House Committees Resume Reconciliation Markups

Senate Democrats are set to force a vote on a measure they contend is a referendum on GOP support for pre-existing conditions protections. The Congressional Review Act resolution would overturn the Trump administration’s guidance on “State Relief and Empowerment Waivers” under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — a policy that Democrats argue undermines […]

Senators are continuing work on a four-bill minibus containing fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending bills for Agriculture, Interior-Environment, Commerce-Science-Justice, and Transportation-HUD. After adopting an amendment that would designate $5 million of the Agriculture Department's appropriated funds to be used for a loan program to help farmers resolve land ownership issues, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed cloture […]

House and Senate lawmakers will reconvene later today to close out the October legislative session. In the upper chamber, Senators will pick up debate on their first fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations package, starting with consideration of three amendments to the underlying bill. While the Senate had originally planned to take up a second minibus […]

The Senate is set to resume debate on a $214 billion minibus containing fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations bills for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD. While Senators originally aimed to clear the spending package this week, consideration of the measure is expected to bleed into next week as leadership has not reached an agreement on […]

Senators are poised to begin consideration of a $214 billion spending package containing fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding bills for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD later today. While the four-bill measure is expected to pass the upper chamber at some point prior to the end of this week, movement on the upper chamber’s second minibus — […]

Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee released a four-bill spending package ahead of the upper chamber’s first fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding votes. The first Senate “minibus” will include the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD spending measures — all of which were approved by the Appropriations Committee on a bipartisan basis. While Democrats plan to support […]

Congress returns to action today as Senators gear up for their first fiscal year (FY) 2020 government funding votes on the floor. Prior to adjourning last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed cloture on motions to proceed to two House-passed spending packages that will serve as “shell” legislative vehicles for spending bills that have cleared the Senate […]

Following the passage (354-60) of a resolution aimed at rebuking President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, House lawmakers are readying action on a pair of measures dealing with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosures. For today, the lower chamber will take up legislation that would mandate the SEC to conduct investor testing and […]

Despite resetting the government funding deadline to provide more time for negotiations, House and Senate appropriators have indicated that fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending talks remain deadlocked. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) stated yesterday that lawmakers may need to take up another stopgap funding measure to keep the government funded through the remainder of […]

Congress returns to action today as lawmakers gear up for a three-week work session. With 28 legislative days left on the 2019 congressional calendar, House and Senate appropriators are expected to continue negotiations on subcommittee allocations for each of the 12 fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending measures. If they reach an agreement, they could begin […]

Late last Friday, President Donald Trump signed the seven-week continuing resolution (CR) (HR 4378) that Senate lawmakers cleared last week prior to breaking for the Columbus Day district work period. The measure punts the impending government funding deadline until Nov. 21 and extends key expiring authorizations — including the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Export-Import […]

The Week in Review After the Senate cleared (81-16) the House-passed continuing resolution, President Donald Trump signed the stopgap funding bill into law ahead of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline to temporarily avert a shutdown. The CR pushes the funding deadline to Nov. 21 while also ensuring that numerous key policy riders — including […]