The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented by Facebook – Lawmakers fret over wild week of deadlines
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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*
*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.
TALK OF THE MORNING
Thursday is Sept. 27. *Not* today! Don’t be deceived by your calendar, OK?!:
Buckle in, folks. This is going to be an evolving, chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
The House will vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan on Thursday instead of the Monday deadline promised to House moderates. https://bit.ly/3zGafhH
But they’re working on it today: The House will debate the bill today, but just won’t vote on it until Thursday.
Why: Some progressives have said they won’t vote for the bipartisan infrastructure plan unless there is significant progress in the $3.5 trillion social spending plan. That bill is nowhere near complete, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was worried the bipartisan bill would fail. Hence, waiting a few days to allow for more progress on the social spending package.
WHEN WE SAY $3.5 TRILLION, DO WE ACTUALLY MEAN $3.5 TRILLION?:
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said it “seems self-evident” that the final bill would be smaller than the proposed $3.5 trillion. https://bit.ly/3AKX5l1
Why: Lots of moving parts in the negotiations
BECAUSE WE’RE ALL NERDS HERE:
Here’s the C-SPAN livestream to watch the House infrastructure bill debate. It starts at 2 p.m. EDT: https://bit.ly/3zM5B1U
Welcome back on this beautiful Monday. I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.
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The actual, no kidding, deadline Congress has to deal with this week:
Lawmakers have until Thursday night to pass a spending bill in order to avert the third government shutdown in three years.
Where we stand: The House passed a bill last week to fund the government through Dec. 3, suspend the debt ceiling through 2022 and provide funding for recent natural disasters. The Senate will vote on this bill today, but it’s expected to fall short of the 60 votes necessary.
Why the bill is expected to fail — Dems need 10 Republicans to vote ‘yes’: Republicans have said they will not help raise the debt ceiling. Democrats tried to pressure them into it though by tying in disaster relief and government funding. But as of now, Republicans are winning the game of chicken.
More on the effort to keep the government open: https://bit.ly/3zP57bc
*NERVOUS LAUGH* — SOOO, TEAM, WHERE’S THE BACKUP PLAN?:
The Treasury Department is scheduled to hit the debt limit in the next few weeks, but the game of chicken doesn’t seem to have a backup plan. Where that stands, via Politico’s Caitlin Emma: https://politi.co/39IkoA8
ALSO HAPPENING THIS WEEK — INVESTIGATING THE AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL:
“Lawmakers will continue their high-profile probes of Biden’s messy exit from Afghanistan this week after Secretary of State Tony Blinken became the first administration official to testify earlier this month.” Testifying this week: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command. https://bit.ly/3zP57bc
JUST ANNOUNCED
Joe is getting that arm READY TO GO:
President Biden will receive his COVID-19 booster shot at 1 p.m. EDT today! He will also deliver remarks.
Watch live: https://bit.ly/2XVXXVX
LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
Some hospitals are now rationing care:
Via The Hill’s Justine Coleman, “Coronavirus patients are flooding and straining hospitals across the U.S., particularly in Western states, where administrators are put in positions of needing to ration care as their facilities are pushed to their breaking points by the delta variant.” https://bit.ly/39HlkEO
Which states: “Alaska this past week joined Idaho in adopting statewide crisis standards of care that provide guidance to health care providers making difficult decisions on how to allocate limited resources. Several hospitals in Montana have either activated crisis standards of care or are considering it as the state is pummeled by COVID-19.”
‘THESE HEALTH CARE WORKERS WOULD RATHER GET FIRED THAN GET VACCINATED’:
“Monday is the vaccination deadline for New York State health care workers. Thousands of refusers have failed to meet it.”
More from The New York Times’s Anne Barnard, Grace Ashford and Neil Vigdor: https://nyti.ms/3uhrghb
Please, sweet Jesus, let this be true:
In an interview with CNN, former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the delta variant could be the “last major surge” in the U.S. https://bit.ly/3ueDLu3
In Gottlieb’s words: “On the back end of this delta wave, I do think this is the last major surge of infection, barring something unexpected like a new variant coming along that pierces the immunity offered by vaccination or prior infection.”
CASE NUMBERS:
Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 42,936,899
U.S. death toll: 688,106
Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y
VACCINATION NUMBERS:
Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 390 million shots have been given.
Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 703,352 doses
For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.
Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH
A MESSAGE FROM FACEBOOK
Facebook invested $13B in teams and technology to enhance safety
It’s working: We lead the industry in stopping bad actors online. In the past few months, we took down:
- 1.7B fake accounts
- 3.8M drugs and firearms sales posts
- 7.1M terrorism-related posts
Our work to reduce harmful content is never done. Learn more about how we’re making our platforms safer.
IN THE GOP
Little tidbit — Lindsey Graham didn’t tip toe around it:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reportedly told former President Trump that he “f’d up” his presidency by refusing to accept the 2020 presidential election results, according to authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. https://bit.ly/3ALLLVV
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Woodward said: “We quote conversations between Sen. Graham and Trump in which Lindsey Graham says to Trump ‘you f’d up your presidency’ at one point just a couple of months ago,” Woodward said. Woodward added that Trump hung up on Graham and then called him back a day later, at which point Graham said to Trump, ‘I would have hung up too.’ ‘The core conclusion that Graham has is you lost a close election. Face it,’ said Woodward.”
GETTING TRACTION
This tweet ruffled a lot of feathers — and it’s just plain wrong:
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3CTnDkv
Chef José Andrés responded: “With all due respect, Sir, even if you were right, with facts, with a person in your position, wouldn’t be nice to talk about anything you did like, versus ‘trashing’ thousands of cooks and restaurants owners, and food trucks etc that are still trying to save their restaurants?” https://bit.ly/3o85ifD
More reactions — many of them are not kind towards Hardy: https://bit.ly/2Y42zZZ
NOTABLE TWEETS:
Seen in DC — it’s beginning to look a lot like ’72, everywhere you go:
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3zMV9Hc
Wow, fantastic caption, Reid. I couldn’t come up with something better if I tried!:
Watch: https://bit.ly/3AMcjGt
ON TAP:
The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.
10 a.m. EDT: President Biden and Vice President Harris received the President’s Daily Brief.
3 p.m. EDT: The Senate meets.
3:30 p.m. EDT: Vice President Harris hosts a reception for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
5:30 p.m. EDT: The Senate holds a cloture vote on the CR to fund the government through Dec. 3. The Senate’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/3kHKZUc
6:30 p.m. EDT: First and last votes in the House. The House’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/3kL8fAF
WHAT TO WATCH:
1:30 p.m. EDT: White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3zKVREU
IN LIGHTER NEWS:
Today is National Chocolate Milk Day.
I swear I once had a dream about this exact scenario:
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3kIHCfC
And because you made it this far on a Monday, here’s a baby elephant learning to run. You can do it!!: https://bit.ly/3kMhnVu
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