Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told NBC News that he finally arrived at his office, nearly 27 hours after he left his home for what is normally a two-hour commute.
Said Kaine: “I once did it on my bicycle and it took me 13 hours. I’d gladly do the bike trip again, and I would never want to do this again.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will lead a delegation to Georgia on Jan. 6 for former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-GA) funeral, meaning “no senior GOP leader will be in the Capitol on this first anniversary,” Punchbowl News reports.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told reporters that he isn’t involved in any serious talks at this time about reviving President Biden’s sweeping climate and social spending bill, The Hill reports.
Said Manchin: “I’m really not going to talk about Build Back Better anymore because I think I’ve been very clear on that. There are no negotiations going on at this time.”
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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) voiced skepticism over a Democratic push to change the filibuster along party lines, warning that his “preference” is for any rules changes to be bipartisan, The Hill reports.
Said Manchin: “Being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option. It’s very, very difficult. It’s a heavy lift.”
He added: “I’m talking. I’m not agreeing to any of this… I want to talk and see all the options we have open.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) tweets that he’s been stuck in traffic for 19 hours trying to get to Washington, D.C.
He left his home in Virginia yesterday afternoon during a snowstorm.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that a Republican-led House after the 2022 elections likely will consider impeaching President Biden on “multiple grounds,” the Washington Times reports.
Said Cruz: “The Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. One of the real disadvantages of doing that is the more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel, you know what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Cruz predicted that Republican majorities in Congress after the next midterm election would face “enormous pressure … to begin impeachment proceedings.”
Politico: “A small group of Senate Democrats have met quietly with Manchin to gauge his openness to changing Senate rules. While an outright elimination is off the table, Democrats are trying to see whether Manchin and Sinema are open to other proposals, like bringing back the talking filibuster.”
“Prior to leaving for a two-week recess in December, Democrats held several caucus discussions on the matter.”
“Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) told colleagues Monday that the chamber would vote no later than the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on changing Senate rules if Republicans continue to block voting-rights legislation,” the Washington Post reports.
“The announcement of the planned action by Jan. 17 represented Schumer’s strongest endorsement yet of trying to muscle through legislation that has been stymied because of Senate rules requiring a 60-vote threshold.”
John Harwood: Why Democrats haven’t given up on Joe Manchin and voting rights.
Politico: “We have to wonder with the Omicron variant of Covid surging — and such tight margins in both chambers — whether Capitol Hill’s operations can continue uninterrupted during this latest wave.”
Punchbowl News: “Thune promised a decision on whether he would run for re-election by the end of 2021. It’s now the beginning of 2022, and we don’t know whether one of the top contenders to serve as the next Senate GOP leader will seek another term.”
“Not only does this have implications for Thune’s political future, but it has an outsized impact on the future of the Senate Republican Conference.”
“The Senate returns for a new session on Monday with Democrats focused on trying to change the chamber’s rules to muscle through elections legislation over Republican opposition, as lawmakers also hope to revive President Biden’s stalled economic and climate agenda,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Many Democrats say they need to alter Senate filibuster procedures, which require 60 votes to advance most legislation, to pass bills designed to make it easier for people nationwide to vote. The party currently controls the evenly divided Senate, but some Democrats have resisted eliminating the filibuster outright, muddying the prospects for any legislative progress despite the fresh push.”
Punchbowl News: “We also expect Senate Democrats to use the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks as a reason for passing voting rights legislation.“
Congressional leaders and the family of late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) are finalizing details to have the former majority leader lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda during the week of Jan. 10, Axios reports.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “is open to reengaging on the climate and child care provisions in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda if the White House removes the enhanced child tax credit from the $1.75 trillion package — or dramatically lowers the income caps for eligible families,” Axios reports.
“The holdback senator’s engagement on specifics indicates negotiations between him and the White House could get back on track.”
More from Axios: “All eyes are on Monday night’s Senate leadership meeting, which Manchin will attend, and Tuesday’s weekly caucus lunch.”
“The lunch will be the first time all Senate Democrats are together in one room since Manchin made his opposition to the bill public last month.”
A White House adviser says President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) spoke about the “Build Back Better” bill a day after the conservative Democratic senator publicly rejected the president’s social spending plans, Reuters reports.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “found himself in a predicament this week that would make any parent working in politics nervous: an outspoken teenage daughter with a TikTok account,” the Dallas Morning News reports.
“Answering questions from followers on the social media application about the pros and cons of being related to a U.S. senator, Cruz’s 13-year-old daughter said she liked traveling and receiving candy and gifts in the mail. But she expressed dislike for her security detail, which she said follows her around her neighborhood and to her friends’ homes.”
Said Caroline Cruz: “A lot of people judge me based upon him at first glance, but I really disagree with most of his views.”
Politico: “Chuck Schumer, now majority leader, was a close personal friend and protege of Reid’s, and their shared leadership of the Senate Democrats over the past 15 years has defined the caucus from top to bottom. For all their similarities and partnerships, the former boxer from small-town Searchlight, Nev., and the chatty pol from Brooklyn each developed their own view of how to run the fractious Democratic Caucus.”
“While Schumer leads the party with relentless messaging discipline and a focus on lockstep party unity, Reid favored all-out political combat. Sometimes Reid battled members of his own party, but he reveled in partisan bomb-throwing.”
“Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told the White House last week that he would support some version of a tax targeting billionaire wealth as part of President Biden’s Build Back Better economic agenda,” the Washington Post reports.
“Despite its endorsement from the most conservative Democrat, the tax on billionaires still faces long odds to approval as part of the final legislation, as it has been greeted skeptically by other Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate. It was also left out of the House Democrats’ version of Build Back Better after Manchin publicly criticized it in October.”
Politico: Manchin is not the only big hurdle left for Biden’s megabill.
“I’ve done more reading in the last year than I’ve probably done in the last 15 years.”
— Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), quoted by National Journal, reflecting on his first year in the Senate.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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