We will be introducing a Weekly Policy Update each Monday – authored by Tom Block – to provide additional insight on the current political climate.
Summary
- After days of negotiating and drafting the Senate has finally unveiled its bipartisan infrastructure package. The bill totals 2702 pages, funding programs ranging from highways and bridges to broadband and drinking water. A link to the bill is below.
- First test vote last Wednesday on whether to proceed to the unwritten bill was 66 to 28 with 16 Republicans, including Leader McConnell, voting to debate the legislation.
- The Senate will consider the bipartisan bill under “cloture rules” a parliamentary procedure that prevents a filibuster and creates a time certain to vote. Vote expected by Thursday.
- House outlook is uncertain as Speaker Pelosi has threatened to delay vote on bipartisan package until Senate passes the Democrats only Budget Reconciliation Bill, otherwise known as the human infrastructure bill.
- House options limited, any changes House would make to bill will require the legislation to return to the Senate facing both filibuster threat and Trump charged political environment.
- Elections on Tuesday: There are two vacant seats in Ohio, one R and one D. The election is November 2, but the primaries are Tuesday. In the Democratic primary in the Cleveland area a Bernie Sanders candidate is facing a more traditional Democratic official. In the Columbus area seat a Republican primary has a Trump backed candidate facing 10 other candidates including a State Rep. and a State Senator.
Infrastructure
After weeks of negotiations the bipartisan group working on a $1T infrastructure program introduced their bill in the Senate yesterday. The bill comes in at 2702 pages and deals with a wide array of programs that in the past have been labeled traditional infrastructure. However, traditional has been broadened in this bill to include 21st century needs such as fast broadband and critical improvement to the nation’s electric grid.
The talks reached a point last week where 16 Republicans joined all 50 Democrats and voted to allow debate on the bipartisan compromise to commence. Additional days were needed to write the actual legislative language which was released yesterday. This is a link to the 2700-page bill and a second link to the Fact Sheet put out by the White House last week when the deal was announced:
Having worked on difficult compromises, I know that one of the key legislative tactics is to get the Senators who support the deal to vote against all amendments, even those that otherwise the Senator would support. This unity in defending the compromise is essential to keep the coalition together. Each amendment accepted allows a Senator to argue that the deal is broken and to walk away from the bill.
Republicans opposed to the deal will offer amendments that appeal to their Republican colleagues in an effort to break the coalition supporting the compromise; hence each vote raises the potential of breaking the deal.
Much attention will be focused on Republican Leader Mitch McConnell who, to the surprise of many, was one of the 16 Republican Senators voting to move ahead with the bill. The bill will be considered under so-called cloture rules that prevents a filibuster and lays out a timeline to have a final vote on the bill.
Senate Leader Schumer has indicated that the final vote may occur on Thursday.
What about the House? Once the bill passes the Senate it would then go to the House where Speaker Pelosi has said that she will not allow a vote on the bill until the Senate Democrats pass the human infrastructure bill to be included in the Budget Reconciliation legislation. The Speaker has a handful of progressives who say they won’t support the traditional infrastructure compromise without the Budget Reconciliation Bill. However, if the House Republicans follow the lead of their Senate colleagues there could be enough Republican votes to pass the bill over the objections of the progressives. There is no better House tactician than Nancy Pelosi, but this will test her skills. My guess is that if the Senate passes the bill with a large bipartisan vote the White House and many constituencies ranging from local officials to labor leaders will want to see the hard infrastructure bill pass.
Tuesday is Ohio Election Day
There are currently two vacancies in the House from the State of Ohio. Democratic Representative Marica Fudge resigned to become Biden’s Secretary of HUD; while Republican Steve Stivers left Congress to become CEO of the Ohio Chamber. The General Election will be November 2, but both parties have interesting primaries.
In the 11th district in the Cleveland area there is a battle between a Bernie Sanders backed candidate, Nina Turner, and a local county commissioner, Shontel Brown, who is backed by many of the Party regulars. While the seat is overwhelmingly Democratic it will be a test of the strength progressives have as the Biden Presidency has been largely governing from the middle.
In the 15th district in the Columbus area former President Donald Trump has taken a stand and endorsed a business candidate, Mike Carey, who has no elective experience. There are ten other candidates in the race including a State Representative, Jeff LaRe, who is backed by the departing Congressman.
President Trump had two rebuffs last week. First, in Texas a Trump endorsed candidate in a special US House election lost to a popular State Representative. Second, hours after Trump trashed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, 16 Republicans including Leader McConnell voted to proceed with the legislation. Trump’s PAC has put money into the Carey campaign but with 11 candidates the results are far from certain.