The Hill’s Morning Report — Spending bill, Jan. 6 hearings highlight House’s return

The House returns to work this week with a full plate, headlined by the push to fund the government and the resumption of hearings by the Jan. 6 committee, as part of a key monthlong stretch before the November elections.

After a month away, the to-do list for Democratic lawmakers is straightforward: keep the government’s lights on and chalk up some more legislative wins ahead of the midterms. However, that doesn’t mean this will happen easily, as Democrats are facing a number of potential stumbling blocks.

Topping that list is the effort by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to make good on his deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and include permitting reform language in the government spending bill, which must pass by the end of the month.  As The Hill’s Mychael Schnell notes, the permitting reform legislation would seek to expedite the development of fossil fuel and other energy products by setting maximum timelines for environmental reviews, among other things.

This move is much to the chagrin of progressives, who are lining up en masse against its inclusion. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday announced his opposition to the side deal struck by Schumer and Manchin that locked up the latter’s support for the Inflation Reduction Act that became law last month.

However, Sanders’s comments were simply a precursor as House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said on Friday that more than 70 House Democrats have signed on to a letter to oppose the attachment of the permitting push to the stopgap spending bill. That total increased from more than 40 only days beforehand (The Wall Street Journal).

“The inclusion of these provisions in a continuing resolution, or any other must-pass legislation, would silence the voices of frontline and environmental justice communities by insulating them from scrutiny,” the letter said.

There are potential workarounds for Schumer in order to lock down Democratic support for the spending measure. Chief among them would be to attach a bill codifying same-sex marriage, although the top proponents of the proposal effort have widely panned that idea.

▪ The Hill: This week: Senate to move on marriage equality, House reconvenes.

▪ NBC News: Senate grapples with election reform legislation as time runs short to act.

Meanwhile, the Jan. 6 committee is set to resume the public portion of its investigation with another set of hearings in the coming weeks as the panel zeroes in further on former President Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol.

As The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Rebecca Beitsch detail, the committee has spent the lengthy August recess interviewing a number of new witnesses and pushing for cooperation from others, with former Georgia Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Vice President Mike Pence headlining that list. The first hearing could take place as early as Sept. 28.

However, the work of the panel has taken a back seat over the past month in the world of Trump-based investigations after the FBI’s search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the subsequent battle between him and the Department of Justice over classified documents and sensitive material that have been seized.

▪ Politico: 16 weeks left for a heap of questions: Jan. 6 panel weighs its endgame.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Jan. 6 panel to restart hearings as House returns to work.

The fallout from Jan. 6 is extending in other directions as well. As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, Senate Republicans — including a number of top Trump allies — are lining up against the ex-president’s promise to pardon Capitol rioters for their actions.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill that Trump’s pardon plan is a “bad idea.”  Other GOP lawmakers likened Trump’s call to an undeserved handout.

“I don’t think potential candidates should hold pardons out as a promise,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “It’s somewhat problematic for me on a moral level and an ethical level — sort of like promising other giveaways to particular individuals.”

However, others have not dismissed it out of hand. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who led objections to the Electoral College tally in January 2021, both indicated that they are keeping an open mind and are not against leniency to those who were not involved in Capitol destruction or assaulting Capitol Police officers, among other things.

“Let’s see which ones he would choose to do,” Hawley said of Trump’s potential pardon effort. “There’s no question it has been a massive prosecutorial effort.”

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Related Articles

▪ Politico: House GOP eyes its own Trump-free Jan. 6 inquiry.

▪ The New York Times: Two former Trump political aides, Stephen Miller and Brian Jack, are among those subpoenaed in the Jan. 6 case.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Trump lawyer Chris Kise seeks to “lower the temperature” over the Mar-a-Lago documents. The aim of the former Florida solicitor general is to resolve the case without the government seeking criminal prosecution.

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LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS

The Sunshine State has brightened the mood, or at least raised the hopes, of some Democratic candidates about their prospects on Nov. 8, reports The Hill’s Max Greenwood. The next few weeks may determine if Florida is still a battleground state.

On the ballot is Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is running for reelection with the bravado and anti-liberal themes of a politician who may launch a White House bid in 2024, and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), once a GOP presidential primary contender.

DeSantis in recent polls leads former Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), once Florida’s Republican governor who has switched parties several times in his career and recently resigned from the House to campaign full-time. Rubio, who holds a slim advantage in surveys, is defending his Senate seat against Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.). 

Despite the fingers-crossed among Democrats that Florida voters might be in a mood to bounce incumbents this year, Trump won Florida in 2016 and 2020, Republicans have outpaced Democrats in voter registration and Democrats struggle among Latino voters in some key parts of the state, especially South Florida.

The Kansas City Star: DeSantis will campaign Sunday in Kansas for Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the state’s GOP nominee for governor.

In the open-seat contest in Pennsylvania, Republican Mehmet Oz for weeks has badly trailed Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, his Democratic rival, in polls, forcing the celebrity doctor to try a new strategy aimed at putting Fetterman on defense over the timing and number of televised debates this fall. Meanwhile, a pro-Oz group rolled out an ad targeting Fetterman over a 2013 incident in which he pulled a gun on a Black male jogger he suspected of a crime (The Hill).

Fetterman is recovering from a near-fatal stroke and heart surgery this year and concedes he has some residual “auditory processing” and speech effects, but he has agreed to debate. A Democratic win in the Keystone State would flip a seat now held by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Several political handicappers recently shifted the Senate race to the “toss-up” category, which Democrats perceive as a favorable omen.

▪ Reuters: Fetterman on Sunday sought to allay concerns about his health during a campaign rally focused on abortion rights in suburban Philadelphia.

▪ Axios: Oz’s suburban play.

▪ The Washington Post: Biden turns urgently to critical task of holding the Senate.

Tuesday brings another group of primary contests, this time in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The Hill’s Emily Brooks examines a New Hampshire House race, one of the final competitive Republican primary races of the midterm cycle, in which Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) finds himself in a proxy battle between GOP leaders and factions of his party in the Capitol.

▪ The Hill: Six primary races to watch in New Hampshire and beyond.

▪ The Washington Post: Primary season concludes with bitterly contested GOP races in N.H.

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage: Five issues that will decide the midterms.

Democratic candidates believe one of the most potent policy issues they’ve deployed against Republican opponents this cycle is about health, including reproductive rights and birth control, abortion and health care for women, defending coverage and costs under the Affordable Care Act, efforts to lower prescription drug prices under Medicare and under private insurance (think insulin), COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, and support for Americans dealing with mental health challenges.

Add to that list President Biden’s dedication to medical science’s long search for a cancer cure and the government’s support for research and innovative drugs and treatments to help those with the disease. It’s a “moonshot” project he spearheaded with emotion while serving as vice president, in part because his son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 of incurable brain cancer. The president will publicly relaunch that effort in Boston today.

▪ The Hill: Democrats seek a midterm season opportunity with ObamaCare court ruling out of Texas.

▪ The Associated Press: A majority of Americans say they are unhappy with the U.S. healthcare system, including accessing quality care when they need it, access to care for seniors, the cost of prescription drugs and mental health care, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

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IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral is set for Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, according to Buckingham Palace, and Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend (The Associated Press).

Ahead of the funeral for the United Kingdom’s longest-reigning monarch, the queen’s flag-draped casket on Sunday began making a slow journey from Scotland, where she died Thursday at age 96, headed for London. The procession first stopped in Edinburgh after passing mourners who packed city streets and highway bridges or lined rural roads with cars and tractors to take part in a historic goodbye to the monarch, according to The Associated Press.

“I think she has been an ever-constant in my life,” Angus Ruthven, a civil servant from Edinburgh, told The Associated Press. “She was the queen I was born under, and she has always been there.”

This morning, the queen’s coffin sits in St. Giles’ Cathedral, where it will lie in state for 24 hours (The Associated Press). Meanwhile, King Charles III on Monday morning addressed parliament at Westminster Hall (The New York Times).

The casket on Tuesday will be flown to London aboard a Royal Air Force jet. “It will be loaded into a state hearse and driven to Buckingham Palace, arriving at 8 p.m., when it will be placed on a trestle in the ballroom,” The New York Times reports. It will then be transported in a silent procession on Wednesday to Westminster Hall, where the queen’s remains will lie in state for four days after receiving a blessing from the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Funeral attendance is expected to be in the tens of thousands or more, although Buckingham Palace has not commented on the number of dignitaries, officials and members of the House of Windsor expected to attend the historic event (The New York Times).

Among those beloved by the queen and left behind are her dogs, whose futures are chronicled by the news media and whose canine lineage has been amply tracked in photographs since the 1950s.

Her majesty’s corgis, Muick and Sandy, will reside with her son, Andrew, the Duke of York, and his ex-wife Sarah, the Duchess of York. The queen, who owned dozens of dogs beginning in her childhood and showed a particular fondness for the breed, left behind two Pembroke Welsh corgis as well as a “dorgi” (corgi-dachsund mix) named Candy and a cocker spaniel called Lissy (CNN).

“One of the intriguing things people are wondering about at the funeral is whether a corgi is going to be present,” royal historian Robert Lacey told The Associated Press. “The queen’s best friends were corgis, these short-legged, ill tempered beasts with a yap that doesn’t appeal to many people in Britain.”

🌏 On U.S. trade with China, Reuters reports this morning that Biden plans next month to broaden curbs on U.S shipments to that country of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence and tools used to make computer chips.

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OPINION

■ It’s time to prepare for a Ukrainian victory, by Anne Applebaum, staff writer, The Atlantic. https://bit.ly/3L5CMog

■ 21 years after 9/11, the war has not ended for anyone, by David Von Drehle, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3evrQEa

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WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. and will resume consideration of Salvador Mendoza Jr. to be U.S. circuit judge for the 9th Circuit.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will speak from Boston’s Logan International Airport at 12:45 p.m. about the impact of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure investment law. On the 60th anniversary of the late President Kennedy’s “Moonshot” speech, Biden will give a speech at 4 p.m. about his administration’s Cancer Moonshot at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. The president will speak at a 6 p.m. political fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Boston. He is scheduled to return to the White House by 9:05 p.m.

Vice President Harris will meet at the White House with civil rights and reproductive rights advocates at 5 p.m.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will meet in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room at 2:30 p.m. with the National Council of Jewish Women to discuss reproductive rights and abortion access.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Mexico City, Mexico, to co-chair the 2022 U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue event focused on economic, commercial and social priorities, accompanied by other Cabinet members and State Department colleagues. While in Mexico, the secretary will hold a bilateral meeting with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.

The first lady and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will hold education events in Knoxville, Tenn., this morning, and Greensboro, N.C., at 1:15 p.m. to kick off a Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour.  

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🖥  Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-release.thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

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ELSEWHERE

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Russia on Sunday acknowledged it had lost nearly all of the northern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv after a blitz by Ukrainian fighters (The New York Times).

Russian forces were in retreat over the weekend and Ukraine today is maintaining its counteroffensive. “In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation,” said the regional governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov (The Associated Press).

Ukrainian forces marked 200 days of war by regaining territory in the east and south from Russian forces as part of the major counteroffensive Kyiv launched in late August. Ukraine regained control of the Kherson, a region that Russia swiftly took hold of in the early days of the war, and made headway in Kharkiv, where Russia ordered a troop drawback. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Saturday that the nation has recaptured more than 770 square miles of territory this month alone and mocked the Russian army, saying it was “demonstrating the best it can do — showing its back” (The Associated Press).

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant announced on Sunday that it was shutting down its final working nuclear reactor because of continued shelling in the area. Energoatom, the nuclear operator, said in a statement that while the plant has been reconnected to the nation’s electric grid, one reactor was being powered down to allow it to cool. The entire plant had been cut off from the grid in recent days, with the lone working reactor operating on “island mode” to allow cooling systems to work.

All of these moves have been made to ensure a nuclear meltdown is avoided. The largest nuclear plant in Europe is staffed by Ukrainian workers, includes on-site experts sent from the International Atomic Energy Agency and is being held as a fortress of war by Russian forces (The Associated Press).

The plant’s strains were among issues discussed during a Sunday meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders exchanged perspectives and blame for the ongoing conflict (Reuters).

▪ The New York Times: Ukraine is challenging the Kremlin’s military strategy.

▪ Reuters: Russian nationalists rage after stunning setback in Ukraine.

▪ The Washington Post: White House alarm rises over Europe as Putin threatens energy supply.

▪ The Associated Press: Ukraine keeps initiative, claims it reached Russian border.

▪ Reuters: Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Putin this week in his first trip outside China since COVID-19 began. They will meet in Uzbekistan on the sidelines of a gathering Thursday and Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Also participating: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Indian Express).

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

Israeli scientists say they have invented a blood test that will be able to detect colorectal cancer, which is normally found through a colonoscopy, and pancreatic cancer, which today has no single diagnostic test. They claim that the test could also simplify screening for other cancers, and save lives by eliminating invasive colonoscopies for colorectal cancer, which many patients are afraid of and skip (Times of Israel).

Too much processed food shortens lives. ​​Two recent studies added to the body of science that has affirmed that conclusion. One test published in the British Medical Journal and backed up by the American Cancer Society found an increased risk of colorectal cancer for men in the top fifth of ultra-processed diets in the U.S. The other study found that preservative-laden foods were linked to early death, especially from heart disease. The latest evidence against ultra-processed foods — a category that includes hot dogs, potato chips, and frozen pizza — shows that consuming too many unhealthy snacks increases the risk of colon and rectal cancer for men, as well as premature death due to heart disease for both men and women (Yahoo News).

COVID-19 illnesses are keeping half a million workers out of the U.S. labor force, according to a new study, and if the trend continues, the impact on employment will not abate anytime soon (The Wall Street Journal).

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,050,323. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 318, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ SPORTS

Carlos Alcaraz, 19, on Sunday became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam title in 17 years when he won the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow, N.Y. Alcaraz of Spain defeated Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to nab the first of what could be many career Grand Slam championships ahead for him. Alcaraz also earned the world No. 1 ranking after winning his fifth tournament of the season. “Well, this is something that I dreamed of since I was a kid,” said Alcaraz, who captured the championship after winning his previous three matches in five sets. “It’s something I worked really, really hard [for]. It’s tough to talk right now. A lot of emotions” (ESPN).

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THE CLOSER

And finally … “So many heroes were made here,” Biden said Sunday while honoring 9/11 victims and families during a wreath-laying ceremony that marked the 21st anniversary of the terror attacks (The Hill). “So many of your loved ones were those heroes,” the president said while laying a wreath at the Pentagon under rainy skies.

The president was a Delaware senator during the 2001 tragedy at the World Trade Center towers, at the Defense Department across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, and in Shanksville, Pa., when a hijacked commercial jetliner crashed in a field, killing the terrorists and passengers. The events that day led the United States into war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Biden last year pulled U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, honoring a negotiated agreement by his predecessor for Taliban control, to put an end to what the president called America’s “forever war.”

The first lady spoke Sunday during a ceremony in Pennsylvania, while the vice president and Emhoff participated in New York City’s 9/11 anniversary gathering of VIPs and relatives of those killed at Ground Zero.

▪ The Hill: Here’s how Biden has changed the way America fights the war on terror.

▪ The Hill: Retired general: U.S. has “very limited ability” to see into Afghanistan.

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