The Hill’s Morning Report — Senate gets upper hand in spending war

by Kristina Karisch - 09/27/23 6:39 AM ET

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The Senate took the reins in the government funding effort Tuesday, voting to advance a short-term funding measure to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week.

Senators, who don’t normally go first on spending bills, voted 77 to 19 to advance the legislative vehicle they will use for a stopgap spending bill that would fund the government until Nov. 17. The bill, which includes some funding for Ukraine and none of the spending cuts sought by conservatives, must still pass the chamber before heading to the House for consideration. 

AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING: Lawmakers have just a handful of days before the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown. 

THE SENATE BILL’S FUTURE in the House is uncertain as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) makes another effort to reach consensus within his own party on funding — and has moved border policy front-and-center among his priorities (The Hill). The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that senators are betting that if they jam the House right before the deadline, McCarthy will relent and bring it to the House floor, where it could pass in a bipartisan vote (The Hill and The Washington Post). 

“It seems to change every hour, if not by the minute in the House. So I don’t think they know what they can do at this point. But we know what we can do … and that is to send over a [bill] and see what the Speaker can do with it,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters, adding the Senate is flexible in its approach: “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a final offer. Whatever we need to do to keep the lights on.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS, for their part, on Tuesday advanced four full-year spending bills, handing McCarthy a small win but doing little to stave off the impending shutdown. The chamber voted 216-212 to begin consideration of spending measures to fund the Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; Department of State and foreign operations; and the Department of Agriculture, rural development and Food and Drug Administration. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was the sole “no” vote among Republicans.

The successful procedural vote marks an incremental win for McCarthy, who has struggled to advance spending measures this month amid opposition from hardline conservatives. Now, House GOP leaders are hopeful that moving the four appropriations bills will make some of those holdouts more open to a stopgap bill in the lower chamber — which McCarthy on Tuesday said he will bring to the floor for a vote this week (The Hill). 

The bottom line: The likelihood of either the House or the Senate’s funding bills making it through both chambers ahead of Sunday at midnight is slim, and preparations have already begun in Washington and beyond for what many see as an inevitable shutdown.  

HOW WOULD A SHUTDOWN AFFECT YOU? The Hill’s Aris Folley breaks down how a shutdown would impact Americans, from food assistance benefits (SNAP and WIC) to Social Security, taxes and public lands.

▪ Vox: The Republican vs. Republican feud behind the government shutdown fight, explained.

▪ The Hill: Troop paychecks are under threat as Congress stands on the edge of a government shutdown, with no clear solution for getting a defense budget passed.  

▪ The Hill: K Street is scrambling to prepare for what could be a different shutdown than the last one nearly five years ago, navigating major questions about the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as infrastructure investments in the JOBS Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ Seven 2024 Republican presidential candidates will go head-to-head today at the second GOP primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

▪ Hollywood writers are heading back to work today after a 148-day strike as Writers Guild of America leaders finalize a deal with studios and streaming services.

▪ Calls from Democrats for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to resign after corruption allegations are growing, putting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in an awkward position. The senator and his wife will be arraigned today in Manhattan.

Morning Report’s Alexis Simendinger is on leave and will return in a week.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press / Evan Vucci | President Biden joined striking United Auto Workers on the picket line in Van Buren Township, Mich., on Tuesday.

President Biden made an unprecedented stop Tuesday, joining the picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan — and marking the first time a sitting president has done so. The president stood in solidarity with United Auto Workers (UAW) at a General Motors facility in Belleville and spoke to the group via bullhorn alongside union President Shawn Fain. Biden, who has labeled himself the most pro-union president in history, stood with workers at UAW Local 174 wearing red shirts and holding signs that read “UAW on strike” and “saving the American dream.” Negotiations between the UAW union and Ford, Stellantis and General Motors have been focused on pay increases, pensions and career security (The Hill and The Washington Post). 

“You guys, UAW, you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before,” he said. “You made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well. And, guess what? You should be doing incredibly well too. Stick with it because you deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits. Let’s get back what we lost, OK?”

When a reporter asked Tuesday if union members deserved their requested 40 percent pay raise, workers standing around Biden in Michigan shouted “yes.” Then Biden also responded “yes.”

Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border will almost certainly remain at elevated levels for months, fueled by the ongoing collapse of Venezuela and the commoditization of migrant smuggling. The Hill’s Rafael Bernal reports, as tens of thousands of people on the move from Panama to Mexico, the Biden administration is bracing both for the political fallout from the right and for the logistical challenges of keeping the border manned.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Biden’s Tuesday picket line appearance not only marked a first-of-its kind moment for a sitting president, but also showed the White House embarking on offense against his likely 2024 opponent, former President Trump. As The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports, Biden and Trump’s campaigns have been in a tit-for-tat for weeks over supporting autoworkers. Trump spent much of Tuesday flogging Biden’s trip, while the Biden campaign insisted that Trump was merely backing the workers in order to benefit politically. 

The UAW has notably not yet endorsed Biden in 2024. Trump plans to give a speech while in Michigan Wednesday — the same day as the second GOP presidential primary debate — at Drake Enterprises, a nonunion manufacturer in Clinton Township. The UAW said, however, that it also wouldn’t endorse Trump, and Fain went so far earlier this month as to say that Trump is “not a person I want as my president.”

▪ The Hill: Farmworkers union endorses Biden’s reelection bid.

▪ The Guardian: “The support feels good”: UAW members embrace Biden and shrug off Trump.

© The Associated Press / Mark J. Terrill | The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif., pictured in 2015, will see seven Republican presidential candidates debate Wednesday.

🎤 DEBATE WATCH: Seven 2024 Republican presidential candidates — minus Trump — will go head-to-head today at the second GOP primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. After last month’s debate in Milwaukee, candidates are set to spar again — this time, with fewer on stage as a result of higher thresholds for candidates to qualify. Here are five things to watch out for.

AT CENTER STAGE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, despite early momentum, is sliding in the polls. Fox’s Dana Perino, who will be one of the moderators Wednesday night alongside Stuart Varney, told The Hill she expects a more combative affair this time around.

“It’s obvious that President Trump’s lead is commanding and enduring and durable,” she said. “But the debate is not just to showcase these candidates. It’s for one of them to say ‘I can be his main rival.’ So I anticipate that the candidates know this is a really important moment for them.”

2024 ROUNDUP:

▪ Voters say they trust Republicans more on the economy and Democrats more on health care and abortion, according to a NBC News poll released Tuesday. 

▪ Trump’s apparent death threat against retiring Gen. Mark Milley is fueling fears that if elected to the presidency again, he will use the Oval Office to seek retribution against his enemies.

▪ Biden and his closest allies are largely ignoring Cornel West even as some Democrats warn about the insurgent Green Party candidate’s possible effect on the 2024 race.

▪ The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Alabama’s bid to use a congressional map with just one majority-Black district, handing a defeat to Alabama Republicans for the second time in three months.

▪ DeSantis is facing a legal challenge to a congressional map he pushed through the Florida Legislature. Voting rights groups say the map targets Black voters and violates the Constitution.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House convenes at 9 a.m. 

The Senate meets at 10 a.m. 

The president is in California. He will convene a meeting with his advisers on science and tech in San Francisco at 11:30 a.m. PDT. He will headline two campaign fundraisers before departing the Golden State for the Phoenix area of Arizona.

Vice President Harris is Washington and has no public schedule.

First lady Jill Biden will travel to Missouri, where she will visit the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence to highlight their programming to support civic literacy and education. In the evening, the first lady will speak at a campaign event.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak at the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative Launch at the State Department.

ZOOM IN

TRUMP WORLD

A New York judge on Tuesday found Trump liable for fraud, handing a major legal victory to New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) in her sprawling civil case over Trump’s businesses. New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron granted James’s request to find Trump liable for the first of seven causes of action she has accused him of in the lawsuit, setting the stage for a trial set to begin Monday.

James’s office is suing Trump, the Trump Organization and two of his adult children — Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.— claiming more than a decade of fraud. The lawsuit alleges Trump’s company sought lower taxes and better insurance coverage by falsely inflating and deflating the value of its assets, and seeks some $250 million in financial penalties (The Hill and The New York Times).

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed more details on the disarray inside Trump’s White House in a new book (NBC News). She told CNN’s Jake Tapper Tuesday that Trump is the “most grave threat” to American democracy (CNN).

The Washington Post: Hunter Biden filed a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani’s former lawyer, alleging they misused his personal computer data — the latest counterattack by the president’s son against his GOP critics.

ELSEWHERE

TECH

The Federal Trade Commission launched an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on Tuesday, alleging that the company has used its market power to warp ecommerce across the internet. The allegations paint a picture of a company able to use its size and power to pressure sellers to agree to its terms and warp the prices of goods, effectively constituting a monopoly (NBC News).

“There is immediate harm that is ongoing here,” FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said at a news conference ahead of the announcement. “Sellers are paying one of every $2 to Amazon. Shoppers are paying higher prices as a result, not just on Amazon but across the internet. And the public as a whole has been deprived of the benefits of open and fair and free competition.”

The lawsuit had been expected after years of complaints that Amazon and other tech giants abused their dominance of search, social media and online retailing. The lawsuit, which was joined by 17 state attorneys general, follows a four-year investigation and federal lawsuits filed against Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook (Reuters and CNN).

▪ The New York Times: For Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, a cleanup job just got a lot bigger.

▪ Politico: The government’s new attack on Amazon could completely restructure the giant. The legal challenge will be a defining cornerstone of the Biden administration’s pledge to curb the power of the nation’s largest tech companies.

© The Associated Press / Kathy Willens | U.S. regulators and 17 states are suing Amazon over allegations the company abuses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices and stifle competition.

OPINION

■ Senate leaders need to break with Menendez now, by Michelle Goldberg, columnist, The New York Times.

■ Hollywood and UAW are the first waves in a looming tech labor tsunami, by Robert A. Manning, opinion contributor, The Hill.  

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🍂 Leaf-peepers are out of luck this year — at least in one small Vermont town. A normally quiet dirt road from Pomfret to Woodstock, home to the frequently photographed Sleepy Hollow Farm, will be open only to residents through mid-October. Local law enforcement plans to enforce it.

In recent years, social media influencers and photographers have clogged the narrow road for selfies and fall foliage shots of the scenic private property, drawn by its colorful hillside trees, the barn and classic New England home. Now the town has temporarily closed the road to nonresidents due to overcrowding and “poorly behaved tourists” (The Associated Press).

If you’re still on the hunt for that perfect fall picture, complete with glittering foliage, fret not. Travel and Leisure has compiled a fall foliage map that shows when leaves will peak near you.

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