Tag: U.S. Senate

Senate passes sweeping China competition bill in rare bipartisan vote

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The Senate voted 68-32 on Tuesday to approve a sweeping China-focused global competition bill, overcoming Republican objections that had threatened to derail the $200 billion+ bipartisan package.

Why it matters: The bill’s supporters cite the measure as evidence that the deeply divided Senate can still function on a bipartisan basis, despite the last-minute chaos that forced Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to delay final passage for weeks.

  • It’s also a sign of the widespread consensus that has emerged around the need to outcompete China on the world stage, including by revitalizing U.S. manufacturing and research and cracking down on Beijing’s economic abuses. Continue reading.

Parliamentarian guidance deals blow to reconciliation strategy

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Senate rules referee says use of special procedure to pass multiple filibuster-proof bills should be reserved for ‘extraordinary circumstances’

Using a revised budget resolution to take an extra crack at reconciliation to advance Democratic priorities through the Senate appears unlikely during this Congress, given a new opinion from the Senate parliamentarian.

The new guidance, issued to Senate staff on Friday, suggests that Democrats will get just one more try this year to pass a filibuster-proof legislative package to enact additional priorities ranging from infrastructure to immigration policy proposed by President Joe Biden and party leaders on Capitol Hill. If they want to use reconciliation yet again, they’d need to adopt a fiscal 2023 budget resolution next year, but would likely get only one shot then as well.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s four-page opinion makes clear her view that the framers of the 1974 law establishing the modern budget process didn’t intend for lawmakers to be able to use the budget reconciliation process as many times as they could jam into a given year. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Clarke as first Black woman to lead DOJ civil rights

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The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Kristen Clarke as the new head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division in a tight 51-48 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) the only Republican to cross party lines and vote for her.

Clarke will be the first Black woman to lead the influential wing of the Justice Department and will serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights.

The civil rights division’s tasks include investigating local law enforcement agencies and taking on state voting restrictions around the country. Continue reading.

Filibuster brawl amps up with GOP opposition to Jan. 6 panel

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The battle over the chamber’s 60-vote threshold will erupt as soon as next week.

The filibuster has been on hiatus since Joe Biden took over. Senate Republicans are about to change that — over a bipartisan commission to probe the Capitol riot.

After more than four months of letting their power to obstruct lie unused in the Senate, the 50-member Senate GOP is ready to mount a filibuster of House-passed legislation creating an independent cross-aisle panel to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection. If Republicans follow through and block the bill, they will spark a long-building fight over the filibuster’s very existence.

The filibuster has spent months of lurking in the background of the Senate’s daily business, but the battle over the chamber’s 60-vote threshold will erupt as soon as next week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is plotting to bring the House’s Jan. 6 commission bill to the floor and daring Senate Republicans to block it. Continue reading.

Senators reach bipartisan deal to overhaul USPS finances, tighten accountability requirements

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An identical version of the legislation is advancing in the House, where it is said to have enough support to pass

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Wednesday to lift significant financial burdens off the ailing U.S. Postal Service while tightening accountability requirements for mail delivery, a major stride for an agency that has tussled with its balance sheet and reputation for the better part of a year.

The bill, identical to a version that has advanced in the House, would repeal $5 billion a year in mandatory retiree health-care expenses and require future postal retirees to enroll in Medicare. Advocates say the measures would save the agency $30 billion over the next decade.

The bill would also see the Postal Service develop a public online mail delivery performance dashboard where customers could view the agency’s on-time delivery metrics by Zip code each week. Continue reading.

Feds investigating alleged illegal donations to Collins’ re-election bid

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The FBI is investigating what it describes as a massive scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins’ 2020 re-election bid, Axios has learned.

What’s happening: A recently unsealed search warrant application shows the FBI believes a Hawaii defense contractor illegally funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC and reimbursed donations to Collins’ campaign. There’s no indication that Collins or her team were aware of any of it.

  • Collins helped the contractor at issue, then called Navatek and since renamed the Martin Defense Group, secure an $8 million Navy contract before most of the donations took place. Continue reading.

Senate panel deadlocks in vote on sweeping elections bill

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A key Senate panel deadlocked Tuesday on sweeping Democratic legislation to overhaul elections after an hours-long, often heated debate.

The Senate Rules Committee evenly split 9-9 on the For the People Act, the top legislative priority for Democrats heading into the 2022 election.

Though the tie means Democrats aren’t able to formally advance the bill to the floor, that won’t stop the party from moving forward with it. Continue reading.

Senate votes to nix Trump rule limiting methane regulation

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The Senate voted Wednesday to undo a Trump administration rule that rescinded methane emissions limits and made it harder to regulate releases of the greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector.

In the 52-42 vote, three Republicans voted with Democrats to get rid of the rule: Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Susan Collins(Maine).

The methane rule is the first Trump-era rule that Democrats will take on using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a tool that lets them eliminate regulations completed in the prior 60 legislative days with a simple majority vote. Continue reading.

Tensions rise as Democrats face Senate bottleneck on agenda

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Frustrations are building among congressional Democrats as the party’s priorities pile up in the Senate.

Legislation granting statehood to Washington, D.C., approved by the House on Thursday, is just the latest big agenda item that is set to stall out on the other side of Capitol Hill.

In the majority-run House, Democrats are passing the party’s big priorities along party lines. In the Senate, Republicans can block most legislation with the filibuster, putting the focus on approving President Biden‘s nominees and moving smaller bipartisan measures. Continue reading.

Senators in the dark on parliamentarian’s decision

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A parliamentarian ruling touted as a breakthrough for the Democratic agenda is putting the Senate in uncharted territory and sparking confusion.

More than a week after Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough signaled that Democrats could have more than just two shots this year at using budget rules to bypass the 60-vote filibuster legislation normally must clear to become law, senators say they are largely in the dark about its ramifications. 

Democrats say they haven’t seen the formal guidance, don’t totally understand the mechanics and that it hasn’t really been discussed by members beyond a surface level.  Continue reading.