Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted November 22, 2024

Hawai'i Free Press

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted November 22, 2024
By GovTrack .us @ 11:11 PM :: 346 Views :: Congressional Delegation

Urelenting uncertainty (Nov 22, 2024)

By Amy West, GovTrack.us, Nov 22, 2024

What a Week

The Senate Democratic majority made a deal with the Republican minority on judges. A few seats remain uncalled in the House. The House Republicans, with Democratic support, passed a bill giving a whole lot of power to the President. And then there's the many procedural questions hanging over former Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL1) failed bid for attorney general, some without precedent.

Senate Deals

The Senate pushed through longer hours than usual this week to confirm a number of judges nominated by President Biden. However, on Thursday Nov. 21, Majority Leader Schumer announced a deal to get through all but four nominations before the end of the term. The argument is that since the four excluded weren't going to get confirmed anyway due to Democratic opposition as well as Republican, this would allow the Senate to get what it could.

House Still not Fully Set for the 119th Congress

Three races remain uncalled. Two in California, one in Iowa. While Democratic wins in these races won't flip control of the House in the 119th, they would make the Republican majority even tighter than it has been this Congress. And that's before the Republicans who have been nominated to serve in President-elect Trump's administration leave.

House: Let's Give the President Even More Power

The House passed a number of bills this week, but we're going to focus on one that hands enormous power to President-elect Trump by way of the Treasury Department: H.R. 9495: Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. The bill has two parts. One part, which is uncontroversial, would provide tax relief for U.S. citizens unjustly imprisoned abroad.

The second part though, would give the treasury the power to strip non-profits it claims support “terrorism” of their tax-exempt status and does not require the treasury to adhere to any evidentiary standard in releasing its findings per the Guardian. Bill opponents argue that this would be a venue for the President-elect's vows of vengeance against people and groups he considers enemies.

The bill goes to the Senate next. Majority Leader Schumer has indicated he will not bring the bill to the Senate floor.

Now what with Gaetz?

To recap:

Until January 3, 2025, we are in the 118th Congress
On January 3, 2025, we flip to the 119th Congress
Gaetz was the representative for FL-1 for the 118th Congress
Gaetz resigned from the 118th last week
Gaetz was re-elected for the 119th
In his resignation letter he said he did not "intend" to take the seat to which he was re-elected for the 119th

Now that he's withdrawn from consideration for Attorney General,

Can he show up on January 3 and be sworn in? No one knows. It's unprecedented.
Could he run in the special election that will have to be held to fill the vacancy he has created? Here we have an answer! Yes he can. There are many examples of this over Congress's history. Possibly the closest match is Adam Powell. Amid allegations of corruption, he was elected to office. The House voted to exclude him and then he ran in the special election and won that. At the time, he didn't take the seat, but he ran still another time in 1969. This time he was allowed to join Congress but fined. Later in 1969, the Supreme Court threw out his exclusion. In 1970, he lost the primary to Charlie Rangel.

Other options for Gaetz include being appointed to finish Sen. Rubio's term since Rubio has been named the expected nominee for Secretary of State. The Senate's Ethics Committee is inactive, so that would be good for Gaetz. However, more likely is an appointment by Trump to a position that doesn't require Senate confirmation or going to work for a lobbying firm. By sheer volume of former Congress members who go on to lobby, lobbying is more likely. On the other hand, we all know by now that Trump hates a loss, so a non-confirmed position in the administration also seems quite probable.

Mailbag Next Week

Both chambers are out next week for Thanksgiving and will return the first week of December. Barring any other big news in the interim, we'll have a special mailbag post just on H.R. 82: Social Security Fairness Act in which we'll do our best to explain it in simpler terms than, say, the Social Security Administration uses. We are not experts so it won't be in depth, but we'll do our best.

View this post on the web. Send us an email with your questions about this post.

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Hawaii Congressional Delegation

Nov 18, 2024 — Bill Text

S. 4713: IDEA Act

This bill’s text for status Reported by Senate Committee (Nov 18, 2024) is now available.

Sen. Mazie Hirono [D-HI] is the sponsor of this bill.

Nov 18, 2024 5:27 p.m. — Vote

On the Nomination PN1749: Embry J. Kidd, of Florida, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit

Nomination Confirmed 49/45