November 10th

This week in MORE POWER:
Next Week’s Shutdown Deadline
House Censure Impact
Humanitarian Crisis Escalates
Biden’s Record Breaking Judges
It’s Officially the 2024 Election Season
Budget Progress Report

Next Week’s Shutdown Deadline

Congress has four working days to pass the full 2024 budget or a second extension to buy time to negotiate. If they do not pass either, the federal government will shut down.

Last Friday, the House passed the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. But House Republican infighting stalled progress this week. Leadership scheduled votes on both the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for this week. But when it became clear that Republicans did not have the votes to pass the bills, each was abruptly pulled from the voting schedule.

The Senate didn’t pass any budget bills this week, but they are expected to pass an additional continuing resolution that would push the deadline to pass the full budget to December. House leadership is likely to present their own continuing resolution, but theirs is expected to push the budget deadline into 2024. Hill staffers and reporters who cover Congress are projecting a 50% chance of a shutdown. Have a view on this that you would like to share?

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House Censure Impact

Last week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D-MI) survived an attempt to censure her. This week, a bipartisan group of House members successfully voted to censure Rep. Tlaib “for promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel” after she shared a video on social media with the phrase “from the river to the sea.” The vote was 234-188. While four Republicans joined 184 Democrats to vote no, 22 Democrats joined 212 Republicans to pass it. Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-MD) said that the vote showed who "believes in the freedom of speech, even the speech they hate."

When the House passes a censure resolution about a particular member, it means that the House will publicly shame that representative. The member has to stand on the House floor and listen to a rebuke of their behavior. It is essentially a slap on the wrist that has no impact on the member’s ability to vote on legislation or serve on a committee.

Censure is a rare move, and one that House members have not invoked in the past during moments of public outcry over representatives’ racist or criminal acts. It can also be overtly political, as in the case of the Republican House censuring Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-CA) for investigating allegations of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia in the 2016 election.

Members continue to introduce new censure resolutions. Rep. Sarah Jacobs, (D-CA) wants to censure Rep. Brian Mast for repeated Islamophobic statements like “there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians” and terrorism is “absolutely supported by the Palestinian people from elementary school all the way up into the elderly.” Have a view on this that you would like to share?

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Humanitarian Crisis Escalates

Three weeks ago, President Biden asked Congress for a $106B aid package that included defense aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S-Mexico border. The package also includes $10B in humanitarian aid, most of which would go to Israel, Ukraine, Gaza, and the West Bank.

At this point, the Senate has not yet held a vote on Biden’s proposal or the House bill that passed providing funding to Israel only. The Senate has put consideration of both proposals on hold due to the looming budget deadline. Have a view on this you would like to share?

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Biden’s Record Breaking Judges

This week, the White House announced that the Senate has confirmed 150 of President Biden’s judicial nominees, including a record breaking 100 women. Biden has focused on promoting public defenders and civil rights attorneys, successfully appointing record numbers of both.

He has also appointed more Black women to the nation’s circuit courts than all previous administrations combined, and more Black women federal judges as well as more Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI), and Native American federal judges than any previous administration. Biden’s 41st round of judicial nominees announced last week included Judges Julie S. Sneed and Jacquelyn D. Austin, helping the administration reach a historic number of Black women nominees as well.

It's Officially the 2024 Election Season

Mark your calendars: the next General Election is less than a year away on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Here are the federal positions that will be on the ballot:

President and Vice President

President Biden and Vice President Harris are up for re-election. If current poll numbers hold, they are likely to face former president Donald Trump in a rematch of 2020. That could change if the courts rule to remove Trump from the ballot in one of several cases using the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment to invalidate his candidacy. Even if Trump is tried and convicted of a felony, he would still be eligible to run for and serve as president.

35 out of 100 U.S. Senate Seats

Voters in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming will vote on candidates to serve their states in the U.S. Senate. You can sign in to use 1000 MORE to find your current Senators.

The entire House of Representatives

Yes, that means you will get to vote for who will represent you in the House. You can sign in to use 1000 MORE to find your current rep.

Keep in mind, some members of Congress are retiring. In those cases, you will choose among new candidates for the role in a primary election prior to the general election.