GOING HOME: The Senate adjourned Wednesday after holding its final votes before the midterms in November, leaving a laundry list of unfinished legislative items that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has decided to punt until after Election Day.
The day was marked by a couple of high-profile legislative blocks by Democrats, who argued the GOP-backed bills did not go far enough. But in blocking the legislation, Democrats were also depriving GOP candidates of legislative victories.
The first example was the Ricketts legislation on stock trades, while the second bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act, was backed by Husted.
Husted has come under attacks from Brown, his Democratic opponent, over the building of data centers in Ohio. That bill also failed to meet the 60-vote threshold in a 57-43 vote after four Democrats joined Republicans to back the legislation seeking to address voter concerns about data centers and energy costs.
The data center bill requires utility regulators to consider adopting a federal standard that would hold large companies responsible for the costs of new energy infrastructure used for data centers, rather than passing those costs onto consumers.
Democrats argued in both cases that the bills didn’t go far enough.
“Only Senate Republicans would dare call a bill that permits members of Congress to continue to own, sell and, in some instances, buy stocks a stock-trading ban. They can’t be serious. The Republican bill is a permission slip for corruption, not a stock-trading ban,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.
But make no mistake, election-year politics were also in play in both cases.
There were some examples of bipartisanship on Wednesday.
The Hill’s Rachel Frazin has a look at senators’ long-awaited permitting reform deal, which Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced yesterday after months of negotiations. They say the agreement will speed up the construction of the nation’s energy and infrastructure projects while reining in costs from data centers. Subscribe to The Hill Insider for Frazin's reporting on the negotiation process, what the White House is saying and where senators go from here.
Thune has left several must-pass pieces of legislation to the lame-duck, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, noting senators will only have four full weeks when they return in November to pass the farm bill, FISA reauthorization, the annual defense authorization bill, 12 regular appropriations bills, a permitting reform bill, and an emergency supplemental defense spending package for the Pentagon, whse stockpile of weapons and munitions has been depleted after months of war with Iran.
▪ The Hill: GOP wrestles with rising data center backlash weeks before midterms.
▪ The Hill: Senate panel advances Trump surgeon general nominee.
▪ The Hill: Paul blocks push to unanimously pass Kids Online Safety Act.
STATE OF THE FORCE: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth invited governors to bid for their states to host the “next great American” base built in the U.S., during his “State of the Force” speech at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
“We’re calling on every governor in the country and adjutant general, every tag across this great republic, to step up to the plate and bring us their best sales pitch,” Hegseth told junior officers and enlisted leaders gathered to hear his address, the second year he’s given such a speech.
“If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000 to 25,000 of America’s great troops, show us why and how you’re going to do it, cutting through the red tape, offering up the land, and rolling out the red carpet for our military families,” the Defense secretary continued.
Hegseth also announced the 20 percent reduction in its generals and admirals, which the Pentagon had previewed the day before, and touted his efforts to rid the military of “woke” culture.
Hegseth said he is creating a four-star combatant command for autonomous warfare, which will overhaul the way the Pentagon buys and deploys drones and robotics. He also announced efforts to study the future of warfare, a task that would be helmed by SpaceX and xAI CEO Elon Musk, Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).
▪ The Hill: 7 takeaways from Hegseth’s address to officers.
▪ The Hill: Hegseth announces 5 new non-Ivy League partnerships.
▪ Business Insider: The military that Hegseth wants for the next war.
‘STRONG INDICATIONS’: United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are “strong indications” Iran was involved in the security incident Sunday near the U.S.-run military air base in England.
“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation,” Burnham told the BBC in an interview yesterday.
Burnham said U.K. and U.S. forces are working closely together on the investigation into the incident, which saw five men arrested on suspicion of explosives offenses and planning an act of terror, before they were released on bail the next day. Police said they found some accelerate, gasoline, in the vans but no explosives.
Burnham said he would update the public “in due course.” Iran has denied involvement in the incident.
▪ The Hill: Iran urges Americans to rally against Trump ahead of the midterms.
▪ The Economist: Has Iran lost its grip on Gulf oil exports?
NO REASONABLE GROUNDS: The Federal Reserve’s internal watchdog found no evidence of criminality in its probe into the institution’s handling of its multimillion-dollar renovation project, breaking with the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had launched an investigation into the Fed’s former chair, Jerome Powell.
The report released Wednesday from the office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz acknowledged that the Fed hasn’t “effectively executed” the construction management risk contract for two of its buildings in the nation’s capital. But the report said no reasonable grounds were found to suggest any federal law had been violated.
Horowitz opened the investigation in April at the recommendation of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Pirro had led an investigation into Powell for months before she handed it off to Horowitz in the face of bipartisan pressure.
Powell had hit back against the DOJ and the president, accusing Trump of using the investigation as a prelude to get him to be more aggressive in lowering interest rates.
Trump slammed Powell after the report came out, calling on him to resign from his post as Fed governor. Powell’s term as chair has since come to an end.
The president said he’s instructing Attorney General Todd Blanche to “study” the report and “make a determination as what to do” concerning the cost overruns.
▪ The Hill: Fed’s preferred measure of inflation dipped in August.
▪ CNBC: How Chinese spies targeted the Fed.
No comments:
Post a Comment