Last Week in D.C. – A New Weekly Column On Ringside Report Where You Get The Facts!

By M. L. Warmath

“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right … and a desire to know.”
— John Adams, 1765

First of all, you may be wondering why I took on a topic that a lot of people would consider truly boring. Grant you, it’s not the most exciting or dramatic topic but it is an important one, and not everything that’s important is necessarily exciting or dramatic or fun.

Before he became George Washington’s vice-president, John Adams was keenly involved in shaping the fledgling United States of America. He had a lot to say about it – and said it often. I chose the above quotation from him because we all have the right – and should have the desire – to know, even if only in broad terms – about what laws are being discussed by our elected representatives and this while they are being discussed, not later, as they will impact all of us one way or another, whether we realize it or not. Once laws are passed, it requires crazy amounts of effort to remove or amend them.

Our taxes pay these people to work for us, after all, so we really shouldn’t be giving them free rein along with their salaries and only be assessing their performance every two or four or six years. So, the better-informed we are, the better choices we can make and the more we can intervene in good time with our lawmakers before laws are passed – and that means better representation. I’ve therefore offered to provide summaries and sources that will let people who desire to do so find information about what our government is planning and doing for us and for the country.

Also, remember: When Gutenberg developed the printing press and people had greater access to books, reading and education were considered great gifts. They still are today. Reading is Power. Use it wisely and well. 

On to Washington, now.

This past week was quite eventful in D.C. The American Rescue Plan Act (HR1319) passed both Houses of Congress and was signed into law. The House and Senate passed several other bills and referred them to each other and President Biden’s Cabinet is well on its way to completion. There has in fact been a tremendous amount of work over the past 52 days and although I can’t list everything here, the following are a few of the recent highlights, along with a few links where you can get further information on these and any other topics that interest you.

Legislation: President Biden signed HR1319 on Thursday, opening the way for $1,400 relief checks to promptly go out to struggling Americans. This bill also provides for:

 extended payroll protection
 extended small business assistance, especially minority-owned and women-owned businesses
 funds to increase vaccination and other measures to combat COVID-19
 financial assistance to the states, territories and tribal authorities for the above purposes as well as for necessary infrastructure  funding for schools to prepare and open safely
 extended unemployment benefits
 expanded child tax credits and other tax credits
 assistance to small farmers
 funding for transportation and infrastructure
 other important provisions.

You can learn more about the American Rescue Plan and how it can help you and your family or business in this well-written summary:
https://www.akingump.com/en/news-insights/summary-of-american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021.html
and at https://www.whitehouse.gov/american-rescue-plan/

The House passed the For the People Act (HR1) on March 3 and it is now under consideration in the Senate. This bill will help safeguard elections, enforce election integrity and reinforce voting rights for all Americans. Bills HR1446, HR1808 and HR8 were introduced regarding background checks for firearms purchases and the regulation of assault weapons, and there is a bill to reintroduce the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. These bills are pending a vote.

The Senate passed S.578 on the health and safety of Americans with food allergies. It also passed S.415 relative to the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, and S.164 on Biosimilars. These bills have been sent to the House for consideration. S.736 regarding firearms has also been introduced in the Senate and is pending.

The link below is an excellent tool to follow and learn more about these bills and other legislation:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/

Cabinet Confirmations: Judge Merrick Garland was confirmed as U.S. Attorney General on March 10. Also confirmed over the past couple of weeks were the Secretary of Commerce, Ms. Gina Raimundo; the HUD Secretary, Ms. Marcia Fudge; the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Cecelia Rouse; the EPA Administrator, Mr. Michael Regan, and the Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona. Confirmations are pending for Rep. Debrah Haaland for Secretary of the Interior, Ms. Katherine Tai for U.S. Trade Representative, Ms. Isabel Guzman for Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Mr. Marty Walsh for Secretary of Labor, and Mr. Xavier Becerra for Secretary of Health and Human Services The confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled for Dr. Eric Lander for Presidential Science Advisor/Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Ms. Neera Tanden withdrew as nominee for the Director of Office Management and the Budget and a new nominee has yet to be announced.

More about the new administrators and pending confirmations here:

https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden%27s_Cabinet
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/joe-biden-cabinet-members-confirmations-list/

In other Departments:

At the Department of State, Secretary Blinken presented the Biden Administration priorities for U.S. foreign policy to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 10th. His opening remarks are available here: https://www.state.gov/opening-remarks-by-secretary-of-state-antony-j-blinken-before-the-house-committee-on-foreign-affairs/
The State Department has also been highly active in affirming commitments to global allies and partnerships as well as supporting human rights. This included statements condemning violence against protestors in Burma and condemning the PRC’s interference in democratic institutions in Hong Kong, committing to work with the E.U. to counter the climate crises, and restarting the Central American Minors Program to reunite children from that region with their parents who are lawful U.S. residents. Secretary Blinken will be travelling to Asia in the coming days to discuss strategic partnerships and address the matter of relations with China. You can read about this trip at: Opinion | Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin: America’s partnerships are ‘force multipliers’ in the world – The Washington Post

More on the Department’s activities here: https://www.state.gov/

The Treasury Department has begun sending out the $1,400 relief checks and has provided updated information on getting COVID-related financial relief. You can find this information here: https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/your-money-and-coronavirus-resources-for-financial-relief

With regard to the Department of Defense, Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has been visiting the US Indo-Pacific Command HQ in Hawaii and senior leaders in India and will be meeting Secretary Blinken on his visit to Japan and South Korea to discuss strategic relationships and reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Department also launched a $7.5 million Center of Excellence in Networked Configurable Command, Control and Communications for Rapid Situational Awareness (COE-NC4) at the University of California Riverside. Department heads have also been in communication with other defense secretaries and ministers to bolster international commitments and have been monitoring the context in the Middle East and other regions.

More at: https://www.defense.gov/

Although we are awaiting confirmation of the new Secretary of the Interior, the Department of the Interior has been busy conducting the full review of the federal oil and gas program required in President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 and will be holding a virtual forum on this topic on March 25th. On March 8th, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed the EIA (environmental impact assessment) of the Vineyard Wind I offshore wind energy project. The Interior Department has also invested more than $260 million to assist states and tribes in stabilizing the economy in coal communities through land revitalization and job creation.

More at: https://www.doi.gov/news

The Department of Justice has been actively handling or monitoring cases of fraud, abuse and hate crimes, particularly against Asian-Americans. On his first day as Attorney General, Judge Garland addressed the Department’s 115,000 employees and reiterated his commitment to the rule of law and to ensuring equal justice is dispensed to all. You can watch the video here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/video/attorney-general-delivers-remarks-doj-employees and find out more about the Justice Department’s recent activity here: https://www.justice.gov/news

The Department of Agriculture has extended the program to provide free meals to children through the summer and provided a fact sheet on the agriculture provisions in the American Rescue Plan. This fact sheet is available at: https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/03/10/fact-sheet-united-states-department-agriculture-provisions-hr-1319

In the past week, the Department of Commerce implemented new export controls with regard to Burma in response to the increasingly violent reactions by Burmese security services against peaceful protestors. Earlier this year, in February, the Department awarded more than $70 million to support economic recovery under the CARES Act, across the U.S. and its territories.

More at: https://www.commerce.gov/

The Department of Health and Human Services continues to be extremely active in providing guidance with respect to the COVID pandemic. It has provided a summary of the impact the American Rescue Plan will have in increasing access to healthcare, which can be found here: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/03/12/fact-sheet-american-rescue-plan-reduces-health-care-costs-expands-access-insurance-coverage.html. The Department is also actively working with the Biden administration in the COVID vaccine rollout.

More at: https://www.hhs.gov/

The Department of Transportation has provided a $448 million TIFIA loan to the Central Texas Regional Authority for a tollway project in Austin. DOT has also made a $908 million loan for the Silver Line regional railway project in Dallas. In addition, DOT is currently seeking applicants, as of end February, for its INFRA (INFrastructure for Rebuilding America) grant program.

More at: https://www.transportation.gov/newsroom/press-releases

Among other initiatives, the Department of Energy recently launched the design and construction of the Grid Storage Launchpad in Washington State to boost the development of clean energy solutions and grid resilience in the Pacific Northwest. It also awarded $18 million in funding to optimize vehicle efficiency and performance.

More at: https://www.energy.gov/

On March 8, the Department of Housing and Urban Development approved an agreement resolving claims of racial discrimination in appraisals against J.P. Morgan bank. On March 11, HUD announced $5.5 billion in funding to local programs that help provide affordable housing, community development and economic activity, among these the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG).

You can find out more on these grants at: http://www.respanews.com/RN/ArticlesRN/HUD-affords-billions-in-affordablehousing-grants-81712.aspx
and at: https://www.hud.gov/

The Department of Education will be holding a National Safe School Reopening Summit this month to discuss strategies for meeting the social, emotional and scholastic needs of children and providing a forum where educators and experts can meet to find solutions so that children and teachers can get back into classrooms safely and as soon as possible. In parallel, the Department is launching its Best Practices Clearinghouse in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order. A handbook is expected to be released for school districts and educators next month.

More at: https://www.ed.gov/

That’s all for now. I’ll be adding information on other agencies as well in future summaries. Until next time, stay safe, everyone.
– M.L.W.