Senate approves gun violence compromise
House to vote on gun plan today
Inside today’s ‘Regular Order’ for June 24, 2022.
Multiple GOP lawmakers asked for pardons after Jan. 6
GOP finger pointing erupts over fake elector scheme.
Republicans hail Supreme Court ruling in NY gun case.
GUNS. The U.S. Senate voted 65-33 last night to approve a package of plans to deal with mass shootings and gun violence in a deal forged after a Texas elementary school massacre. “For 30 years, Congress stood in its political corners and did nothing," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), the lead Democratic negotiator. "But not this time." "We've demonstrated to the people that our institutions can work," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the lead Republican in the gun talks.
DEMS. “We are saving lives," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). "It is a proud moment for the United States Senate." “It is long past time and so much more to do,” added Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
FIFTEEN. 15 Republican Senators voted to approve the bill. Blunt MO, Burr NC, Capito WV, Cassidy LA, Collins ME, Cornyn TX, Ernst IA, Graham SC, McConnell KY, Murkowski AK, Portman OH, Romney UT, Tillis NC, Toomey PA, and Young IN.
GOP. Republican supporters acknowledged they were getting flak from back home. “There's rumors afoot that somehow this infringes upon the law-abiding citizen's right to keep and bear arms," said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). "That is absolutely false,” as Cassidy banged his hand on his Senate lectern.
BIDEN. Always a champion of negotiation, President Biden praised the work of Senators. “This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans,” Mr. Biden said in a written statement. “Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it. The House of Representatives should promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk.”
NEXT. The House will do exactly that today, before leaving on a two-week break. “On behalf of the House, we applaud the Senate for passing its gun violence prevention package on a strong bipartisan vote,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
ACTION. This deal is clearly not what Biden and Democrats would have written on their own when it comes to gun policy. But it gives Democrats in Congress a major accomplishment to talk about back home during an election year - on par with the infrastructure law.
TODAY. The House Rules Committee will meet this morning to set the ground rules for debate in the full House. “Congress cannot continue to ignore the gun violence that has killed far too many in this country," said Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR). Read more about the bill at this link. It features:
$11 billion investment in mental health resources.
Money for states to implement 'red flag' laws.
Longer 3-10 day background check for gun buyers under 21.
Closes the ‘boyfriend loophole’ re: domestic violence.
First federal law banning gun trafficking and straw purchases.
Clarifies who needs to register as a federal firearms dealer.
$2 billion in school safety initiatives.
$100 million in extra resources for the instant gun check system.
SECOND AMENDMENT. Republicans in Congress hailed a 6-3 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday which struck down limits in New York State on the ability of people to get permits to carry firearms in public. "The Constitution is clear," said Rep. Tim Wallberg (R-MI). "Americans have a right to self-defense." Read the ruling at this link.
VICTORY. For Republicans, the decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas was the culmination of years of legal efforts to challenge such laws. "The arbitrary and overly restrictive regulations placed on the law-abiding people of New York were a clear violation of our 2nd Amendment," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
DEFEAT. Democrats were furious. "This right-wing Supreme Court just gave in to the gun lobby," said Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY). "Make no mistake," said Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), "this will make it harder to stop senseless acts of violence across our country."
NINE LEFT. The Justices have nine decisions still to issue from the 2021-2022 term. It's unlikely that all nine will be released today. I would still think the abortion decision will come next week - but we'll see what happens at 10 am.
JANUARY 6. Three top officials appointed by Donald Trump told a special House panel on Thursday how they stood against Trump’s efforts to use the Justice Department to further his never-ending false claims of election fraud after the 2020 election. The hearing presented even more evidence of how Trump embraced baseless accusations and refused to accept his defeat.
ROSEN. "Some argued to the former President and public that the election was corrupt and stolen," said former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. "That view was wrong then and it is wrong today."
TRUMP. Rosen and two other officials detailed how they played Whack-a-Mole with Trump, as he jumped from conspiracy theory to conspiracy theory about 2020 fraud. "These allegations simply had no merit," said former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue.
ITALIAN SATELLITES. How crazy were Trump's election fraud conspiracy theories? He hassled aides so much that the acting Secretary of Defense called officials in Italy after Trump pushed a wacky claim that Italian satellites were somehow changing vote totals in American elections.
SHOWDOWN. On Jan. 3 in the Oval Office, Rosen and Donoghue battled with Trump and threatened mass resignations if the President pushed out Rosen for Jeffrey Clark, seen as a Trump puppet. "Mr. President, I've been with you through four Attorneys General," said then-Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel. "I couldn't be a part of this." Trump backed down on the change - but kept up his false claims on election fraud.
PARDONS. The Jan. 6 committee ended Thursday's hearing by playing videotaped deposition testimony from Trump White House aides, where they discussed which GOP lawmakers had asked for a pardon after the Capitol Attack. The names were very familiar.
GOP SIX. Six House Republicans were named. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
DENIALS. Biggs said a White House aide was mistaken. Perry said he never asked for help. “I never sought a presidential pardon for myself or other members of Congress,” the Pennsylvania Republican said.
YELLOWHAMMER. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) not only asked for a pardon for himself - but for "Every Congressman and Senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania." That was in a Jan. 11 email with a subject line of "Pardons."
MRS. GREENE OF GEORGIA. On Twitter, Greene slammed the committee. “Spreading gossip and lies is exactly what the January 6th Witch Hunt Committee is all about.” Read that again. That’s what we call a ‘non-denial denial.’ Greene never flat out denied she asked for a pardon.
PARDON ME. “The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you've committed a crime,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the two Republicans on the January 6 panel.
FAKE ELECTORS. There was finger pointing between Republican lawmakers on Thursday over who tried to give Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) fake GOP elector documents on Jan. 6, which he wanted to hand to Vice President Mike Pence. In a radio interview, Johnson said the documents came from Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA).
NO WAY. Kelly quickly denied Johnson's explanation, labeling it 'patently false.' "Mr. Kelly has not spoken to Sen. Johnson for the better part of a decade," Kelly's spokesman said in a written statement.
BACK STORY. Okay, so if it wasn't Kelly - then, where did the documents come from? As I mentioned on Wednesday, the unexplored part of this may well be the involvement of Congressional staffers in the fake elector / Big Lie - just as much as GOP lawmakers.
GOP ERROR. As we saw again on Thursday, the Jan. 6 hearings have methodically laid out how Donald Trump refused to drop his never-ending false claims of election fraud. The clarity of these hearings is because of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's decision to have his party boycott the proceedings. The GOP did Americans a favor. That’s my column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
GOP LEADER. Speaking of McCarthy, he could be on the verge of becoming the next Speaker of the House. His party clearly has the political momentum right now. And yet, McCarthy has been staying away from the cameras - and limiting what questions he takes from Capitol Hill reporters.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING. It's been 17 days since the California Primary. And Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) still isn't sure whether he has qualified for the November ballot. With about 60 percent of the vote count reported, Valadao remains in second place about 1400 votes ahead of Chris Mathys, another Republican.
KERN COUNTY. According to the California Secretary of State, Kern County - with a population of 892,000 people - has over 43,000 ballots still to process. Compare that to Los Angeles County - with a population of 10 million - which has just 13,000 ballots to count.
DEADLINE. County officials have until July 8 to forward their final results to California state officials. July 15 is the deadline for final certification. Meanwhile, Valadao just has to wait.
ALASKA. Elections officials in Alaska started their review yesterday of last Saturday’s special U.S. House primary. Ex-Gov. Sarah Palin led the field with 27 percent. She will face fellow Republican Nick Begich III - a historic political family name - and Democrat Mary Peltola.
TOP
FOURTHREE. Alaska's new primary law allows the top four finishers to advance to the general election. But Independent candidate Al Gross - who finished third - dropped out. So, Palin will face Begich and Peltola.RANKED CHOICE. That election will use 'ranked-choice voting.' If no one gets over 50 percent, then there is an instant runoff based on voter order of preference. Every voter picks their first, second, and third choices.
CHENEY. Facing strong opposition within her own party, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is openly appealing to Democrats in her home state to change their voter registration - vote in the GOP primary - and vote for her in Wyoming's primary on August 16.
FLYER. In a campaign mailing to Democratic voters in Wyoming, Cheney tells Democrats they can change their party registration up until 14 days before the primary. "You may also change your party affiliation at your polling place on the day of the primary," her flyer adds.
NUMBERS. There are 197,868 registered Republicans according to the Wyoming Secretary of State. There are only 44,643 Democrats. Could they make a difference? Sure. But Cheney might need more than just a few of them to keep her seat in Congress.
GAS TAX. A day after President Biden called on Congress to approve a 90-day holiday on the federal gasoline tax, it was notable that few on Capitol Hill were even talking about it - aptly demonstrating that there is little appetite even among Democrats to vote on the idea.
SWING STATE GEORGIA. A few Democrats like Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) - who proposed the idea back in February - were still talking it up. But Congress is going home for a two week break without any real legislative actions that might bring down oil and gas prices. “The gas tax idea is stupid,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
BLUE SLIP. A bill which authorizes several hundred billion dollars over the next decade to help veterans who suffered from toxic burn pits hit a snag last night in the Senate. The problem was a small tax provision in the Senate bill. Those provisions cannot originate in the Senate - only in the House.
LAST NIGHT. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) tried late Thursday to ask that the House send back the bill's papers - have the Senate strip out the offending tax provision - and forward the bill back to the House. But Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) objected over concerns about the cost of the plan.
BILL. The bipartisan effort had been approved 84-14 by the Senate. But any further action will now have to wait until July.
JOIN THE FUN. Support my independent reporting about Congress. Give someone you know the gift of straight news. Or upgrade yourself to a paid subscription. Read the news - and stay for the Muse of History.
MUSE OF HISTORY. June 24, 1947. On this date, the Senate approved a resolution designed to terminate dozens of emergency authorizations made for the U.S. government during World War II. Sen. Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin said the plan would "do a great deal toward returning the machinery and operations of the Government from a war and emergency status to a permanent peacetime basis." The bill immediately repealed 60 laws and allowed 108 others to expire soon after approval by the Congress. Despite some concerns about the details, the measure was approved on a voice vote.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House meets at 9 am.
The Senate is back for votes the week of July 11.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
$2 billion for hardening schools. There are almost 100,000 public schools in the US. That is 20k per school, or almost enough to pay the architect fees. Now don’t get me started on how much we really need for real mental health.
This clause jumps off the screen for me:
"...gives Democrats in Congress a major accomplishment to talk about back home during an election year."
Words fail me.
That is important, of course, but in the face of America's firearms affair it is more symbolic than real. Together with the Supreme Court decision, that gesture strikes me as moving one step forward and two steps back.