The revolution isn’t coming from the margins anymore.
Centrists are increasingly exerting control in Congress, Maeve Sheehey and Erin Durkin report. It’s a reversal of many years of the extremists driving the (often bottlenecked) political agenda.
And it is happening — as you might expect from those not known to be political bomb throwers — by using the institution’s more boring and arcane rules against it.
On the House side, the discontent has been appearing in a slew of discharge petitions that circumvent House leadership and the blockage of larger must-pass legislation.
Moderate House Republicans withheld their votes on a rule that would allow for debate and consideration of a completely unrelated defense bill. They ultimately let the rule advance (after a tense hour). These episodes represent a boiling over of tensions from the wing of the GOP that isn’t known for, well, boiling.
“You try to do things through the normal course, you try to do things through regular order,” said Rep.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, neither party was able to lure enough centrists to enact either Democratic or Republican health care plans yesterday.
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Two Votes Against Trump Agenda
The Indiana Senate rejected a congressional redistricting plan yesterday backed by President Donald Trump that would have given Republicans an advantage in all nine of the state’s House districts, Andrew Oxford reports.
Despite a steep 40-10 GOP tilt, the partisan map failed 19-31. A rejection like that is a bad sign going into an election year when control of Congress is at stake, Jonathan Tamari writes in today’s Congress Tracker newsletter.
Meanwhile in Congress, the House voted 231-195 to undo Trump’s executive order curbing union rights at some federal agencies. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) successfully forced the vote.
All present Democrats and 20 Republicans voted in favor of (
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EXCLUSIVE: Medicaid Firm Struggles to Shield Data
The largest processor of Medicaid claims, which is shifting more of its operations to India, is leaving Americans’ personal health and identifiable information vulnerable to access by its overseas workers, a Bloomberg Law investigation has found.
Almost all of Gainwell Technologies’ contracts with more than two dozen states prohibit storing, viewing or accessing any identifying information outside US borders. But interviews with 15 current and former Gainwell employees over several months, backed by a review of internal communications, emails and records of individual meetings, show its systems can’t always prevent protected data from being viewed by workers in India.
Personal health information has been visible during troubleshooting meetings, group chats and online sessions where US employees train the India workers who might eventually replace them, according to current and former employees.
“Medicaid and claims tied to U.S. citizens can be accessed by offshore contractors,” said Bob Colson, a former Gainwell applications manager who said he resigned in August over what he called ethical concerns with the company’s overseas data practices. He added that there’s a “troubling disconnect between policy and practice.”
Gainwell strongly disputed claims by Colson and other current and former employees that workers in India can see or access systems containing protected health information and personally identifying information. “Gainwell steadfastly abides by all provisions limiting data storage and access to the U.S.,” according to a letter from its law firm, Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch. Read More
What We’re Watching Next Week
NDAA in Senate: Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has set up procedural votes next week that will lead to final passage of the measure that authorizes $901 billion in national defense spending, Roxana Tiron reports.
House health care votes are expected some time next week, although the substance is still TBD.
BLS will release November nonfarm payroll figures on Tuesday, incorporating elements of October as well, the first major snapshot of employment since the government shutdown.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and two FCC commissioners are due at a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday. Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had been critical of Carr’s threats to broadcasters, which led to the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
Jobless claims and some inflation data will be released on Thursday.
Epstein Files: The deadline for the Department of Justice to release Jeffrey Epstein-related files is Friday.
🎄Recess! 🕎 Congress is scheduled to end its year and go into holiday break on Friday.
Did You Miss It?
BGOV journalists and analysts held a “Deep Dive” Webinar yesterday to discuss the NDAA. See the slides here
What Else We’re Reading
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Foreign Insiders Face SEC Stock Trade Disclosures Under Bill
Foreign corporate insiders would have to reveal when they buy or sell company stock under a provision included in the House-passed defense authorization bill, a move backers describe as closing a loophole that hurts US investors.
Tanker Seizure Just the Start as Trump Ups Pressure on Venezuela
The seizure of an enormous oil supertanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday is just the beginning of a new phase in the Trump administration’s ramped-up pressure campaign against
House Passes Capital Formation Bill Aimed at Small Business IPOs
The House passed wide-ranging legislation Thursday aimed at making it easier for small businesses to go public.
ICE Detainees Successfully ‘Swarm’ Courts Seeking Due Process
The Trump administration’s radical reinterpretation of its detention powers under a bedrock federal immigration statute is largely falling flat in court, with federal district court judges broadly rejecting the view that noncitizens who have lived in the US for years don’t have the right to a bond hearing.
Trump Says He Pardoned Ex-Clerk in Prison for Election Crimes
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