Byrd To Lie In State In Senate Chamber
The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) will lie in repose today in the Senate, the chamber where he served for over 50 years. The Associated Press highlights the rarity and significance of the event in modern times: “It is fairly common for people of national import to lie in state or in honor in the Rotunda, the great hall in the center of the Capitol. Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford were honored in the Rotunda in 2004 and early 2007, and civil rights leader Rosa Parks in 2005. But while 45 people, including 19th-century Senate greats such as John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay and Charles Sumner, were commemorated on the Senate floor after their deaths, the last to lie in repose in the Senate was William Langer of North Dakota in 1959.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET. He will meet at 10 a.m. ET with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner. He will deliver a speech at 10:50 a.m. ET, at American University, on comprehensive immigration reform. He will have lunch with business leaders at 12:15 p.m. ET. Obama and Vice President Biden will meet at 3:05 p.m. ET with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Obama and Biden will receive a briefing at 3:35 p.m. ET on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. At 4:20 p.m. Et, Obama will welcome the Women’s Professional Soccer Champions Sky Blue FC Champions to the White House. Obama will meet with Biden at 5:35 p.m. ET. Then at 6:15 p.m. ET, Obama will sign the Iran Sanctions Bill.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden hosted an 8 a.m. ET breakfast meeting at the Naval Observatory, with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Afterwards, he will attend a service at the Capitol for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). He will meet at 3:05 p.m. ET in the Oval Office with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and he will attend a briefing with Obama at 3:35 p.m. ET on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He will meet again with Obama at 5:35 p.m. ET in the Oval Office.
More Than 1.3 Million People To Lose Unemployment Benefits
The Associated Press reports: “More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day. An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their benefits each week, unless Congress acts.”
Democrats To Punt On Taxes
The Hill reports: “Democratic leaders are likely to punt the task of renewing Bush-era tax cuts until after the election. Voters in November’s midterms will thus be left without a clear idea of their future tax rates when they go to the polls. Some Democrats say Congress should not take up a package to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts until President Barack Obama’s debt commission makes its report.”
GOP Calls Obama Approach Two-Faced
Roll Call reports: “President Barack Obama has been pleading with Capitol Hill Republicans to work in a bipartisan way on key measures such as climate change legislation and immigration reform, but many of his most likely GOP allies say the president has lost all credibility since he bashes them every time he hits the campaign trail…’A day doesn’t go by where we don’t hear one thing and see another. The outstretched hand by the left with the clenched clock across the face by the right…It just seems to be their method of doing things,’ Budget ranking member Paul Ryan said.”
Senate Democrats Spend Generously on DSCC
CQ reports: “Senate Democrats, despite signs of increasing political vulnerability in the midterm elections, continue to be far more generous than their Republican counterparts in sending personal campaign funds to their parties’ respective campaign committees. Through May 31, Senate Democrats had transferred $4.6 million in personal campaign and leadership political action committee funds to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the cycle. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) confirmed in a brief interview Wednesday that Member transfers from GOP Senators remain a very small part of his overall fundraising strategy.”
