On January 31, President Trump announced his nomination of 49-year old federal appellate judge Neil Gorsuch to the vacant Associate Justice position on the U.S. Supreme Court which was previously held by Antonin Scalia. Several Senate Democrats have already announced that they will be voting against his nomination, and prior to the announcement of Gorsuch, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) stated that he would filibuster any pick that is not Merrick Garland and that the vast majority of his caucus will oppose Trump's nomination. This means that Gorsuch's nomination will need 60 votes to be confirmed by the Senate, i.e., at least 8 Senate Democrats will need to join all 52 Senate Republicans to advance the nomination. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has indicated that he would ideally like to see Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court before the two-week Spring recess beginning April 10. Read more...

On February 3, U.S. federal judge for the Western District of Washington state James Robart ordered a national halt to enforcement of President Trump's controversial travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations, ruling in favor of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who sued to invalidate key provisions of Trump's Jan. 27 Executive Order. As a result, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has suspended all actions to implement the immigration order and will resume standard inspections of travelers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. The  Justice Department filed an emergency motion to stop the order, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected that request on Sunday. Read more...     

On January 31, the Senate voted 93-6-1 to confirm Elaine Chao to serve as the 18th U.S. Secretary of Transportation, the first time a nominee for the position has ever received nay votes. On February 1, the Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Rex Tillerson to serve as the 69th U.S. Secretary of State, the closest margin ever for a confirmation vote for the post. Eight Senate committees also voted last week to advance the nominations of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Betsy DeVos, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Steve Mnuchin, Rick Perry, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and Linda McMahon to serve as U.S. Attorney General, the Secretaries of the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Energy, and Interior, OMB Director, EPA Administrator, and SBA Administrator, respectively. During the prior week of January 23, three Senate committees voted to advance the nominations of Rex Tillerson, Elaine Chao, Ben Carson, and Wilbur Ross to serve as Secretaries of the Departments of State, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce, respectively. Read more...

On February 3, Politico reported on a leaked document distributed by House GOP leadership in a closed-door session on the morning of Feb. 2 regarding 14 key legislative deadlines in 2017. The document provides a skeleton for what needs to happen over the next year and reveals that  the FY 2017 reconciliation package, which could include Obamacare actions, should be completed by March; the FY 2018 budget will be taken up in April, followed by the FY 2018 reconciliation package in May-July; and the Treasury Dept. may use extraordinary measures to temporarily prevent a breach of the debt limit through July-Sept. Read more...     

On January 31, the House passed, by voice vote, the Cyber Preparedness Act of 2017 ( H.R. 584 ), which would streamline the country's cybersecurity procedures to improve cyber-threat information sharing and coordination between federal, state, and local authorities. Thelegislation enhances preparedness and response capabilities for cyberattacks by allowing representatives from state and urban fusion centers to operate jointly out of the Department of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), enabling improved information sharing. The bill also clarifies that homeland security grants can be used to fund state and local cybersecurity initiatives. Read more...

On January 31, the House passed, by voice vote, the First Responder Identification of Emergency Needs in Disaster Situation (FRIENDS) Act (H.R. 58), which would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to Congress on state and local programs to protect first responders during emergencies and terrorist attacks. GAO would review the availability of personal protective and medical equipment-including home medical kits-for responders and their families. The Homeland Security Department would assess applying the report's findings to federal first responders. Read more...

On January 31, the House passed, by voice vote, the Counterterrorism Advisory Board Act of 2017 (H.R. 526), which would formally establish the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Counterterrorism Advisory Board. The Board would coordinate threat mitigation efforts with state and local partners and the private sector and the bill would require the board to advise DHS on issuing terrorism alerts.  Read more...