Congress
Lawmakers zero in on spectrum auction deal, Rounds says
Lawmakers seem to have reached a breakthrough over language for a spectrum provision in the GOP’s tax and spending megabill, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told Blue Light News Wednesday.
The House proposal aimed to open up 600 MHz of spectrum for commercial use, alarming national security hawks, who warned that it would encroach on important military and intelligence frequencies. Rounds, a senior Senate Armed Services Committee member who was among those who pushed back, said on Wednesday that, per this emerging agreement, key spectrum bands would be protected from the auctions through 2034.
“It’s looking better than it has in the past, and I think we’re going to be able to get everything that we had concerns with,” he said, cautioning that the deal was still pending. “Final paper I have not seen, but it looks good.”
Asked earlier Wednesday about Rounds’ threats a day earlier to vote against legislation that doesn’t address his spectrum concerns, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, “I am confident we’ll get it done.”
Congress
House GOP poised to vote on pesticide language
The House is poised to vote this week on whether to keep controversial pesticide language in the farm bill after a revolt from some Republicans and Make America Healthy Again activists.
House GOP leaders drafted a rule Tuesday to move forward with the farm bill and other key legislative priorities this week after overnight negotiations.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and other MAHA-aligned Republicans have threatened to withhold support for the bill unless the pesticide provision — which bars states from creating pesticide labeling laws that differ from EPA guidance — is stripped.
Luna said Monday she would “BLOW UP the farm bill” if the pesticide language wasn’t removed.
The draft rule, which was obtained by Blue Light News, would still need to clear the committee and be adopted by the House before Luna’s amendment could get a floor vote.
House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) defended the pesticide language Monday during a Rules Committee hearing, sparring with Democratic lawmakers who slammed the provision as a “liability shield.”
Farm state Republicans have worried the Luna amendment will pass if it’s allowed a floor vote, noting only one Democrat opposed a similar measure in the House Agriculture Committee.
The fight over pesticide manufacturer health risk liability has reached a fever pitch in Washington this week. The Rules Committee’s decision comes the day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case weighing whether Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, should be preempted from failure-to-warn claims for cancer risks associated with pesticide use.
Other amendments made in order to the draft rule include adding hot rotisserie chicken as eligible to be purchased using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, banning “painful” dog and cat testing, and repealing the transfer of the Food for Peace international aid program to the Agriculture Department while giving the president authority over the initiative.
The Rules Committee also made in order an amendment from Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) to remove emissions mandates on farm equipment after she threatened to vote against the rule.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Congress
Florida Rep. Daniel Webster announces retirement
Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday he will not seek reelection in November, joining dozens of lawmakers who have announced their retirement ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Webster, who has served in Congress since 2011 after a decadeslong career in the statehouse, said the decision came after much prayer and discussion with his wife, Sandy.
“The time has come to pass the torch to the next conservative leader and spend more precious time with my wife, children and 24 grandchildren,” Webster said in a statement.
Webster represented a red-leaning House district outside of Orlando after serving in the state Legislature, including as the first Republican state House speaker since reconstruction in Florida.
His forthcoming exit from Congress is unlikely to create a pickup opportunity for Democrats in November.
His retirement comes a day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled newly drawn congressional maps designed to give Republicans an even larger advantage in the state, although Webster’s district was not changed dramatically.
Webster had been critical of the redistricting efforts, warning that it was a “slippery slope.”
“I’ve been around enough reapportionments to know it can come back and bite you,” Webster said last month.
Still, Webster said Tuesday that he plans to “finish strong.”
“There is much work left to do before this Congress closes and I am fully focused on finishing strong,” Webster said. “I will keep working to get bills over the finish line that will leverage private investment to finance public infrastructure projects; ensure America — not China or any other adversary — remains the leader in space exploration; and that the United States will set the standards that protect our technological advantages.”
Congress
Rules coming back
The House Rules Committee will reconvene at 1 p.m. as GOP leaders grow more confident they can break through an impasse that has ground the floor to a halt.
“We’re getting closer,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday, sticking with a plan that would have Republicans vote later in the day on a measure teeing up votes on the Section 702 spy law, a budget resolution setting up funding for Homeland Security agencies and the farm bill.
Scalise added that they are trying to work a ban on central bank digital currencies — a key demand of conservative hard-liners — into some legislative vehicle.
“We’re going have some late night votes tonight,” he said, due to King Charles III’s joint-meeting address Tuesday afternoon.
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