With the swearing-in of the new Biden Administration scheduled for tomorrow, the first set of confirmation hearings for several key posts within the Administration are set to start today. These include:
Read more about the nominees and the confirmation process here, here, and here.
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf has resigned. According to a department email, he cited several court cases which found he served as Acting Secretary unlawfully, having deviated from the established line of succession. He has been in his position since November 2019.
Pete Maynor, current FEMA Administrator, will serve as DHS Acting Secretary until President Trump’s term expires in 9 days.
Read more.
On Friday, the Senate followed the lead of the House by voting to override Trump’s veto of the NDAA. The Senate margin was 81 to 13, more than enough necessary to overcome the 2/3 majority requirement. This was the first Congressional veto override of the Trump Administration.
Read more here.
Today the US House of Representatives voted, by a 2/3 majority, to increase COVID-relief stimulus checks from $600 to $2000 per individual. The President has signaled support of this, however it is unclear if it can pass in the Senate.
The House also voted, with significant bipartisan support, to override the President’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual piece of legislation setting broad defense policy. If the Senate also votes to override, the legislation can become law without the President’s signature.
Read more here.
President Trump this afternoon followed through on his earlier threats and vetoed the FY2021 defense authorization bill, known as the “NDAA.” The legislation sets defense policies every year and addresses issues like troop withdrawals, and has been adopted every year since 1967. The bill was approved by Congress earlier this month by veto-proof margins in both chambers.
Trump wanted the bill to include a provision that stripped away protections for social media companies, a topic that is not related to defense. He also wanted the to prevent the renaming of Southern military bases. Trump had threatened to veto the legislation over those two provisions and he followed through on that threat this afternoon.
The House will be in session next Monday and may seek to override the veto then. The Senate is scheduled to be in session Tuesday and may follow suit, if the House is successful in its override attempt. Although the House vote earlier this month was by a veto-proof margin of 335 – 78, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) did not commit to push House Republicans to override a veto from President Trump. The Senate vote was also by a veto-proof margin, 83-14.
Based on the White House developments earlier this afternoon on the omnibus appropriations/COVID package, Monday could turn out to be even more critical, as the current government funding bill expires at Midnight Tuesday.
Read more about the unfolding situation here, here, and here.