Post Politics Now: Senate poised to work through weekend to advance economic package – The Washington Post
Updated August 5, 2022 at 7:24 a.m. EDT|Published
August 5, 2022 at 7:01 a.m. EDT
Today, Senate Democrats are poised to work through the weekend to advance a major health-care, climate and deficit-reduction package following an agreement struck with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) that alters some tax provisions in the bill. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he believes all 50 members of the Democratic caucus are on board. After consideration of amendments, a final Senate vote could come early next week. The House would need to return to Washington to pass the legislation.
President Biden, who continues to recover from a “rebound” case of the coronavirus, is scheduled to sign two bipartisan bills that target those who commit fraud in pandemic-era small-business relief programs.
Your daily dashboard
- 1 p.m. Eastern time: Biden signs bills targeting fraud under coronavirus small-business relief programs. Watch live here.
- 2 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brief reporters. Watch live here.
- 3 p.m. Eastern: Vice President Harris meets with Latina state legislators about reproductive rights. Watch live here.
- 8 p.m. Eastern: Former president Donald Trump holds a rally in Waukesha, Wis., ahead of Wisconsin’s primaries on Tuesday.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. Eastern weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
The latest: China announces sanctions on Pelosi for Taiwan visit
China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said it has imposed unspecified sanctions on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her immediate family in retaliation for what it called a “malicious and provocative” insistence on visiting Taiwan despite Beijing’s strong opposition.
The ministry also announced eight “countermeasures” to punish the United States for the trip, including suspending bilateral climate talks and canceling three formal military-to-military dialogue mechanisms, The Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Lily Kuo and Christian Shepherd report.
Earlier Friday, Pelosi vowed that China would not succeed in isolating Taiwan. Our colleagues have details:
China “may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in Tokyo, her final stop on an Asian tour that included a visit Taiwan that brought to the fore the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Pelosi added that Beijing could not dictate who could visit the island. “They are not doing our traveling schedule. The Chinese government is not doing that,” she said.
You can read the full story here.
On our radar: Biden to sign bills targeting coronavirus relief fraud
President Biden plans on Friday to sign a pair of bipartisan bills designed to hold accountable those who commit fraud under small-business relief programs that were enacted in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The event is the only public appearance that the White House has advertised Friday for Biden, who continues to recover from a “rebound” case of the coronavirus.
Vice President Harris, meanwhile, is planning to hold a meeting with Latina state legislators about reproductive rights, the latest gathering she has convened in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The meeting, scheduled to be held in Harris’s ceremonial office, will include representatives from Kansas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Illinois, New York and Texas, the White House said.
The latest: White House summons Chinese ambassador for rebuke on Taiwan response
The White House summoned China’s ambassador on Thursday to condemn Beijing’s escalating actions against Taiwan and reiterate that the United States does not want a crisis in the region, after a visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sharply escalated tensions in the Taiwan Strait this week.
The Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb has details:
“After China’s actions overnight, we summoned [People’s Republic of China] Ambassador Qin Gang to the White House to démarche him about the PRC’s provocative actions,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a statement provided to The Washington Post. “We condemned the PRC’s military actions, which are irresponsible and at odds with our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” A démarche is a protest lodged through diplomatic channels.
China’s show of force against Taiwan on Thursday included firing missiles into the sea and threatening the island’s territorial waters. Taiwan said China fired 11 ballistic missiles into the waters off its northeastern and southwestern coasts, and Japanese officials said five Chinese missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
You can read the full story here.
On our radar: Senate Democrats could adopt economic package in coming days
Senate Democrats could adopt a health-care, climate and deficit reduction package in the coming days following an announcement Thursday by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema that she will soon be ready to “move forward” on a revised version of the legislation.
The Post’s Tony Romm reports that Sinema offered her must-have support after Democratic leaders agreed to scale back some of their original tax proposals, capping days of speculation about her public silence and moving her party one step closer to fulfilling a central element of President Biden’s economic agenda. Per Tony:
In a statement, Sinema said Democrats had “agreed to remove” a key tax policy targeting wealthy investors that aimed to address what is known as the “carried interest loophole.” She also signaled they had made additional tweaks to a second provision that imposes a new minimum tax on corporations that currently pay nothing to the U.S. government.
The latter set of revisions is likely to benefit some manufacturers, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the unreleased details. Many corporate executives, including Arizona business leaders, had petitioned Sinema to consider the consequences of the tax in recent days.
With it, Democrats opted to seek a new 1 percent tax on corporate stock buybacks, a move that would make up at least some of the revenue that might have been lost as a result of the changes, the two people familiar with the matter said. And party lawmakers agreed to set aside new money at Sinema’s request to respond to climate issues including drought, according to the sources.
You can read Tony’s full story here.
Noted: Controversial federal court changes debated in Manchin negotiations
The deal this week that secured the support of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) for major economic legislation contained a small provision that could have an outsize impact in federal courts.
The Post’s Rachel Weiner reports that in an early version of the talks, Democratic leaders agreed on a proposal that would move future litigation involving a particular natural gas pipeline proposed in Manchin’s state to be heard by the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit and that judges weighing the cases would be randomly assigned. Per Rachel:
Experts say the ramifications of such a deal would go beyond the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline project that has long been stalled by the courts over environmental concerns.
“It would create a new pathway for lobbyists” to demand “congressional forum-shopping” for pet concerns, said Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia University, on the grounds that “Joe Manchin did it for them; why can’t you do it for me?”
It’s not clear what language will be used in a final agreement. A longer draft bill that has circulated among environmental and energy lobbyists, first published by Bloomberg, says only that federal courts “shall randomly assign cases seeking judicial review of any Federal authorization of a covered project to the maximum extent practicable to avoid the appearance of favoritism or bias.”
You can read Rachel’s full story here.
The latest: Kari Lake wins GOP primary for Arizona governor
Former news anchor and Trump-backed candidate Kari Lake has won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor, elevating a candidate who has embraced the former president’s false election claims in a key swing state.
The Post’s Amy B Wang and Eugene Scott report that Lake emerged the winner after declaring victory prematurely on Wednesday when she had only a slim lead over land developer Karrin Taylor Robson (R), who nabbed the backing of former vice president Mike Pence and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R). Per our colleagues:
Lake had already warned that her own primary might be tainted by fraud she refused to provide proof for.
“We out-voted the fraud, we didn’t listen to what the fake news had to say,” Lake told reporters, according to the Arizona Mirror. “The MAGA movement rose up and voted like their lives depended on it.”
Lake’s victory was one of several for prominent election deniers in Arizona. If these Republicans win in November, they will be empowered to dramatically upend the election process in a key state in 2024 and beyond. Arizona became ground zero for unfounded 2020 election conspiracy theories after Joe Biden narrowly beat Donald Trump there — the first time a Democrat has taken the state since 1996.
You can read the full story here.
The latest: Ogles wins closely watched GOP primary for U.S. House in Tennessee
Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles prevailed Thursday in a closely watched Republican primary in Tennessee’s new 5th Congressional District, as voters in the state went to the polls to nominate midterm candidates.
The Post’s David Weigel reports that the Associated Press projected Ogles, a conservative candidate, the winner in a crowded field. Per Dave:
The district he ran in was newly redrawn to be safe for his party in November. He will begin as a favorite against state Sen. Heidi Campbell, the Democratic nominee.
Thursday’s primaries set the stage for races up and down the ballot.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee had no primary challenger and national Democrats haven’t targeted his reelection race in the conservative-leaning state. Three candidates sought the Democratic nomination, and with about 83 percent of the vote tallied in that primary, Jason Martin, a physician whose campaign focused on health-care access and Lee’s record during the pandemic, held a slim lead over Memphis City Council member J.B. Smiley Jr. The AP had not yet projected a winner.
You can read Dave’s full story here.
