No images? Click here Welcome back to this week's edition of the Washington Weekly newsletter - bringing you the latest and greatest policy updates from Washington, D.C.House Votes to End Russia’s Favored Trade Status; Senate Next The House voted overwhelmingly to end regular trade relations with Russia in a move that would allow the U.S. to sharply raise tariffs on Russian goods entering the country. The bill, passed 424-8, would end what’s known as most-favored-nation status for Russia, putting it in a category with other pariah states like North Korea and Cuba. The legislation would allow the U.S. to hit Russia with significantly higher tariffs than those it applies to other members of the World Trade Organization. The WTO has a core principle of treating all members equally. The next step is for the Senate to consider the legislation, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday, March 17, 2022, his chamber will swiftly pass the bill, sending it to Biden to sign. The bill passed the House via a fast-track procedure used for bills that have broad support. Schumer said both parties are united in sending a clear message to Putin. The bill also applies Belarus, which has hosted the Russian troops invading Ukraine. Ending the normal trading relationship with Russia is the latest in a series of actions from lawmakers to ratchet up pressure on Russia’s economy after Putin invaded Ukraine last month. The House last week voted to ban imports of Russian oil, though it’s unclear if that will see action in the Senate, where some members say Biden’s executive order taking the same action makes the move unnecessary. White House Pushing for More Covid Funding Americans will feel the impact of cuts to the U.S. COVID response as early as this week, the White House said Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in a letter to congressional leaders, as efforts to get more funding sit stalled. This letter is the latest push on behalf of the White House to try to persuade Congress that the U.S. desperately needs more COVID-relief money. So far, those pleas have not had much success. The funding crunch comes as cases of the BA.2 variant, a more transmissible strain of omicron, rise in other countries. Biden and his administration have warned for weeks that there was not enough money left to support critical COVID-19 response efforts, including testing at the current pace, purchasing more COVID-19 treatments and acquiring more booster shots. The administration officially requested $22.5 billion earlier this month, but the request was chiseled down to around $15 billion before it was cut entirely from the latest funding bill last week, leaving government relief efforts strained. Read the letter HERE. Democrats Push to Resume Reconciliation Talks House Democrats are asking President Joe Biden to restart negotiations over a reconciliation bill, using popular provisions on climate as a starting point. “Restarting negotiations with climate action is a clear path forward to deliver tangible results to the American people,” the lawmakers—Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Nikema Williams (D-Ga.)—told Biden. “Given the widespread agreement in the U.S. Senate for House-passed climate provisions, we have an opportunity to recommence negotiations,” they said. The letter signals support from key Democratic factions. The House-passed reconciliation bill included hundreds of billions in tax credits for nuclear plants, renewable power, advanced energy manufacturing and electric vehicles but has stalled with opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Read the letter HERE. Internal SBA Group Monitors for Pandemic Relief Program Fraud A newly formed group of top officials at the Small Business Administration is monitoring fraud risk in the agency’s loan programs, as the SBA continues to administer pandemic-relief programs amid rising interest at the highest government levels in cracking down on bad actors. The SBA group, made up of agency leaders, was created in recent weeks as an internal way to manage fraud in lending programs like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), William Shear, director of Financial Markets and Community Investment at the Government Accountability Office, told lawmakers Wednesday, March 15, 2022. Speaking before the House Small Business Oversight Subcommittee, Shear said creating the entity has been a long-standing GAO recommendation to keep an eye on fraudsters looking to take advantage of pandemic-relief programs like PPP and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL). PPP and EIDL were loan programs designed to provide immediate relief to small businesses struggling to keep doors open and employees on payroll. The PPP was a loan-to-grant program that provided forgivable loans if businesses could prove they used the funds correctly, while EIDL provided low-interest loans. Both programs delivered hundreds of billions of dollars to needy businesses, but some of the money fell into the hands of fraudsters who took advantage of the pandemic to reap profits. The SBA is still processing PPP loan forgiveness applications while concern about fraud has reached all the way to the White House. President Joe Biden announced during his March 1 State of the Union address that the Department of Justice would appoint a special prosecutor to root out PPP and unemployment insurance fraud beyond the SBA and DOJ’s existing efforts. If you have not yet participated in our grassroots campaigns, but would like to take action to oppose the PRO Act or oppose the harmful tax hikes in the American Job’s Plan, click the Take Action tab above now.
Missed last week's Washington Weekly? Catch up here on all our past editions. |