Congress Is Back, Government Funding Showdown, DPI Annual "Two Views" Event on September 19
Jason Pye - Vice President, Due Process Institute
Point of Order is a (mostly) weekly preview of key congressional activity for those with more than a passing interest in federal policy.
Join Due Process Institute on September 19 for Two Views: An Exploration of the Supreme Court's Criminal Law Docket: Due Process Institute will host its annual lunch, Two Views: An Exploration of the Supreme Court's Criminal Law Docket, on Thursday, September 19, at the Willard Hotel from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Come meet the DPI team, eat a good lunch, and hear about what you can expect on criminal law in the coming SCOTUS term. REGISTER HERE. To our Hill friends, please feel free to pass the info along to the relevant staffer(s) in your office or committee.
One more quick DPI note: I’d like to welcome Meanna Gray, our new legal policy fellow, to the DPI staff. Meanna was an intern for us in the summer of 2022. I was super impressed by her intelligence and desire to learn more about Congress. We’re very excited that Meanna has come back to work with us!
Three session weeks until the end of the fiscal year: The House and Senate are scheduled to be in session for three weeks, with a target date of September 27 to head back to their districts and states to campaign for the November 5 election. There’s one roadblock in the way: government funding. The House will consider a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government until March. That CR also includes the text of the SAVE Act, H.R. 8281, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Conservatives, including the House Freedom Caucus, have demanded the SAVE Act be included in the CR. That vote could happen as soon as this week. That CR is dead on arrival in the Senate. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) knows that. More likely than not, we’ll see a CR that takes us to December. What happens after that? We’ll probably see another CR to February or March.
The SAVE Act is an exercise in political messaging: Folks, keep in mind that it’s already a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. You can find that at 18 U.S.C §611. The penalties are up to a year in prison, a fine, or both. The conservative Heritage Foundation keeps records of voter fraud and has documented 350 instances of ineligible voting since 2000. Only 24 of these instances involved noncitizens in more than 20 years. This is a nonissue.
Schedule and suspensions in the House: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. The House will also be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The last votes for the week are expected no later than 3:00 pm on Thursday. Thirty-one (31) bills are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are here.
H.R. 510, Chinese Currency Accountability Act (Financial Services Committee)
H.R. 554, Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act (Financial Services Committee)
H.R. 820, Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1103, HKETO Certification Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 1157, Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund Authorization Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 1513, FUTURE Networks Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2864, Countering CCP Drones Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 3169, Identifying Adversarial Threats at our Ports Act (Homeland Security Committee)
H.R. 4741, Securing Global Telecommunications Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 5245, Science and Technology Agreement Enhanced Congressional Notification Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 5613, Sanctions Lists Harmonization Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 6513, COCOA Act (House Administration Committee)
H.R. 6606, To amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 relating to the statement of policy (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 6614, Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 7089, Global Anti-Human Trafficking Enhancement Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 7151, Export Control Enforcement and Enhancement Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 7159, Pacific Partnership Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 7404, Subterranean Border Defense Act (Homeland Security Committee)
H.R. 7589, Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 7592, To direct the Librarian of Congress to promote the more cost-effective, efficient, and expanded availability of the Annotated Constitution and pocket-part supplements by replacing the hardbound versions with digital versions (House Administration Committee)
H.R. 7593, Modernizing the Congressional Research Service’s Access to Data Act (House Administration Committee)
H.R. 7686, To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to clarify the definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction, and for other purposes (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 7701, No Russian Tunnel to Crimea Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 8152, Remote Access Security Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 8314, No Foreign Election Interference Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 8333, BIOSECURE Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 8361, Economic Espionage Prevention Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
H.R. 8631, Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act (Homeland Security Committee)
H.R. 8663, DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act (Homeland Security Committee)
H. Res. 1056, Recognizing the importance of trilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan, and South Korea (Foreign Affairs Committee)
S. 1608, Starr-Camargo Bridge Expansion Act (Foreign Affairs Committee)
Bills that come to the floor under suspension of the rules require two-thirds of members present and voting for passage. This is the most common way that bills considered by the House come to the floor. Some of these bills may be passed by a voice vote, rather than a roll call vote. Most bills that come to the floor under suspension aren’t widely considered controversial, although leadership may occasionally test a bill under suspension to gauge opposition or sneak a bill through the chamber.
Rule bills: The House Rules Committee will meet at 4:00 pm today to markup the rule providing for the consideration of the Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act, H.R. 1398; the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act, H.R. 1516; the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act, H.R. 1425; the End Chinese Dominance of Electric Vehicles in America Act, H.R. 7980; and the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act, H.R. 9256, and the Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, H.R. ____.
Party divisions in the House: Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) passed away on August 21. He was 87. The party divisions in the House are now 220 Republicans and 211 Democrats. The current vacancies are NJ-09 (Pascrell), NJ-10 (Payne), TX-18 (Jackson Lee), and WI-08 (Gallagher). Under the current composition of the House, if all Members are present and voting, 216 would constitute a majority, and 288 would reach the two-thirds threshold.
House committee schedule: The full House committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
Nominees in the Senate: The Senate returns today at 3:00 pm and will resume the consideration of Adam B. Abelson to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. A roll call on the cloture motion for the Ableson nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. Cloture was also filed on the nomination of Jeannette A. Vargas to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Senate may begin to process the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2025 during this three-week work period. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) mentioned NDAA and other legislation as possibilities for floor consideration, but the chamber would be lucky to get NDAA done.
Senate committee schedule: The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
Party divisions in the Senate: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) resigned in August following his conviction on multiple felonies. Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) has appointed George Helmy to serve until the winner of the election to replace Menendez is certified. Helmy will, at that point, resign, and Murphy will appoint the winner of the election to the Senate. This would give the winner of the election more seniority over other incoming freshman senators. Helmy will likely be sworn in this week, bringing the party divisions in the Senate to 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two independents who caucus with Democrats.
Deficit watch: The budget deficit in July was $1.5 trillion. That’s about $100 billion less than the deficit at the same time in FY 2023. Receipts were up 11 percent while outlays were up 6 percent compared to the same point in FY 2023. Medicare, Social Security, and net interest outlays remain among the biggest drivers. Actually, net interest outlays are the biggest driver. Outlays for net interest are up 38 percent compared to FY 2023. Individual income and corporate income tax receipts are up 12 percent and 29 percent, respectively. There are two more months left in FY 2024, and the August figures should be out any day now.
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