With an assist from Nicholas Wu
OFF TO THE RACES — The 4,155 page year-end spending bill says no to TikTok on government phones, no to cannabis banking, yes to Ukraine aid and yes to an Electoral Count Act overhaul. And oh, so far more.
The Senate will make the primary moves on the measure, with the goal of passing the bill by Thursday. That may require all 100 Senators to get on board with an agreement to hurry up consideration of the bill. Any senator could delay that deal in exchange for amendments or concessions. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) tweeted after midnight (and before the text was out) that Senate leaders “shouldn’t assume that each senator will conform to facilitate their efforts to ram this through.”
Even an expedited process leaves a narrow window for the House to clear the bill before Friday’s deadline.
“A unbroken resolution into the Recent 12 months doesn’t, nor wouldn’t it provide assistance to Ukraine or help to communities recovering from natural disasters,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a press release. “The alternative is obvious. We are able to either do our jobs and fund the federal government, or we will abandon our responsibilities and not using a real path forward.”
The bill is so large it was carried to the Senate floor at 1:23 a.m. in a cardboard box by Senate pages.
The fundamentals: The bill would fund government agencies through Sept. 30 2023 and boosts defense funding by $76 billion, totalling $858 billion. Domestic spending within the bill totals $773 billion. The $45 billion for Ukraine within the bill exceeds President Joe Biden’s $37 billion request, as some lawmakers worry that there won’t be appetite in the brand new Congress for continued aid. The measure also includes $40 billion for disaster aid for communities impacted by recent storms and wildfires.
Punted: After haggling between Marylanders and Virginians over the situation of the brand new FBI headquarters held up the bill’s release, they agreed to disagree. The bill requires the pinnacle of the General Services Administration to satisfy with representatives from each states to contemplate their ideas.
Not noted: The bill doesn’t reinstate the expanded child tax credit as some Democrats wanted or a tax deduction for research costs for businesses sought by Republicans. A bill to fast-track citizenship for Afghans evacuated to the U.S. after Kabul fell to the Taliban also didn’t make the cut.
Made it in: The bill from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to ban the favored video app TikTok on federal government phones made it into the bill, with support from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
House mood: Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and a dozen other conservatives within the House signed and circulated a letter last night promising to dam any legislative priorities of any Republican senators who back the omnibus deal.
Weather watch: Your Huddle host is watching the weather. Winter storms are expected to pummel the midwest this week and the east coast is expecting rain and ice Thursday and Friday. Thoughts and prayers for the schedulers attempting to get their bosses to the Hill for votes after which home for Christmas.
Really helpful reading: Read the bill | Democratic Summary | Republican Summary
Related reads: How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis, from Alex W. Palmer at The Recent York Times, Congress unveils $1.7 trillion deal to fund government, avert shutdown, from Tony Romm at The Washington Post, US Lawmakers Release Huge Spending Bill Before 12 months-End Deadline, from Erik Wasson at Bloomberg
GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, Dec. 20, where Senators, staffers, pages and reporters were up way too late waiting on the omnibus.
FIRST IN HUDDLE: PROGRESSIVES ORGANIZE — The Progressive Caucus is rolling out the remaining of its leadership team for the subsequent Congress, all of whom are appointed by the chair, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). Its deputy whips will probably be: Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).
The manager board members at large are Reps. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ailing.) and Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.). The special order hour conveners are Reps.-elect Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ailing.).
SELECT COMMITTEE DROPS REPORT— The House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress releases their final report today on the panel’s groundbreaking 4 years exploring what’s broken inside Congress and find out how to fix it.
And the issues were glaring from the beginning: the panel was delayed by the longest government shutdown in history and its renewal for the 117th Congress was stalled after the violent Jan. 6 2021 attack on the Capitol ended the nation’s history of peaceful transfers of power.
The panel, which operated outside of the intensely partisan norms on Capitol Hill, made 202 bipartisan recommendations. Those were derived from 283 ideas and requests from members and staff just within the 117th Congress and brown bag meetings and roundtables with greater than 1,500 House staffers.
The panel wants its work to proceed. They’re calling for the establishment of a House Administration Committee subcommittee on Modernization, where ideas could proceed to be brought forth and implementation and follow-up on the present recommendations may very well be focused. Read the ultimate report from one of the vital interesting entities in Congress.
WAYS AND MEANS WEIGHS IN — Are you able to rumble? The House’s tax writing panel meets this afternoon to vote on whether to make public former President Donald Trump’s tax filings.
Back in November, Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) won access to Trump’s filings after a protracted court fight, but only a tiny inner circle of lawmakers and staff have been allowed to have a look at them (including rating member Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas)). They’re still protected by privacy laws that make it a felony for anyone with access to them to reveal even small details.
This afternoon’s business meeting is to vote behind closed doors to make them public. Brady and his GOP colleagues have a press conference planned ahead of the closed-door vote to warn against making the returns public, warning that it could set a precedent to erode privacy for on a regular basis Americans.
EYES ON RICHMOND — Voters weigh in today on who should succeed the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.). The Democratic firehose primary is predicted to find out the race within the heavily Democratic 4th district.
THROW OPEN THE DOORS — Capitol Police Chief Tom Magner told the Senate Rules Committee that the department’s aggressive staffing increases put them “on target to satisfy our goal of fully reopening the Capitol with an emphasis on reopening the general public facing entrances across the Capitol Complex.”
Rules Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said one other Senate office constructing door recently opened and one other is predicted to open in January. She also anticipated that the general public galleries overlooking the Senate chamber will open to the general public within the Recent 12 months.
But about 10 percent of authorized positions for officers are still vacant, Manger said. He touted that as of Monday, 219 recruits are within the pipeline and getting some level of coaching.
Money can’t buy happiness?: “I don’t think that cash goes to have a sustained impact on morale,” Manger told the panel. But he did credit this era of retention and hiring bonuses and assignments available with specialty pay with a stabilizing effect within the wake of the Jan. 6 attack. More from the hearing from Anthony.
USCP within the omni… The bill released overnight includes $2.5 million to supply off-campus security for lawmakers and the event and administration of a “residential security system program.” It also includes language providing for a body camera pilot program for Capitol Cops.
LOOKING AT LEG BRANCH— The Senate isn’t instituting a pay floor just like the House, however the omnibus does include “sufficient funding for every Senate office to cover a minimum annual pay for full-time staff at $45,000, which is the livable wage for the District of Columbia,” per the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee’s “explanatory statement” released together with the bill text.
The bill also provides $7 million for compensating Senate interns, with a median of $70,000 for every Senator’s office to pay interns either hourly wages or lump stipends.
GEORGE SANTOS, WE HARDLY KNOW YOU— Rep.-elect George Santos’ (R-N.Y.) lawyer responded to the Recent York Times report that much of the politician’s biography is fabricated with a press release that didn’t deny the allegations but succeeded in using a fake Winston Churchill quote.
A follow-up from the Recent York Times team that broke the story: George Santos Dodges Questions as Democrats Label Him ‘Unfit to Serve’
DYNAMITE, NOT DYNAMIC DUO— It’s no secret on Capitol Hill that while Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) are sometimes grouped together, they aren’t actually best buds. Greene tweeted Monday that Boebert “gladly takes our $$$,” … “but when she’s been asked: Lauren refuses to endorse President Trump, she refuses to support Kevin McCarthy, and she or he childishly threw me under the bus for an affordable sound bite.”
Boebert weighed in, telling The Every day Caller that she backs Trump but is bored with consistently being related to Greene. “I’ve been asked to clarify MTG’s belief in Jewish space lasers, why she showed as much as a white supremacist’s conference, and now why she’s blindly following Kevin McCarthy and I’m not going to go there.”
Not eating his words… Retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) will probably be missed on the Senate Rules Committee, but there’s one thing he won’t miss: the fraught relationships between the Senate and the food service corporations contracted to run the Capitol’s eateries.
He liked having a hands-on management role working with Capitol Police, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, but added “and unfortunately, the food service corporations and the things which have really been complicated the previous few years.” Blunt has taken every probability he gets to inform your Huddle host in the previous few years that he was against privatizing Capitol eateries back when that call was made and has stuck to his guns on that as conflicts over layoffs, pay, pandemic staffing and more have ended up on the Rules Committee’s plate.
QUICK LINKS
‘I’m still subject to death threats,’ Upton says as he prepares to depart Congress, from Anna Gustafson at States Newsroom
TRANSITIONS
Amanda Fitzmorris is now communications director for each Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and the Congressional Western Caucus. She was previously comms director for Newhouse’s personal office.
Mike Martin is now chief of staff for Rep.-elect Mark Alford (R-Mo.). He most recently was deputy chief of staff for Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).
Luke Holland has now joined The Nickles Group. He previously was chief of staff for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House convenes at noon for a professional forma session.
The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and can recess between 12:30 p.m. and a couple of:15 p.m. for weekly party caucus lunches. Roll call votes are expected, but aren’t locked in yet.
AROUND THE HILL
2 p.m. Senate Democratic and GOP leaders hold separate press conferences following closed door caucus lunches. (Ohio Clock Corridor).
2:45 p.m. Ways and Means Rating Member Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and other Republicans from the panel hold a press conference. (Longworth West Lobby)
3 p.m. House Ways and Means Committee business meeting to contemplate documents protected under Internal Revenue Code section 6103. (Longworth 1100)
MONDAY’S WINNER:Mitch Relfe accurately answered that the House began using its current chamber in 1857.
TODAY’S QUESTION Mitch: For the reason that modern budget process began, what were the 4 fiscal years that Congress managed to pass all appropriations bills on time? (Yeah, there are only 4.)
The primary person to accurately guess gets a mention in the subsequent edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]
GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning.
Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus