FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of March 13, 2023

The Senate is in session starting Tuesday. The House is in recess until Wednesday, March 22.

Last Thursday, President Joe Biden unveiled his Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget summaries. The $6.9 trillion budget request includes a 6.5% increase in nondefense discretionary spending and a 3% increase in total defense spending. Today, the Biden Administration began releasing agency-level budget details, which serves as an unofficial start to the fiscal year appropriations process. Congress, as always, acknowledges the president’s budget and proceeds on its own path to passing FY 2024 spending legislation. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) pledged to Republicans that the chamber would bring up the 12 appropriations bills individually in the 118th Congress while agreeing to an open amendment process. The individual passage of each spending bill will make for a complicated path to completing the appropriations process and heightens the potential for a continuing resolution at the end of Fiscal Year 2023 on September 30. As for a House Republican version similar to the president’s budget, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) mentioned that his party is in “no rush” to present their budget proposal, and the expectation is an early to mid-May release.

After Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on Friday, Congress received a briefing from the Treasury Department regarding how best to contain the fallout from the bank's failure. The collapse marks the most significant failure of a bank since the 2008 financial crisis. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) will file cloture on a bill to repeal the authorizations for the use of military force against Iraq (S. 316). The bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) would end the authorized use of military force or AUMF as commonly referred to ends the 1991 and 2002 Iraq authorizations. Many are unsure of the bill’s path in the House following the vote in the Senate, but the bill could join the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as an amendment. The Senate will also vote on Brent Neiman's nomination as Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Finance and Development.

House Republicans have identified a large energy package titled the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1) as one of their top legislative priorities. The bill's contents include proposals aimed at streamlining the country’s approval process for energy and mining permitting processes and ensuring minerals for advanced technology come from the U.S. The bill will receive a formal introduction next week, and a vote on the bill should occur during the last week of March. Upon the House’s return next week, Republicans will continue investigations into the Biden Administration, led by Rep. James Comer (Ky.), the Chair of the House Oversight Committee. At the start of the 118th Congress, Republicans highlighted an approach to oversight and investigations calling to account various events and leadership within the Biden Administration. Thus far, the probes have included Covid-19, the migrant crisis at the border, oversight of the Office of Personnel Management, and pandemic spending. House Republicans will continue investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Ukraine aid, and the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

For the remainder of this week, the Senate will hold several committee hearings, including an Environment and Public WorksCommittee hearing on the “Implementing IIJA: Perspectives on The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act;” a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Local Views on Public Transportation, Transit Infrastructure and Operations, and Federal Transit Programs;” a Budget Committee hearing on “The President's Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Proposal” with testimony from Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young; and a Finance Committee hearing on “The President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget” with testimony from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of January 17, 2023

Following Martin Luther King Jr. Day, both chambers are in recess until next week. The Senate returns to Washington Monday, the 23rd, and the House on the 24th. Leadership and staff will continue to finalize committee assignments for the 118th.

Debt limit

The debt limit will remain in the spotlight even as both chambers of Congress are in recess. The U.S. will likely hit the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling on Thursday. In a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the agency would begin “extraordinary measures” after the U.S. reaches its statutory borrowing limit. Following the increase to the debt limit on December 16, 2021, via P.L. 117-73, the Secretary advised that those measures to prevent a default will likely exhaust near the beginning of June. The debt limit issue features a history of tense negotiations among lawmakers. In 2011, Congress fiercely fought over what concessions to agree to, and many are speculating whether this year’s debt ceiling debate might be worse. Speaker McCarthy urged conversations to start on debt ceiling compromises, telling reporters there is no reason to wait until the last minute. In a joint letter, Democratic leaders Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called for Congress to move quickly to pass a legislative solution for the debt limit and “prevent a disastrous default.” Both sides have publicly stated their desire to achieve an expeditious fix to the debt limit, but first, Republicans must agree on what concessions they will want from Democrats who are currently unwilling to compromise.

118th Congressional Committees

The House will now pivot to settle committee assignments. Today, the Republican House Steering Committee is working on completing committee assignments for the party’s conference. Speaker McCarthy and Minority Leader Jeffries agreed to ratios on the four “A” committees: Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Ways and Means. The agreement for the most sought-after committees makes minor changes to the ratios within each committee, maintaining the balance Democrats used in the 117th Congress. Minority Leader Jeffries told Democrats in a dear colleague letter that he expects to end negotiations on the ratios for the remaining committees by the end of this week. While House Republicans finalize their committee rosters this week, Democrats will “complete the committee assignment process this month upon our return to Washington,” Jeffries said. On Wednesday, House Republicans announced the selection of the 12 subcommittee chairs for the powerful Appropriations Committee.  

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of January 9, 2023

The House returns to Washington to vote on the rules package for the 118th Congress in the lower chamber. The Senate will remain in recess until Monday, January 23.

After 15 rounds of voting, the House of Representatives elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House.Speaker McCarthy won by a vote of 216-212-6, becoming the longest vote in 164 years. McCarthy offered various concessions to win the votes of many of the House Freedom Caucus members. The concessions came in the form of the “rules package,” which decides how the House of Representatives will operate and outlines the priorities of the GOP. Negotiations by McCarthy, leadership, and top aides have been ongoing since Republicans won a majority last November. Those negotiations continued until the last round of voting to secure votes from the most conservative members of the Republican Conference (more on those concessions below). 

Now Speaker McCarthy must pivot to passing a rules package. McCarthy swayed the most conservative members to win the Speaker’s gavel, and now must convince moderate members to vote for the package. Currently, Reps. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) have publicly stated they may vote against the rules package. Leadership can only lose four votes in the effort to pass the package. A 55-page public rules package exists with changes to the rules that will govern the House of Representatives for at least the next two years. Not featured in that version of the package are a reported three additional pages of rules negotiated over the 6 days needed to secure the necessary votes for Speakership. Some of the concessions and other changes in the rules package include: 

• An agreement to allow any single House member to offer a resolution that would force a vote on removing the Speaker from office. In 2018 after winning the majority, Democrats modified the rule to allow for such a motion only if offered at the direction of the Democratic Caucus or Republican Conference. Upon winning the majority in November, the GOP plan was to require that at least five Republicans offer such a resolution, and now it’s just one.
• Separate votes on each of the 12 appropriations bills rather than one omnibus spending bill.
• Lawmakers will have 72 hours to review bills before they appear on the House floor.
• When a bill is introduced, it must be limited to a single subject.
• Creates a point of order against floor rules that waive the House’s germaneness rule. That rule provides that an amendment must address the same subject as the matter being amended. 
• Promises to vote on bills representing key issues for conservative lawmakers, including abortion, border security, and other legislative priorities. 

Members of the House were sworn in and will begin work by voting on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 23), a bill to rescind $80 billion in IRS funding approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This bill was a top priority of House Republicans and will symbolically serve as the first legislative item to receive a vote. The House will work through votes on several committee chairs, including Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Budget, & Education and the Workforce.

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of December 19, 2022

The NSDC Legislative Update will go on hiatus until January 3, 2023 (a Tuesday edition). We send our sincerest wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

After finalizing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress will pivot fully to the last legislative item of the 117th Congress, an omnibus funding package. 

The deadline for passing a spending package is Friday, December 23 (after President Biden signed a week-long continuing resolution) giving Congress just five days to work through questions about what policy riders to include, tricky timing, and various procedural votes. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) expressed her confidence in passing an omnibus package while noting she “can’t account for crazy things.” After reaching a deal on the elusive topline funding numbers, Congress agreed to the $1.7 trillion figure to fund the dozen appropriations bills. Over the weekend, staffers from various subcommittees and leadership offices worked to pull together the legislative text for the 1,000-plus page bill to fund the federal government through September 2023. 

Here is how we expect the process on the omnibus to play out. The Senate will take up the bill first, with an unveiling of the text expected Monday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will file cloture (ending debate), setting up a procedural vote on Wednesday. Once the Senate passes the bill, the House can move in short order to pass it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has a slim two-vote majority to work with, but many assume House Republicans will join in passing a bipartisan spending package. Which policy riders Congress will include in the omnibus is unclear. President Joe Biden wants $37 billion in additional economic and military aid for Ukraine. The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 (S. 4573), a bill revising the process of casting and counting electoral votes for presidential elections and provisions for the presidential transition process, will be inserted into the bill. Other outstanding issues include tax extenders and provisions to avoid cuts to Medicare spending for providers.

After passing the omnibus spending bill, Congress will go on recess until January 3, 2023. We will begin reporting on the 118th Congress and what to expect early in the new year. Key items to be reported on are the legislative agenda for the 118th Congress, Rep Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) battle for Speaker of the House, the state of Congressional earmarks, and more.

Top appropriators clinch deal on government funding framework READ MORE

Omnibus spending package dropping Monday READ MORE

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of December 12, 2022

Congress has officially entered crunch time to avoid the feared one-year continuing resolution (CR). Lawmakers face a Friday, December 16 deadline to avert a government shutdown. As the lame-duck session concludes, we will cover government spending, NDAA, and more.

Democrats reported the potential of releasing their own versions of a fiscal year 2023 omnibus spending package and a yearlong continuing resolution last week. After a weekend of progress, through negotiations, those plans were placed on hold. A spokesperson to Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) believes “sufficient progress in negotiations took place over the weekend to delay the introduction of the omnibus appropriations bill for the time being.” The topline negotiations center around $25 billion, a number that Republicans and Democrats are apart on non-defense spending. 25$ billion represents an otherwise small portion of the $1.7 trillion in funding but has left discussion in a stalemate. Republicans believe that Democrats funded specific non-defense priorities through the Inflation Reduction Act. As mentioned earlier, if lawmakers fail to pass an omnibus spending package, Congress would use a full-year CR as a contingency plan. The Department of Defense has shared letters with Congressional leaders about the pitfalls that would bring to the department’s operating abilities. Additionally, negotiators agreed to include earmarks if a year-long CR is a path that Congress chooses. While talks about topline numbers continue, Congress has until Friday at midnight to pass legislation to avoid a shutdown. Many expect a short-term CR either to December 23 or early next year. The short-term CR will give lawmakers enough time to work through the procedural and logistical hurdles of passing the bill through both chambers. Passing a spending bill is still the goal for all parties and chambers involved. We predict that Congress will pass an omnibus after a week-long extension to December 23.

Following the House-passage of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (HR 7776) on a vote of 350 - 85, the Senate will vote on the must-pass legislation this week. The NDAA features $858 billion in defense spending, an 8% increase from FY 2022 and $45 billion more than the White House requested. The NDAA includes a 4.6% pay raise for active-duty personnel, $800 million to Ukraine for military assistance, $10 billion in military aid to Taiwan over 10 years, and an overhaul to the military’s approach to sexual misconduct. The House version included a bipartisan amendment to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. The Senate will work through amendments, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has yet to determine if he will allow a vote on permitting reform, a measure sought after by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) that would expedite the environmental review process for energy projects.

The House will consider 39 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Senate-passed Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Support (FLOODS) Act (S 1617), which would authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to declare a disaster in rural areas impacted by significant damage and provide specific assistance. The House will also vote on the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2022 (H. R. 3648), which would require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to expand its efforts to forecast floods and communicate with the public. 

Various House and Senate committees will hold hearings this week, including a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on “The Department of the Interior’s Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearingon “Solutions to Meet America's Broadband Needs” and the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on “Preparing for and Preventing the Next Public Health Emergency: Lessons Learned from the Coronavirus Crisis.” 

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of December 5, 2022

Congress returns to Washington, D.C., with 11 days to pass a fiscal year 2023 federal spending bill, as the current bill expires on December 16. Also on the docket is the must-pass annual defense authorization bill.

Federal government spending is the hot topic of discussion for lawmakers, and topline spending numbers were the center of this weekend’s continued negotiations. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was hoping for a deal by today. However, there is speculation that a deal will not be made before Wednesday. Negotiations center specifically around non-defense spending, where Republicans hope to keep additional funding down after they argue social programs received significant funding through the Inflation Reduction Act. The topline numbers are critical to unlocking the rest of the process. An agreement allows appropriators to finalize the 12 annual spending bills. A week-long continuing resolution (CR) is expected to be passed by the December 16 deadline, keeping the federal government open through December 23. However, there is speculation that the funding dilemma could wage until December 30 or New Year’s Eve. All told, time is running out for an omnibus package, and failure to reach a compromise could result in a full-year CR at fiscal year 2022 funding levels. Note, earmarks would not be included in a long-term CR. Tax extenders have entered the conversation as a potential omnibus policy rider, which could feature the expanded Child Tax Credit. Like everything else, inclusion is uncertain. 

Lawmakers will release the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (HR 7776) sometime today. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, confirmed the bill’s release on Saturday after the House and Senate settled on $858 billion for defense spending. That is $45 billion higher than requested by the Biden Administration. One item conservatives want to add to the NDAA is a provision that would end the Defense Department’s Covid vaccine mandate. Also, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is making a last-ditch effort to include permitting reform in the NDAA, which would speed up approval of clean energy, pipeline, and electricity transmission projects.

The House will consider 12 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Senate-passed Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act of 2022 (S 3875), which would maintain a natural disaster hazard assessment program that develops and maintains publicly available products to show the risk of natural hazards across the United States. The House will also vote on the Senate-passed Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act (S 1617), which would authorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) to declare a disaster in rural areas impacted by significant damage and provide certain assistance. 

After the Senate passed same-sex marriage legislation, the House will vote on the measure this week, sending it to the President for signature. 

Senate Democrats will hold leadership elections on Thursday, in a largely ceremonial fashion, as no returning members face a challenge. Nominated President Pro Tempore Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is expected to receive unanimous support.

Various House and Senate committees will hold hearings this week, including a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing on “Farm Bill 2023: Research Programs,” and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing on “Building Regional Innovation Economies Part II.” 



On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate Runoff will conclude in the race between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of November 21, 2022

Congress is on recess for the Thanksgiving holiday returning next week for a month-long sprint to address several legislative priorities and two must-pass bills. Last week, TFG published a Special Report on the lame-duck session and results from the 2022 midterm elections.

The two must-pass legislative items are the fiscal year (FY) 2023 government spending package and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The federal government is currently funded through December 16 and Congress has yet to settle on topline spending numbers. Additionally, the White House requested $37.7 billion in funding for Ukraine, $10 billion for Covid relief, and funding for hurricane and other natural disaster relief. Regarding NDAA, the House Armed Services Committee Chair and Ranking member predict a final version of the bill could be ready for a vote by the first week in December.

When lawmakers return to Washington, the Senate will vote on the Respect for Marriage Act (HR 8404) to codify the right to same-sex marriage. The bill cleared a critical procedural hurdle securing 60 votes to proceed to a vote, garnering support from 50 Democrats and 12 Republicans. This bill is among the highest priority items for Congress to address before the new members are seated in January, and it marks a significant nexus of bipartisan agreement in a sharply divided legislature.

Two priorities not receiving lame-duck consideration are permitting reform and the debt limit.

Next week, the House Republican Conference will decide rules for the 118th Congress, including a vote on the lower chamber’s stance on earmarks – known in the House as community project funding - that will be of interest to public agencies across the country. A vote to end the practice of earmarking in the House will be close as the Freedom Caucus has called for a permanent ban.

Republicans took control of the House with a slim majority and selected Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to serve as Speaker of the House when the next Congress convenes on January 3. McCarthy faced a challenge from House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and won comfortably with a vote of 188-31. On Thursday, current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that she would not seek a leadership role for Democrats in the 118th Congress. The decision comes after she led House Democrats for nearly 20 years. House Democrats will hold caucus elections on November 30 and December 1. They will usher in new leaders in the top three positions, Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as Minority Leader, Katherine Clark (D-MA) as Minority Whip, and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) as Caucus Chair. 

In the Senate, Democrats retain the majority in the 118th Congress. Senate Republicans held leadership elections on Wednesday. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) won a secret ballot vote over challenger Rick Scott (R-FL) on a 37-10-1 vote. Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R- SD) and Senate Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-WY) won third and final terms in their current roles. Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines replaces Senator Rick Scott to oversee the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate in 2024. Senate Democrats will vote on leadership on December 8, with Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to continue to lead the party.

Both parties and chambers will select committee leaders for the 118th Congress, as retirements will cause most of the expected changes amongst committee leadership. Seven Senate committee leaders are retiring; six are Republicans, while both lead Senate appropriators are retiring. Seven House leaders won’t return on the House side, including Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and House Administration Ranking member Rodney Davis (R-IL), who lost their primaries. Votes on Congressional committee leadership positions will formally occur at the beginning of the new Congress.

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FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Week of September 19, 2022

The House and Senate are in session. The two chambers will continue to work on outstanding legislative items before Election Day, which is just 50 days away.

This week, the House will consider 26 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Senate-passed Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act (S 3157), which would require the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study of the factors affecting employment opportunities for immigrants and refugees with professional credentials obtained in foreign countries. The House also will vote on the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2022 (HR 1456), which authorizes $861 million for the Peace Corps for fiscal 2023 and 2024 and benefits and would expand protections for volunteers. The Senate will continue voting on court nominations.

Congress now only has two weeks to finalize a stopgap government funding package, known as a continuing resolution (CR). Funds for the federal government expire on September 30 at midnight. Many expect an introduction of the stopgap legislation sometime this week. The main legislative items that may accompany the CR are permitting reform and various types of relief aid.

The first issue, permitting reform, was a critical component of the negotiations on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) between Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Sen. Manchin agreed to support the IRA, providing social and climate funding and policy changes in exchange for permitting reform in the weeks following. Following the passage of the climate and health care legislation, the issue of overhauling permitting faces significant pushback from progressives within the Democratic party in both the House and Senate. Sen. Manchin said last week on the prospects of passing the permitting reform legislation that his fellow West Virginia Senator, Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), who is working with the Republican Conference on the issue, would need to convince 20 members to vote for his legislation. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said Friday that he opposes the bill joining Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which would expand the total to 12 Republican votes needed to meet the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

Relief aid is the second issue that could get added to the CR. The White House has requested $47 billion in funding for Ukraine, COVID-19, monkeypox, and disaster relief. On Sunday, President Biden said in a 60 Minutes interview that “the pandemic is over.” This comment will further complicate the funding request that the administration has shared with Congress and hopes for its funding in the CR. Before Congress returned to session, the White House requested over $22 billion for “immediate short-term domestic needs, including testing, and to support the global response to COVID-19.” Republicans have maintained opposition to increased COVID-19 funding, which some believe could get dropped from the bill.

The House and Senate will hold several hearings for the remainder of the week, including a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on “Putting the Bipartisan Infrastructure law to work, focusing on state and local perspectives.” The House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a hearing on the “Public Lands and Waters Climate Leadership Act of 2022,” an Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry hearing on “A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill: Stakeholder Perspectives on Title II Conservation Programs” and a Homeland Security Committee hearing on “Critical Infrastructure Preparedness and Resilience: A Focus on Water.” 

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