Big Markup in Senate Judiciary, Endless Frontiers Act Still on the Floor, January 6 Commission Likely Not Happening
By 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.
We’ve got a markup this week on some CJR bills: I’ll have more info on committee work this week below, but I did want to flag that the Senate Judiciary Committee will markup three bills in a business meeting that begins at 10:00 am on Thursday. The bills are the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act; S. 312; the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, S. 601; and the First Step Implementation Act, S. 1014. The markup was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but the bills were held over to this week. We didn’t include the markup in last week’s newsletter because it hadn’t officially been noticed.
About the bills in the SJC markup: The COVID-19 Safer Detention Act would improve upon existing programs to make more nonviolent, elderly, and vulnerable inmates eligible for those programs. The bill would also ensure that eligibility for the Elderly Home Detention Program includes reductions for good time credits in the calculation for time-served and expand the program to nonviolent inmates who have served at least 50 percent of their sentence. The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act would amend 18 U.S.C. § 3661 to prohibit federal judges from considering acquitted conduct in sentencing unless it is used to mitigate the sentence. The First Step Implementation Act supports the original bipartisan reforms passed under the First Step Act by making the sentencing reforms in Title IV of the First Step Act retroactive. The bill also clarifies eligibility for the federal safety valve and makes some modest juvenile justice reforms.
The Senate is still processing the Endless Frontier Act: The Senate returns today at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the Endless Frontier Act, S. 1260. (I’m still calling it the Endless Frontiers Act, but an amendment did change the short title of the bill to the US Innovation and Competition Act.) The bill is likely to be on the floor for the remainder of the week period, which technically ends on Friday. The reason the Senate is still on the Endless Frontier Act is because of amendments. Considering the 50/50 split in the Senate and the agreement between Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), filling the amendment tree to limit or prevent amendments to legislation isn’t really an option, so legislation may roll slower through the Senate than it normally would because of the amendment process.
Nominees are also on the agenda: Prior to leaving town, Schumer filed cloture on the nominations of Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to serve as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Kristen M. Clarke to serve as an Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice. Around 5:30 pm today, the Senate will vote cloture motion on Brooks-LaSure's nomination.
January 6 Commission doesn’t look likely: The future of the Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act, H.R. 3233, is very much in doubt, and it could be the first casualty of the filibuster in the 117th Congress. Last week, the House passed the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act. Only 35 Republicans voted for the legislation. That’s not necessarily surprising considering that most Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), are now trying to gloss over and otherwise downplay the events of January 6. It’s frustrating. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has come out against the bill, as have other Republicans. Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) wants changes. Right now, a path to 60 votes to break a filibuster seems very unlikely. That said, the Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act could come to the floor as soon as this week.
Senate committee schedule: Below are some Senate committee hearings that may be of interest. There’s a bunch of hearings happening in the Appropriations Committee this week that I didn’t include below. The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here.
Nominations Hearing (Finance, Tuesday at 9:30 am)
Nominations Hearing (Armed Services, Tuesday at 9:30 am)
Markup of Various Legislation (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Tuesday at 10:00 am)
The Semiannual Testimony on the Federal Reserve’s Supervision and Regulation of the Financial System (Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Protecting Kids Online: Internet Privacy and Manipulative Marketing (Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security; Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Business Meeting to Consider Nominations (Foreign Relations, Tuesday at 2:15 pm)
Stop Gun Violence: Safe Storage (Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Tuesday at 2:30 pm)
Reviving International Travel and Tourism to Create and Restore Jobs (Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion; Tuesday at 3:00 pm)
Annual Oversight of Wall Street Firms (Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Nominations Hearing (Judiciary, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
The Pandemic Response and the Small Business Economy: An Update from the U.S. Small Business Administration (Small Business, Wednesday at 2:30 pm)
To receive testimony on space force, military space operations, policy and programs (Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Wednesday at 4:30 pm)
Nominations Hearing (Armed Services, Thursday at 9:30 am)
Nominations Hearing (Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Thursday at 9:30 am)
Nominations Hearing (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Thursday at 10:00 am)
Executive Session and Nominations Hearing (Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Thursday at 10:00 am)
Nominations Hearing (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Thursday at 10:15 am)
Ethiopia in Crisis: U.S. Strategy and Policy Response (Foreign Relations, Thursday at 11:00 am)
Committee work week in the House and upcoming schedule: The House is in a committee work week period and will not meet, excluding pro forma days. The House will be in recess next week, excluding pro forma days. The week of June 7 is also a committee work week. As of now, the House won’t be back in session until Monday, June 14.
The House has been under “martial law” for a year: Something I hadn’t realized until last week was that the House has been operating under “martial law” since last May 2020. Ordinarily, a piece of legislation must sit for one day before it can be considered on the floor unless two-thirds agree to waive the requirement. House leadership—and both parties have done this—will occasionally waive this particular requirement—Rule VIII(6)(a) (see p. 28 for the specific language of the rule under “Privileged Reports by the Committee on Rules”)—in the rule governing a bill that will be considered on the floor. H.Res. 967 waived the rule through July 21, 2020, H.Res. 1017 through July 31, 2020; H.Res. 1053 through September 21, 2020; H.Res. 1107 through November 20, 2020; and H.Res. 1224 for the remainder of the 116th Congress (January 3, 2021). The 117th Congress started with waiving the rule via H.Res. 8 through January 28, 2021, and continued with H.Res. 41 through February 11, 2021; H.Res. 85 through March 12, 2021; H.Res. 147 through April 8, 2021; H.Res. 188 through April 22, 2021; H.Res. 330 through May 20, 2021; and, now, H.Res. 403 through July 1, 2021. Some may wonder why this is a big deal. It’s because dropping a bill, which could be dozens to hundreds of pages long, in Members’ laps the very same day of a vote doesn’t give Members an opportunity to read and comprehend it. Again, both parties are guilty of this waiving Rule VIII(6)(a) when it’s convenient, but waiving it for this long has to be unprecedented.
House committee schedule: Below are some House committee hearings that may be of interest. Like the Senate, the House Appropriations Committee has a very active week. The full House committee schedule for the week is here.
Voting in America: The Potential for Voter ID Laws, Proof-of-Citizenship Laws, and Lack of Multi-Lingual Support To Interfere with Free and Fair Access to the Ballot (House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, Monday at 11:00 am)
FY22 Priorities for National Security Space Programs (Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Monday at 11:00 am)
Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor Protections (Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets; Monday at 12:00 pm)
Markup of Various Legislation (Oversight and Reform, Tuesday at 2:00 pm)
An Examination of the SBA’s Covid-19 Programs (Small Business, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Markup of Various Legislation (Natural Resources, Wednesday at 11:00 am)
The Future of SNAP: Moving Past the Pandemic (Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations; Wednesday at 12:00 pm)
Confronting Violent White Supremacy (Part V): Examining the Rise of Militia Extremism (Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Wednesday at 2:00 pm)
Meeting: Oversight of the Voting Rights Act: A Continuing Record of Discrimination (Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties; Thursday at 10:00 am)
Making the House More Accessible to the Disability Community (Modernization of Congress, Thursday at 11:00 am)
RSC rolls out FY 2022 budget: The Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, has unveiled its budget for FY 2022. The proposal would balance the federal budget in five years by reducing spending by $14.4 trillion over the next ten years. The reductions in spending come from $10 trillion in changes in mandatory spending—in part by modernizing Medicare and increasing the retirement age for Social Security and essentially means-testing the program for higher-income earners while increasing the minimum benefit—and $3.4 trillion in cuts to nondefense discretionary spending. Defense discretionary spending would see real increases in spending. Because sacred cows. The budget would also reduce taxes by $1.9 trillion. Of course, considering the party divisions in the House, the RSC’s budget proposal isn’t going anywhere.
No Point of Order next week: Since both chambers will be in recess, there won’t be a newsletter next week. I know, it’s going to be difficult, but we’ll get through this.
For the music fans: Mock Orange is doing a live stream of fan favorites on Tuesday. The Get Up Kids are hosting a live stream of their 1997 record, Four Minute Mile, on Thursday. When I played music, we had the privilege to open for Mock Orange at a show at Under the Couch at Georgia Tech. And I’ve been listening to The Get Up Kids for years. Four Minute Mile is an amazing record. I have to say, live streams aren’t a bad way to watch bands, but I really miss live music.
Due Process Institute is a bipartisan nonprofit that works to honor, preserve, and restore principles of fairness in the criminal legal system.