Legislative Update: Senate Confirmations & COVID-19 Relief

Senate Organization

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) have agreed to an organizing resolution for a 50-50 split in the Senate. The final power-sharing agreement approved by the chamber on Feb. 3 now allows Democrats to assume control of the committees after weeks of negotiations between two leaders. Both caucus leaders announced the new Democratic and Republican committee assignments allowing for an equal number of committee seats with imposed mechanisms to advance legislation and nominations to the Senate floor if there is committee gridlock.

Click here for a list of new Democratic Senate committee chairs.

Nomination Updates

The prolonged elections, lawsuits, and Democrats lack of full Senate control have caused the Biden administration to get a late start on its confirmation hearings, so far only confirming six cabinet positions. The Democrat-controlled Senate will now prioritize quickly confirming these nominees but still has to juggle addressing the budget reconciliation bill addressing the COVID-19 crisis, and the pending impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

On Feb. 2, the Senate has confirmed Pete Buttigieg, 86-13, to head the U.S. Transportation Department. Secretary of Energy nominee Jennifer Granholm and Secretary of Commerce nominee Gina Raimondo nominations were advanced by their respective committees on Feb. 3.

The same day, EPA Administrator Michael Regan’s confirmation hearing was held by the Committee on Environment and Public Works where he was pressed by  Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) on whom he would report to – President Biden or his climate czar Gina McCarthy, who has been appointed  the White House National Climate Advisor. Senator Capito expressed concern that McCarthy, who formerly headed the EPA, will not have any congressional oversight in her efforts to reshape the U.S. economy in order to impact climate change. Regan assured Capito that his position clearly reports to the president. Regan repeatedly emphasized the need for clean water and infrastructure in terms of “making sure that the pipes that we have are not leaky and are reducing the climate impact, making sure that we invest in our water quality, water sewer, and water infrastructure.”

Regan also agreed that the role of plastics and its impacts on marine life and coastal communities is significant. He was asked by Senator Merkley (D-OR) if he would use the  Environmental Preferred Purchasing (EPP) program, which includes non-consensus-based standards written by activists to ban products, such as PVC, as a means to move away from single use plastic. Regan promised to “put our shoulder to the wheel” when it came for the opportunity to be a global leader but stopped short of committing to the agency replacing single use plastics with more sustainable products.

Regan also assured Merkely that he would take a close look at the Presidential Plastics Action Plan that was written by several groups, including Greenpeace, and endorsed by over 500 environmental organizations, which he was “vaguely” familiarity with. Housing and Urban Development Secretary-Designate Marcia Fudge had her confirmation hearing on Jan. 28 and the Committee on Banking is scheduled to vote on advancing her nomination on Feb. 4. The confirmation hearing for United States Trade Representative Kathrine Tai has yet to be announced.

COVID-19 Relief and Budget Reconciliation

On Feb. 3, the House completed the critical step of adopting the vehicle that would host the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill in a mostly party-line vote of 218-212. The fiscal 2021 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 11) includes instructions to authorizing committees to draft the coronavirus aid package over the next two weeks. Early on Feb. 5, the Senate completed a similar step with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the partisan tie vote of 50-50.

President Biden is open to bipartisan compromise but is determined that Democrats need to push forward swiftly with a large aid package to get needed relief to Americans and the U.S. economy. The President met with the “Gang of 10” Republican lawmakers to negotiate on COVID-19 relief after they offered a $618 trillion counterproposal. The Republican proposal is less than one-third the size of the $1.9 trillion Biden package, and the caucus is showing no signs that they are willing to come to a number that the Democrats feel is needed to address the crisis. Biden has made it clear that he believes the risk is “not going big enough” rather than too small. President Biden signaled that he is willing to compromise on the individual stimulus payments’ income eligibility limits but remained firm on the checks’ size being $1,400. Biden said that backing anything less than $1,400 would mean starting his presidency with a broken promise. Under the relief package passed by Congress late last year, individuals making less than $75,000 and couples making less than $150,000 received the full $600 payment. All eyes are now on Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) who continues to insist the bill be bi-partisan – perhaps signaling he wants at least one or more Republicans to vote yes on reconciliation in order for him to support it – which Democrats absolutely need to pass it.

Executive Orders

to make his way through his promised list of executive orders reversing several Trump administration executive actions. Several orders revoked several of Trump’s environmental policies. Biden aims to reaffirm the importance of science and evidence in policymaking, including establishing the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Another Executive Order (E.O.) will focus on directing agencies to integrate functions considering the climate change-related impacts domestically and abroad. The E.O. states that the Biden-Harris administration’s policy is to view climate considerations as an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security. Biden considers the shift in focusing on climate change will also increase jobs, American manufacturing, and building modern, resilient climate infrastructure, and a clean energy future.

New Democratic Senate committee chairs include:

• Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
• Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT), Appropriations Committee
• Sen. Jack Reed (RI), Armed Services Committee
• Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH), Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Budget Committee
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA), Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
• Sen. Joe Manchin (WV), Energy and Natural Resources Committee
• Sen. Tom Carper (DE), Environment and Public Works Committee
• Sen. Ron Wyden (OR), Finance Committee
• Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ), Foreign Relations Committee
• Sen. Patty Murray (WA), Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
• Sen. Gary Peters (MI), Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
• Sen. Mark Warner (VA), Intelligence Committee
• Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), Judiciary Committee
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Rules and Administration Committee
• Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee
• Sen. Jon Tester (MT), Veterans’ Affairs Committee
• Sen. Bob Casey (PA), Special Committee on Aging
• Sen. Chris Coons (DE), Select Committee on Ethics
• Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), Indian Affairs Committee
• Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM), Joint Economic Committee