It’s Friday, October 29th, and this is your Morning Wire. Listen to the full podcast:
1) President Biden Tries To Save Spending Bill
The Topline: After months of debate on Capitol Hill, President Joe Biden went to Congress on Thursday to rally support for his social spending package, which contains many of his key campaign promises.
Quote Of The Day: “I’m pleased to announce that after months of tough and thoughtful negotiations… I know we have a historic economic framework.”
– President Joe Biden
Chip Somodevilla/Staff/Getty Images
Two Bills
The first piece of legislation Biden hopes to get passed is the infrastructure bill, which includes a trillion dollars in funding for bridges, roads, hospitals, etc. It passed a vote in the Senate, but is currently being held up in the House by Democrats who are stalling a vote until they see what the second bill contains.
The second bill is the social spending package, which includes universal preschool, medicare expansion, and climate change measures. It can only pass with unanimous support from Senate Democrats, which they didn’t initially provide, leading Biden to return with a new, smaller framework for the bill – now at $1.75 trillion.
Progressives
Far-Left Democrats are not happy with the cuts made to the social spending bill, with some threatening to withdraw support from the infrastructure bill until they get their say on it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) met with House Democrats on Thursday, trying to pressure them into supporting the infrastructure bill, reportedly telling them not to “embarrass” Biden by voting against it.
The vote did not happen on Thursday. Now, Democrats will wait on developments with the social spending bill.
Price Tag
The administration plans to pay for the social spending bill with a corporate tax increase, a new tax on stock buybacks, and a 15% global minimum tax, which would apply to companies’ overseas earnings.
The White House also says they’ll be giving the IRS more funding to ensure no one is underpaying on their taxes, a move expected to raise another $400 billion in tax revenue.
Remember: While the Biden administration has said these measures will only impact wealthy Americans, many economists disagree. They’ve pointed out these types of measures often result in fewer job openings and higher costs for consumers as businesses look to offset the money they’re losing to the federal government.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/Contributor/LightRocket via Getty Images
2) Florida Sues Biden Administration
The Topline: The state of Florida is suing the Biden administration and NASA over vaccine mandates for federal contractors.
Quote Of The Day: “We said we’d take action and we are. This lawsuit has been filed. We think that we can hopefully get a preliminary injunction and be able to protect people’s jobs from this mandate coming in and kicking a lot of good people out of work.”
– Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R)
The Lawsuit
Biden’s vaccine mandate says federal contractors must require vaccinations and get their workers vaccinated by December 8th.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said the mandate is “unlawful,” and they’re suing the administration, NASA, NASA administrator Bill Nelson, and other White House officials.
In the lawsuit, Florida argued that NASA and others who contract in Florida and follow Biden’s vaccine mandate would be interfering with Florida’s employment policies and “threaten” the state’s economy. It said the vaccine requirement would force the state to require certain state officials to get vaccinated due to their federal contracts.
Florida Statute
The lawsuit says the Biden administration “misread” a statute it says gives it the authority to compel workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their job. A Florida official said the statute does not authorize the federal government “to use its contracts to impose social policy not authorized by Congress.”
Illegal Immigration Lawsuit
The state previously filed a lawsuit saying the Biden administration’s catch-and-release policies at the U.S.–Mexico border violate federal law. The lawsuit argues that illegal immigrants released by the administration arrive in the state, causing harm and “millions of dollars in expenses.”
Str/Xinhua/Xinhua News Agency/Contributor via Getty Images
3) Illegal Border Crossings Hit Record Numbers
The Topline: The U.S. Border Patrol reported more encounters with illegal immigrants this year than in any previous year in U.S. history.
Record Numbers
Border Patrol agents said the number of illegal immigrants they encountered at the U.S. border this fiscal year reached a total of 1,734,686, which includes around 147,000 unaccompanied minors and 1.1 million single adults.
Around 296,000 of those entered the country during President Trump’s administration, but reports state the number of illegal entries every month monumentally increased after Biden took office.
At its highest point this summer, law enforcement encountered around three-times as many undocumented migrants a month as they had before January.
Illegal entries fell to a 46-year low during the first year of the Trump administration.
Key Point: The record number doesn’t include those who successfully entered the country without being detected. This summer, that number was estimated to have surpassed 1,000 a day.
Major Concerns
Drug cartels and human traffickers control the entrance routes and smuggled a record-breaking 11,000 pounds of fentanyl into the country this year. At least 19,000 of the people apprehended were wanted criminals.
Qian Weizhong/VCG/Contributor via Getty Images
Other Stories We’re Tracking
DeSantis Takes Aim At Supply Chain Backup
In an effort to combat the growing supply chain crisis, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) encouraged cargo companies stranded outside the ports in Los Angeles, to reroute their cargo ships to ports in Florida. The governor highlighted capacity at all of Florida’s ports as well as incentives for companies who decide to ship their cargo through Florida.