THE LONG GAME: Intel Committee fight; White House COS to step down
A battle is brewing between the parties on committee membership—specifically, regarding spots on the House Intelligence Committee. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) officially recommended that two California Democrats serve on the panel: Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell. Both members served on Intelligence in the past and, according to Jeffries, are “eminently qualified”; Schiff is a former chairman of the committee, where he presided over the first impeachment investigation of President Trump. However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has vowed to block the assignments, in what is viewed largely as retaliation for Democrats having moved in the prior Congress to strip Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of their committees. Greene lost her assignments due, in part, to spreading incendiary comments and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories; Gosar posted online videos depicting the killing of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and violence against President Biden. In both cases, some Republicans joined Democrats in voting to deny seats to Greene and Gosar. Jeffries accused McCarthy of a “double standard” in allowing Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to join the Small Business Committee and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, despite Santos’s long list of lies about his background.
Ron Klain, a top aide to President Biden for nearly thirty years, will step down as White House chief of staff in the coming weeks. Klain is credited with having helped Biden score big legislative victories, such as the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, and for Democrats’ better-than-expected performance in the 2022 midterm election. It is a noteworthy move in an administration that has been remarkably immune from the turnover that marked previous administrations. In fact, Klain’s tenure has been longer than that of any other Democratic president’s first chief of staff in more than fifty years. Klain will depart sometime after the State of the Union address, which is scheduled for February 7. Replacing Klain will be Jeffrey Zients, who served as Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator.
Washington Watch is published weekly when Congress is in session. Published monthly during extended recess or adjournment.
Spotlight on Puerto Rico
PREPA moves closer to privatization
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has approved a contract moving the Island a step closer toward private power generation. Board members voted 4-1 to authorize a contract to an as-of-yet undisclosed private company that will operate and maintain power generation units owned by PREPA. The sole dissenting vote came from Tomás Torres Placa, who was appointed to the board to represent consumer interests. The private company’s name will not be disclosed until the contract is signed. Agreement details will be released in the coming weeks when Gov. Pedro Pierluisi is expected to sign off and seek approval for the deal by the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB). This comes as Puerto Ricans, who endure frequent blackouts, pay an average of double what mainland U.S. customers pay.
Puerto Rico to crack down on tax system abuse
Puerto Rican Treasury Secretary Francisco Parés announced last week that the government will begin cracking down on people who abuse the U.S. territory’s tax credit system. A centralized system to administer tax credits related to investments could generate as much as an $130 million a year for the government, which could lead to tax breaks for Island residents. Parés disclosed that the tax credit system has never been audited and estimates as much as 20 percent of tax credits could be fraudulent.
Rep. Gonzalez-Colon to introduce New Puerto Rico Status Act
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR) has announced that she will reintroduce the Puerto Rico Status Act. The bill passed the House in December 2022 but failed to make it across the finish line in the Senate. The bill would have created a binding referendum for Puerto Ricans to choose from one of three options: statehood, independence, or “Free Association.” Every Democrat in the House ultimately voted for that bill, along with 16 Republicans.
Once the new bill is introduced, Gonzalez-Colon hopes for hearings in the House Natural Resources Committee. However, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the new chair of the committee, voted against the bill last year, and has previously spoken out against any modifications to the Island’s status. Meanwhile, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has reintroduced a statehood admissions bill for the District of Columbia. Since there is precedent for states to be admitted as pairs (as with Alaska and Hawaii in the mid-20th Century or the splitting of the Dakota Territory in the 1880s), an agreement to admit the two together could help move the bill forward.
UCF Puerto Rico Research Hub receives $500K in new grants to expand research
University of Central Florida’s Puerto Rico Research Hub (PRRH) has been awarded $500,000 to expand research capabilities and track key social and economic trends on the Island and within the Puerto Rican diaspora across the continental United States. The PRRH was established following Hurricane Maria and the subsequent influx of Puerto Ricans into the Central Florida. The funding will enable the hub to conduct polls, develop new communications and marketing tools, draft new reports, and more broadly share information. Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) championed the funding, which was included in the 2023 omnibus budget bill.
View From The White House
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that President Biden would veto Strategic Production Response Act (H.R. 21), GOP-backed legislation that would limit the administration’s ability to tap the nation’s oil reserves, if it reached his desk.
The Supreme Court asked the Biden administration on Monday to weigh in on whether states may bar online media platforms from removing certain types of political messages, as justices consider ruling on the constitutionality of laws passed by Republicans in Texas and Florida who claimed that Facebook and Twitter allegedly “censor” conservative viewpoints.
After a hacker claimed to obtain an older version of the Transportation Security Administration’s no-fly list, the TSA announced that it was investigating the situation as a “potential cybersecurity incident.”
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