Wednesday News & Notes
OCTOBER 20, 2021 -- SOLICITOR GEN. ROBERT BORK DISMISSES WATERGATE SPECIAL COUNSEL ARCHIBALD COX, 1973
•Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, will hold a cloture vote on the Freedom to Vote Act today. The procedural vote will fail. Details below...
Another Stab at Expanding Voter Rights to Fail – Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, will filibuster S 2747, the Freedom to Vote Act, which Schumer has promised to bring to the floor for a vote. The bill is a pared down version of more expansive bill languishing on Capitol Hill that sought to restore key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were negated by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Shelby v. Holder. The Freedom to Vote Act was sponsored in September by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, and is meant to address new, restrictive voting laws passed in Georgia, Texas, and Iowa and pending in other states.
Senate Republicans are not receptive to any federal law that ultimately would give them a disadvantage in future elections, and the only way for this bill to succeed would be a vote ending the legislative filibuster, which Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-WV, opposes.
Key provisions of S 2747 are:
•Makes election day a federal holiday.
•Expands same-day voting and other voter registration rules.
•Expands voter access, including vote-by-mail and early voting.
•Limits removal of voters from the rolls.
•Allows those convicted of a crime to vote, unless serving a felony sentence at the time of the election.
•Establishes certain federal offenses for violating voter laws.
•Requires states to conduct post-election audits for federal elections.
•Addresses redistricting, including “generally” prohibiting mid-decade redistricting.
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Yesterday’s Separate White House Talks with Progs, Moderates Worked – Why not gather progressive and moderate Democrats together in one meeting in order to work out the $3.5-trillion Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill?, we asked yesterday. President Biden met with both groups separately, and it seems to have worked, with NPR reporting “new momentum” toward reaching a deal that would guarantee support from nearly all the House Democrats and absolutely all 50 Senate Democrats.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-CA, told NPR’s Morning Edition he feels “closer than ever before” on a deal. The Washington Post reports that Biden has told Democrats that the new target should be a package of between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion. Biden had previously promised the budget reconciliation would be paid for, though funding still apparently must be hashed out.
Note: This compromise will seem to be a victory for moderate Democrats, as Congress cuts the child care tax credit down to a one-year extension, and two years of free community college become an expansion of the Pell Grant program. The big winner of course, is Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-WV, who has won some pushback against the climate change programs within the bill. Progressives appear satisfied that some climate change provisions as well as expansion of Medicare benefits will prevail (per WaPo). Paid maternity leave will be pared down to four weeks from the original bill’s 12 weeks.
While it’s a much smaller bill, progressive Democrats appear satisfied that the package provides them some sort of victory – a pretty good win, in fact considering the party’s very narrow majority – as the $1.2-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill now can finally move through the House and make its way to Biden’s desk to hand him a much-needed victory.
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January 6 Committee Forwards Bannon Contempt Charge to House – The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection unanimously recommended that former Trump advisor and provocateur Stephen K. Bannon be held in contempt for ignoring a subpoena in the case. The full House of Representatives is expected to vote for contempt charges. Bannon’s failure to appear and the question of whether he will be compelled to testify, as well as Donald J. Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block the committee from obtaining his White House records, are likely to delay the congressional probe, Roll Call reports.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Charles Dervarics