House approves COVID relief bill
Biden one step closer to victory on aid package
President Biden chalks up a win in the House on COVID relief. The House gets ready for two other big bills next week. This is “Regular Order” for February 27, 2021.
COVID VOTE. After a day of partisan jabs, the House voted mainly along party lines to approve a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package backed by President Biden. Just like the Obama Stimulus vote 12 years ago in the House, no GOP lawmakers broke ranks to vote for this aid package. The vote was 219-212 - wrapping up just after 2 am.
TWO NAYS. A pair of Democrats voted against the COVID package: Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, and Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon. Both had signaled their discontent with the details on earlier votes as well. But Republicans needed more deserters to stop this bill from being approved in the House.
NEXT STOP. The bill now goes to the Senate, where some tinkering with the details is possible. We already know the increase in the minimum wage to $15/hour is not going to survive strict Senate budget reconciliation rules.
MINIMUM WAGE. With the Senate Parliamentarian nixing the plan to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, Democrats are looking at Plan “B.” The goal is to come up with some kind of creative tax solution - which would then make it in order under Senate budget rules - and use that to help boost the pay of working Americans.
BACKDOOR HIKE. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is floating the idea of a tax penalty on bigger companies, to try to force them to raise wages. "My plan would impose a 5 percent penalty on a big corporations’ total payroll if any workers earn less than a certain amount. That penalty would increase over time," Wyden said.
SMALL BIZ. Wyden said he's also looking at tax credits for small businesses, all to find a way to help their workers make more each year. While Democrats were very interested, one former top economic official in the Obama White House held up a caution flag.
ELECTION REFORM. Going through the amendments to a major election reform bill in the House, one plan caught my eye. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wants to strip out a section in the bill which requires states to offer expanded vote-by-mail options. What’s ironic is that Boebert’s home state votes almost entirely by mail. That’s how she was elected - and yet she doesn’t want other states to use the same procedures.
ELECTIONS. One of Boebert’s six other amendments to the bill strips out provisions forcing states to insure people don't wait more than 30 minutes to vote. Another gets rid of requirements for states to use drop boxes.
VOTE BY MAIL. Boebert isn’t the only GOP lawmaker who wants to get rid of the vote-by-mail provisions. Making the same push is Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). Voters in his home state of Arizona vote overwhelmingly by mail.
POLICE REFORM. Along with election reform, the House will vote next week on a package of police reforms designed in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, which touched off several months of summer riots in 2020. "I hope to be able to sign into law a landmark police reform bill," President Biden said Thursday.
READ THE BILL. The plan is exact same measure which was approved last year by the House after Floyd’s killing. The police reform efforts ran aground in the Senate, as Democrats blocked a GOP counter-proposal.
CONGRESS EARMARKS. With Democrats ready to again allow Congressional earmarks in spending bills, some Republicans are on the attack. “Congress shouldn't bring back pork-barrel earmarks, we should bury them once and for all,” said Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), as more conservative GOP lawmakers blast Democrats.
SPENDING GYMNASTICS. While it sounds so easy to judge an earmark, the ban actually made life more difficult for both parties to direct money to straightforward projects in their states. Georgia Republicans found that out in 2017 when they wanted the Army Corps to deepen the port at Savannah.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH PORK. Earmarks never really went away. They were only shifted to the Executive Branch. Cities and counties just had to ask the Department of (Fill in the Blank) for money from a set fund which the Congress had approved. Federal bureaucrats then picked the winners, not lawmakers.
PROXY VOTING. In 2020, Republicans made a big fuss about a COVID rules change from Democrats, which allowed members to cast their floor votes remotely. The GOP went to court to stop it, but lost. But we saw again on Friday, times have changed.
CPAC. A group of GOP lawmakers went to Florida for the CPAC conference, and still voted from there - using a letter to the House Clerk which said they were "unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency."
CAPITOL ATTACK. A guy who hit police at the Capitol with a crutch gets arrested. One of the Ohio “Oathkeepers” remains in jail - but prosecutors raised eyebrows as they talked Friday about the group having a “quick reaction force” waiting outside D.C. to help in the attack on the Capitol. It was discussed in detail in private.
IN THE HOPPER. Washington, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is asking for another statue to be removed in the nation's capital. This time, it's the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park near the White House. Norton cited Jackson's ownership of slaves and his attacks on Native Americans.
OLD HICKORY. Last summer during the BLM protests near the White House, demonstrators wrapped ropes around the Jackson statue - but could not pull it down. The Jackson statue was erected in 1853.
MUSE OF HISTORY. February 27, 1859. After finding out his wife was having an affair, Rep. Daniel Sickles of New York tracked down the man in question - and shot and killed him in broad daylight on a Sunday in Lafayette Park, just across the way from the White House (and not far from the Andrew Jackson statue). The resulting trial was a lurid affair, which was eagerly lapped by newspapers and readers of the day. Sickles was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity, which experts say was the first time that defense succeeded in the United States. The dead man was Philip Key, one of the sons of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Bangled Banner.
COMMENTS. Please feel free to comment or ask questions about what’s happening on Capitol Hill.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House meets next on Monday.
The Senate meets next on Monday.
President Biden is in Washington. Schedule link.
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