS. Obviously, whatever the House can pass might not get far in the Democratic Senate. But it will be an important marker for the GOP as they square off over illegal immigration with the White House.
FTX. Top members of the Senate Banking Committee are putting the heat on Sam Bankman-Fried, the head of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange which went belly up last month. They told Bankman-Fried they want his testimony next week at a hearing.
HEARING. "If you chose not to appear, I am prepared…to issue a subpoena to compel your testimony,” said Banking chair Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Brown has set a Senate hearing on FTX for Dec. 14.
HOUSE. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has also held out the possibility of a subpoena for testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. (I would be surprised to see Bankman-Fried at all - but we'll see.)
CHIPS ACT. Earlier this week, President Biden traveled to Arizona to tout the latest big semiconductor production investment spurred by passage of the CHIPS and Science Act. It also gave us our latest example of Congressional hypocrisy.
ARIZONA. "Exciting news!" tweeted Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ). "Arizona is on track to becoming a hub of innovation and a leader in domestic semiconductor manufacturing." But there was one glaring issue - Lesko voted against the CHIPS bill which made it possible.
GOP. Lesko was one of four Republicans from Arizona - that is, every GOP member from Arizona - who voted against the CHIPS bill. But she's darn excited about the $40 billion overall investment coming to her state.
ROADS. This is much like the various GOP lawmakers in Congress who voted against the infrastructure law - but welcome federal dollars for new roads and bridges. You gotta hand it to them - that's the definition of chutzpah.
AOC ETHICS. It's still not clear why the House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) - as was announced on Wednesday - but there could be a clue from a separate ethics inquiry related to another New York lawmaker.
MALONEY. I reported a few weeks ago about Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who ran afoul of the Ethics Committee over the Met Gala - and whether she had asked for a ticket. It's okay to be invited, but not if you *ask* for a ticket.
GALA. At the Met Gala this year, Ocasio-Cortez wore a white dress which had "TAX THE RICH" in big red letters. We know an ethics complaint was filed about her attendance, where the tickets reportedly cost about $30,000.
NEXT YEAR. If the ticket isn’t the issue - then, it could be the dress, depending on whether Ocasio-Cortez paid for it, etc. The ethics panel said the next step would not be taken on AOC’s case until 2023.
BAD CREDIT. A new House Democrat from Florida said Thursday that he was rejected for an apartment not far from the U.S. Capitol - because he has a bad credit score. Rep.-Elect Maxwell Frost said he lost the apartment and the application fee.
FROST. "For those asking, I have bad credit cause I ran up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half," Frost posted on Twitter. "Didn’t make enough money from Uber." At 25, Frost will be the youngest member of Congress. Anyone need a group house roommate on the Hill?
WARNOCK. A day after getting a hero's welcome following his runoff win in Georgia, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) was one of the last Senators to leave the Capitol on Thursday - because he was back at work presiding over the Senate floor.
CHAIR. The duties of the chair usually fall to the most junior members of the majority party, who divide up the hourly duties each week. So, instead of heading for the airport at 2 pm - Warnock was still in the chamber four hours later.
GEORGIA. There is no other state where voters (and Republicans) have repeatedly stood up to former President Donald Trump more than Georgia — and this week’s loss by Herschel Walker was just one more piece of that resistance. That's my column this week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
MUSE OF HISTORY. December 9, 1840. President Martin Van Buren's message to the opening of the second session of the 26th Congress was full of flowery language that you certainly wouldn’t hear in a modern State of the Union. "Our devout gratitude is due to the Supreme Being for having graciously continued to our beloved country through the vicissitudes of another year the invaluable blessings of health, plenty, and peace," wrote Van Buren, who would be replaced the following March by William Henry Harrison.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back on Monday.
The Senate next has votes on Monday.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
The House still owns the old Page Dorm. I've often thought they should make it into a boarding house for lawmakers. It might be a way to make them all get to know each other, and it's close to the Capitol.
While the Ethics Committee chair will be a Republican, the panel is always split evenly.