We have another Infrastructure Week on the schedule and if you had "the filibuster isn't racist" on your 2021 BINGO card, you win a prize. Here's more about what is and isn't expected in the Washington Week Ahead.
(ANOTHER) INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK: The proverbial joke in Washington is actually, really happening in Pittsburgh on Wednesday when President Joe Biden takes to the stage to pitch his infrastructure plan. The White House has downplayed leaks so far, but we can expect that he'll try to sell the American people on $3-4 trillion in federal spending on "hard infrastructure" like planes, trains, and automobiles and "soft infrastructure" like free community college and universal Pre-K. The bill will not garner much Republican support and Democrats are planning to move forward with another budget reconciliation proposal.
CRICKETS ON CAPITOL HILL: The week of Spring Recess and all through the House, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The Senate gaveled out of its chamber with care in hopes that legislative business would all disappear.
Yes, I did write a poem about next week in Washington. But it pretty much sums up where things are: Congress is in recess for two weeks and that means exactly nothing will be happening on the legislative front. Don't expect much from the president either. He's clearly in no rush to do anything on gun control or immigration, saying "timing is everything." In other words, not now.
BESSEMER UNION BATTLE: The vote on whether to unionize the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama wraps up on Monday, just days before Biden heads north to the union town of Pittsburgh to pitch the country on tons of good, union jobs as part of his infrastructure plan. But the union fight is already here and it's happening in a state that is historically anti-union. Whether or not Amazon's warehouse does unionize or not, the conversation about union jobs and unions, in general, is going to be an ongoing one, especially as the Democratic Senate will likely force a vote on the pro-union PRO Act despite having no Republican support — if they can get the votes in their own party.
David Daley, author of the book 'Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,' joins Cheddar News to discuss redistricting battles taking place across the U.S.
Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Although this week's weather is predicted to be less severe than the 2021 storm, Texans are preparing for the worst - stocking up on supplies and emptying shelves in grocery stores, once again. Some Texans still have not recovered from last year's tragedy, and are heading into the next few weeks with anxiety for what's to come. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Houston-based energy workforce & technology council, joins Cheddar News to discuss if the Texas grid will fail again.
