The House and Senate Continue Voting

The House and Senate Continue Voting

The House has a busy schedule, with the Rules Committee meeting today, at 12PM, to prepare floor consideration of the FY2025 Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (H.R.8070), which authorizes $895.2 billion for national defense discretionary programs, an increase of $9 billion over the FY2024 enacted level, in alignment with the spending levels set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Over 1,350 amendments have been submitted to the Rules Committee, though most will not be made in order and many will be considered en bloc to limit the number of floor votes. Republican leadership wants a strict “germaneness” standard and is reluctant to consider any amendment not under the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee. Still, the House will need to hold several series of votes to complete passage this week and leadership will have to satisfy both conservatives and moderates as it relates to which controversial amendments will be made in order.

Leadership will also need to pass the rule for NDAA with Republican votes only and, given the narrow margins, Rules votes are never easy. Notably, the Rules Committee’s agenda also includes consideration of resolutions from the Judiciary and Oversight Committees to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt – for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas to produce Special Counsel Robert Hur’s audio recordings of his interviews with President Biden – setting up debate on NDAA and the contempt resolution under the same rule. 

The House will also hold suspension votes on nearly a dozen bills from the Small Business, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce Committees, including:

• SPUR Act (H.R.7988), which requires the Small Business Administration to include the number of new small businesses entering the contracting market as part of its evaluation of federal agencies’ performance meeting small business contracting goals. 
• ThinkDIFFERENTLY About Disability Employment Act (H.R.7989), which requires the Small Business Administration and National Council on Disability to collaborate on employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for people with disabilities through a Memorandum of Understanding. 
• Transparency and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act (H.R.8014), which requires the Small Business Administration to issue rules for disclosing cancelled procurement solicitations for small business contracts.
• Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R.537), which posthumously awards the Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats in recognition of their efforts to save Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II.
• Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act (S.138), which establishes a statutory definition of Tibet and expands the responsibilities of the State Department’s Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues to include countering Chinese disinformation.
• No Hidden FEES Act (H.R.6543), which requires providers of short-term lodging to include each mandatory fee when displaying or advertising reservation prices, subject to enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and state authorities.
• WIPPES Act (H.R.2964), which directs the Federal Trade Commission to issue and enforce regulations requiring wipe manufacturers to label their products as non-flushable. 

After the Senate returns this afternoon, it will vote, at 5:30PM, on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of David Rosner to be a (Democratic) Member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Cloture was also filed on the nominations of Lindsay See and Judy Chang to be (Republican) Members of the Commission, which follows the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s bipartisan vote last week to favorably report the three nominees.

Following last week’s unsuccessful procedural vote on the Right to Contraception Act (S.4381), Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has filed cloture on a motion to proceed to consideration of the Right to IVF Act (S.4445), which seeks to protect and expand nationwide access to fertility treatment. The legislative package, which was introduced last week by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Schumer, with the support of most Senate Democrats, consists of four previously introduced bills: Duckworth’s Access to Family Building Act (S.3612) and Family Building FEHB Fairness Act (S.1262), Murray’s Veteran Families Health Services Act (S.2801), and Booker’s Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act (S.2352).

On Wednesday evening, the Congressional Baseball Game will be held at Nationals Stadium. The game has been an annual bipartisan tradition since 1909 and now raises significant money for charity, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, the Washington Literacy Center, the Washington Nationals Philanthropies, and the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund, “in gratitude to the brave officers at the Republican practice shooting on June 14, 2017.”

Congressional Agenda

Appropriations and the President’s FY2025 Budget: Last week, the House passed its first spending bill of FY2025 after voting 209-197 with minimal – but crucial – bipartisan support for the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R.8580). This week, the House Appropriations Committee has scheduled three markups:

• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies: Subcommittee-level markup on Tuesday, at 6PM.
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and Homeland Security: Committee-level markup on Wednesday, at 9AM. 
• Defense, Financial Services and General Government, and Legislative Branch: Committee-level markup on Thursday, at 9AM. 

Budget hearings continue in the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency: CIA Director William Burns and NSA Director Gen. Timothy Haugh appear before the Defense Subcommittee (on Wednesday, at 10AM) for a closed hearing.
• Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission: SEC Chair Gary Gensler and CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam appear before the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee(on Thursday, at 10AM).  

National Defense Authorization Act and Intelligence Authorization Act: As the House prepares to vote on passage of NDAA in the coming days, the Senate Armed Services Committee will convene markups this week:

• Subcommittee on Strategic Forces (closed): Tuesday, at 5PM.
• Subcommittee on Airland (closed): Tuesday, at 5:30PM.
• Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities (closed): Wednesday, at 9:30AM.
• Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support (closed): Wednesday, at 10AM.
• Subcommittee on Personnel (open): Wednesday, at 10:15AM.
• Subcommittee on Seapower (open): Wednesday, at 10:45AM.
• Subcommittee on Cybersecurity (closed): Wednesday, at 11:15AM.
• Full Committee (closed): Beginning Wednesday, at 2:30PM. 

Following last week’s Subcommittee-level markups, the House Intelligence Committee will convene in closed session on Tuesday (at 4:30PM) for the markup of the FY2025 Intelligence Authorization Act. Meanwhile, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) filed the Committee-passed Intelligence Authorization Act (S.4443) last week, meaning the legislative text is now available. 

Privacy: The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to convene a markup this week of the American Privacy Rights Act (H.R.___), but there are growing pro-life concerns and the Committee has a big meeting in the coming days with the Freedom Caucus to address these and other concerns that have been raised. (If pro-life groups come out forcefully against the bill, it will not be able to move forward.) While it is possible the markup may be pushed, the Committee is planning at this point to move forward. More and more members of the panel are expressing concerns, although this does not necessarily mean they will oppose the bill at the Committee markup. 

Oversight: Several notable oversight-related hearings are lined up this week, including:

• Coast Guard: Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (on Tuesday, at 3:30PM) for a hearing on the Coast Guard’s approach to reports of sexual assault and harassment. 
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Director Rohit Chopra appears before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee (on Wednesday, at 9:45AM) and the House Financial Services Committee (on Thursday, at 10AM) for hearings on CFPB’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s toxic workplace culture: FDIC Special Committee Co-Chairs Michael Hsu and Jonathan McKernan and Cleary Gottlieb Partners Joon Kim and Abena Mainoo will appear before the House Financial Services Committee (on Wednesday, at 10AM) for a hearing on Cleary Gottlieb’s investigation of allegations of misconduct at the FDIC. 
• Great power competition in the West Hemisphere: Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Todd Robinson, and U.S. Agency for International Development Acting Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean Michael Camilleri appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee (on Wednesday, at 10AM). 
• Department of Defense’s V-22 Osprey program: Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness Peter Belk, U.S. Naval Air Systems Commander Vice Admiral Carl Chebi, and Air Anti-Submarine Warfare and Special Mission Programs Program Executive Officer Gary Kurtz appear before the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs (on Wednesday, at 10:30AM). 
• ESG investing: Ceres President and CEO Mindy Lubber, CalPERS Interim Chief Investment Officer Dan Bienvenue, and Arjuna Capital Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Natasha Lamb appear before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust (on Wednesday, at 10:30AM) for a hearing to examine anticompetitive conduct in promoting ESG-related goals in the investment industry. 
• Trade preference programs: The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade convenes a hearing (on Wednesday, at 1:15PM) to examine trade with Sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti, and other trading partners.
• Intellectual property litigation: A panel of expert witnesses, including former House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte, appears before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet(on Wednesday, at 2PM) for a hearing to examine intellectual property litigation financed by third-party investors and foreign entities. 
• Amtrak and intercity passenger rail: Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and Chair of the Board Anthony Coscia and North Carolina Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation Julie White appear before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials (on Wednesday, at 2PM).
• Bureau of Land Management: Director Tracy Stone-Manning appears before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (on Thursday, at 9:30AM).
• Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of aviation manufacturing: Administrator Michael Whitaker appears before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee (on Thursday, at 10AM) for a hearing to examine the FAA’s oversight of Boeing’s aircraft manufacturing processes and production quality.
• Solvency and budgetary impacts of Medicare and Social Security: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Chief Actuary Paul Spitalnic and Social Security Administration Stephen Goss appear before the House Budget Committee (on Thursday, at 10AM). 
• CMS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation: CMS Deputy Administrator and CMMI Director Elizabeth Fowler appears before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health (on Thursday, at 10AM).
• Campus antisemitism: The House Ways and Means Committee convenes a hearing (on Thursday, at 10AM) to examine campus antisemitism and the failures of university leadership. 
• Americans detained abroad: Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Rena Bitter, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, and FBI Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell Director Raj Maan appear before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability (on Thursday, at 10AM). 
• Microsoft’s cybersecurity shortfalls: Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith appears before the House Homeland Security Committee (on Thursday, at 2PM). 
• California’s environmental regulations of railroads: Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker, and University of Texas Austin Professor Dr. Tyler Dick appear before the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight (on Thursday, at 2PM).

Biden Administration

• Today, the President will deliver remarks at Everytown’s Gun Sense University conference at the Washington Hilton, where he will highlight the Administration’s work to combat gun violence.
• On Wednesday, the President will depart for Brindisi, Italy, for the G7 Leaders’ Summit, which will be held in Apulia on June 13-14.