A Capitol View: January 2022

Welcome to the January edition of A Capitol View. This edition includes updates on the SMI team, battery grants, news from Congress, congressional retirements, and a summary and analysis of the FY22 NDAA from SMI’s very own.

Meet SMI’s Newest Team Member, Leigh Maiden!

Leigh Maiden joined SMI’s team as an Associate last month.

Leigh Maiden has seven years of experience working on Capitol Hill where she became a widely respected defense and appropriations expert. During her time in Congress, Leigh supported a wide range of national security, defense, intelligence, foreign affairs, and veterans’ affairs legislation.
Prior to joining SMI, Leigh served as the Legislative Director to Congressman Filemon Vela (TX), a Member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and the Deputy Chair of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She also served as the Military Legislative Assistant (MLA) to the HASC Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Chairman, Jim Langevin (RI). Leigh began her career on Capitol Hill working for Senator Joe Manchin (WV), serving the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee as his Defense Legislative Correspondent. Leigh has held internships with former Senators Jay Rockefeller (WV) and Bill Nelson (FL), the Foreign Service Institute, and the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. Before joining SMI, Leigh was a member of the government relations team at Anduril Industries, a defense technology company.

Leigh is a West Virginia native and enjoys returning home often for whitewater rafting excursions, horseback riding, snowboarding, and spending time with her family. She looks forward to bringing her diverse background in national security policy and budgetary expertise to advance the priorities of SMI’s clients in Congress.

Leigh received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Politics and International Affairs and in Economics from Wake Forest University and holds a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

Find Leigh’s press release here and her contact information here.

Battery Manufacturing Grants in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

By SMI’s Dr. Drew Ronneberg, VP

As domestic transportation infrastructure moves away from its reliance on gasoline and diesel in favor of electricity, the United States risks losing recent gains in energy security with increased dependence on overseas Li-ion battery supply chains. Li-ion battery manufacturing relies heavily on imported raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. High demand for raw materials like cobalt work to exacerbate already dangerous working conditions in conflict-ridden countries. Additionally, the production of key battery components (e.g., anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes) and full cells is concentrated in China and the rest of Asia.

By establishing domestic supply chains for Li-ion batteries, the US can accomplish two goals. First, domestic production of raw materials and battery components can reduce the risk of supply chain disruptions that occur because of armed conflict or trade disputes. This increases domestic supply chain efficiency and resiliency, while decreasing our dependence on conflict materials and imports from non-allied states. In addition, the establishment of domestic supply chains maximizes the economic benefit of producing EV batteries, including the creation of well-paying, highly skilled manufacturing jobs for Americans.

To address this issue, Congress has appropriated $6 billion dollars’ worth of manufacturing grants under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to incentivize the onshoring of EV battery supply chains. These manufacturing grants, which require at least a 50% industry cost share, will target the upstream production and processing of raw materials as well as the downstream manufacturing of battery components, cells, and battery packs.
The Department of Energy is expected to release its first Battery Manufacturing solicitation early this year. As former officials with the Department of Energy, Drew Ronneberg and Pat Davis have worked on similar funding opportunities under the 2009 Recovery Act. If your company is interested in applying to the upcoming Battery Manufacturing grants, please contact drew@strategicmi.com

SMI’s Summary and Analysis of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

On December 27, 2021, President Biden signed the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law, making it the 60th annual version of the bill to complete its journey through the halls of Congress. The final bill amounted to a massive 3,268 pages, providing policy groundwork and fiscal authorizations for the Department of Defense and related agencies.

Over the past few weeks, SMI’s team of analysts have put together an in-depth summary of key procurement and research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) provisions to provide insight and brief analysis into congressional opinions, notable programs, and broader policy trends.

Click here to download a PDF of the summary.

What’s Happening in Congress?

Senate Democrats’ efforts to change the longstanding filibuster rule, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY), failed last Wednesday in a final floor vote of 52-48. The chances of a successful floor vote for Democrats were lowered after Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) voted with GOP members against the rule change, resulting in heavy criticism from President Biden and fellow Democrats. The change would have created a “talking filibuster,” which requires members to speak on the floor in order to block legislation. As Schumer reiterated his vehement support of a changed filibuster, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) characterized the efforts as undemocratic and politically divisive.

The Democrats’ failure to win Wednesday’s floor vote on the filibuster led to their failure to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, a key piece of legislation that motivated changing the filibuster. Under Schumer’s proposed changes to the rule, a floor vote on voting-related legislation would only require a simple majority to advance to final passage. The Act would bring massive reforms to electoral processes, redistricting, and campaign finance laws.

This is not the only attempt at election reform taking place in Congress. A bipartisan group of Senators led by Senator Susan Collins (ME) is pursuing alternative reforms via discussions on narrower changes to how state vote counts are certified in Congress. Included in this group are Senator Mitt Romney (UT), Senator Joe Manchin (WV), Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Senator Roger Wicker (MS). The group is set to meet in person in the coming week to begin drafting legislation.

Congressional Retirements

Here is the most recent list of members of Congress not seeking reelection.

Senators

Richard Shelby AL Retiring

Roy Blunt MO Retiring

Richard Burr NC Retiring

Rob Portman OH Retiring

Pat Toomey PA Retiring

Patrick Leahy VT Retiring

Representatives

Ann Kirkpatrick AZ-02 Retiring

Jerry McNerney CA-09 Retiring

Jackie Speier CA-14 Retiring

Karen Bass CA-37 Running for Mayor

Lucille Roybal-Allard CA-40 Retiring

Alan Lowenthal CA-47 Retiring

Ed Perlmutter CO-07 Retiring

Stephanie Murphy FL-07 Retiring

Val Demings FL-10 Running for Senate

Charlie Crist FL-13 Running for Governor

Bobby Rush IL-01 Retiring

Cheri Bustos IL-17 Retiring

John Yarmuth KY-03 Retiring

Anthony Brown MD-04 Running for Attorney General

Brenda Lawrence MI-14 Retiring

G.K. Butterfield NC-01 Retiring

David Price NC-04 Retiring

Albio Sires NJ-08 Retiring

Tom Suozzi NY-03 Running for Governor

Tim Ryan OH-13 Running for Senate

Peter DeFazio OR-04 Retiring

Conor Lamb PA-17 Running for Senate

Mike Doyle PA-18 Retiring

Jim Langevin RI-02 Retiring

Eddie Bernice Johnson TX-30 Retiring

Filemon Vela TX-34 Retiring

Peter Welch VT-AL Running for Senate

Ron Kind WI-03 Retiring

Mo Brooks AL-05 Running for Senate

Devin Nunes CA-22 Resigned his seat*

Jody Hice GA-10 Running for Secretary of State

Adam Kinzinger IL-16 Retiring

Trey Hollingsworth IN-09 Retiring

Vicky Hartzler MO-04 Running for Senate

Billy Long MO-07 Running for Senate

Ted Budd NC-13 Running for Senate

Lee Zeldin NY-01 Running for Governor

Tom Reed NY-23 Retiring

John Katko NY-24 Retiring

Anthony Gonzalez OH-16 Retiring

Louie Gohmert TX-01 Retiring

Kevin Brady TX-08 Retiring