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Category: COVID-19

Upcoming in Congress…

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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.

Stimulus Bill Fails in Senate

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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.

Senate Schedule Scrambled

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With a flood of COVID-19-related developments unfolding over the weekend in our nation’s capital, the Senate schedule has been scrambled for at least the next several weeks.

As at least three GOP Senators have tested positive for the illness– Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin– and a number of others are in quarantine as a result of exposure to them, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that Senate floor activities would be postponed at least until the week of October 19.  However, he added that the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett would take place as scheduled the week of October 12.  Both Tillis and Lee are members of the Judiciary, which will consider the nomination.

Even if the hearings can take place next week– most likely virtually for several Senators– it remains to be seen when votes on the nomination might actually take place in the committee and on the floor, as a quorum must be present for votes to take place.  Democrats have argued that it makes no sense to proceed while the floor proceedings are halted.

House Passes Another COVID Relief Bill

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The House has passed their updated, smaller “HEROES 2.0” COVID-19 relief bill that was introduced earlier this week. The largely symbolic bill passed 214-207 on party lines. The Senate is not expected to take action on the legislation.

Negotiations continue between Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin, however there is about a $1 trillion difference in their proposals.

Full story here.