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Bipartisan COVID Relief Bill Unveiled

A bipartisan group of Senators have introduced a “middle ground” COVID relief bill which they hope can work for both sides of the aisle and pass before the holidays. The $908 billion bill includes some relief for state, local, and tribal governments, the USPS, $300/week unemployment supplements, help for small businesses, testing and tracing, housing assistance, a reauthorization of the paycheck protection program, and more. The bill does not include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.

An overview is available here, however the actual bill has not been made available yet.

Some of the $908 billion is repurposed from prior spending bills, rather than new spending.

It is unclear whether the bill has enough support to pass in either chamber, or whether the President would sign it. Democrats continue to push for greater spending while Republicans want a smaller price tag.

Read more here.

Upcoming in Congress…

As the Biden administration enters the transition period, including the vetting of cabinet officials, the current Congress begins a lame-duck session. The Senate reconvened on Monday, November 9th, and the House will reconvene on Monday, November 16th. The 117th Congress is set to begin on January 3rd, 2021. President-elect Biden will take office at 12:00pm ET on January 20th, 2021.

To recap:

  • Joe Biden has been elected President, and Kamala Harris has been elected Vice President.
  • President Trump and Vice President Pence’s terms will expire on January 20th, 2021. They are “lame-ducks”, meaning they have a limited amount of time to accomplish remaining agenda items.
  • The House of Representatives is still under Democratic control in the next Congress, by a narrow margin, after Democrats lost a handful of seats.
  • The Senate is very likely still under Republican control in the next Congress, even with uncalled elections in Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia. Republican Senators Sullivan (R-AK) and Tillis (R-NC) are projected to keep their seats. Republican Senator McSally (R-AZ) is expected to lose her seat to Democrat challenger Mark Kelly. A runoff in Georgia is scheduled for January 5th to elect those two seats, one of which is a special election. If Democrats manage to flip those two seats, the balance of the Senate would be 50-50, however this is a heavy lift considering Georgia hasn’t elected a Democratic Senator since 2000.

Looking to the next Congress:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has won reelection and is favored to remain in his position. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also won reelection and will seek another term as Speaker. Leader McConnell confirmed during that during the lame-duck session, the Senate will continue to work on COVID-19 relief and FY21 appropriations.  Speaker Pelosi has announced a similar plan for the House. The National Defense Authorization Act also remains on the to-do list.

The current Continuing Resolution expires on December 11th, after which the Federal Government could shut down without another Continuing Resolution. Democrats and Republicans would have to come to a quick consensus on a variety of issues in order to wrap up FY21 appropriations before Biden takes office. Senate Republicans are expected to release their FY21 numbers in the next day or so.

For the 117th Congress, the members of the Washington delegation remain unchanged except for the addition of Congresswoman-elect Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10th) replacing Congressman Heck, who will become Lieutenant Governor. Neither of the Washington Senators were up for reelection in 2020. Committee assignments for the 117th Congress should be finalized in January.

We will post relevant updates as they become available.

Supreme Court Nominee Heads to Senate Vote

As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared yesterday the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

With the committee Democrats boycotting the Judiciary Committee activities, her nomination was approved 12 – 0 by the Republicans.  The full Senate could take up her nomination as soon as next Monday.  Read more about the developments here and here.

Stimulus Bill Fails in Senate

The Senate today voted on a GOP-introduced $500 billion stimulus package, however the bill failed on a 51-44 vote.

Negotiations continue between House Democrats and the Administration. The two sides are potentially very close to reaching a deal on an almost $2 trillion package. Senate Majority leadership reportedly does not support such a large price tag. An agreement would need to be reached between the House, Senate, and Administration in the next few days in order to pass both chambers and be signed into law before the November 3rd elections.

Updates here.