After a sleepy couple of weeks, by Washington standards, it’s back to business as usual with Congress back in town. Down Pennsylvania Avenue, President Joe Biden will continue his rapid rollout of legislation, including his recent FY2022 budget proposal. The Washington Week Ahead includes lots of legislation, more political wrangling and even some international insight.
BACK IN TOWN
Both chambers of Congress will stream back into the nation’s capital with very different priorities. The House of Representatives will focus on a series of workforce legislation, including the Paycheck Fairness Act. It will also begin crafting its version of the president’s $2.3T infrastructure plan. Meanwhile, in the Senate, it will be all about how to best use new budget reconciliation rules to capitalize on what the slim Democratic majority is able to accomplish.
BUDGETING WITH BIDEN
Biden unveiled his $1.52T budget and it’s full of line items focused on education, health care, climate change and housing. But as they will so often remind us, Congress has the power of the purse, and legislators write and pass the budget. Usually the final budget looks significantly different than the president's ask, but this time the Democratic government trifecta means that there’s more of a chance to work together.
TRACKING THREATS
It has been two years since the Senate Intelligence Committee heard from the directors of the intelligence community. It has been even longer for the House Intelligence Committee: nearly six years. That's about to change. Both the Senate and the House will host the new heads of the intelligence community to discuss global threats. The routine briefing fell to the wayside during the Trump administration, faced with a president skeptical of the government’s intelligence-gathering capabilities. So this hearing will put the spotlight on Biden’s intel chiefs, Director National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns. Both will face tough questioning on both sides of Capitol Hill and provide insight into just what threats we face on a global scale.
SUPREME COMMISSION
As a Friday surprise, Biden announced a commission to study the current Supreme Court and make assessments. The 36-member body will be appointed by Biden and should release a report shortly after its first meeting. This fulfills Biden’s campaign promise to look into whether today’s Supreme Court truly represents the interests and needs of the American people.
Many U.S. consumers say they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for holiday gifts in recent months, according to a a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A contributing factor is the unusually high import taxes the Trump administration put on foreign goods. While the worst-case consumer impact that many economists foresaw from the administration’s trade policies hasn’t materialized, some popular gift items have been affected more than others. Most toys and electronics sold in the U.S. come from China. So do most holiday decorations. Jewelry prices have risen due to the cost of gold.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
