In today’s edition … Debt limit backup plans … What we’re watching: Can Congress regulate artificial intelligence? … CHIPS bill spurs interest across the country … Coons, Rounds seek fair tax treatment for American detainees … A new White House mental health initiative … but first …
Democrats fear they’re walking into a permitting trap
Changes to the permitting process for energy projects are one of House Republicans’ top asks in the high-stakes negotiations between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to raise the debt limit before the federal government runs out of money to pay its bills, which could be as soon as June 1.
In theory, there’s bipartisan support for permitting reform.
It’s one of the priorities that House Republicans included in the bill they passed to lift the debt limit last month with the goal of helping fossil fuel projects. Many Democrats want to ease the path to building new transmission lines for clean energy projects financed by last year’s climate law.
But in practice, some Democrats fear they’re walking into a trap.
House Republicans on Tuesday proposed a two-step approach that would include limited permitting changes in a debt limit deal, with the promise that they’d take up a separate bill later that includes Democrats’ top priorities.
- “They must think we’re really, really stupid,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ permitting task force, told us Wednesday. “I mean, that’s not a serious proposal.”
Huffman and other Democrats are against the idea because they’re still pushing to raise the debt limit without making any concessions to Republicans. But they also don’t trust Republicans to hammer out a deal later that delivers on their priorities.
- “Let’s be serious,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a vocal climate hawk. “The idea that we’re going to do your stuff first and my stuff later is just not how politics works.”
Even Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who championed her own permitting bill last year, acknowledged that it seems unlikely that Congress would take a second stab at it.
“I just don’t think we’re going to get two bites at the apple,” Capito said. “I’m not saying it’s impossible. I just think it would be a pretty tough hill to climb.”
A profusion of legislation
It wouldn’t be the first time a legislative deal involving permitting fell apart.
Democrats agreed to support a permitting overhaul last year to secure the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for Biden’s climate and health care bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
Manchin voted for the bill, but his prized permitting legislation died after Republican senators upset with Manchin for supporting the climate bill refused to vote for it.
- The White House is still backing Manchin’s legislation, but there is a blizzard of other competing and overlapping permitting bills out there. They include legislation introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) as well as Capito’s bill and the permitting proposals included in House Republicans’ debt limit bill.
Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will debut his own discussion draft of permitting legislation, which he views as a complement to Manchin’s bill that deals with areas under Carper’s committee’s jurisdiction.
- The profusion of legislation is likely to make it tough for lawmakers to forge consensus on permitting — and even tougher to do it in the two weeks left before the debt deadline.
Some Republicans, for instance, oppose one of Democrats’ top priorities: giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission more authority over interstate transmission lines, which Republicans say would infringe on states’ rights.
Transmission “has to be in the mix,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). “So it’s not trivial to get to ‘yes’ between where the House Republicans are where I think the White House and some of us really focused on climate are.”
The trade groups pushing for a permitting overhaul don’t share Democrats’ qualms about including permitting in a debt limit deal.
“There’s enough interest in moving all of this forward that even if we do get something on the debt limit side, that won’t slow the action for trying to get the other pieces,” said Marty Durbin, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute.
- The Chamber also supports tackling permitting in one go if lawmakers go that route. If Biden and McCarthy leave permitting out of a debt limit deal, Durbin said he’s optimistic the talks will help generate momentum to pass a separate bill later this year.
Lobbyists for the fossil-fuel industry and the clean energy sector are also pressing for a permitting deal regardless of how it happens.
- “We’re interested in getting a permitting reform bill on any vehicle that’s leaving the station this Congress,” said Mike Sommers, the president and chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute — a view echoed by Jason Grumet, the chief executive of the American Clean Power Association.
Manchin is on the same page.
“We’re going to get permitting done,” he said in a brief interview Wednesday. “Trust me, we’ll get it done — either on this or by itself.”
Meanwhile, many backup plans are emerging as the debt default day nears.
Democratic efforts to get around Congress on the debt limit continue to simmer on Capitol Hill. Five senators wrote a letter calling on Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to ignore the debt limit if needed, our colleagues reported.
House Democrats have been discussing a similar push.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the vast majority of its members supported invoking the 14th Amendment rather than making concessions to Republicans — and she urged Biden to do so.
- “Nobody’s going to blink until we get to the very end,” Jayapal said. “And I think the president should be true to his values, true to our democratic values, and force them to take the debt ceiling off the table.”
House Democrats also secured signatures from 210 of the chamber’s 213 Democrats for the discharge petition on the first day they were allowed to collect them under the chamber’s rules.
Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) have not yet signed. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) is expected to sign once she returns to Washington after dealing with a personal issue, according to a person familiar with the tally.
There is no sign yet that any Republican will sign on, especially as negotiations over the debt limit continue.
Democratic leadership held meetings with Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday to hear their thoughts about the negotiations and what they might seek in a deal, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the meetings. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a senior member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was one of the members in the meetings.
- “It’s not a gift to Democrats to save the country’s economy,” Pocan said. “That should be something we do period, all of us, together. It’s not a partisan issue. But if Republicans want something for that, Democrats probably should also have things that they’re getting.”
Can Congress regulate artificial intelligence?
Congress has struggled to regulate the internet and social media and Big Tech for years. But with the emergence of AI, the legislative wheels are spinning again over what to do with a new technology.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday that are working on comprehensive AI legislation. The senators in the meeting were Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Heinrich.
Meanwhile, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) reintroduced a bill today to create an independent regulator for AI. Read more about AI regulation with our friends at the Tech 202.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions for the cases it heard during the 2022 term. The high court has yet to issue decisions for several of its most consequential cases, such as those concerning affirmative action in college admissions, the Indian Child Welfare Act, student loan debt forgiveness, liability protections for Big Tech and the scope of First Amendment protections.
The decisions will likely be announced each week until the court finishes its work in late June or early July.
CHIPS bill spurs interest across the country
NEWS: Less than one year after the semiconductor manufacturing bill was signed into law, the Commerce Department has received more than 300 statements of interest to build facilities across the chip supply chain, according to numbers provided to The Early.
The higher-than-expected interest is a sign that the $50 billion investment by Congress in the Chips and Science Act, which passed in July, is helping the emerging industry to expand greatly as the United States works to peel away from reliance on China for the technology.
- The interest in federal incentives comes from 37 states. It’s been less than two months since a request for statements of interest was posted.
The high interest comes even as the Commerce Department is requiring environmental and worker protections for recipients of the subsidies. That list includes a robust plan to provide child care for both construction and facility workers for companies that request $150 million in government incentives or more. Some critics warned the requirements would suppress interest.
The statements of interest are for projects across the semiconductor ecosystem, ranging from making critical materials to research and development. It’s only a first step and the processes to apply for grants open this summer and in the fall.
For a lot more about chips implementation, Leigh Ann will speak with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo today at 11:30 a.m. Eastern about the bipartisan effort to build a robust semiconductor industry. At 11 a.m., Leigh Ann will also speak with Purdue University President Mung Chiang about the role of workforce development, education and innovative technologies in shaping the future of the American economy. Watch here.
Coons, Rounds seek fair tax treatment for American detainees
NEWS: When Washington Post columnist Jason Rezaian was freed from an Iranian prison after 544 days in captivity on unfounded charges, he returned home to a huge bill from the IRS in back taxes, fees, interest and penalties.
“The IRS told me ‘we don’t have a code for removing these charges,’” Rezaian said.
The IRS doesn’t have an exemption for Americans wrongfully detained overseas. Despite all the attempts from Rezaian’s members of Congress and government officials, the IRS was unable to clear his entire tax bill. He had to pay thousands of dollars.
During a conversation with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a flabbergasted Coons promised he’d fix it.
Today, Coons and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) will introduce a bill, provided to The Early, that would defer IRS payments during detention and for 180 days after returning to the U.S. It would also reimburse freed hostages for any penalties and interest paid.
“I will continue my efforts to bring every last wrongfully detained American and American hostage home, and I hope my colleagues will join me in fixing this shameful flaw in the tax code,” Coons said.
There are 53 Americans currently wrongfully detained by state actors, according to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.
A new White House mental health initiative
New this morning: The Biden administration is unveiling a multimillion-dollar effort to confront the nation’s staggering mental health crisis. Taken together, the new actions are intended to bolster the mental health workforce and health care system, reduce barriers to care and create a network of support.
- For example, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is awarding more than $200 million to buttress operations of the national suicide hotline (988). And earlier this week, the Department of Education announced that it had awarded $95 million in grants to increase access to school-based mental health services.
The new activity adds to preexisting efforts to expand access to mental health services and transform behavioral health services with funding from the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
- 8-year-old dies in Border Patrol custody. By the Los Angeles Times’s Hamed Aleaziz.
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