After a bruising week for progressive Democrats that ruled out including a minimum wage hike in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, Congressional business on the legislation will continue next week. This is your Washington Week Ahead for the week of March 1.
Trump Speaks
Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, commonly referred to as CPAC, in Orlando on Sunday. It will be his first major public appearance since leaving office and comes after a series of high-profile rebukes from Democrats, including an impeachment trial, while the Republican Party seems divided on how it moves forward. Plus, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) keeps flip-flopping in his support, pledging to support Trump if he runs for the White House again in 2024, just days after holding him responsible for the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol building. Trump has pledged a return of his Make America Great Again movement and CPAC will provide a friendly platform for that exact messaging, further highlighting the hold he still has on his party.
Stimulus Stalemate
The Senate will begin debate on the American Rescue Plan on March 1, marking the first time the chamber is officially taking up the latest round of coronavirus relief spending. The nearly $2 trillion rescue package includes $1,400 stimulus checks for Americans, billions in federal relief for state, local, and tribal governments, and a huge bucket of money for vaccine rollout. Because the Senate has a legislative filibuster, the bill must adhere to the Byrd Rule, a parliamentary procedure that allows budget reconciliation legislation to pass without being subject to the filibuster. One thing we know for sure is that the final Senate version of the bill, expected to pass next week, will not include a federal minimum wage increase after the parliamentarian determined it would be against the rules. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has remained unchanged since 2009.
Voting Rights in the Spotlight
Now that the House of Representatives has finished with COVID relief, it’s on to other priorities. In the last Congress, House Democrats passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a sweeping election reform bill. It languished in a Republican-controlled Senate. This is a chance for the chamber to try again — but expect a lot of amendments from Republicans, looking to strike down provisions like universal vote-by-mail and extended early voting periods, as well as a national holiday for Election Day. At the same time, the United State Supreme Court will hear arguments on a pair of Voting Rights Act cases that could further erode protections for disadvantaged voters. So in the first week in March, 20 months before the 2022 midterm elections, all eyes in Washington will be on voting rights.
The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially launch.
Just 27% of voters aged 18-29 approve of the job Biden is doing as president, according to a survey from The Economist and YouGov late last year. Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why President Biden is losing support among young voters.
Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, joins Cheddar News to discuss it being one year since Trump was exiled from social media and the former President's new platform 'Truth Social.'
Cliff Albright, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why he boycotted President Biden's voting rights speech this week, and the push from Senate Democrats to debate and vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has teamed up with fellow Democratic senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly to introduce the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, a bill to essentially end stock trading by sitting lawmakers. From the other side of the aisle, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced his own legislation to enact something similar. The dueling bills come at a time when it's popular to constrain members of Congress from owning and trading stocks. Karl Evers-Hillstrom, a business and lobbying reporter at The Hill, spoke to Cheddar about the significance of the bills, and what they could mean for lawmakers, their families, and staffers moving forward.
A second Starbucks location in the U.S. has officially voted to unionize. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board announced workers at the Starbucks store located in the Buffalo, NY suburb of Cheektowaga voted 15-9 in favor of being represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The New York Times reports votes were tallied in December but remained inconclusive as the union challenged the ballots of several employees it said did not work at the store. A Starbucks spokesperson has said that it may appeal the labor board's decision, which comes as several other Starbucks stores across the country are also pushing to form a union. Danka Dragic, shift supervisor for the second Starbucks store in the country to unionize, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
