PRESENTED BYBY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPHappy Tuesday evening from the Capitol. Lots of news to digest today when it comes to the crafting and consideration of President Joe Biden’s agenda. Sparring over SALT deal Northeastern Democrats are positively giddy about the deal they struck to lift state and local deduction caps for five years. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) may have taken his champagne off the ice for this occasion. But you should take this deal with a grain of salt -- pun intended. It’s running into major opposition on the left. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a statement expressing his opposition to the “very tentative” SALT deal, saying it would be giving billionaires a tax break. “I am open to a compromise approach which protects the middle class in high tax states,” Sanders tweeted. “I will not support more tax breaks for billionaires.” Sanders said this to Capitol Hill reporters:
Sanders said he would prefer to lift the cap for households with $400,000 or less in combined income annually. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told us in an interview that she’d been fielding calls from concerned allies about the SALT deal. “It’s a way more generous proposal than anyone thought was gonna be in there so it's gonna be a problem now,” Jayapal said. “I'm already getting calls from our members because people are seeing how much is spent on SALT versus all the other things.” Remember: Whatever comes out of the House is far from a final deal. So it’s completely feasible that the SALT provision and many other provisions will change in the Senate. Moderates make their move New: Five House Democrats -- all of them moderate Blue Dogs -- have asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi for 72 hours to review the Build Back Better Act before the House votes on it. These Democrats -- Reps. Ed Case (Hawaii), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Kurt Schrader (Ore.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and Jared Golden (Maine) -- also want a full analysis of the spending and revenue impact of the legislation by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation before they vote on the legislation. Sources close to the group say at least some of the members are prepared to vote “No” if their demands aren’t met. And with a three-vote margin, can Democratic leaders and the White House afford to take a chance? “In order to ensure the final bill is indeed fiscally responsible, we must first have the proper CBO/JCT scoring information before floor consideration,” the five Democrats said. “Therefore, we cannot lend our support to advancing the BBB Act until we have a chance to review these scores which provide the true cost of the legislation. Moreover, the U.S. Senate cannot even consider the BBB under reconciliation rules until it has received an official CBO score.” This presents a huge challenge to Pelosi and the White House. House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) suggested that it would take “10 days to two weeks” for CBO to finish scoring the legislation. Pelosi wants to vote on the BBB and the bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of this week. However, even Blue Dog sources aren’t confident the leadership won’t just seek to roll them. Progressives tried to downplay the moderates’ threat as well. “I think they send that out before most major bills,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “But I think we have enough of the various pieces with scores that I hope it's not a problem because obviously that will delay everything.” Pelosi on immigration: We need it Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately huddled with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Tuesday afternoon over the possible inclusion of immigration provisions in the reconciliation bill, according to multiple sources familiar with the meeting. The lawmakers in the meeting included Reps. Raul Ruiz, Pete Aguilar and Zoe Lofgren of California. Lofgren is on the House Judiciary Committee and is a key player in immigration policy. We asked Pelosi about the prospects for an immigration deal in the reconciliation package, and she said Democrats “have to” find a compromise. “We’re moving,” Pelosi insisted when we asked her about immigration talks. The leading option at the moment is the so-called “parole” program, which offers undocumented immigrants the opportunity to pay taxes and get benefits without fear of deportation, but does not provide them a pathway to citizenship. An Rx drug deal, and sour feelings Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a major victory lap today, announcing a prescription drug deal that had won the support of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz). But there was some major eye-rolling in the House Democratic leadership about Schumer seemingly taking the credit for a deal that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so central in helping put together. In fact, Pelosi began brokering the agreement Friday when she called Sinema to break the logjam in the prescription drug talks. House and Senate staff worked through the weekend to lock up the agreement, and Pelosi closed the deal with Sinema at 12:45 p.m. today. Schumer announced the agreement, which definitely rubbed many Democrats in House leadership the wrong way. PRESENTED BY DUKE ENERGY Duke Energy is taking action against climate change, working to deliver cleaner, smarter energy for the communities we serve. We’re investing more than $125 billion over the next decade in renewables, advanced energy storage, electric vehicle technology and more. All to reach our goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 – while delivering affordable, reliable, cleaner energy for our communities and the future we share. Learn more about our bold clean energy commitment. MASK UP? MTG racks up $48k in mask fines Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has racked up 20 fines from the House sergeant-at-arms for refusing to wear a mask inside. This adds up to $48,000 in fines for the year. Members of Congress get paid $174,000, so this represents more than 27% of her gross salary for those keeping track at home. When asked about the fines, Greene’s office offered this in a statement to Punchbowl News:
The list of mask violations by Greene was outlined in an Oct. 28 letter from William J. Walker, the House Sergeant at Arms. "You have been observed not wearing a mask on July 29, August 2, September 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, and October 1, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27, and have been asked by a member of my staff to wear a mask while in the Hall of the House of Representatives on each occasion unless recognized to speak by the chair," Walker wrote. CLIP FILE NYT → “Democrats Work to Salvage Methane Fee Amid Opposition From Manchin,” by Coral Davenport → “Prominent Conservatives Back Letting States Limit Guns in Public,” by Adam Liptak Sioux Falls Argus Leader → “Jean Rounds, South Dakota's former first lady, dies from cancer,” by Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve WSJ → “Dow Closes Above 36000 for First Time,” by Will Horner and Michael Wursthorn AP → “Biden taps Navy admiral to be Joint Chiefs vice chairman,” by Lolita Baldor PRESENTED BY DUKE ENERGY We’re transforming the energy system with more renewables and advanced technology. See how Duke Energy is delivering cleaner, smarter energy for our communities. |