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Month: February 2024

Senate in for Weekend Work to Advance Foreign Aid Funding

Posted on by Thorn Run Partners
The Senate will be in for legislative business throughout the weekend and into part of next week as it looks to pass the foreign aid supplemental funding bill before leaving for the Presidents’ Day state work period. While Leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were hopeful to reach a “time agreement” for expedited passage, some Senate conservatives — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in particular — have opposed rubber stamping the bill over opposition to additional funding for Ukraine. Regardless, the bill passed its first procedural hurdle with the support of 67 senators, suggesting that the package is well on its way to passing the chamber early next week. In addition to buckets of funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific, the funding bill includes the Senate Banking Committee’s Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, as well as $400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help nonprofits and places of worship make security enhancements.
— HOUSE RETURNS NEXT WEEK. House lawmakers will gavel back in for legislative business on Tuesday. With the return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), it is possible that House Republicans try again on their efforts to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as this week’s attempt fell short by one vote in the narrowly-divided chamber. Another item up for possible consideration next week is a bill out of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee that seeks to implement a series of Clean Water Act permitting reforms.

Senate Pivots Away from Border Security Deal

Posted on by Thorn Run Partners

The Senate will meet today to hold a procedural vote on the recently introduced supplemental appropriations package, but this vote is almost certain to fail amid opposition from the GOP conference. As such, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) intends to call up an amended version of the supplemental that only includes funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. If enough senators vote in favor of advancing the package, Senate leadership could push to reach a “time agreement” that would queue up expedited passage of the funding bill before senators leave for their scheduled two-week state work period. However, it is too early to tell whether all 100 senators will cooperate on this proposed maneuver, especially given the staunch opposition to Ukraine funding from Freedom Caucus conservatives.

House lawmakers will gavel in for consideration of an Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee bill that seeks to prohibit the use of certain cost-effectiveness metrics in federal health care programs. Specifically, the Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act would prohibit the use of the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) metric and similar measures in coverage and payment determinations under Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare prescription drug plans, and health programs at the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans’ Affairs (VA).

Senate GOP Sours on Bipartisan Supplemental

Posted on by Thorn Run Partners
There is growing pessimism on the prospects of passing the recently-introduced supplemental appropriations package amid mounting opposition from Senate Republicans. As of now, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is still planning to move forward with the first procedural vote tomorrow, which will almost certainly fail given the lack of support in the upper chamber. House Republican leadership, along with former President Donald Trump, have also panned the deal as a nonstarter, further weakening the prospects of border security funds and policy reforms, as well as foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, passing early this year. Intraparty discussions on the supplemental are expected to continue at today’s weekly Senate policy luncheon.
  • Today in Congress…House lawmakers are set to vote on a GOP-sponsored resolution that would impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The vote is anticipated to fall on party-lines, but Republicans are going to need near-unanimous support to trigger a Senate impeachment trial given their narrow majority in the House. Additionally, the House will consider a standalone supplemental funding bill that would provide aid to Israel absent the offsetting cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that had been initially proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). That bill will be considered under suspension of the rules, but it remains to be seen whether it will earn the requisite two-thirds majority needed for passage as House Democratic leadership is currently whipping against the measure.

Senators Unveil Bipartisan Border, Foreign Aid Supplemental

Posted on by Thorn Run Partners

Bill text for the long-anticipated supplemental funding bill for foreign aid and border security was released over the weekend ahead of floor action in the Senate this week. In addition to funds for Ukraine, Israel, and the U.S.-Mexico Border, the roughly $119 billion package includes a series of border security and immigration policy reforms, the Senate Banking Committee’s Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, as well as $400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. While the measure does have support from Senate Leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), it remains to be seen whether it can earn the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate.

 

  • Next Steps & Context. As of the current schedule, Leader Schumer is expected to tee up the first procedural vote on the package for Wednesday. However, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and former President Donald Trump — the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — voicing strong opposition to the bipartisan deal, it remains to be seen whether there is an appetite within the Senate Republican conference to try and move a measure that is essentially “dead-on-arrival” in the House. Notably, Speaker Johnson unveiled a new supplemental funding measure to provide aid to Israel in a move designed to further jam the bipartisan Senate agreement.

 

— THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS. Both chambers will gavel back into session today. While the Senate focuses on clearing pending nominations before moving onto consideration of the supplemental, House lawmakers are slated to take up a bill out of the Energy and Commerce Committee that seeks to ban the use of the quality-adjusted-life-years (QALY) metric in coverage and payment determinations under federal health care programs. Additionally, a vote is expected on a GOP-sponsored resolution that would impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. For today, lawmakers will consider several bills out of the Natural Resources Committee under suspension of the rules, including one that would reauthorize the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act through 2028 (H.R. 4385).