The House and Senate are in session this week. The House will vote on 31 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2020 (H.R. 4894), which requires congressional budget justifications to be posted online in a centralized, searchable database, as well as on every federal agency's website-there is currently no legal requirement that federal agencies make their justifications public; and the Ensuring Children and Child Care Workers Are Safe Act of 2020 (H.R. 7909), which requires the Department of Health and Human Services to assist states with providing child care services safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, including authorizing $5 million in FY 2021 for grants to provide guidance, technical assistance, and support.
For the remainder of the week, the House will vote on the Strength in Diversity Act of 2020 (H.R. 2639), which directs the Education Department to award grants to improve racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools-planning and implementation grants would be awarded on a competitive basis to educational agencies that have significant achievement gaps and segregation in their school districts; the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act of 2020 (H.R. 2574), which allows students to sue schools over policies that cause racial discrimination by creating a private right of action to file "disparate impact" claims, which refer to practices and policies that may not involve intentional discrimination but that lead to disproportionate negative effects on racial groups; a nonbinding resolution (H. Res. 908) condemning, and calling on all public officials to condemn, anti-Asian sentiment related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 2694), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees and job applicants-the mandate would apply to private sector employers with 15 or more workers and all public sector employers unless doing so would impose an "undue hardship" on the employer's business operations.
The Senate will vote on eight federal district judge nominations for the Central District of California, Southern District of California, Southern District of Illinois, and the Northern District of Illinois.
Negotiations on a coronavirus stimulus measure have stalled, but the House's return this week could give a boost to talks. However, lawmakers still appear far apart on the overall cost of the measure, among other issues, and it appears unlikely a relief package will be enacted by early October when the House and Senate enter their month-long pre-election recess. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are also in discussions regarding passage of a critical government-funding bill needed to keep federal agencies open when the new fiscal year begins on October 1. The two have decided that this Continuing Resolution (CR) will be handled separately from the COVID-19 stimulus talks, a decision which may have removed an action-forcing deadline that could have spurred a stimulus deal. The main outstanding issue is whether the CR will last through mid-December 2020 or through early 2021, after the new Congress is sworn-in on January 3.
Voters in Delaware head to the polls on Tuesday to participate in their congressional, state, and local primary, marking the last primary election of any state ahead of the November 3 general election.
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