Appropriations Update, TikTok Bill in the House, Nominations in the Senate
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.
Government funding update, Part I: The first tranche of appropriations bills for FY 2024 is done. The House and Senate passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2024, H.R. 4366, by large margins in both chambers. (Technically, the House passed a rule concurring in the Senate amendment to H.R. 4366 with an amendment.) The bill consists of six appropriations bills: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS); Energy and Water; Interior and Environment; Military Constriction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA); and Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD). President Biden signed the bill into law on Saturday.
Government funding update, Part II: Next up are the remaining six appropriations bills, which will consist of Defense; Financial Services and General Government (FSGG); Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-H); Homeland Security; Legislative Branch, and State and Foreign Operations (State and Foreign Ops). This last tranche may be a little more difficult to get through because Homeland Security has been a consistent headache for House Republican leadership. Leadership may also try to slide the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in the minibus that includes the next six bills. It’s just a rumor that they could do it, as far as we know, but including 702 will subtract, not add, votes. The deadline to get these bills done is Friday, March 22.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. Sixteen (16) bills are expected to be considered under suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills can be found here. The House will also meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. Votes are expected both days, with the last votes for the week expected no later than 3:00 pm on Wednesday. Votes aren’t expected on Thursday and Friday.
H.R. 532, To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 600 East First Street in Rome, Georgia, as the "Harold L. Murphy Federal Building and United States Courthouse (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 886, Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 1752, E-BRIDGE Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 4693, TVA Salary Transparency Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6249, Think Differently About Emergencies Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6254, Public Buildings Accountability Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6260, FOCUS Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6261, Impact of Crime on Public Building Usage (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6277, FASTA Reform Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 6316, To amend title 40, United States Code, to establish an expiration date of certain committee resolutions with respect to leases or projects, and for other purposes (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 7032, Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
H. Con. Res. 83, Authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the National Peace Officers Memorial Service and the National Honor Guard and Pipe Band Exhibition (Transportation and Infrastructure)
S. 1278, A bill to designate the Federal building located at 985 Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, as the “Rosa Parks Federal Building”, and for other purposes (Transportation and Infrastructure)
S. 1858, Disaster Assistance Deadlines Alignment Act (Transportation and Infrastructure)
Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, H.R. 7521 (Energy and Commerce)
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 on Monday at 4:00 pm to markup the rule providing for the consideration of the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act, H.R. 6276, and a resolution denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies, H.Res. 1065.
And a bill that would force ByteDance to divest from TikTok: The House will consider the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, H.R. 7521. The bill would force ByteDance to divest from TikTok and sell to a company not owned by a “foreign adversary.” This bill has moved relatively fast. It cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee without opposition late last week and is on the floor, most likely on Wednesday, this week on suspension. That means two-thirds are required for passage. President Biden has indicated he would sign the bill into law should it also pass the Senate.
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. (In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t listed committee hearings lately. Honestly, doing that takes more time than writing everything else in the newsletter. I haven’t decided if this is a permanent thing or not. Let me know what you think.)
Nominees in the Senate: The Senate returns today at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of Jasmine Hyejung Yoon to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. A vote on the cloture motion for the Yoon nomination will begin around 5:30 pm. Cloture motions were also filed on the nominations of Sunil R. Harjani to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and Melissa R. DuBos to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
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 February of FY 2024 is $830 billion. Remember, the fiscal year began in October, so this covers a five-month span. That’s an increase of $108 billion compared to the same point in FY 2023. Tax receipts are up by 7 percent while outlays are up 9 percent. Aspects of federal spending that have seen the biggest outlay increases are the net interest payments on the debt (50 percent increase), Veterans Affairs (16 percent), Medicare (13 percent), Defense (12 percent), and Social Security (10 percent). Traditionally, April is a surplus month for the federal government because of tax season, but the March deficit figures will come out first.
Brief thoughts on the State of the Union: I really appreciated President Biden’s comments on democracy, Ukraine, and January 6. There were a few other points he hit where I found myself nodding in agreement. I also appreciated the energy he showed. Still, President Biden’s refusal to address Social Security is problematic. According to the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted in 2033. When the trust fund is depleted, it will be able to pay only 77 percent of scheduled benefits. Don’t believe me? Read the report. Also, his comments about the wealthy paying their “fair share” were annoying. The top 3 percent of income earners already pay 52.1 percent of all income taxes, according to Internal Revenue Service tax from tax year 2019. The top 10 percent pay 70.1 percent. The top 25 percent pay 86.6 percent. The bottom 50 percent of income earners pay 3.1 percent of all income taxes. The fair share is being paid. Overall, I thought President Biden did what he needed to do. I couldn’t make it through Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) response. I made it through about five minutes before I had to change the channel. Her voice sounded weird. The border needs to be addressed, but Republicans need to begin saying that we need more immigration, not less. Otherwise, they’ll continue to come across like immigration restrictionists. Then again, that’s what they seem to be these days. Man, I miss Ronald Reagan.
Due Process Institute is a bipartisan nonprofit that works to honor, preserve, and restore principles of fairness in the criminal legal system. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
Very helpful, as always! FWIW, I like when you list the committee hearings. It saves me the trouble of having to go look them up myself--but of course, that's not difficult to do.