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The Week in Review While House lawmakers left Washington for their Veterans Day district work period, Senators resumed consideration of pending presidential nominations. In a floor speech early last week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicated that confirming nominees will be the focus of the Senate’s work so long as appropriations talks are deadlocked. Nominations that cleared the upper […]

The Senate will reconvene today to continue work on presidential nominations as negotiators deliberate next steps in the Congressional appropriations process. While Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) work to clinch a spending agreement that would avert a funding lapse, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicated yesterday that […]

The Senate will convene for legislative business later this afternoon and will return its attention to clearing the presidential nominations queue. For today, the upper chamber will vote on the nomination of David Tapp to be a Judge on the Court of Federal Claims, and will look to end debate on the nomination of Danielle Hunsaker to be […]

With 17 days left to avert a government shutdown, Congressional appropriators are ramping up spending negotiations as the Nov. 21 funding deadline approaches. In addition to a continuing resolution (CR) that would likely punt the government funding deadline until mid-December, negotiators are also working to broker an agreement on subcommittee allocations for each of the […]

The Week in Review The Senate jump-started its sluggish appropriations process last week, clearing (84-9) its first four-bill minibus containing fiscal year (2020) spending bills for Agriculture, Interior-Environment, Commerce-Science-Justice, and Transportation-HUD. While the $214 billion measure passed with broad bipartisan support, action on a second spending package quickly came to a halt. As expected, Senators did […]

After passing the first "mini bus" last week, the Senate will return its focus to nominations, with a series of judges expected to consume the floor time this week. In the Committees, the Banking Committee will hold a hearing on housing, while a Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing on data security as the legislative […]

Senators will look to clinch their first spending package of fiscal year (FY) 2020, voting on final passage of a four-bill minibus containing FY 2020 spending bills for Agriculture, Interior-Environment, Commerce-Science-Justice, and Transportation-HUD. Following passage of the first minibus, the upper chamber will take a procedural vote on a second spending package. The second minibus —which […]

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 Week in Review Senators began full consideration of a four-bill spending package last week as the upper chamber looks to jumpstart its fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations process. The first Senate “minibus” includes spending measures for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD, all of which were approved by the Appropriations Committee on a bipartisan basis. […]

The House of Representatives is set to take up a couple of bills under the Suspension Calendar this week – including the COUNTER Act, which was also included in the Beneficial Ownership Bill taken up last week (see more on that below) as well as a bill sponsored by McHenry and Waters on Crowdfunding.   […]