Build Back Better Act Vote Expected in the House, Senate Likely to Consider NDAA
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.
A very personal op-ed: On Thursday, The Hill published a piece from me for Veterans Day in which I talk about the struggles that veterans often face. I come at this from personal experience with my father, who served in Vietnam and suffered from PTSD and depression. I’ve never really been this open about the relationship with my father, who passed away when I was 12 years old. The point of the piece, though, is more about the issues veterans face when they return home and how Congress needs to do more, particularly in the area of criminal justice. This piece was more difficult to write than I thought it would be, but the feedback has been great, and I appreciate each and every person who has texted or tweeted about it.
Acquitted conducting sentencing markup in HJC: The House Judiciary Committee will markup the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, H.R. 1621, during its business meeting on Wednesday at 10:00 am. The Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act would prohibit judges from using conduct for which an individual has been acquitted to increase a sentence. The Senate Judiciary Committee has already marked up a companion measure.
Leahy announces retirement: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has announced that he won’t seek reelection in 2022. Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has served in the chamber since 1975. He is the longest current serving senator.
Suspensions in the House: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. First and last votes today are expected around 6:30 pm. The chamber will be in session through Thursday, with the last votes of the week expected before 3:00 pm that day. It is possible that the House extends the schedule for the week. There are 18 bills (listed below) on the suspension calendar for the week. These bills will likely be on the floor between Monday and Wednesday.
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on disparities associated with race and ethnicity with respect to certain benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, S. 1031 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
To authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish seasonal influenza vaccines to certain individuals, and for other purposes, H.R. 5671 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Diego, California, as the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and to support the designation of a component of such medical center in honor of Kathleen Bruyere, H.R. 3665 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Hire Veteran Health Heroes Act, S. 894 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Colonel John M. McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act, S. 1095 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act, H.R. 4591 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
VITAL Assessment Act, H.R. 5516 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Burn Pit Registry Enhancement Act, H.R. 2433 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
VA AIM Act, H.R. 4626 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Protections for Student Veterans Act, H.R. 5603 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Protecting Moms Who Served Act, S. 796 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
Student Veterans Counseling Centers Eligibility Act, H.R. 4233 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
BRAVE Act, H.R. 147 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs an Advisory Committee on United States Outlying Areas and Freely Associated States, and for other purposes, H.R. 3730 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
VIPER Act, H.R. 5721 (Veterans' Affairs Committee)
HOPR Act, H.R. 2915 (Homeland Security Committee)
TRANSLATE Act, H.R. 5574 (Homeland Security Committee)
DHS Acquisition Review Board Act, H.R. 5652 (Homeland Security 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. Because of the dilatory tactics used by the House Freedom Caucus, some suspension bills may be packaged together to save time and limit the number of roll call votes.
Build Back Better Act will likely be on the floor: Although it’s possible that other legislation could be added to the calendar for the week, the House is expected to consider the Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376. The rule governing consideration of the Build Back Better Act—H.Res. 774—was passed by the House on November 6. It’s a closed rule (meaning no amendments will be allowed) that provides for two hours of debate evenly divided. However, Punchbowl News reported this morning that the House may need to pass another rule “because of technical issues related to the ‘Byrd Bath’ and privilege concerns” that come into play in the Senate. As noted in past newsletters, budget reconciliation isn’t as simple as putting a bunch of legislative priorities into a bill and voting on it. Budget reconciliation deals with revenues, spending, and the national debt, and any changes made under the process must be direct. This was why a proposed minimum wage increase was nixed in the previous budget reconciliation legislation and immigration proposals (to this point) has proven problematic in Democrats’ current effort. For those who are interested to know more details about the Build Back Better Act, a section-by-section of the bill is available here.
About those CBO estimates: The reason it has taken this long to get the Build Back Better Act on the floor is because moderate Democrats wanted the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to release the cost estimates of all the committee recommendations. As of this morning, the CBO has released the cost estimates for the recommendations from Veterans Affairs; Small Business; Science, Space, and Technology; Homeland Security; Oversight and Reform; and Transportation and Infrastructure. The cost estimates for Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce (easily the most notable recommendations) haven’t come out yet.
House committee schedule: Below are some House committee hearings that may be of interest. The full House committee schedule for the week can be found here.
Cracking Down on Ransomware: Strategies for Disrupting Criminal Hackers and Building Resilience Against Cyber Threats (Oversight and Reform, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Markup of Various Legislative Measures (Financial Services, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
A Discussion with SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman (Small Business, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Markup of Various Legislative Measures (Judiciary, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Invisible Wounds: Preventing Suicide in Our Nation’s Military and Veteran Communities (Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Combating Coronavirus Cons and the Monetization of Misinformation (Coronavirus Crisis, Wednesday at 2:00 pm)
Tribal Voices, Tribal Wisdom: Strategies for the Climate Crisis (Climate Crisis, Thursday at 9:30 am)
If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
Nominees kick off the Senate work week: The Senate returns today at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of Graham Scott Steele to serve as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. We expect a vote on the cloture motion for the Steele nomination around 5:30 pm. The Senate will also consider the nominations of Robert Farrell Bonnie to serve as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Brian Eddie Nelson to serve as the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.
Expect NDAA on the floor: In a letter to the Democratic Caucus, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote that it’s “likely” that the Senate will begin to process the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2022, S. 2792, this week. Schumer indicated that the Senate may add the text of the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), S. 1260, to NDAA. USICA passed the Senate in June. He also wrote, “[W]e will seek to have an amendment vote to the NDAA on bipartisan legislation repealing the 2002 Iraq AUMF that was reported by the Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year. I made a commitment to having a vote on this proposal in 2021 and the NDAA is a logical place to have that vote.” We haven’t seen a list of all the amendments (considering the Senate isn’t exactly transparent), but we’re keeping an eye on NDAA.
Senate committee schedule: Below are some Senate committee hearings that may be of interest. The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here.
Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (Judiciary, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Nominations Hearing (Finance, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Nominations Hearing (Judiciary, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Afghanistan 2001-2021: U.S. Policy Lessons Learned (Foreign Relations, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Federal Government Perspective: Improving Security, Trade, and Travel Flows at the Southwest Border Ports of Entry (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Wednesday at 2:30 pm)
Demystifying Crypto: Digital Assets and the Role of Government (Joint Economic, Wednesday at 2:30 pm)
Executive Business Meeting (Judiciary, Thursday at 9:00 am)
If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
UGA is still ranked #1: There are two games left in the regular season. After that, UGA will have the SEC Championship, likely against Alabama. I’m trying not to be my normal pessimistic self because our defense is scary good, but Alabama has broken our hearts before. Regardless, that win over Tennessee this weekend was amazing.
Due Process Institute is a bipartisan nonprofit that works to honor, preserve, and restore principles of fairness in the criminal legal system.