| | | | |  | | By Katherine Tully-McManus | Presented by Mastercard | With an assist from Marianne LeVine
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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) speaks to an aide as he enters the Senate chamber for a vote at the U.S. Capitol Sept. 22, 2022. (Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO) | FRESH TEXT HEADED FOR A TEST — Senate Democrats released their short-term government funding bill late Monday night, with Sen. Joe Manchin's energy projects provisions included, despite opposition from most Republicans and some Democrats. Even the key negotiators who released the bill are not thrilled by the addition of Manchin's (D-W.Va.) proposal to speed up approval for energy projects, including a pipeline for his home state. "I am disappointed that unrelated permitting reform was attached to this bill," Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement overnight. "However, with four days left in the fiscal year, we cannot risk a government shutdown; we must work to advance this bill," he added. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top appropriator in the House, said "while the bill provides a bridge to the omnibus, it is not perfect." Government funding runs out Friday at midnight and the spending bill is a must-pass measure to avert a chaotic shutdown situation. It provides funding through Dec. 16, punting challenging negotiations about funding levels until after the midterm elections. TODAY'S ACTION — The Senate votes this evening on a procedural step to move the spending package forward. Tonight's vote will be a test of whether the must-pass spending package can get enough support, despite opposition to the energy permitting overhaul. If the Senate falls short of the 60 votes needed tonight, there is the option to strip out the permitting proposal and move forward on the government funding bill without it. "We have made significant progress toward a Continuing Resolution that is as clean as possible. But, if the Democrats insist on including permitting reform, I will oppose it," top Republican appropriator Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said in a statement. McCONNELL CRACKS THE WHIP — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging his fellow Senate Republicans to reject Manchin's energy permitting proposal, even if that means voting down the continuing resolution. That brings us back to a familiar matchup: Manchin vs. McConnell. Manchin said he was making inroads over the weekend to win support from some Senate Republicans. But McConnell has a strong track record of turning the screws and getting his caucus to line up where he wants them. Manchin told Fox News on Monday he was surprised by McConnell's move: "What I didn't expect is that Mitch McConnell and my Republican friends would be stacking up with Bernie or trying to get the same outcome by not passing permitting reform," he said. HOUSE OUTLOOK — "We'll get it in the House to put on the floor by Thursday," Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday. Read up: Here is the bill text and here is a section-by-section summary from Senate Democrats.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, September 27, where the last week of the fiscal year is our collective mercury in retrograde experience. (Brace yourselves.) WHAT'S IN — Ukraine aid: The bill includes $12.4 billion to help Ukraine to defend against Russia, which is more than the $11.7 billion requested by the Biden administration. It also authorizes the Biden administration to transfer as much as $3.7 billion more in defense equipment to Ukraine. Disaster aid: The bill includes $2 billion for a block grant program to help communities hit by natural disasters in 2021 and 2022. There is also $2.5 billion in funding for recovery in New Mexico from the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon fire in April. Winter warmer: $1 billion is included to help Americans pay for home heating as winter approaches. Jackson water crisis: The bill includes $20 million to help address the water crisis in Jackson, Miss. FDA: Under the bill, the Food and Drug Administration will be authorized for five years to collect user fees, averting a shortfall that would have included layoffs at the agency. FDA user fees are collected by the agency from drug and medical device companies to fund the review of products. Congress must vote to reauthorize the FDA's authority to collect these fees every five years. Afghan refugees: The bill includes money to help smooth the resettlement of Afghan refugees, but there are no changes to the process for them to become permanent residents. WHAT'S OUT — Covid aid, monkeypox: To court Republican support, the bill does not include the White House's request for $22 billion to fight Covid-19 or the $4 billion request to combat monkeypox. President Joe Biden last week called the Covid pandemic "over," which made the request an easy target for Republicans. Uranium: The White House had requested $1.5 billion for emergency uranium purchases to ease U.S. reliance on Russia for the element, but that was left out.
| | | | A message from Mastercard: See what's possible when you partner with Mastercard. Learn More. | | | ACTION ON ELECTORAL COUNT — The Senate Rules Committee convenes this afternoon to mark up bipartisan legislation to reform the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act after receiving testimony from election law experts in August. The legislation is expected to be changed, as part of a so-called manager's amendment negotiated by Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and the top Republican on the panel, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the bill's lead sponsors. Track changes: Among the changes are provisions addressing the original legislation's expedited judicial review process for an election certification challenge. The initial version of the bill included a process under which a three-judge district court panel would review the challenge and any appeal would go straight to the Supreme Court. The amendment clarifies that the Supreme Court could grant or deny review and that the three-judge panel wouldn't interfere with other election-related court proceedings. In addition, it would exempt the three-judge panel from a five-day notice period that's typically required before judges convene if a state official is party to the case. Finally, the amendment revises the language to clarify that a court can order a governor to issue an election certification if he or she has yet to do so. In addition, the bill states that elections may only be extended due to "force majeure" catastrophic events. Election law experts raised concerns during the August hearing that an election delay due to a catastrophic event needed to be better defined in the Senate bill text. That language brings the bill closer in line to the House's updates to the Electoral Count Act, which defined what would qualify as a catastrophic event.Read the substitute amendment from Klobuchar and Blunt. FREEDOM CAUCUS AND McCARTHY — The Freedom Caucus came to prominence by antagonizing their own party's leadership. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has tried to make nice with the group in recent years after it doomed his shot at the speakership once. But if Republicans take the House, the dynamics in the majority are very, very different. "Interviews with more than a dozen members of the conservative group indicate they're not moving to coalesce against the GOP leader as they have in the past," Olivia Beavers reports . "In short, the Freedom Caucus that blocked McCarthy's path to the gavel seven years ago has evolved into a bloc that's willing to use its leverage to secure procedural demands, but not to blow up the race for speaker." FIRST AND FRAUGHT — Rep. Andy Levin's (D-Mich.) staff made history by being the first to vote to form a union under new House rules that extend protections to members' offices. Levin's staff voted unanimously last week to form the union, according to a Monday statement from the Congressional Workers Union. But Levin, who sponsored the legislation to secure staffers' right to unionize, has just 14 weeks left in office. He lost a bruising member-on-member primary battle in early August, which means that both he and his staff will be out of work at the end of this Congress. By the time a contract is negotiated, they could be on their way out the door. But that contract could plant a flag for other offices hoping to form a union and secure a contract. If Levin's team can secure a favorable contract through negotiations with their boss, that contract would set the bar for other organizing offices. Levin's pro-labor credibility is now on the management side of the bargaining table. Levin's staff will be able to blaze a trail and push boundaries on what is and isn't eligible for bargaining and what benefits it can lock in under the untested House regulations for organizing member offices. And Levin staffers will do so with the likely support of a friendly boss with little to lose. This week: The Congressional Workers Union announced that two more elections are expected in the coming days: Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-Calif.) staff will vote on Sept. 28 and Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) staff will vote on Sept. 29.
| | | | DON'T MISS - MILKEN INSTITUTE ASIA SUMMIT : Go inside the 9th annual Milken Institute Asia Summit, taking place from September 28-30, with a special edition of POLITICO's Global Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive coverage and insights from this important gathering. Stay up to speed with daily updates from the summit, which brings together more than 1,200 of the world's most influential leaders from business, government, finance, technology, and academia. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | FORMER REP. MARK SOUDER DIES — Seven-term Indiana GOP Rep. Mark Souder died Monday from pancreatic cancer. He came to Congress as part of the Republican "Contract with America" wave in 1994 but tried to oust Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) as speaker in 1997. He was among the five Republicans who did not vote in favor of all three articles of impeachment against former President Bill Clinton. Souder resigned in 2010 after admitting to an extramarital affair with a staffer. BOOKS A MILLION — There are already so many books about Jan. 6 and more are coming. Sund speaks out: Former Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund has a book coming out about the attack on the U.S. Capitol from his vantage point at the helm of the department tasked with defending Congress. The book, titled "Courage Under Fire: Under Siege and Outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6" is set to come out Jan. 3, but the publisher is already teasing Sund's calls with the White House and "conversations that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said never occurred ." (Emphasis is theirs.) Rage against Riggleman: Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), who worked for eight months with the Jan. 6 select committee, is publishing a behind-the-scenes look at the investigative effort, which is attracting criticism from staff and members who are still working on the inquiry. The book is titled "The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th." Some see the book itself as a breach. Nicholas reports that part of the employment agreement on the committee is promising to not profit from the panel's work. Those are just the latest books. In addition, Former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone has his book "Hold the Line," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has "Midnight in Washington," and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has "Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy." And of course, there will be more.
| | | Don't call him Bill Nye… But Congress is about to lose its science guy. Jim Saksa of CQ Roll Call has an exit interview with Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.). Behind the committee curtain… Congressional Black Associates, Congressional Hispanic Staff Association and The Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association host a panel discussion on Wednesday at 2 p.m. about what it's like to work for a Committee in Congress. RSVP for Demystifying Committees. Turnover time… "Compared to Republicans, House Democrats averaged 11% higher staff turnover in the first half of 2022," writes LegiStorm's Keturah Hetrick, who also gives a h/t to this piece from Olivia on the House member who still has the worst staff retention rate. ICYMI changes to ethics policies… The House Ethics Committee has tweaked the gift rule in regards to free attendance to events. Long and short of it: members can now bring guests. QUICK LINKS Politicians With Disabilities Are Rare Because of Structural Barriers, Discrimination, from John Loeppky and Alex Green in Teen Vogue Factory Jobs Are Booming Like It's the 1970s, from Jim Tankersley, Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson at The New York Times How Rock Climbers and Snowboarders Became a Political Force, from Blake Hounshell at The New York Times TRANSITIONS Charles Williams is now manager for advocacy and government affairs (federal) for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He most recently was legislative assistant for Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). Kris Skrzycki is the new chief of staff for Ways and Means Republican Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.). Skrzycki previously served as chief of staff for the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) and Rep. Tom Price, (R-Ga.). Off the hill, he worked at the Office of National Drug Control Policy and served in a senior role at the Department of Health and Human Services during the Trump administration.
| | | | A message from Mastercard:   | | | TODAY IN CONGRESS The House is out. The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. to consider the motion to proceed to the legislative vehicle for the continuing resolution. The Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. on cloture on the motion to proceed. AROUND THE HILL 3 p.m. The House Rules Committee business meets to consider three bills, including one that would promote antitrust enforcement and protect competition through adjusting premerger filing fees and increasing antitrust enforcement resources. (H-313) 4 p.m. The Senate Rules Committee business meets to consider a bill that would specify that the vice president's duties during the counting of electoral votes are strictly ceremonial and that the VP lacks the power to approve or reject votes certified by the states. (301 Russell)
| | | MONDAY'S WINNER: Shelley Stewart correctly answered that "Old Whitey" was the beloved horse of President Zachary Taylor. TODAY'S QUESTION from Shelley: Which U.S. President was sworn in by his father? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com. GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus
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