The Senate is in session this week, while the House is in recess, with pro forma sessions scheduled on Tuesday and Friday. During Tuesday morning's pro forma session, Members-elect Mike Garcia (R-CA) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI) will be sworn-in after winning special House elections on May 12 in California's 25th district and Wisconsin's 7th district, respectively. The House is scheduled to be back in session on May 27 and 28, where the chamber will take up the Senate-passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act extension bill (H.R. 6172) and potentially other COVID-19 related legislation.
The Senate will vote on several nominations, including: Scott Rash to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona; James Trainor III to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission; Anna Manasco to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama; John Heil III to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma; and John Badalamenti to be a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida.
Ahead of the House's passage on Friday evening of the $3 trillion HEROES Act (H.R. 6800), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicated that she is open to negotiating the details of the massive legislation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the Trump Administration. However, Senate Republicans are in no rush to approve a fifth coronavirus response package and currently have no plans to introduce their own legislative proposal. Movement in the Senate regarding the next COVID-19 relief package will likely occur in early-mid June.
There will be several House and Senate committee hearings this week, including: a Tuesday morning Senate Banking Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell regarding the "Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress"; a Tuesday afternoon House Appropriations Military Construction-VA Subcommittee hearing on the "VA's response to COVID-19"; a Wednesday morning Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler regarding "Oversight of the EPA"; a Wednesday morning House Education and Labor Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing on "Examining the Federal Government's Actions to Protect Workers from COVID-19"; and a Wednesday morning Senate Commerce Committee markup of ten bills and seven executive nominations.
Oregon will hold its congressional and presidential primary elections on Tuesday as will Idaho for its congressional primary races, while the deadline for mail-in ballots for the Hawaii Democratic congressional and presidential primary is on Friday.
NATaT has created a Coronavirus Guidance webpage to store NATaT letters, memos and briefs on the outbreak, as well as critical information and guidance released by Congress and the Administration.
