Congress cares about one thing now and its not 2023 appropriations

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. Congress trucks back to Washington this week with only a few legislative days left before the end of the fiscal year. They’ll have to deal with government funding among other things. Here with the outlook Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan, who talked to the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Interview transcript: Tom Temin:  Let’s begin with what’s the schedules precisely for the House and the Senate. Loren Duggan: Well,…

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The Val Demings Gamble

On a hot D.C. Wednesday in the middle of July, an 11-foot statue honoring Mary McLeod Bethune—carved out of marble extracted from the same Tuscan quarry that Michelangelo used for his David—stood draped in a black cloak in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. A group of distinguished guests had gathered to honor Bethune, the prominent educator and civil-rights activist who founded a college for Black students in Daytona Beach, Florida, and later served as an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She is now the first Black American to…

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California Politician Says State Should Imitate China, Europe, Not Texas, on Electric Vehicle Mandates 

California’s electric vehicle mandate should align with Europe and China rather than other states such as Texas and Mississippi, a member of California’s air quality board said as it recently voted to ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered cars and light trucks by 2035.   What California does to require residents to purchase electric vehicles ought to line up with the “world market” rather than Texas, Mississippi, and their “ilk,” Hector De La Torre, a former state legislator appointed to the California Air Resources Board by the State Assembly,…

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Statement of Rahna Epting Executive Director of MoveOn on the Reconciliation Package

“Wow. This is a historic piece of legislation. Lowering the cost of prescription drugs, expanding health care, making massive corporations pay more of their fair share, and the largest-ever investment in fighting the climate crisis. Any one of those alone would be a big deal. Taken together this is a once in a generation opportunity to significantly address so many of our urgent crises.  And the benefits will be felt by millions of Americans immediately, and hundreds of millions of Americans for years to come. “After more than a year…

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White House expects CR ahead of fiscal 2023, seeks $47B in emergency spending

The Biden administration, expecting Congress will need more time to pass a comprehensive spending package for fiscal 2023, is requesting $ 47 billion in emergency funds to last through the end of the calendar year. Nearly half the funding would go toward the federal government’s response to COVID-19. That includes the rollout of updated booster shots approved this week by the Food and Drug Administration and restarting a program to deliver free COVID-19 rapid tests to households. The administration is also seeking emergency funding for the first quarter of fiscal…

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