The Senate is in session this week, while the House is in recess, with pro forma sessions scheduled on Monday afternoon and Thursday morning. However, the House will hold "Committee Work Days" each day this week, with most hearings being conducted virtually. Numerous committee hearings related to COVID-19 are scheduled for this week in both chambers.
The Senate will take a final vote on the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) this week, which makes available, without separate appropriations, more than $2.5 billion annually for spending on land acquisition and deferred maintenance for park land, and would convert money in the $900 million-per-year Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) into mandatory funding. The Senate will also vote on two judicial nominations: Justin Walker to be a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Cory Wilson to be a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; and on the motion to proceed to the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate Armed Services Committee passed on June 11 by a vote of 25-2.
Two notable markups taking place in the House on Wednesday include: the House Judiciary Committee markup of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 (H.R. 7120), which would curtail the transfer of military equipment to police departments, make it easier for an individual to sue police officers for alleged rights violations, criminalize chokeholds by police, make lynching a federal crime, authorize $750 million over three years for states to set up independent prosecution programs for cases involving an officer's deadly use of force and $300 million over three years for state investigations into abusive police practices, and authorize funding for a number of reports and the collection of data on use of force and racial profiling; and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup of the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act (H.R. 2), which authorizes $494 billion for highway, transit, and rail programs through FY 2025 and includes new infrastructure investment programs and policies to address the environment and boost the resilience of infrastructure against extreme weather and climate change. The full House will vote on H.R. 7120 on June 25 and June 26 and on H.R. 2 from June 30 through July 2.
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.
