“The Senate parliamentarian, the arbiter of what can be included in Democrats’ sprawling reconciliation bill, will be out for two weeks for surgery to treat stage 3 breast cancer,” Politico reports.
Manchin Won’t Say How Much Spending He’ll Support
After meeting with President Biden, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told reporters the pair had “straightforward” talks but added that he did not tell the president a price tag for the budget reconciliation bill that he would support, CNBC reports.
Said Manchin: “There was no commitments made at all. No commitments from that standpoint. Just good negotiations, talking about the needs of our country.”
Police Pushback on Tim Scott’s Claims
Playbook: “The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Fraternal Order of Police put out a statement this morning explicitly saying that the police reform proposal that collapsed would not have ‘defunded the police’ and would have actually strengthened them.”
“That’s a pretty strong pushback to lead GOP negotiator Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who blamed the death of reform on Democrats trying to defund the police.”
Schumer to Try to Bypass Filibuster on Debt Limit
“Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said on Tuesday that he will try to bypass the legislative filibuster on increasing the country’s borrowing limit — a move expected to be blocked by Republicans,” The Hill reports.
“Schumer said that he will ask the Senate for unanimous consent, which any one GOP senator can object to and block, to set up a vote on a debt ceiling increase that could pass by a simple majority. That would allow Democrats to suspend the debt ceiling on their own.”
Biden to Meet with Manchin and Sinema
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) are expected to meet with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday as administration officials and congressional Democrats seek a path forward on the president’s economic agenda, The Hill reports.
Senators Behaving Badly
Jonathan Bernstein: “Those behaving the most badly are Senate Republicans. With the government on target to run out of borrowing authority sometime in the next two to six weeks, they’ve now voted unanimously to block a badly needed increase in the debt limit. They technically blocked consideration of the bill at all, since the vote was on whether to allow a vote on the motion to proceed to consideration of the bill that would have raised the debt limit and provided continued funding for government operations along with emergency funds for damages from natural disasters and other priorities.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the out-party forcing the majority party to supply the votes on such things, especially during a time of unified government. That’s what Republicans have said they are doing. But it’s not true. They’re not forcing Democrats to vote for it; they are preventing a final vote, using the rules that require a supermajority to act. Don’t just blame Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. If as few as 10 Republicans were willing to allow a final vote — even if they then opposed the bill — the danger of a debt-limit breach would end.”
Republicans Block Government Funding
“Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown this week and a federal debt default next month, moving the nation closer to the brink of fiscal crisis as they refused to allow Democrats to lift the limit on federal borrowing,” the New York Times reports.
“With a Thursday deadline looming to fund the government — and the country moving closer to a catastrophic debt-limit breach — the stalemate in the Senate reflected a bid by Republicans to undercut President Biden and top Democrats at a critical moment, as they labor to keep the government running and enact an ambitious domestic agenda.”
Washington Post: “The GOP’s opposition dealt a death blow to the measure, which had passed the House last week, and now adds to the pressure on Democrats to devise their own path forward ahead of a series of urgent fiscal deadlines. A failure to address the issues could cause severe financial calamity, the White House has warned, potentially plunging the United States into another recession.”
What Does Kyrsten Sinema Want?
Wall Street Journal: “Despite sometimes taking contrary positions in negotiations, Ms. Sinema has voted with Mr. Biden 100% of the time, according to the nonpartisan tracking website FiveThirtyEight.”
Are You Ready for This Week?
“At 5:30 p.m today, Congress will kick off an extraordinary week with only one thing certain — no one knows what’s going to happen,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The House and Senate are moving toward votes on legislation dealing with government funding, the debt limit, infrastructure, social programs and taxes worth trillions of dollars, although the details of some of these bills aren’t close to finalized yet. This would be a big agenda for an entire month. The House will try to tackle it in one week, while the Senate attempts to avoid a government shutdown. Democratic leaders in both chambers also still have to figure out how to avoid a catastrophic debt default in October.”
“It’s a huge moment for President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the biggest so far in the 117th Congress. It’s fair to say what happens in the next couple weeks will go a long way toward deciding whether Democrats have any shot of keeping the House or Senate next year. Failure on any of these issues would be a political disaster for the Democratic triumvirate and the party.”
Capitol Hill Votes Will Make Global Waves
“This epic week for President Biden on Capitol Hill is even bigger than his domestic agenda,” Axios reports.
“Biden has anchored his entire strategy for foreign affairs on the notion that ‘America is back.’ What that means in practice is that Biden needs to prove democracy works to rally America’s liberal allies against rising authoritarians.”
“A collapse of any or all of his four urgent legislative priorities — infrastructure, reconciliation, government funding and the debt ceiling — would deal a severe blow to the underlying theory of Biden’s presidency.”
No Margin for Error
New York Times: “Nobody said it would be easy, but the multiple tasks piling up for Mr. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi present a particularly daunting set of challenges: A $1 trillion infrastructure bill awaits consideration in the House on Monday, a $3.5 trillion social policy and climate change measure is still being stitched together, and a possible government shutdown looms on Friday followed by a potential debt crisis next month.”
“Without a single vote to spare in the Senate and as few as three in the House, the coming weeks could pose the most difficult test that any pair of congressional leaders has faced in memory, recent or otherwise. The Affordable Care Act was a feat, involving remarkable twists and multiple near-deaths, but even with 39 Democratic defections, it still passed the House by five votes.”
Quote of the Day
“Put on your heat shields and buckle up, because this is going to be intense.”
— Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), quoted by the New York Times, on Democrats trying to pass their legislative agenda this week.
Joe Manchin Still Pumping the Brakes
“Democratic leaders and President Joe Biden are speeding up their work on Biden’s massive jobs and families plan. Joe Manchin keeps throttling momentum back,” Politico reports.
“The president wants Manchin and other holdouts to find a top-line number they are comfortable with for the transformational spending bill that will run into the trillions of dollars, but Manchin isn’t yet ready to give one. His colleagues hope he will single out which provisions in the social spending program that he wants to ax so they can begin negotiating in earnest, but he’s in no rush to do so.”
McConnell Won’t Rule Out Blocking Biden Pick for Court
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Politico he would not rule out blocking a Supreme Court nomination by President Biden if Republicans take control of the Senate in 2023.
Said McConnell: “Cross those bridges when I get there, we are focusing on ‘22. I don’t rule anything in or out about how to handle nominations if I’m in the majority position.”
Senate Will Vote on Funding Bill on Monday
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture late Thursday night to break a GOP filibuster of a House-passed government funding bill to keep federal agencies open until Dec. 3,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The Senate vote on the motion to proceed to this bill — which also includes language to suspend the debt limit until Dec. 2022 — will take place on Monday at 5:30 p.m. In case you were wondering, that’s just 72 hours before the government shuts down.”
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans will filibuster this bill, preventing any action on it, and they have more than enough votes to prevent cloture. Democrats will then have to decide on a next step for government funding and the debt limit. This includes moving a debt-limit increase on their own, possibly as part of a separate reconciliation package.”
Some GOP Senators Secretly Lobby House Colleagues
“The five Senate Republicans who helped negotiate and draft the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill have been privately courting their Republican colleagues to pass the measure in the House,” Axios reports.
“House GOP leaders are actively urging their members to oppose the bill. The senators are working to undercut that effort as Monday shapes up as a do-or-die moment for the bipartisan bill.”
Senate and House Reach ‘Framework’ Deal on Taxes
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced that the Senate, House and White House have reached a deal on a “framework” to pay for the massive human infrastructure spending package they hope to pass this fall under budget reconciliation, The Hill reports.
Said Schumer: “The White House, the House and the Senate have reached an agreement on a framework that will pay for any final negotiated agreement. So the revenue side of this, we have an agreement on.”
Exchange of the Day
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was interviewed by Gayle King on CBS News:
KING: It just seems a very frustrating place right now on Capitol Hill.
SANDERS: Yes it is.
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