Month: April 2024

The House Republican Steering Committee will meet today to choose a new Chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), Chair of the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) Subcommittee, is widely viewed as the favorite to replace outgoing Chair Kay Granger (R-TX). Notably, Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Chair of the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, wrote a letter requesting that the process be delayed in order to deliberate broader changes to the appropriations process for fiscal year (FY) 2025. However, it is not clear whether Rep. Aderholt will formally declare a bid for the gavel during today’s meeting. Assuming Rep. Cole is appointed chair, the Steering Committee will also need to appoint a new T-HUD Subcommittee “cardinal,” as well as a new head of the House Rules Committee where Rep. Cole currently serves as chair.

• TODAY IN CONGRESS. House lawmakers will gavel in for consideration of 14 bills under suspension of the rules, including a pair of bipartisan bills that would reauthorize federal workforce development (H.R. 6655) and missing and exploited children’s programs (S. 2051). The House will also consider a pair of bills out of the Natural Resources Committee that would expand access to recreational activities on federal land and water (H.R. 6492), as well as provide funding for storm risk management projects that use sand from the coastal barrier system to replenish other beaches (H.R. 524). Meanwhile, the Senate will continue churning through pending judicial nominations with a final up-or-down vote on Susan Bazis’s nomination to be a District Judge for the District of Nebraska.

• House Leadership. Late last month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a “motion to vacate” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over his handling of fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending. She offered pointed criticism toward the speaker given the fact that more Democrats than Republicans voted for both FY 2024 spending packages, and also complained about the lack of conservative policy riders within the two spending packages. At the moment, Rep. Greene has introduced the resolution as a “warning.” If she calls it up as a “privileged resolution,” House leadership has two legislative days to bring it to the floor. Lawmakers on the other side of the aisle could toss Speaker Johnson a lifeline if they so choose, and some Democrats have already reportedly expressed openness to voting in support of the speaker keeping his job. However, House Democrats will follow the direction of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has so far only said, “I look forward to having a conversation with the House Democratic Caucus about the best way to proceed.”

• Supplemental Funding. White House and Senate leadership are continuing to press Speaker Johnson for a vote on a supplemental funding package to support Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. While the speaker has been noncommittal thus far, floor action on a foreign aid supplemental could be inevitable if enough lawmakers sign onto a “discharge petition” that would circumvent leadership’s authority and place a bill on the floor for consideration. Additionally, leaders are also in the early phase of discussions on emergency funding to help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, MD. The White House is expected to formally release its supplemental funding request on this matter, but it is already running into headwinds among House conservatives.

• Appropriations. With the books closed on FY 2024, appropriators will now turn their attention to FY 2025 matters. Biden administration officials will continue testifying before Congress during the upcoming weeks as appropriations cardinals look toward May-July for possible markups on draft spending bills. Given the fact that lawmakers are still well behind on the FY 2025 process, as well as the strong likelihood that partisan issues will crop up along the process, it is likely that Congress will need to punt government funding matters into the “lame duck” session following the November 2024 election.

• FAA. Lawmakers must pass a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the current authorization expires on May 10, 2024. House and Senate transportation leaders have begun pre-conference negotiations with the hopes of producing a final compromise version of the FAA bill for a vote in both chambers prior to the May 10 deadline. If disagreements over the pilot retirement age, perimeter slots at DCA, and flight simulator training cannot get resolved by the deadline, Congress will need to pass another funding extension to keep the FAA operational. Thisextension could line up the FAA funding date with the statutory September 30 government funding deadline, or be pushed into the “lame duck” session of Congress.

• Tax. While the House was able to overwhelmingly pass a package of business and family tax policies earlier this year, the bill’s prospects are growing increasingly grim in the Senate. The deal brokered by House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) does not appear to have the requisite 60 votes needed for passage in the chamber. In particular, Senate Republicans, including Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID), have raised several concerns related to the bill’s cost, as well as the Child Tax Credit (CTC) “lookback” provision. Nevertheless, rumors from Capitol Hill suggest that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could put the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act on the floor as soon as this month to place senators on the record. If it does not pass this year, the bill could be viewed as a framework for tax negotiations in 2025, when several core provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are due to sunset.

• Mayorkas Impeachment. House Republicans have notified the Senate they plan to present impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on April 10. Senators on both sides of the aisle have expressed skepticism toward this effort and it is widely considered dead-on-arrival. However, the chamber will nevertheless need to dedicate floor time to this particular matter once the articles are formally transmitted.

• Other Odds & Ends. Work on additional “must pass” items, including the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), will continue in earnest in the coming weeks ahead. Lawmakers will also be working to resolve lingering issues that have stalled consideration of a multi-year Farm Bill reauthorization. In addition to FAA reauthorization, House and Senate transit leaders are in the process of gathering information and input for a 2024 Water Resources Development Act. Other legislative items that lawmakers will be pushing for action on during this upcoming session pertain to kids’ online safety, rail safety reform, cannabis banking, artificial intelligence (AI), credit card swipe fees, and a potential ban of the social media app TikTok, among others.

After the minibus cleared the lower chamber, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a “motion to vacate” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over his handling of FY 2024 spending. She offered pointed criticism toward the speaker given the fact that more Democrats than Republicans voted for both FY 2024 spending packages, and also complained about the lack of conservative policy riders within the two spending packages. At the moment, Rep. Greene has introduced the resolution as a “warning.” If she calls it up as a “privileged resolution,” House leadership has two legislative days to bring it to the floor. Lawmakers on the other side of the aisle could toss Speaker Johnson a lifeline if they so choose, and some Democrats have already reportedly expressed openness to voting in support of the speaker keeping his job. However, House Democrats will follow the direction of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has so far only said, “I look forward to having a conversation with the House Democratic Caucus about the best way to proceed.”