•First federal child tax credits go out today.
•”Resolved: America is a racist nation.” Braver Angels will debate this provocative issue tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Zoom. The debate is free, but you must register to attend. …
•Go to https://thehustings.newsThursday afternoon for a preview of the Braver Angels National Coliseum debate to prepare questions and comments during the debate on racism in America.
•After the debate, email your opinions and comments to editors@thehustings.news. The Hustings will post your comments on the home page Friday.
McCarthy to Meet with Trump Today – Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, will meet with former President Trump today ahead of the minority leader’s naming of five Republican members to the House of Representatives’ committee to investigate the January 6 pro-Trump attacks on Capitol Hill, CNN reports.
“Kevin McCarthy will be meeting with me this afternoon at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey,” Trump said in a statement. “Much to be discussed!”
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‘Dr. No’ Says Maybe? – Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has privately told his caucus to separate the $1.2-trillion “hard infrastructure” bill still being written after bipartisan Senate negotiations with the White House, from the $3.5-trillion “social infrastructure” program that Democrats plan to push through via reconciliation, Politico reports Thursday morning. McConnell, who has been pretty successful at blocking Democratic presidents’ agenda since Barack Obama’s first term, has publicly indicated there is a “decent” chance at the hard infrastructure – roads, bridges, etc., at $973 billion for five years, $1.2 trillion if it’s extended to eight years – could pass, with the cooperation of 10 Republicans for cloture.
Democrats are still drafting the two spending bills, with the expectation both will take Congress most of the year to get them back to Biden’s Oval Office desk.
What the hell’s going on here? – McConnell certainly is counting on continued Democratic disarray. While the $3.5 trillion social infrastructure bill would require just 51 votes to pass, it would require support from both Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-WV, who continues to question raising corporate taxes and income tax for those who make more than $400,000 per year to pay for it, and progressive members like Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT, who wants to spend more, according to NPR. Earlier in the process, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, had floated a $6-trillion spending package for social and “hard” infrastructure.
Note: McConnell’s tacit support for the bipartisan “hard infrastructure” bill thus places him where he’s always been – the Senate’s catbird seat. Either he assures the White House that the $973 billion/$1.2 trillion bill, which includes $573 billion in new spending, will pass while the bigger reconciliation bill sinks under the weight of Democratic in-fighting to hand Biden a hollow victory going into the 2022 midterms, or he pulls the rug out from under the whole thing before 2021 ends, smirking all the way.
Note II: News & Notes admits error last January when we named Manchin the Big Man on Capitol Hill. Even while in the minority party, McConnell retains that title.
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McConnell Attacks Biden’s Speech on Voting Rights – Mitch McConnell Wednesday took aim at President Biden’s speech in Philadelphia the day before, in which the president called the fight over voters’ rights “the most significant test to democracy since the Civil War.”
“What nonsense,” McConnell retorted on the Senate floor, citing Biden’s promise to “lower the temperature” and foster civil dialogue across both sides of the aisle. “It would be laugh-out-loud funny if it was so completely and totally irresponsible.”
Note: Per usual, McConnell is deftly threading the needle between criticizing Biden’s lack of “bipartisanship” at the same time he’s weighing his policy of killing any part of the Democratic president’s agenda, over the bipartisan infrastructure proposal (see above).
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Note to State Legislatures: Canada Is a Sovereign Nation -- The Midwestern Legislative Conference, which includes 11 states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin –just completed its 75th annual meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota, where it passed a resolution calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to open the U.S.-Canadian border to fully vaccinated Americans, Politico reports.
Note: The U.S.-Canadian border has been closed to all non-essential travel since March 21, 2020. Trudeau said in comments, according to Politico, “The reality is we know how unbelievably costly and heartbreaking it would be to fall into a fourth wave of this pandemic.”
According to the COVID-19 Tracker Canada, as of yesterday 45.9% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. The Trudeau government has said in the past that it wants 75% of the population to be fully vaccinated before the border is fully opened. According to The New York Times, “Case numbers are climbing across most of the country as the Delta variant spreads among people. Arkansas, Missouri, Florida and Nevada are experiencing full-fledged outbreaks.” What’s more, in the last 14 days, the number of cases in the U.S. has increased by 111%. Can you blame Trudeau?
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods