Senate votes to end Pentagon's COVID vaccine mandate
House Dems unveil bill to block Trump 2024 bid
Also in today’s “Regular Order” for December 16, 2022:
The GOP Speaker drama continues.
Lawmakers decry journalist purge by Twitter.
Congress extends shutdown deadline to Dec. 23.
NDAA. Ignoring the opposition of the White House, the Senate voted 83-11 last night to end the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for servicemembers - all part of a sweeping $858 billion defense policy bill. The measure includes a 4.6 percent pay increase for the troops, and authorizes a big overall budget hike for 2023.
VOTE. Two GOP Senators failed in a late effort to force the Pentagon to reinstate U.S. troops who were booted out of the military for refusing to get the Coronavirus vaccine. The vote was 54-40 against the plan from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
BUDGET. President Biden initially asked Congress to increase the overall defense budget by $43 billion next year - but the Congress added $45 billion more on top of that in order to authorize an $88 billion hike.
ELEVEN. The 11 Senators who voted against the defense bill were a classic mix of the very liberal (Bernie Sanders) - and the very conservative (Mike Lee). "We can't keep throwing money into a bloated, inefficient national security machine," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
SPENDING. The Senate also voted 71-19 last night to avoid a government shutdown, sending President Biden a one-week temporary funding bill for Uncle Sam. That's designed to give kay lawmakers enough time to finalize a giant, year-end Omnibus funding bill.
SCHUMER. "No drama, no gridlock, no government shutdown this week," said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who remained optimistic about a final Omnibus deal. "Nobody will get everything they want, but the final product will include wins everyone can get behind," Schumer added.
HOUSE. Instead of sitting around and waiting for the Senate to finalize the Omnibus, House members were told not to return until next Wednesday. "I am optimistic that we'll enact a strong Omnibus next week," Speaker Pelosi said.
DETAILS. But like the defense bill - which weighed in at 4,408 pages and was dropped on lawmakers just last week - none of the Omnibus details have been publicly released as yet. Stay tuned.
TRUMP. Over 40 House Democrats introduced a bill last night which would prevent former President Donald Trump from holding that office again. "Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6," said Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI). "You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy."
CONSTITUTION. "Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Donald J. Trump is ineligible to again hold the office of President of the United States, or to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States," the bill text states.
FINDINGS. The actual legislative language for the bill is very short - but it's filled with 26 pages of details about the Jan. 6 investigation, what's known as 'findings.' You can read the measure at this link.
VOTE. Something like this won’t become law - but I could certainly see Democrats in the House voting on it before Christmas, especially with the Jan. 6 committee releasing its report next week. Stay tuned.
TIKTOK. A day after the Senate approved a bill to ban the TikTok app from government phones and computer devices, GOP lawmakers called for the House to quickly approve that measure and send it to President Biden for his signature.
CHINA. "TikTok is a Chinese-owned entity. It shouldn’t be on any device, let alone a government device," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). "Ban this app and its use on federal government devices," added Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
MCCARTHY. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy also tried to seize on the vote to put pressure on Democrats. "Speaker Pelosi - who claims to be tough on China - should immediately allow an up-or-down vote," McCarthy said Thursday.
HOUSE. Asked about the bill at a news conference, Pelosi was non-committal. "I don't know that that will be on the agenda next week, but let's see.”
MORE. There are some in Congress who want to go further - and fully ban TikTok nationally. That isn’t happening now - but maybe look for some Republicans to press that plan next year.
TWITTER. Last night brought a purge of journalists from Twitter, as reporters for a variety of news organizations were banned - apparently for reporting about Twitter and billionaire owner Elon Musk. A reporter from the Voice of America - a government employee - was suspended for simply reporting about others who had been suspended.
CONGRESS. The move did not go unnoticed on Capitol Hill. "Banning journalists is antithetical to free speech and a tactic of the most disturbed, deranged, and destructive men in human history," said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN).
MEETING. Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) said her office met with Twitter officials on Thursday. "They told us that they're not going to retaliate against independent journalists," Trahan said. "Less than 12 hours later, multiple technology reporters have been suspended."
REMEMBER. Elon Musk owns Twitter. He can allow anyone on that platform and boot anyone off. No one - including me - has a right to be on his website. But when you start kicking off journalists for just reporting about other reporters who have been kicked off Twitter, that’s pretty bad.
REGULAR ORDER. Time is running out to find a gift for your friends and family. Why not just make it easy and give the gift of straight news - 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!
COVID. Yesterday, I told you about a report on the Coronavirus outbreak from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. Now we have a report from Democrats on that panel - and safe to say, it has much different conclusions than the GOP review.
TRUMP. Democrats blamed the Trump Administration for not taking the COVID-19 threat seriously, even after being warned by the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
REPORT. "The IC’s alarms to the White House and the former president were clear and unmistakable," the report states. "And yet, in public messaging and in preparation for the impending impact, COVID was downplayed and steps that could have been taken to save lives were ignored."
ORIGIN. The GOP report said there were 'indications' that COVID 'may have been' part of Chinese biological weapons research. This report from Democrats does not get close to any conclusion. "We do not have an independent source of intelligence that would allow us to reach a more definitive conclusion."
MCCARTHY. This week saw no change in the drama over who will be the next Speaker of the House, as GOP conservatives continue to fight House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. "He doesn't have the votes," said Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), one of the conservatives working to stop McCarthy from being elected as Speaker.
OPPOSITION. "He will promise any and everything on January 2 or January 3 in a desperate attempt to try to save his bid for the Speakership," Good said of McCarthy, who can only lose four GOP votes on the floor of the House.
HOUSE GOP. The focus for House Republicans right now should be their agenda - as they get ready to take the majority in the U.S. House. But as I've detailed for weeks - much of that is on hold because of the Speaker fight.
COMMITTEES. Not only is the fight over McCarthy obscuring the party's legislative plans with its new majority, but it’s even delaying the selection of committee chairs in the House. That’s not the way to start a new Congress. That's my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
PUERTO RICO. The House on Thursday voted 233-191 to approve a bill that lets Puerto Rico vote on three options for its political future - independence, statehood, or a non-territorial self-governing status. 16 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for the plan, which now goes to the Senate.
FUTURE. "I support statehood for the island," said Jenniffer Gonzalez, the Republican delegate to Congress from Puerto Rico. "Our people have voted not once, not twice, but three times already supporting statehood." But Congress has not acted on those votes, which happened in 2012, 2017, and 2020.
VOTE. The 16 GOP members who voted for this bill were: Bacon NE, Cheney WY, Rodney Davis IL, Fitzpatrick PA, Flores TX, Garbarino NY, Gonzalez OH, Herrera Beutler WA, Huizenga MI, Joyce OH, Katko NY, Newhouse WA, Posey FL, Salazar FL, Smucker PA, and Upton MI.
WHAT'S NEXT? This bill won't get a vote in the Senate. But it was a reminder that most Republicans don't really want Puerto Rico to take any step towards statehood - even if the 3.5 million American citizens there favor that option.
CAWTHORN. The final days in office for Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) are a reminder of why they call this the House of Representatives. Some people excel. Some do not. Cawthorn is in the latter category. The North Carolina Republican now faces a lawsuit - from his own lawyers - because he hasn't paid them.
LAWSUIT. "To date, Mr. Cawthorn has not paid $193,296.85," his lawyers state in a lawsuit seeking damages from the North Carolina Republican.
CRYPTO. Cawthorn also got into ethics trouble for plugging a 'Let's go Brandon' cryptocurrency. Cawthorn bought between $100,000 and $250,000 of that token - and new documents out yesterday show he sold it for between $15,000 and $50,000, a substantial financial loss.
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT. Donald Trump piqued the interest of many in the political world by saying he would have a 'MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT' to reveal on Thursday. People started texting me on Wednesday night, wondering what the GOP frontrunner for 2024 might be doing.
TRADING CARDS. "My official Donald Trump Trading Card collection is here," Trump announced with a superhero image of him in a red Superman-type outfit, with an American flag as his cape. "GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each! Would make a great Christmas gift!"
VIDEO. In his announcement video, Trump says he is, "Better than Lincoln, better than Washington." Click on that link. My kids were howling.
RAP SHEET. The arrests continue in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump. A New Jersey man was arrested yesterday and charged with two felonies - Peter Michael Krill helped pull barricades back outside the building, allowing rioters to surge into police lines.
MUSE OF HISTORY. December 16, 1850. On this date, Sen. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri asked to bring up a plan to build 'a great central national highway' from St. Louis to San Francisco. "These are the middle latitudes of the United States," Benton said on the Senate floor. His plan was not only for a national road, but also local roads, a railroad, and telegraph lines - all constructed in a swath from the Mississippi to the Pacific. There would also be branches to Santa Fe and Salt Lake City. "It accommodates all the populations west of the Mississippi," Benton said.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is next expected to have votes on Wednesday.
The Senate meets on Monday.
President Biden’s daily schedule link.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree. Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
When you are willing to get rid of reporters - simply because they were detailing how other reporters had been banned - you don't really support journalism. You are scared of it.
Because every time Puerto Rico votes on statehood, opponents on the mainland come up with some kooky excuse as to why the vote shouldn't matter. So the idea is to set up a vote with three options and see what wins. And it also readily shows that Republicans want no part of it, which is sort of rich, considering that Ronald Reagan was a prime supporter of statehood for the island.