Senate Democrats Encounter Obstacles in Final Sprint

The Hill | BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 07/12/22
 
Senate Democrats in a sprint to accomplish as much as they can before the August recess and the start of the fall midterm campaigns are already getting tripped up by a series of unexpected problems. 
 
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced progress over the July 4 recess in negotiations with centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on a long-delayed budget reconciliation package, but an aide to Manchin last week cautioned a deal is still not close.  
 
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is holding up a vote on a China competitiveness bill, while legislation to cap insulin prices is coming under fire from Republicans.  
 
Health absences in the caucus are also tripping up the party, complicating votes in the 50-50 Senate.
 
It all sets up a chaotic and challenging homestretch sprint before lawmakers turn to full campaign mode. 
 
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) on Monday predicted that the Democratic absences would limit the chamber’s agenda this week.  
 
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Monday announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 and will work remotely this week, missing an expected vote on President Biden’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Steve Dettelbach.  
 
The announcement came less than 24 hours after Schumer announced that he too has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss votes this week.  
 
“They’re not going to have votes to do anything but bipartisan noms [nominees],” Thune said.
 
“It’s going to be tough for the Democrats to manage any kind of agenda that doesn’t entail moving executive branch noms that have broad bipartisan support, so to me it should be a week where we wind up early,” he added.  
 
The absences put Dettelbach’s nomination on a razor’s edge, as only two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Rob Portman (Ohio), voted to discharge Dettelbach out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  
 
A third Democratic senator, 82-year-old Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), is recovering from surgery after falling and breaking his hip last month. A spokesman for Leahy, however, said his boss will be available to vote on Dettelbach or any other issue if needed. 
 
“Senator Leahy’s recovery and physical therapy are proceeding well and he expects to be available for votes this week if necessary,” said Leahy spokesman David Carle.   
 
If Collins and Portman both vote to confirm Dettelbach, there would need to be five Democratic absences for Republicans to defeat him, but it remains to be seen whether their votes on a procedural discharge petition mean they’re willing to help speed him through the Senate while Schumer is still trying to negotiate a partisan reconciliation bill.  
 
McConnell warned over the recess that he would hold up the final version of the China legislation, known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), unless Democrats stopped trying to move a reconciliation measure through the chamber with just Democratic votes. 
 
The GOP leader doubled down on his threat Monday, warning that “party-line scheming” on the budget reconciliation bill that would include hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases would bring Senate business to a halt. 

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