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In today’s edition … House Democrats to elect recent leaders; House Republicans haggling over rules … Macron’s visit: Some pomp and a few business … A tribal summit on the White House … but first …
Dems to present nod to unions as leaders seek to avert rail strike
In a major development in the trouble to avert a rail strike, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced late Tuesday that she’s going to offer a vote on laws that might give union members seven paid sick days. The choice comes after a growing chorus of Democrats voiced opposition to Congress passing a railroad deal they viewed as unfriendly to rail employees.
“After hearing from our members, we’re in agreement that a nationwide rail strike should be prevented — and that more should be done to secure the paid sick leave that hard-working railroaders deserve,” she said in a press release.
The Home is scheduled to vote today on laws pushed by President Biden that might put in place the “tentative agreement” between employees and management reached in September. Some unions have refused to endorse that deal, and a possible strike looms as early as Dec. 9, which the administration says would cripple the economy by slowing a supply chain still recovering from problems created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The separate vote on the sick days bill would allow Democrats to vote for that proposal without changing the laws that the White House wants enacted quickly.
- Pelosi’s announcement in a “Dear Colleague” letter got here shortly after a variety of Democratic lawmakers voiced frustration over being asked to pass the deal without giving more to the unions, including Reps. Donald W. Norcross (D-N.J.), Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), to call just a few.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he would block quick passage of the laws within the Senate if he didn’t receive a vote on his proposal to offer rail employees with seven paid sick days. But when the House paid sick leave bill passes and receives a vote within the Senate, Sanders would probably drop his amendment if he agreed with the House laws, his spokesman said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) predicted an amendment or separate bill giving employees paid sick days could pass the Senate with 60 votes.
“I believe there will probably be quite a lot of sympathy for providing sick leave for employees,” Cornyn said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) seemed to be one among those sympathetic Republicans. He tweeted Tuesday that the “railways & employees should return & negotiate a deal that the employees, not only the union bosses will accept.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), meanwhile, said the employees’ demands were “reasonable.”
The fact check: Most Republicans, including Cruz and Rubio, have a protracted history of opposing expanded employees’ rights and paid sick leave.
Rubio co-sponsored laws opposing union bargaining rights and has voted against paid sick leave provisions prior to now. Although he supported unionization efforts at Amazon, he has an 11 percent lifetime rating with the AFL-CIO. Cruz’s is 9 percent.
But economic populism is on the rise within the GOP, and neither Cruz nor Rubio has ruled out a presidential run in 2024.
A vote on paid sick leave probably wouldn’t clear the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster within the Senate, nevertheless it could force Republicans to go on the record about where they stand.
House Democrats to elect recent leaders; House Republicans haggling over rules
House Democrats will huddle behind closed doors today and Thursday for leadership elections. They are going to elect recent members to fill the caucus’s top three slots for the primary time in 16 years. The highest two slots — minority leader and minority whip — haven’t modified in an excellent longer time.
Those races won’t have much drama. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) and James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) are running unopposed for the highest 4 positions. Democrats also created a recent position for Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.): chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC). Neguse was pushed out of the No. 4 spot in order that Clyburn could remain in leadership, although he’ll move down the hierarchy from his current position because the No. 3 House Democrat.
Jeffries could be the primary Black American to steer either party in Congress.
“I haven’t really had the chance to reflect on that,” told reporters on Tuesday before emphasizing that his focus had been on the logistics of the leadership transition. “It’s a solemn responsibility that we’re all inheriting and the most effective thing that we will do consequently of the seriousness and solemnity of the moment, is lean in hard and do the most effective rattling job that we will for the people.”
The race to be the subsequent chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) between Reps. Ami Bera and Tony Cárdenas, each from California, has develop into competitive and tense.
- As we reported last week, a variety of labor unions have major concerns with Bera leading the Democrats’ House campaign arm because they are saying he has a tense and mostly nonexistent relationship with unions.
- Some members are nervous Cárdenas could develop into a goal of Republican attacks and negative campaign ads if he becomes DCCC chair. They point to a campaign finance violation and a 15-year-old sexual harassment allegation that was dropped. The Every day Beast reported last week that Cárdenas is one among many politicians who’ve received 1000’s of dollars of campaign donations from a wealthy Los Angeles real estate developer who’s under indictment and in addition alleged to be a pornographic filmmaker.
- Bera has also faced scandal. His father was indicted and served jail time for money laundering to learn Bera’s campaign.
- Bera has also faced scandal. His father was indicted and served jail time for money laundering to learn Bera’s campaign.
- 4 Democrats are running for caucus vice chair, the No. 5 position: Reps. Debbie Dingell (Mich.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio) and Madeleine Dean (Pa.).
- Seven Democrats are running for the 4 DPCC co-chair spots: Reps. Dean Phillips (Minn.), Susan Wild (Pa.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Veronica Escobar (Tex.), Lauren Underwood (In poor health.), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) and Nikema Williams (Ga.).
As well as, a variety of proposed rule changes may very well be voted on after receiving a good suggestion from the Democratic Committee on Caucus Procedures.
- Having the Democratic leader nominate the DCCC chair. The trio of lawmakers — Reps. Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Mark Pocan (Wis.) and Bradley Schneider (In poor health.) — maintaining the proposal argue it might be higher for the caucus if the DCCC was accountable to Democratic leadership fairly than chosen outright by the caucus as an entire. If this passes, the DCCC race above could be void.
- The creation of a recent leadership position represented by a member in a battleground district. It was proposed by Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), who won reelection in a competitive seat.
One proposal that we’re watching that wasn’t beneficial but could still be brought up for a vote would require waivers for committee chairs who wish to serve for greater than six years. It’s opposed by most committee chairs and the Congressional Black Caucus, whose members have gained power as committee chairs under the seniority system.
As House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) searches for the 218 votes he must develop into speaker, he convened what’s prone to be the primary of many meetings between far-right and moderate members of the GOP conference. The meeting Tuesday got here ahead of a debate over the party’s rules that can happen today and is an try to soften the divide between the several factions of the party, our colleague Marianna Sotomayor reports.
Members from MAGA acolyte Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) to moderate Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) described the meeting as a frank discussion concerning the places where they will agree, in an try to set the stage for a united majority, Marianna adds.
Intraparty peace summits brokered by McCarthy are probably going to be his full-time job over the subsequent two years should he be elected speaker.
- McCarthy got a little bit of a lift when conservative radio host Mark Levin slammed by name the “five boneheads” who’re a part of the “five saboteurs” for saying they won’t back McCarthy as speaker.
As for that debate on conference rules, votes will probably be held on proposals offered by members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, including an try to weaken the ability of leadership. The proposals on the table are:
- Allowing the members of committees to choose the chairs as an alternative of the leadership-backed steering committee or the seniority system.
- Banning earmarks.
- Requiring that any laws dropped at the ground has the support of a majority of Republicans. That is an try to prevent the Republican leadership from counting on mostly Democratic votes on laws that might, as an illustration, avoid a government shutdown or a government debt default.
Macron’s visit: Some pomp and a few business
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Washington on Tuesday night ahead of Thursday’s state dinner on the White House.
Here’s what’s on the agenda when he meets with Biden on Thursday:
- Ukraine: Greater than nine months after the Russian invasion, Paris and Washington are working closely to help Ukraine. Biden is working to impose a price cap on Russian oil, while Macron is about to host a conference in Paris next month on supporting Ukraine. However the two governments view the war somewhat otherwise. Washington has sent most arms to Ukraine, but France and other European countries are coping with more of the economic fallout. “There’s a difference of perception regarding who’s taking the burden,” said Marie Jourdain, a former French defense official who’s now a visiting fellow on the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. Macron has also seemed more open to negotiations between Russia and Ukraine than Biden. “We’ve got a demanding political dialogue within the sense that we’re allies who are usually not aligned, if I could put it that way,” a senior adviser to Macron told the Latest York Times.
- China: White House officials say China will probably be at the highest of the agenda, too. Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia earlier this month, and Macron has said he plans to go to Beijing next yr. “Our views on China are usually not similar,” a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. “But I believe there’s a powerful view that we must always be speaking from a typical script.”
- Trade: Certainly one of Biden’s domestic triumphs this yr — the climate bill generally known as the Inflation Reduction Act — is viewed more warily in France. The law “risks alienating European countries, which fear a everlasting U.S. turn toward protectionism,” Célia Belin, a former French Foreign Ministry official, and Jourdain wrote this week in Foreign Affairs. “France and Germany are already pushing for similar subsidies for European industries, and Macron has even floated the concept of a Buy European Act.” Biden administration officials have defended the law and said that it includes business opportunities for European firms.
That is the primary state dinner since 2019, when President Donald Trump hosted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Our colleague Roxanne Roberts has answers to all your state dinner FAQs, including what number of guests are expected on Thursday (about 300), the president who threw probably the most state dinners (Ronald Reagan) and what Trump said to Macron ahead of a 2018 state dinner.
A tribal summit on the White House
Biden will commit today on the White House Tribal Nations Summit to protecting Spirit Mountain and the 33,000 acres in Nevada that surround it under the 1906 Antiquities Act, a senior administration official tells Dan Michalski.
- “The transformation of this 700-square-mile wedge between California and Arizona is prone to rank as the most important act of land conservation that Biden will undertake this term. The designation enjoys the support of tribes, local officials, environmental groups and the agricultural business community but has frustrated some renewable energy advocates, who warn it could undercut the nation’s climate goals.”
- Biden will even sign a recent memo on how federal agencies seek the advice of with tribes.
One big completely satisfied family 😊
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