The independent January 6 committee that was established by Congress has issued their fifth and sixth rounds of Congressional subpoenas. The fifth round included members of the 2020 Donald Trump presidential campaign such as William Stepien, Jason Miller, Angela McCallum, John Eastman, Michael Flynn and Bernard Kerik.
The sixth round included staff members of the Trump White House such as Nicholas Luna, Molly Michael Benjamin Williamson, Christopher Liddell, John McEntee, Keith Kellogg, Kayleigh McEnany, Stephen Miller, Cassidy Hutchinson and Kenneth Klukowski.
Those subpoenaed have until Dec. 3 to file a deposition for the committee. If they refuse to comply they could be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal contempt of Congress.
The $3.5 trillion investment bill that will cover much of President Joe Biden’s social bill remains stuck in Congress. The Build Back Better bill was supposed to be passed by the House along with the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week. But the bill remains stuck in Congress as Democrats are being forced to make cuts to appease more conservative members in the Senate. No Republicans plan on supporting the bill which means Democrats will have to pass the bill through reconciliation in the Senate. This means that all 50 members must be on board.
The bill has currently been cut from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion in hopes to get the two most conservative members; Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema on board. Climate infrastructure has been significantly pared down and the paid family leave that was included in the bill has been cut from nine weeks to four weeks. These changes have been met favorably by the senators but they are still calling for more before they agree to vote for it.
Rising prices in consumer goods were initially thought to be “transitory,” according to the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, something that would happen as the United States economy shifted from being heavily virus-based to something more normal. Now, economists are warning that higher prices are predicted to last well into next year. The consumer price index went up 6.2% which was the largest increase since the 1990’s. “It’s a large blow against the transitory narrative. Inflation is not slowing. It’s maintained a red-hot pace,” said Jason Furman, an Obama-era economic advisor, to AP News.
Concerns are also mounting by Congressional officials who say the government should not spend more money until inflation is brought under control.
“Congressional leaders propose to pass the largest single spending bill in history with no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt, or the inevitability of future crises. Ignoring the fiscal consequences of our policy choices will create a disastrous future for the next generation of Americans,” said Senator Joe Manchin in response to the proposed Build Back Better Bill. Inflation is predicted to subside by the end of next year according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The long-awaited bipartisan infrastructure bill finally passed the House of Representatives almost two weeks ago after being passed in August by the Senate. The bill saw 13 House Republicans vote for it and 6 House Democrats vote against it. The Republicans that voted for it are Don Bacon, Brian Fitzpatrick, Andrew Garbarino, John Katko, Nicole Malliotakis, Tom Reed, Anthony Gonzalez, Adam Kinzinger, David McKinley, Chris Smith, Jeff Van Drew, Fred Upton and Don Young.
These members have faced severe blowback from members of the party both inside and outside of Congress. Representative Upton said to CNN that he received a threatening voicemail saying “I hope you die. I hope everybody in your f**king family dies.”
There are also calls among some of the far-right members of the House Republican Caucus to strip the 13 representatives mentioned above of their committee membership. “I respect their right to vote their districts and their conscience. But that doesn’t mean that they should get the privilege of leading,” said Representative Andy Biggs in a statement released to the press.
