The House
The House is out this week for Thanksgiving apart from a pro forma session on Tuesday.
Last Friday, after receiving the cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the House passed the Build Back Better Act. The Act’s social infrastructure and tax-and-spend measures include:
- Four weeks of paid family leave
- Universal preschool
- Child-care assistance
- Medicare drug price negotiations
- Clean energy incentives
- A 15% minimum tax on corporate income above $1 billion, and surtaxes on wealthy individuals and corporate stock buybacks
- Funding for Housing and Community Development programs
- $5 billion to support supply chain resiliency efforts
- $1 billion for infrastructure in U.S. territories
- Particularized immigration relief, granting “parole” status to certain non-citizens.
The Senate
The Senate is also out this week apart from pro forma sessions on Tuesday and Friday.
The Build Back Better Act is now in the Senate for consideration where it will likely be shrunk down in cost before being sent back to the House – the final stop before it can pass.
The Senate is still finalizing the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act and will likely vote on the measure in early December. Amendments to the Bill include an independent-commission review of the entirety of the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan after 9/11, establishing an Artificial Intelligence Center with Israel, and developing a “grand strategy” to address wide-ranging competition with China, among other things.
The Administration
President Biden nominated current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to serve another four-year term, although certain Democratic Senators such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have already declared their opposition to his renomination. He also nominated Lael Brainard, who has been a Federal Reserve Governor since 2014, to be Vice Chair.
Becker’s Federal Lobbying Team will continue to monitor these developments as they evolve and will share with you as soon as information becomes available.