Updated July 26, 2022 at 9: 44 a.m. EDT|Published
July 26, 2022 at 7: 18 a.m. EDT
Today, former president Donald Trump returns to Washington to deliver a keynote address at a gathering hosted by a think tank launched by his allies to advance his policies. It will be Trump’s first appearance in Washington since leaving the capital ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — and it could tell us more about what Trump is thinking regarding 2024.
Meanwhile, after a delay on Monday attributed to bad weather, the Senate is poised to advance legislation Tuesday that seeks to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry. If the bill makes it to President Biden’s desk, it could be the first of several wins for him in quick succession, also including a health-care package and legislation protecting same-sex marriage.
Your daily dashboard
- 9 a.m. Eastern time: Former vice president Mike Pence addressed the Young America’s Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference in Washington.
- 11 a.m. Eastern time: The Senate holds a procedural vote on legislation benefiting the domestic semiconductor industry. Watch live here.
- 2 p.m. Eastern time: Biden meets virtually with the chairman of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group.
- 3 p.m. Eastern time: Trump speaks at the America First Policy Institute Summit. Watch live here.
- 3: 15 p.m. Eastern time: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese brief reporters. Watch live here.
- 5 p.m. Eastern time: Biden virtually joins the House Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus’s celebration of the 32nd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Analysis: Pelosi in a bind as California leaders object to federal privacy bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces a predicament on data privacy.
Writing in The Technology 202, The Post’s Cristiano Lima notes that House lawmakers are forging ahead with a watershed federal privacy bill that has drawn broad bipartisan support in Washington. But it has faced loud objections from a slew of officials in California who say it would undermine the state’s own data protections.
Per Cristiano:
Now, as proponents push for the full House to vote on the measure, the chamber’s highest ranking Californian will need to decide whether to try to reconcile those differences — and risk tanking talks altogether.
On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation to minimize how much personal information companies can collect from users, marking the first time a congressional panel has advanced a so-called comprehensive consumer privacy bill.
You can read the full analysis here.
Analysis: Biden wants to take legal protections for LGBT Americans a step further
The Biden administration wants to restore protections for LGBT Americans that fell under the Trump administration — and to take them a step further.
Writing in The Health 202, The Post’s Rachel Roubein says that a new proposal from the federal health department would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity among health-care providers that receive federal dollars. It also aims to cover pregnant people seeking health-care services, including abortions. Per Rachel:
The language would allow people to file claims with the Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights if they believed they had faced discrimination from a health-care provider based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or pregnancy.
But this likely isn’t the end of the battle over such language. Top Biden health officials, as well as experts, say they’re bracing for legal challenges over the proposed rule, which has previously been enmeshed in court battles. Opponents are likely to challenge the rule, arguing it’s an overreach and an inaccurate interpretation of the law.
The plan comes at an inflection point for such protections, as gender-related care and other services have increasingly become the target of state legislative battles and litigation across the country.
You can read the full analysis here.
Analysis: How covid could hinder the agenda of Senate Democrats
Three senators are out with covid: Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.), Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Meanwhile, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) is still out after hip surgery, putting into sharp focus once again how treacherously thin the Democrats’ majority is. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced Monday night that she would return from covid isolation Tuesday.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer note that next week is especially precarious because Senate Democrats are hoping to move their prescription drug bill. Per our colleagues:
Even though they would only need 50 votes for passage, because they are moving it through the fast-track budget reconciliation process, any absence could prove problematic.
As soon as they have the votes, Democrats also aim to vote on legislation to provide federal protections to same-sex couples but covid could hamper those plans, too.
Leigh Ann and Theodoric note that in April, the Senate had to delay voting on two critical nominations, including that of Lisa D. Cook to be a governor on the Federal Reserve, because two senators and Vice President Harris — who serves as the tiebreaker in the 50-50 Senate — contracted covid.
Those absences delayed but did not derail the Senate’s business. But the Senate is running out of time. Senators are to leave town at the end of next week for the August recess, and they hope to pass bills by then that will impress voters back home as they use the break to campaign.
You can read more of The Early 202 here.
Noted: GOP lawmaker opposed same-sex marriage, then went to gay son’s wedding
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) voted last week against federal legislation that would require states to recognize same-sex marriages. Three days later, the congressman attended his son’s same-sex wedding.
The Post’s Jonathan Edwards has details:
“Congressman and Mrs. Thompson were thrilled to attend and celebrate their son’s marriage on Friday night as he began this new chapter in his life. The Thompsons are very happy to welcome their new son-in-law into their family,” Thompson’s press secretary, Maddison Stone, told The Washington Post late Monday in an email.
On July 19, Thompson joined 156 other Republican House members in opposing the Respect for Marriage Act. Congressional Democrats are pushing the legislation in response to the Supreme Court last month overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that for nearly a half-century guaranteed women the right to abortion. The court’s ruling sparked fears that other high-profile precedents could be next.
After the vote but before the wedding, Thompson’s press secretary denounced the legislation as a political sleight of hand designed to distract voters.
You can read the full story here.
Analysis: House liberals balk at police funding bills
House liberals are sounding the alarm about a series of bills that would increase funding for local law enforcement, arguing they risk alienating and angering Democratic base voters three months ahead of the midterm elections.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer say that House Democrats plan to bring the bills to the floor later this week at the request of moderate Democrats to blunt political attacks by Republicans that Democrats are soft on crime and want to “defund the police.” Per our colleagues:
The bills are also an attempt to bolster Democrats’ bona fides on public safety as voters are more worried about crime than they have been since 2016, according to Gallup.
But progressives and their voters have been highly critical of additional funding for law enforcement without new policies governing policing practices following the killings in recent years of Black Americans in high-profile cases involving allegations and convictions of excessive force and the mistreatment of communities of color. They have asked Democratic leadership to reconsider putting the bills on the floor, arguing that it will suppress Democratic turnout in the midterms and risk dividing the party.
The lawmakers are taking issue, in particular, with two bills that would provide additional funding for police without any new policing policies attached, including a grant program to hire additional police officers from Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and a second measure from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) to provide grants to police departments with less than 200 officers.
You can read the full analysis here.
Take a look: Rep. Raskin compares Trump to a crime boss and Harry Houdini
During a late-night talk show appearance Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, compared Donald Trump to a crime boss and to Harry Houdini, the renowned escape artist, when asked by host Stephen Colbert how the former president has managed to elude culpability on legal and other fronts over the years.
“It’s amazing. He’s like Houdini, the way he gets out of it, but I think he’s met his match in Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney and the Jan. 6 committee,” Raskin said to applause, referring to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the panel, and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), its vice chairwoman.
You can take a look at part of the interview above. There’s more here in which Raskin discusses missing Secret Service text messages.
On our radar: Biden to highlight manufacturing investments, celebrate Americans With Disabilities Act
President Biden, whose coronavirus symptoms have greatly improved, according to the White House physician, plans another couple of virtual events on Tuesday: a meeting with Chey Tae-won, chairman and principal owner of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, to discuss the company’s investments in American manufacturing and jobs; and an appearance at the House Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus’s celebration of the 32nd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
According to the White House, SK Group will announce an additional $22 billion in investments in U.S. manufacturing on Tuesday — a commitment that Biden is eager to highlight as he seeks to make the case that his policies have been good for manufacturing.
“Because of the President’s leadership, the United States is a top destination for business investment to our partners around the world,” the White House said in a statement ahead of the event.
The statement also cited last year’s passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and legislation pending in the Senate that would bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry.
On our radar: Trump returns to Washington for keynote speech
Former president Donald Trump is scheduled to be in Washington on Tuesday for the first time since departing on Jan. 20, 2021, ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as his successor in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
The occasion: a keynote speech at the America First Agenda Summit hosted by the America First Policy Institute, a think tank launched by Trump allies to advance his policies following his White House tenure.
Some allies are hoping Trump will use the address to lay out an agenda for a potential 2024 White House run rather than continue to re-litigate the 2020 election — but Trump speeches are hardly predictable.
The speech is scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern time.
A preprogram, scheduled for 2: 15 p.m. includes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as well as several Trump administration alumni.
Former vice president Mike Pence, who has sought in recent months to distance himself from Trump, also plans to be in Washington on Tuesday for a different event.
Pence, who is also eyeing a potential 2024 White House bid, is scheduled to address the Young America’s Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference at 9 a.m. Eastern time.
On our radar: Senate poised to advance chips bill, a possible Biden win
The Senate is teed up Tuesday to take a key procedural vote on legislation that would provide $52 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers and other measures to boost American competitiveness with China.
The vote had been scheduled for Monday night but was delayed, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, because of “a number of severe thunderstorms on the East Coast” that have “disrupted the travel plans of a significant number of senators.”
The legislature still appears on track to reach President Biden’s desk, which would provide a much-sought-after legislative win for him. Others could also be on the horizon, including the first major prescription drug legislation in nearly 20 years and a bill that would enshrine protection for same-sex marriage.
Assessing the situation, The Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Mike DeBonis write:
After a turbulent stretch in which much of Biden’s legislative agenda seemed to be foundering, the president and his party may be on the cusp of significant wins in Congress that the White House hopes will provide at least a modest political boost. …
Democrats hope these measures earn a bigger political payoff than, say, Biden’s infrastructure law, which seemed to make little impression on voters.
You can read the full story here.
The latest: Biden administration weighs monkeypox health emergency declaration
The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the nation’s monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency and plans to name a White House coordinator to oversee the response as officials attempt to keep the virus from becoming entrenched in the United States.
The Post’s Dan Diamond reports that White House and health agency leaders deliberated through the weekend about their next steps to fight the virus, after the World Health Organization on Saturday declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, the agency’s highest-level warning. Per Dan:
Almost 18,000 cases have been confirmed outside of Africa since May — including nearly 3,500 in the United States — as infections continue to climb in countries where the virus is not historically found.
While the new cases have been overwhelmingly in the gay and bisexual community, experts warn the virus is likely to spread to other groups. The first two U.S. cases of monkeypox in children were confirmed Friday, probably the result of sharing a household with an infected adult. But federal health authorities said there was no evidence yet of sustained transmission among broader population groups.
While some health officials say an emergency declaration is necessary to give the government authority to cut through red tape and collect data about the virus’s spread, others argued that the move is mostly symbolic and will not address vaccine shortages, treatment barriers or other challenges that have hindered the U.S. response, said three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.
You can read the full story here.
The latest: Arizona fake-elector subpoenas show breadth of DOJ Jan. 6 probe
Grand jury subpoenas issued last month to two Arizona state lawmakers show the breadth of the criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington into efforts by supporters of President Donald Trump to use “false electors” to try to undo Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The Post’s Devlin Barrett and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report that copies of two subpoenas issued to Republican state senators from Arizona were released Monday via a public-records request, confirming what has been previously reported about the June demands for records related “to the signing or mailing of any document purporting to be a Certificate certifying Elector votes in favor of Donald J. Trump and/or Michael R. Pence.”
Per our colleagues:
The subpoenas issued to Karen Fann, president of the Arizona Senate, and Sen. Kelly Townsend also seek communications “relating to any effort, plan, or attempt to serve as an Elector” in favor of the then-president and then-vice president.
A subpoena is not an accusation but rather a demand for information that investigators believe may help them solve a crime. The documents released Monday cast a wide net for any communications that Fann and Townsend may have had with any member of the executive or legislative branch of the federal government; any representative or agent of Trump or his campaign; or Trump boosters Jenna Ellis, Bernard Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, James Troupis, Joe DiGenova, John Eastman, Joshua Findlay, Justin Clark, Kenneth Chesebro, Mike Roman or Victoria Toensing.
You can read the full story here.
Source:
Post Politics Now: Trump returns to Washington; Biden on cusp of some wins – The Washington Post
