Pelosi plows full speed ahead on jam-packed agenda
Happy Friday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-stage.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.
Today’s Big Deal: A busy week ahead for the House. We’ll also look at an effort to bolster unemployment aid and more fallout from the GameStop short squeeze.
But first, a look at an eventful week in photos.
For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@digital-stage.thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@digital-stage.thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@digital-stage.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.
Let’s get to it.
Hoyer affirms House will vote Sept. 27 on bipartisan infrastructure bill
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Friday affirmed the chamber will vote on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill on Sept. 27, signaling Democratic leaders are still plowing full speed ahead on their planned timeline even though the larger $3.5 trillion bill to invest in social safety net programs still faces tough hurdles.
In a letter to lawmakers previewing this month’s legislative session, Hoyer said the House will vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill the last week of September “pursuant to the rule passed in August.”
The background:
- Under that agreement between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a small group of moderates, the House is scheduled to vote Sept. 27 on the bipartisan infrastructure bill even though progressives have long warned they won’t support it if the larger, Democrat-only social spending package isn’t completed yet.
- The 13 House committees tasked with writing the $3.5 trillion package completed their work and advanced their respective portions this week, adhering to a Sept. 15 goal set by Democratic leaders.
What comes next: Once the House returns on Monday from its summer recess, Pelosi will be tasked with rounding up the votes for the package with a slim majority, meaning she can only afford up to three defections. But multiple tricky policy disputes remain unresolved, including lifting the cap on the state and local tax deduction and empowering Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The Hill’s Cristina Marcos walks us through it all here.
Aside from Democrats’ two-part infrastructure plan, the House has a packed agenda for the next two weeks it is scheduled to be in session.
Congress has to pass a bill to keep the federal government funded past Sept. 30, when the current fiscal year ends.
Lawmakers also need to pass legislation to raise the debt limit, which Republicans have vowed to oppose in protest of Democrats’ massive social spending legislation.
- In a letter to lawmakers on Friday, Hoyer said the House will vote on the debt limit and on a continuing resolution to fund the government. He did not say whether the two issues would be joined as one bill.
- The Treasury Department is now using what are known as “extraordinary measures” to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. It has said it will no longer be able to take such steps at some point in October, creating a deadline for Congress.
Aris brings us up to speed here.
A MESSAGE FROM WELLS FARGO
D.C. diner rebuilds with help from nonprofit & Wells Fargo
Flip-It LJ Diner owner Sandra Foote didn’t think her Columbia Heights restaurant could survive COVID-19.
Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fundprovided a grant to the nonprofit District Bridges, which then helped Sandra cover bills. .
LEADING THE DAY
Ocasio-Cortez, Bush push to add expanded unemployment in $3.5T spending plan
Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are calling on party leaders to add unemployment insurance reforms to their forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending plan.
- The two progressive lawmakers spearheaded a letter Thursday signed by 11 other Democrats to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
- The lawmakers said that they wrote the message to “express the urgency of including unemployment insurance (UI) reforms in the Build Back Better Act to protect the millions of unemployed workers across this country.”
“The current state of the unemployment system is a threat to all communities, especially Black and brown communities, in many of the states we represent,” the letter states. “As of now, there are no provisions to reform the unemployment system.”
Aris has more here.
CLEANING UP AFTER ‘ROARING KITTY’
MassMutual fined $4M over employee’s role in GameStop frenzy
MassMutual has been fined $4 million as part of a settlement with Massachusetts regulators, who accused the life insurance company of failing to adequately supervise an employee who promoted GameStop’s stock on social media, helping prompt a trading frenzy earlier this year.
William Galvin, the secretary of the commonwealth, unveiled the terms of the settlement Thursday, under which MassMutual neither admitted nor denied regulators’ findings, according to The Associated Press.
The fine centers around arguments that MassMutual failed to supervise Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill, who worked at a MassMutual subsidiary from April 2019 to January 2021, during which time regulators said that he posted more than 250 hours of videos on YouTube and at least 590 tweets about investing in GameStop while using accounts unaffiliated with MassMutual.
PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO
How a D.C. florist is rebuilding with PPP loans
Le Printemps floral shop in D.C. was able to stay open during the pandemic with two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans booked through Wells Fargo.
85% of PPP loans booked through the bank went to companies with fewer than 10 employees.
Good to Know
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday warned the United Kingdom that any breakdown of the 1998 peace agreement with Northern Ireland would ruin chances of a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.S.
Here’s what else have our eye on:
- Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) has threatened not to back her party’s forthcoming $3.5 trillion social spending plan unless the package includes more federal aid for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is reportedly launching a campaign to organize workers in at least nine Amazon facilities across Canada, as the tech giant resists unionization efforts in the U.S.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Friday urged Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to investigate a partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue Airways, warning that it could saddle passengers with higher airfares.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you next week.