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The House and Senate are in session this week.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) hopes to move the lower chamber past a stalemate after conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus blocked a rule last week halting floor action. The group of eleven lawmakers broke with fellow Republicans to stop a routine procedural vote that has not failed in nearly two decades. The reason for the challenge comes as many Republicans were opposed to the debt limit deal (the enacted Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023) negotiated between Speaker McCarthy and President Joe Biden in May. The Speaker will discuss spending levels for Fiscal Year 2024. Given the House GOP’s slim four-seat majority, the Speaker has minimal room to pass legislation through the House. Conservatives holding up consideration of bills on the House floor will have their stance tested as fellow Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) has legislation (H.J. Res. 42) teed up for a vote, on a pistol brace disapproval resolution.
Today, the House will meet to vote on five measures under suspension of the rules, including the Block Grant Assistance Act of 2023 (H.R. 662), which amends the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act 2023 to improve disaster relief funding for agricultural producers, and for other purposes. The Senate will consider several executive and judicial nominations, including: Elizabeth Allen to be Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy; Jared Bernstein to be Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers; Herman Vera to be a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California; and Casey Pitts to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California.
If a majority of House members vote to approve a resolution approving consideration of legislation on the House floor, the chamber will vote on four additional bills: the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act (H.R. 1615), which bars the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal funds to ban gas stoves as a hazardous product; the Save Our Gas Stoves Act (H.R. 1640), which prevents the Energy Department from finalizing its proposed rule expanding energy efficiency regulations on gas stoves; the Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2023 (H.R. 288), which directs federal courts to conduct their own interpretation of laws when reviewing administrative actions without deferring to the federal agencies’ legal conclusions; and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2023 (H.R. 277), which requires that “major rules” — including those that cause a major increase in prices or have an annual effect on the economy that is equal to $100 million or more — are approved by Congress before they can take effect. The House may also vote on overriding President Biden’s veto of a disapproval resolution nullifying the District of Columbia’s “Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Act of 2022.”
Congress will continue to work on its twelve FY24 appropriations bills, multiple reauthorizations with September 30 deadlines, the National Defense Authorization Act, and government funding. Reauthorizations include those for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Farm Bill, Coast Guard, and the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. The House Appropriations Committee aims to complete subcommittee markups of the Defense and Energy-Water Development appropriations bills on Thursday, with full committee markups of Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Agriculture- FDA on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. On Friday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair introduced the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935) with a markup scheduled for Tuesday. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee expects to release its bill text ahead of its Thursday markup. The House Armed Services subcommittees responsible for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will hold markups this week, and the legislation will receive a full markup on June 21.
For the remainder of the week, the House will hold several hearings including a Homeland Security Committee hearing on the “Future of FEMA: Agency Perspectives with Administrator Criswell” and an Agriculture Committee hearing on “Stakeholder Perspectives on USDA’s Rural Development Programs.” In the Senate, the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on “Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act by the Federal Highway Administration.” Lawmakers will also play the annual Congressional baseball game on Wednesday.
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