Top lawmakers voice opposition to short-term debt limit deal

Ryan King

May 07, 03:14 PM May 07, 03:14 PM

Top lawmakers are giving the prospect of a short-term debt limit deal a cold reception, while largely refraining from ruling it out entirely.

Under a short-term plan, Congress would effectively push back the debt ceiling in order to buy time from the June deadline to figure out a longer-term agreement. Many lawmakers appear skeptical that more time could solve the impasse, but are simultaneously adamant that the United States can't default on its obligations.

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"I don't think the responsible thing to do is to kick the can down the road," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told NBC's Meet the Press. "We have to avoid default period. Full stop."

Although unhappy with a short-term arrangement, Jeffries declined to rule out backing one when asked. Some Biden administration officials are deliberating over such a proposal as an avenue out of the debt ceiling standoff, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Some analysts have suggested that punting on the debt limit, for now, would avert default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen forecasted could come as soon as June 1. From there, Congress could pair the debt limit with the upcoming battle over government funding for the next fiscal year.

Both Jeffries and the White House conveyed that Democrats are open to talking about spending priorities with the GOP. They remain adamant, however, that Republicans must give them a stand-alone bill to lift the nation's borrowing authority.

"We want to do the right thing for the American people. And that means paying our bills and simultaneously having this discussion about the future and what spending can look like anchored in President Biden's budget proposal," Jeffries added.

A short-term debt limit measure could breach House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) vow to "never" move a bill that just lifts the debt limit. A handful of Republicans have already criticized a short-term deal.

“I would prefer that we get this done the first time. That always gets dicey. And, frankly, I don’t even know if there’d be the votes for that,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SC) said, per NBC. “I think there’s going to have to be a really earnest effort made to try and negotiate something that can get passed by the deadline.”

"We all work around deadlines here. If we do a short-term extension, it means we won’t get into negotiations in earnest until three or four weeks before whatever the new extension is. That’s how this place works," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) argued, according to the outlet.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) initially signaled openness, but later clarified that he is not supportive of such a measure, according to Semafor.

Another Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC), argued that everything should be left on the table as the country stares down a potential economic crisis.

“I think everything’s on the table at this point. The key thing that has to be in this equation is addressing our fiscal house, short term, and long term,” he told CBS's Face the Nation.

The clock is ticking for lawmakers to break the deadlock. Biden is set to meet with the four congressional leaders Tuesday to discuss the standoff.

If the U.S. runs out of cash to fund its operations and defaults, unemployment could skyrocket, and inflation could accelerate dramatically, according to some estimates.

House plans vote on resolution to block DC police reform law next week

Samantha-Jo Roth

April 13, 06:27 PM April 13, 06:27 PM

The House Rules Committee is planning to tee up floor action next week on another resolution that would overturn local police reforms in Washington, D.C., a second attempt to nullify another law passed by the District of Columbia and rein in the district’s autonomy.

The latest resolution intends to target laws passed by the D.C. Council last year to reform the Metropolitan Police Department and the district's justice system in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of law enforcement in 2020. The reforms included prohibiting the use of neck restraints, increasing access to body camera footage, and revisiting officer discipline procedures.

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The proposal, introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), comes after the House passed another one of his resolutions that repealed the district’s recently revised criminal code, which would have reduced or eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for carjacking and some other violent crimes. The measure passed in the Senate, and President Joe Biden signed it into law.

Republicans continue to deploy a congressional maneuver called a resolution of disapproval to target policies they oppose and force Democrats to either embrace Biden’s positions or buck their party. The procedural tool has forced Biden to confront bills he opposes, which is somewhat unusual when his party controls the upper chamber since the majority leader often can prevent controversial legislation from being voted on, sparing the president from having to veto a bill or make a politically charged decision to sign it instead.

The vote exposed deep divisions within the party over how to confront concerns over crime and public safety. Before the Senate vote, 173 House Democrats voted with what they thought was the White House stance that Biden would veto the resolution in an effort to stand up for the district’s “home rule.”

“Now that Congress has effectively used its constitutional authority to strike down the D.C. Council’s dangerous Revised Criminal Code Act, we must now move to swiftly block this anti-police measure to ensure our nation’s capital city is safe for all Americans,” Clyde told the Washington Examiner in early March.

If the measure were to pass in the House and the Senate, the White House has confirmed Biden intends to veto the resolution, which would include a chokehold ban and a restriction on police union involvement in the disciplinary process. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing in late March that the president does “not support every provision” in the Washington law, but also “he will not support congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn common sense police reform.”

The House Rules Committee also plans to consider legislation that would prohibit transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports.

Top Senate Democrat lines up behind Biden on DC crime law

Juliegrace Brufke

March 03, 03:20 PM March 03, 03:20 PM

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said she would vote to repeal the Washington crime bill, one day after President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats at a caucus lunch that he would not veto the legislation should it arrive on his desk.

Murray's decision, which follows centrist Democrat Joe Manchin (WV) announcing that he'd oppose Washington's crime code overhaul earlier this week, signals other Democrats may soon line up behind the president, who initially opposed the resolution. With two Democratic senators absent from the upper chamber, Manchin's vote suggested the GOP-led measure had the support to pass.

"I absolutely respect that decision," Murray, the president pro tempore of the Senate, told CNN of Biden's announcement. "I'll be voting the same way the president is."

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Centrist Democrats have largely voiced support for the resolution as Republicans have looked to hit the party over allegations it is soft on crime. The decision, however, has sparked backlash from a sizable number of members in both chambers.

“I’m disappointed. First of all, I hope the Senate would not pass it. But I think it’s pretty clear they will,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) told Politico. “And to me, the Congress should not substitute its judgment for the elected representatives of the people of the District of Columbia.”

Washington Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) said it was a “sad day” for the district and a step in the wrong direction for the city’s ability to self-govern.

“We had hoped that with more Senate support, we would have been able to ensure that neither disapproval resolution pending before the Senate would reach the president’s desk, but with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform," she told the Hill.

Washington’s new crime laws eliminated a large portion of mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes and reinstated the use of jury trials for misdemeanors. Its repeal passed the House last month with the support of 31 Democrats.

The 'biggest upset' of 2022 bodes ill for Republican hopes of winning House

Daniel Chaitin

November 13, 10:52 AM November 13, 10:52 AM

A House seat flipping to the Democratic Party is being christened as a tremendous, if not the most stunning result of the midterm elections, boding ill for Republicans in their quest to take control of the lower chamber.

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez edging out Republican Joe Kent to represent Washington's 3rd Congressional District "is the biggest upset of the 2022 election — she had only a 2% chance in our final forecast," tweeted Nathaniel Rakich, a senior elections analyst at FiveThirtyEight, after the race was called Saturday evening.

"This is a big upset: so far, it's the only race in one of [Cook Political Report's] Lean/Likely columns that has gone the other way," Dave Wasserman, U.S. House editor for the Cook Political Report, said after calling the race with his signature "I've seen enough" line.

Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner, focused her campaign on combating inflation, lowering the cost of living, and abortion rights. She cast Kent as an "extremist." He is an ally of former President Donald Trump who defeated incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection" after the Capitol riot.

With 70% reporting, Gluesenkamp Perez led Kent 50.8%-49.2%, which came out to be 154,169 votes to 149,548 votes, according to the . With their weaker-than-expected performance this cycle, Republicans are in jeopardy of letting the House slip from their grasp.

Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News, revised the House projection to show Republicans winning 219 seats, just one more than the 218 needed to get a lock on the chamber. He "stressed" that this new reading is within the margin of error, which was four seats.

With 20 races that remain undecided as of Sunday morning, Democrats have 204 seats, while Republicans won 211.

Compounding the news for Republicans on Saturday was the Senate race in Nevada being called for incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) over Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, ensuring Democrats will maintain control of the upper chamber, even with Georgia still to be called.

Midterm results: Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez wins Washington house seat

Brady Knox

November 12, 09:37 PM November 12, 09:49 PM

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez triumphed over conservative Republican Joe Kent to represent Washington's 3rd Congressional District, stripping Republicans of a red bastion in a decidedly blue state.

Kent, a United States special forces veteran, ran on an unabashedly "America First" platform and sometimes causing rifts within his own party. He promised voters deregulation of the state's lucrative fishing and timber industries to boost the economy.

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Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner, focused on combating inflation, lowering the cost of living, and securing abortion rights.

She repeatedly labeled Kent an "extremist" and pitched herself as the centrist in the race. Kent advanced to the general election after defeating incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump, in the primary.

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“People are sick and tired of what’s happening in Congress,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement, obtained by OPB. “The partisan bickering and extremism has left working people and small business owners like myself out in the cold.”

The contest was also notable in that a number of Republicans defected to Gluesenkamp Perez's side.

Inslee announces system to get much more cops 'on the road A-S-A-P'

Brett Davis | The Center Square

July 22, 07:34 AM July 22, 07:34 AM

(The Heart Square) – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday afternoon expressed his help for increasing the point out Legal Justice Training Centre to regional campuses to speed up education, minimize vacancies in law enforcement, and recruit much more candidates to be police officers.

Inslee’s announcement comes a day immediately after a report produced by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Law enforcement Chiefs showed that in 2021 violent crimes, like murder, enhanced in the point out whilst the selection of police officers out there to respond to incidents diminished.

“I’m saying currently I’m proposing a substantial growth of our Legal Justice Schooling Commission to offer primary legislation enforcement education at new regional campuses throughout the state of Washington,” mentioned Inslee, flanked by quite a few law enforcement officials, in the course of a press meeting at the Legal Justice Coaching Centre in Burien.

He extra, “We want good teaching wherever you are living in the state of Washington. These new campuses will manage the exact superior good quality instruction that we have experienced proper right here in Burien.”

Regulation enforcement officer shortages in Washington are unacceptable, the governor said, and regional teaching campuses are section of the option.

“Now right now we have 134 recruits who regrettably have to hold out an average of 4 months just to start off this education,” Inslee mentioned. “That is not acceptable to us. We require these people today to get on the road A-S-A-P.”

The governor went on to say, “Currently, recruits must show up at schooling just at this locale. They’ve got to travel. They’ve got to be away from residences and their family members. Being a legislation enforcement officer is hard plenty of with no having to go as a result of that disruption.”

Right now, the point out law enforcement schooling application operated by the Legal Justice Training Heart gives only restricted classes exterior Burien. Recruits will have to pass a 720-hour course right before they can be licensed as peace officers.

Confined slots and locations have verified to be a logjam for regulation enforcement agencies searching to seek the services of.

Point out Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, indicated regional legislation enforcement schooling campuses will be a precedence throughout following year’s legislative session.

“We system to introduce this notion in the course of the 2023 legislative session,” said the senator, who served 31 decades as a trooper in the Washington Condition Patrol prior to holding elected office environment.

Programs simply call for regional regulation enforcement schooling campuses to be positioned in Pasco, Vancouver, Everett, and Bellingham, according to Lovick.

“We imagine that these education campuses will make recruitment much easier and reduce the stress on our trainees who have to vacation lengthy hours for coaching,” he stated. “This regional alternative will increase accessibility to law enforcement occupations and will assist train neighborhood law enforcement professionals who know the areas they provide.”

No unique fees had been pointed out at the push conference.

“We will have a price tag, but as far as I’m concerned…cost is not heading to be the situation that we’re going to offer with,” Lovick stated. “This is a thing that we require to do.”

At minimum a single condition GOP lawmaker characterised Inslee’s press conference as endorsing a Republican proposal for improving upon police education programs.

“We are delighted the governor has identified the soundness of this concept,” Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, explained in a similar-working day statement released prior to Inslee’s afternoon press meeting. “We could not make any headway when it was launched in the Property in 2020. Our colleagues would not even give it a listening to. We did not even trouble in 2021, specified the tone of the anti-police laws that sailed out of the Legislation that session. But we are planning on making a different press subsequent yr – we have currently drafted the bill.”

Padden is referring to 2020’s Household Invoice 2538, which would have introduced a Essential Legislation Enforcement Academy software in Spokane.

He has drafted legislation for the 2023 session that would let recruits to get hold of peace officer certification by means of regional training applications operate by regulation enforcement agencies.

On Wednesday, the WASPC produced its yearly criminal offense report for Washington.

For each the report, violent criminal offense – murder, aggravated assault, robbery, and rape – went up by 12.3% in 2021. There were 325 murders that year, an boost of 5.9% in excess of 2020, next a 47% maximize the 12 months right before.

In the meantime, Washington lost 495 law enforcement officers statewide in 2021.