DC Buzz: 2020 is here. Button up Connecticut. – Middletown Press

On Monday, members of Congress will shuttle back to the U.S. Capitol ready — we hope — for a frenetic new year of impeachment drama, foreign policy deliberations, legislative debates and fiesty re-election campaigns.

Forget politics as usual. There’s bumpy and unfamiliar territory ahead.

When they step back in Washington, the Connecticut delegation has expressed in no uncertain terms that it wants an immediate briefing from the White House on the assassination of a top Iranian general this week and the deployment of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East, as fears of a snowballing conflict in the Middle East mount.

Will Congress contemplate war with Iran in 2020? It’s possible.

Moreover, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are staring down the barrel of a historic Senate impeachment trial expected to start roughly soon and continue who knows how long.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, is still hoping for a shoulder tap from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to dip his toe in Senate waters as a House “manager” for the prosecution of President Donald Trump in the trial. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, will seek the leadership of Congress’s powerful budget-writing committee.

And in what may be the only shred of normalcy, every member of the Connecticut delegation has a list of bills they pray will crawl their way through both chambers to Trump’s desk for an autograph.

U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, said her 2020 top priority is passing Democrats’ revamped Higher Education Act, which would provide more federal aid to make college affordable, boost student support services and pin tougher regulations on colleges that don’t make the grade. It comes with a chunky $400 billion price tag over 10 years.

DeLauro on Friday said her 2020 focus will be passing her paid family and medical leave bill, a longtime goal of the congresswoman who has taken leave herself to fight cancer.

“People are working in jobs that do not pay them enough to keep up with the rising costs they face every day,” DeLauro said. “Sadly then, it is no surprise that very few can afford to lose several weeks of wages in order to take care of an ill loved one or for the birth or adoption of a child. The FAMILY Act would fix that economic challenge workers are facing across the country.”

DeLauro said she wanted “meaningful Congressional action” on the bill, which has not yet passed the House. Trump support for the bill appears unlikely after Trump’s daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, snubbed DeLauro and her partner U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., as unwilling to “compromise” and did not invite them to a White House summit on paid family leave.

When legislators resume lawmaking, the Senate is expected to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, an agreement to rewrite the rules of North American trade that was negotiated, in part, by U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1, and DeLauro. That’s a big deal because trade with Canada and Mexico supports 145,100 jobs in Connecticut, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.

And you can bet the Murphy and Blumenthal will try to reignite their negotiations over gun reforms in 2020. Murphy has lead talks with Republicans over expanded background checks fun gun purchases since August, and Blumenthal is focused on red flag laws with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

But when will the Senate pass anything, if it’s bogged down in an impeachment trial? We don’t really know.

Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are still in a face-off with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., over calling new witnesses in the Senate trial. Pelosi has withheld the two articles of impeachment passed by her chamber in an attempt to win a “fair” Senate trial.

McConnell called Pelosi’s interference a “non-starter” on Friday and said the Senate will continue the “ordinary business of the Senate” until it receives the articles.

“We can’t hold the trial without the articles,” he said.

You may remember Murphy said back in December Pelosi should send the articles “sooner rather than later” because it should be up to the Senate to craft the rules for the trial.

But whenever the Senate gets around to it, the trial is significant, even if it is very likely to result in Trump’s acquittal. The House’s impeachment of Trump was the most monumental action of Congress in 2019 and perhaps in decades, said Michael Malbin, professor of political science at the State University of New York at Albany.

“Nothing Congress has done this past year is remotely as important as the House’s decision to impeach the President,” Malbin said. “By implication, that also puts the President’s actions and reactions on the same level of importance. Whether you agree or disagree that the facts support removal, or wish that a censure might have sufficed, the historic significance cannot be gainsaid. Nor could the historic significance have been avoided. Inaction of any kind would be equivalent to acceptance.”

And before anyone starts moaning that Congress didn’t do anything else in 2019, here’s short list of laws passed last year that are meaningful to Connecticut:

 A $1.4 trillion spending package, keeping the federal government afloat until September. DeLauro, who chairs a spending subcommittee, negotiated a significant portion of the package, including a new provision to fund $25 million in federal gun violence research. The bill gave some tax exclusions to volunteer fire fighters and first responders, a provision fought for by Larson. It also repealed a tax on employer-sponsored health plans and allocated funding for cumbling foundations research, provisions introduced by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2.

 A massive defense bill that sets up the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Military to buy new submarines, helicopters and airplane parts from Connecticut manufacturers like General Dynamics Electric Boat, Pratt and Whitney and others. Courtney and Blumenthal both played key roles in shaping this legislation. It also created a new allowance for the surviving spouses of veterans, a measure introduced by Hayes.

 The Sept. 11 Victim’s Compensation Fund was permanently replenished. It pays claims to first responders and others sick with World Trade Center-related illnesses. Hundreds of Connecticut residents have sought aid from the fund.

 A bill to make “animal crushing” and other forms of animal cruelty a federal crime was introduced by Blumenthal and passed.

Finally, in 2019, we wished a happy retirement to Dan Freedman, who with wisdom and wit brought you the D.C. Buzz each week for many years. His are big shoes to fill, but hopefully I will grow into them.

We’re walking into another wild year. Button up, Connecticut.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson

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