House poised for reconciliation, infrastructure votes
SALT provisions get even better for the wealthy
After some last minute changes, House Democrats hope to vote today on their reconciliation bill. It might finally be Infrastructure Week. And Republicans want federal workers back on the job. This is “Regular Order” for November 5, 2021.
BIDEN AGENDA. Democrats think they are finally ready for a House vote on a giant tax and social program package, along with a long-delayed infrastructure bill. The House will convene at 8 am EDT to start the reconciliation debate. “We’re going to pass both bills,” declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
FINAL ACTION. Despite differences on key issues, the pace of reconciliation talks clearly quickened on Thursday, as House Democrats gave up on their strategy of voting only on a bill which would be 100 percent accepted by the Senate. "Let's get it done," said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA).
SCHEDULE. After all of the wrangling, it seems hard to believe that Democrats are on the verge of finally approving both of these bills. But we’ll see what happens on Friday. Here’s the schedule:
SALT SUBSTITUTE. The late changes in the reconciliation bill included new language on SALT, the deduction for state and local taxes. Already under fire over a higher SALT cap - which mainly would benefit the wealthy - Democrats last night decided to make a change. They made it even better for the rich.
BIGGER BETTER. After moving to raise the SALT cap from $10,000 to $72,500 per year, Democrats decided Thursday on an even bigger tax break - making the cap $80,000 per year. "Why are they doing this?" asked Jason Furman, the top economic adviser in the Obama White House.
MORE. Outside budget watchdog groups continued to pan the moves by Democrats. “Increasing the SALT cap in Build Back Better would be a costly mistake,” said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
DEMS. Supporters of the SALT provision made no apologies. "We have been fighting this unfair, targeted tax since its inception in 2017," said Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) in a joint statement. "This fix will put money back in the pockets of hardworking, middle class families in our districts," they said.
POT SHOTS. All of the different changes by Democrats in the details of the reconciliation plan have provided plenty of ammunition to Republicans. I can't tell you how many tweets I've seen and statements I've heard from GOP lawmakers attacking certain provisions - which were dropped long ago from the bill.
GOP. Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) yesterday was railing against raising corporate tax rates to 26.5 percent. That hasn't been in the bill for weeks. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said the bill has 'mass amnesty for illegal immigrants.' Not anymore. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) was criticizing a IRS bank reporting provision - but that’s been stripped out.
RECONCILIATION NERD NOTE. Updated details were released Thursday on most of the tax revenue provisions of the 'Build Back Better' bill - showing that it would raise $1.476 trillion over ten years. Add in money also being raised by prescription drug reforms and IRS enforcement, and Democrats say the whole bill is paid for.
REVENUE EFFECTS. Here's the link to the review from the Joint Committee on Taxation. This document was finalized before the late change in the SALT deduction provision.
DETAILS. Tax increases for high-income individuals would raise $640 billion. Corporate and business tax changes would net $814 billion. In all (this figure is on page 8), the tax changes would net $1.476 trillion over 10 years.
INFRASTRUCTURE. If Democrats are able to approve the reconciliation bill, then the House would move immediately to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has been waiting over two months for a vote. Democrats were ready. “It’s going to be a buildbackbetterbipartisaninfrastructure kind of day,” tweeted Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN).
BIG CHANGE. A few weeks ago, more liberal Democrats in the House said they wouldn’t vote on infrastructure until the House was ready to approve the final reconciliation measure. But now they have backed away from that - making it easier to finally act on extra money for new roads and bridges.
GOP SUPPORT. Maybe as many as a dozen Republicans might be ready to back the infrastructure bill in the House. “Not a single Republican should be voting for the Infrastructure bill,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
MIGRANT PAYMENTS. Republicans have been livid over reports that the Biden Administration was considering a settlement with illegal immigrant families who were separated intentionally during the Trump Administration. But now the ACLU is also mad about it, after the President ridiculed the idea.
ACLU. "President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department," the ACLU said in a written statement. "But if he follows through on what he said, the president is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families."
BIDEN. Asked about the possible settlement of $450,000 per child with separated families, President Biden on Wednesday told a Fox News reporter the idea was 'garbage.' "That's not going to happen," the President said.
BUT. On Thursday, a White House spokeswoman acknowledged the possibility that it could happen. "What he was reacting to was the dollar figure that was mentioned," said Deputy White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre, who said the $450,000 settlement figure was much higher than what the Justice Department would accept.
GOP. Republicans aren't letting go of the issue. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) has introduced a bill to block such payments. "We cannot send the message that if you break our laws to cross the border illegally you will get nearly half a million," Pfluger tweeted.
COVID UPDATE. Top public health officials heard more complaints from Republicans on Thursday at a Senate hearing, as the feds continue to encourage Americans to vaccinate their children against the Coronavirus outbreak.
CDC. Centers for Disease Control chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky touted the availability of vaccines for children between 5 and 11 years old, saying it was another important step to slow the virus. "We have made incredible strides in vaccinating the U.S. population," Walensky said.
FAUCI-PAUL. The hearing was also another chapter in the battle between Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dr. Anthony Fauci. "You appear to have learned nothing from this pandemic," Paul said, as Fauci fought off Paul's charges that Fauci was in part responsible for the outbreak. "He is egregiously incorrect in what he says."
FEDS-COVID. Republicans also used the COVID hearing to press for federal workers to return to work. “I've been told that north of 75 percent of employees at CDC headquarters are working remotely - is that correct?" asked Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The CDC chief did not have a specific answer.
GOP LETTER. Cassidy's line of questioning came as Republican Senators sent a letter to top federal officials saying that it's time for federal workers to be back on the job. "We request immediate action to transition federal workers back to in-person operations," the GOP Senators wrote.
RETURN. Republicans say federal agencies have had few answers about their staffing plans going forward, amid complaints of work piling up in various departments. You can read the GOP letter at this link.
DAYLIGHT SAVING. This weekend, the clocks fall back an hour to regular standard time. But there are many states which would like the option of staying on daylight saving time all year long. "To put it simply," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), "Americans want more sunshine and less depression."
OPTIONS. States already have the option to stay on standard time under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Hawaii and Arizona are the only states which do that. But states don't have the power to stay on daylight saving time.
CONGRESS. The idea gets a lot of talk two times a year when the clocks change, but not that many lawmakers have officially signed on to the idea. 16 Senators and 27 House members have backed the idea of permanent daylight saving time.
SUNRISE SUNSET. With Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State asking for permanent daylight saving, let's check Seattle. Sunrise today is 8:00 am - which is pretty late. Sunset is 5:45 pm. If Seattle stayed on daylight saving all the time, the sun would not rise in much of December until almost 9:00 am.
ELECTIONS. This week's elections in Virginia and New Jersey showed that Republicans can win in Blue states without Trump on the ballot and without Trump on the campaign trail. Whether Republicans take that option is another question. My column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
MUSE OF HISTORY. November 5, 1781. We are all taught that George Washington was the nation's first President. But he didn't take that office until 1789. On this date in 1781, John Hanson of Maryland was elected ‘President of the United States in Congress assembled,’ a post created under the Articles of Confederation. In his first letter to George Washington - who was still commanding U.S. military forces - Hanson said that 'the present Aspect of our Public Affairs is particularly pleasing.' There were actually eight different Presidents under the Articles, a position with limited authority which didn't work very well - and was ultimately replaced by the Constitution, which produced a new Congress and President Washington in 1789.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House meets at 8 am.
The Senate next has votes on November 15.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com