Saturday Senate - Infrastructure inches ahead
House goes on summer break without vote on eviction ban
The Senate is at work on this Saturday. The House stumbles and lawmakers go home for a summer break. And lawmakers may soon get Donald Trump’s tax returns. This is a special Saturday edition of “Regular Order” for July 31, 2021.
INFRASTRUCTURE. The Senate on Friday took the next step on infrastructure, approving a motion to start debate on the subject. But it was slow going. Even as Senators voted 66-28 to take up the bill, they still did not have the final text of the bipartisan deal agreed to by both parties. The measure won’t be short, as a draft bill was circulating on Capitol Hill which topped 3,000 pages.
LEGISLATIVE NERD NOTE. Until the text is finalized, Senators can’t really start amendments. "The bipartisan group is still finalizing the text of their agreement," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said Friday evening. "This is a really important bill and I know all parties want to make sure it’s done right."
SENATE. The Senate returns to session at 11 am for an unusual Saturday session. Votes on the infrastructure bill would be a surprise frankly, as a number of Senators may have headed home for the weekend already. 19 of them missed the final vote on Friday afternoon (16 were Republicans).
HOUSE. While the Senate made incremental progress on infrastructure, House Democrats had a Friday to forget. An eleventh hour effort to extend a moratorium on evictions - which expires on Saturday night - crumbled without enough votes from Democrats, even after hours of arm twisting by party leaders.
EVICTION BAN. More liberal Democrats were furious with the inaction by their own party. "To know the moratorium has not been extended is truly disgraceful," said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY). "I know that people will die if we let the eviction moratorium expire," added Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
RENTAL AID. Also part of this story is the fact that Congress already approved $46.5 billion in aid for renters and landlords as part of a major COVID relief law - but much of that money has not been allocated by state and local governments.
HOUSE. This isn’t something which will instead get fixed next week. That’s because the House is now out on its summer break - which is supposed to extend until September 20 (but will likely get interrupted for other legislative work).
TRUMP. The House Oversight Committee released notes on Friday from a top Justice Department official, detailing a phone call from President Donald Trump, where he asked DOJ to say the 2020 election had been upended by fraud - even though there was no evidence. "Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me," the President reportedly said.
DOJ. The notes were taken about a December 27 phone call by Richard Donoghue, a top aide to then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. It was yet more proof of how Mr. Trump had leaned on state and federal officials to illegally swing the election in his favor. You can read the notes at this link.
2020. The story was a familiar one - more evidence that Donald Trump was trying to lean on federal and state officials to illegally change the outcome of the election, while the President was pressing false charges of election fraud.
TAX RETURNS. The House Ways and Means Committee got a step closer to getting the tax returns of Donald Trump, as the Justice Department told the Treasury Department to hand over the documents. "Treasury must furnish the information to the Committee," the Office of Legal Counsel wrote.
INVESTIGATION. Democrats said it was about time. "We have waited nearly 900 days - almost as long as the siege of Leningrad - to get Trump’s tax returns," said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ). "The returns should be sent to Congress without delay." But the former President could still challenge this decision in court.
CAPITOL ATTACK. If you ever have a question about which side someone is taking in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, just consider the case of Ashli Babbit, who was shot and killed by police as she tried to jump into an area off the House floor where lawmakers were sheltering during the attack. In this photo posted to Twitter, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) made clear he sides with Babbit.
DEMS. That photo from Gosar drew a sharp response. “McCarthy’s GOP straight up coddling the cop killers,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
MUSE OF HISTORY. July 31, 1789. On this date, President George Washington signed into law a bill from the first Congress which levied taxes on imported alcohol as a way to pay for the nation's debt from the Revolutionary War. While the import duties did their job to raise money, they were not popular with the voters. The new law also established 59 different customs collection districts and ports of entry - what would ultimately be known as the U.S. Customs Service. The new law did not apply to North Carolina or Rhode Island - as those two states had not yet ratified the new Constitution.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House next has votes scheduled on September 20.
The Senate meets at 11 am.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
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Here's a question for a future Muse of History. If that infrastructure bill is topping 3,000 pages. What's the largest bill ever to pass in Congress?