A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news
A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news
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WAKE ME UP, WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS— That’s when a government funding deal is due, after all.
There are plenty of items on the fall agenda, but funding the government is an absolute must-do for Congress. Getting all 12 spending bills cleared has long been off the table, so appropriators are instead aiming for a continuing resolution – a stopgap spending bill to tide the country over past the Oct. 1 fiscal year deadline.
At this point, lawmakers are looking at a House vote as soon as next week on a short-term spending bill that would fund the federal government until after the midterm elections. That would line up another fight for the lame-duck session, likely in mid-December.
Treasure trove: Getting to yes on even a short-term deal will still be a battle. The Biden administration has its eye on funding to fight both monkeypox and Covid, along with another tranche of funding for Ukraine and aid for natural disasters across the U.S.
Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) energy permitting priorities could also be thrown into the mix. (Reminder that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made a deal with Manchin to consider a permitting measure this month while they hashed out the Dems’ party line tax, climate and health care bill.) It already faces a tough road in the House, where House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) doesn’t want permitting provisions tacked onto a stopgap spending measure and is advocating for a stand-alone vote.
Another Sept. 30 deadline: A key Food and Drug Administration user fee program, which makes up nearly half of the agency’s annual budget, is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year. Congressional action is needed to prevent huge layoffs at the agency.
Other fall to-do list items without a September sell-by date will have to be squeezed in around the fights over government funding.
FALL WEDDING BELLS?— Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants to lock in all Americans’ right to same-sex marriage with legislative action before the midterm elections, she told POLITICO in a recent interview.
“My impression is that the majority leader is eager to put this bill on the floor in September, and I hope that he will,” Collins (R-Maine) said. “In an election year, I hope this can be a sincere effort by the majority leader, and that he will resist the urge to play politics with the bill. But we are dealing with Sen. Schumer, so.” Burgess, Marianne and Sarah have more on that plus the rest of the Senate’s September agenda.
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, D.C., Aug. 30, 2022. | Francis Chung POLITICO/E&E News
GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, September 6, where if people think the Venice Film Festival got awkward, they should see bipartisan CODEL photo-ops.
MIDTERM MATH— ‘They’re getting killed among women’: Skeptical female voters stand in way of GOP Senate: Natalie Allison reports that Republicans thought they had broken through with suburban women, but now find themselves in a familiar place: “Appealing directly to skeptical female voters, the women whose support will make or break the party’s drive to retake the Senate majority.”
Wives take center stage: “One after the other, Republican … male candidates have begun putting their wives in front of the camera to speak directly to voters in new television ads.”
GOP still has inside track to House majority despite Dem gains: “Republicans may not need to flip any districts that Biden carried in 2020 to reclaim the majority,” report Ally Mutnick, Sarah Ferris and Elena Schneider this morning. “In all, Republicans need to net only five seats to win the gavel. And while Democrats may be poised to mitigate some losses, Republicans say there’s still little chance the party’s summertime surge can overcome the stacked map.”
New race ratings: It’s tossup time. “After rating the battle for the Senate as “Lean Republican” earlier this year, POLITICO’s Election Forecast now says neither party has a significant edge with two months to go until the midterms,” writes Steven Shepard, POLITICO’s senior campaign and elections editor.
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MODCOM RESOLUTION TODAY— The House Select Committee on Modernization of Congress, along with the Committee on House Administration, is expected to announce a House Resolution today that will advance 32 recommendations made by the committee in the 116th and 117th Congress.
COMMANDING PERFORMANCE?— Bruce Allen, the former general manager of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, faces a deposition today from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The panel is conducting a probe into widespread allegations of workplace misconduct within the Commanders' organization. In July, the team's owner Daniel Snyder gave a daylong deposition via videoconference.
FIELD NOT NARROWING IN ALASKA— Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III didn’t yield to pressure for one of them to bow out of the November ranked-choice election for the state’s at-large House seat. Democrat Mary Pelota flipped the seat in a special election upset and Republicans hope to oust her after a very brief stint finishing out Don Young’s term. The Anchorage Daily News has more after yesterday’s 5 p.m. deadline: Republicans Palin and Begich remain in race to unseat Peltola in U.S. House
EXPECTED ABSENCE— Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) won’t be voting on Capitol Hill this week as he recovers from a hip replacement. The procedure was long-planned (and the topic of conversation while he waited for a sandwich in Senate carryout before recess -- grilled cheese with cheddar on rye.) As the top Republican on the Senate’s health panel, he’ll probably be on the phone about FDA user fees, even if he’s laid up.
Peanut gallery… The House galleries are set to open next week for member-led groups of visitors to watch House business. Member-led floor tours are also set to return next week, outside of regular business hours when the House is not in session.
A pal and a confidant…What is horrifying both Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas)? This tweet about Friends and The Golden Girls. Ahh, the sweet smell of bipartisan outrage.
Batter up! The Congressional Softball game is next week, Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 7 p.m. Get your tickets soon! The game pits members of the press corps against lawmakers and raises funds for the Young Survivor Coalition which supports young women diagnosed with cancer. (Your Huddle host will be rooting for our colleagues on the Bad News Babes, but does love to see lawmakers in action on the field.)
‘Fat Leonard,’ set to finally be sentenced in long-running Navy bribery scheme, is on the lam, from Kristina Davis and Greg Moran at the San Diego Union Tribune
Reps. Jackson Lee, Green travel to Pakistan after extreme floods, by Dylan McGuinness at The Houston Chronicle
How Politicians Are Using Gas Pumps to Fuel Their Message, from Jake Lahut at The Daily Beast
Courtney Fogwell is now senior adviser for the Interior Department. She most recently was a professional staffer for the environment subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Taylor Dabney started Sept. 1 the Republican National Committee’s creative director. She was formerly a senior graphic designer at the Heritage Foundation.
Charlotte Bureau is now scheduler for Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.). She most recently was scheduler for Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.).
Justin Kidd is joining Rep. Lauren Underwood’s (D-Ill.) office as comms director. He previously was associate VP of strategy at Do Big Things.
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The House convenes at 9 a.m. for a pro forma session.
The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. to consider John Lee’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit court, with a cloture vote expected at 5:30 p.m.
A quiet one before things ramp back up.
OUR PREVIOUS WINNER:Morris Pearl correctly answered that James Shields is the only person to represent more than two states in the Senate: Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.
TODAY’S QUESTION: Who was the first woman in the House to chair a committee, and which committee did she chair?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]
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