Recapping the 702 Votes, House May Consider Israel Aid, Update on Mayorkas Impeachment
Jason Pye - Director, Rule of Law Initiatives
Point of Order is a (mostly) weekly preview of key congressional activity for those with more than a passing interest in federal policy.
Recapping the votes on the 702 reauthorization bill: We lost 212 to 212 on the warrant requirement. The other two amendments, codifying the end of “abouts” collection and a transparency requirement on number of U.S. person queries, passed. The “abouts” collection amendment passed by voice while the transparency requirement passed 269 to 153. Unfortunately, all three amendments to expand surveillance passed. The amendment to expand 702 to the war on drugs passed 268 to 152. The amendment to expand 702 to immigration passed 227 to 193. The amendment to expand the definition of an electronic communications service provider passed 236 to 186. The underlying reauthorization bill, the so-called “Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act,” H.R. 7888, passed 273 to 147.
Yeah, losing on this was frustrating: I had to step away for a little bit after the vote on Friday. Frankly, I was pissed. HPSCI lied about the impact of the warrant requirement for U.S. persons. They lied a lot. They used all of their time on other amendments to complain about the warrant requirement amendment. Kudos to Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Jerry Nadler (D-NY) for aggressively pushing back on the lies HPSCI was spreading. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who voted for strong 702 reforms in 2018 via the USA RIGHTS Act, flipped on the warrant requirement and voted against the amendment. Even when you expect to be disappointed by someone, Johnson has managed to fall even lower than the expectations. The arrogance and hubris coming from the Speaker’s office is quite amazing considering that the House Republican Conference essentially settled on Johnson.
There’s a vote on the 702 reauthorization bill today: In addition to considering the suspensions today, the House will vote on a motion to table the motion to reconsider the vote made after the vote on the intelligence community’s 702 bill. That vote will occur around 6:30 pm.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm, after the vote on the motion to table the motion to reconsider. The House will also be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Eleven (11) are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are here.
H.R. 4866, Fire Weather Development Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 1069, Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 4755, Privacy Enhancing Technology Research Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 4824, Carbon Sequestration Collaboration Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 4877, Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 7032, Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (Budget Committee)
S. 474, REPORT Act (Judiciary Committee)
H.R. 3738, Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 4016, Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 1767, Student Veteran Benefit Restoration Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 3722, Daniel J. Harvey Jr. and Adam Lambert Improving Servicemember Transition to Reduce Veteran Suicide Act (Armed Services 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 will consider several bills for which the rule passed last week. Those bills are the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act, H.R. 529; a resolution opposing efforts to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza, H. Res. 1117; and a resolution denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies, H. Res. 1112. The House Rules Committee will meet today at 4:00 pm to markup the rules providing for the consideration of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, H.R. 4639; the Affordable Air Conditioning Act, H.R. 7626; the Refrigerator Freedom Act, H.R. 7637; the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, H.R. 7700; the Clothes Dryers Reliability Act, H.R. 7645; the Liberty in Laundry Act, H.R. 7673; and the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, H.R. 6192. Additional legislative items are possible.
Israel aid is possible: Obviously, the talk about aid for Israel comes in response to Iran launching strikes on Israel over the weekend. The strikes were largely unsuccessful. Iran launched the strikes in response to the recent killing of three Iranian generals in Syria. Israel is threatening to respond, which, uh, would be bad and could lead to a full-scale war. It remains to be seen exactly what form any Israel aid the House considers will take, but House Republicans say an Israel aid bill is coming. Although Speaker Johnson has said that he won’t put the Senate-passed national security funding bill on the floor, his ideas for an alternative haven’t been warmly received by House conservatives. The Senate-passed bill, H.R. 815, includes funding for Israel and Ukraine. It’s possible the House tries to move another standalone funding bill for Israel, but that vote could be close. The House has already tried this once, back in November. The Senate rejected the cloture motion on the motion to proceed because of the lack of other aid, including aid to Ukraine. If an Israel-only bill passes both chambers and becomes law, Ukraine aid will continue to languish as Speaker Johnson kowtows to the far-right of the Conference. I doubt the Senate will take up that bill, though. If he moves forward on the Senate-passed bill, he’ll face a motion to vacate, but he’ll likely survive it since Democrats will vote to table the motion.
Oh, yeah, the Mayorkas impeachment is still a thing: On Tuesday, the House is expected to finally send the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, H.Res. 863, to the Senate. The House passed H.Res. 863 two months ago but has delayed sending it over because the Senate is expected to dismiss the articles of impeachment and not even hold a trial.
Committee changes: Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) is now the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Some changes were made to Appropriations subcommittee chairs as well. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) was named House Rules Committee chairman to replace Cole, who stepped from the committee. Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) was added to the committee to fill Cole’s seat.
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.
And over in the Senate: The Senate will reconvene at 3:00 pm today to resume consideration of the nomination of Ramona Villagomez Manglona to serve as a judge on the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. A roll call vote on the cloture motion for Manglona nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. The Senate will also likely dismiss the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas and consider the intelligence community’s 702 bill this week.
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.
Deficit watch: The budget deficit through March of FY 2024 was $1.064 trillion. Revenues are up by 7 percent for the fiscal year while outlays are up by 3 percent. However, outlays for net interest and Social Security are up by 133 percent and 59 percent.
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