•President Biden travels to New York and New Jersey today to survey flooding damage from Hurricane Ida, the AP reports, and make a case for his $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure program currently scheduled for passage in the House of Representatives by September 27. Ida has caused at least 27 deaths in New Jersey and 13 in New York City, mostly from people trapped in cars or basement apartments. Biden traveled to survey hurricane flooding in Louisiana last Friday, where at least 13 deaths have been recorded.
•Several airplanes full of evacuees who say they are fearful of the Taliban’s rule remain grounded in Afghanistan, including American citizens and green card holders, NPR reports, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken monitors the situation from a U.S. base in Doha, Qatar. On Sunday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-TX, told Fox News that the Taliban are holding people “hostage,” including six airplanes with American citizens.
•The House has returned from August recess, while the Senate comes back next week, Punchbowl News notes. House committees begin markups of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation “social infrastructure” package Thursday. Meanwhile, the federal government has to September 30 until it runs out of money, with a likely extension to either Thanksgiving or into December, according to Punchbowl News.
Justice Department Will ‘Protect’ Those Seeking Abortions in Texas – As the Supreme Court has refused by 5-4 vote to consider a controversial Texas ban on most abortions, the Justice Department has vowed to use the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services,” says Attorney General Merrick Garland (per Politico). Under the Texas law, the most restrictive in the U.S., abortions are outlawed after cardiac activity can be detected, usually by six weeks – and often before a woman knows she is pregnant.
The law leaves it up to private citizens to enforce the abortion ban via lawsuits.
Note: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has pledged a Roe v. Wade bill in the House to codify abortion rights for women, but this comes on top of pressure to pass the infrastructure bill and President Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package over the next few weeks.
Progressive Democrats want the infrastructure and reconciliation bills connected so moderates can’t water down or spike the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, known as “human infrastructure,” Roll Call reports. If the House can pass both – a big if, considering significant moderate opposition – infrastructure would go directly to the White House for Biden’s signature, while there’s still much work to do on “human infrastructure” budget reconciliation details.
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Dems Look for the Union Label — Although Labor Day is just behind us, a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 8-18 found that 55% of Americans think trade unions have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. This is the same number found in an August 2019 survey. However, in the previous survey, 66% of those who identify as Democrat or leaning Democrat gave the thumbs-up to unions, a number that has grown to 74% in the new survey. As for Republicans or leaning Republican the number fell from 44% to 34%.
Note: While the Democrat/Republican divide is not particularly surprising, what is worthy of more attention are findings related to the demographics of those with a positive outlook on unions. For example, while union membership has been falling over the past several years and so have less public visibility than they once had, younger people — those ages 18-29 — are actually the biggest proponents of unions, at 69%, with only 44% of those 65+ thinking unions have a positive effect. What’s more, in terms of education, unions are above 50% in all categories, whether it is those who have done postgrad work (56% see positive effects) or who have high school diplomas or less (55%).
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods