CRAs in the House, Committees Begin Reconciliation Work, Nominees in the Senate, Sentencing Commission Sourcebook
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.
Deficit watch: Usually, I put this at the bottom of the newsletter. Not this month. Because of all the talk about “waste, fraud, and abuse” in federal spending, I’m putting the latest monthly budget review from the Congressional Budget Office at the top. The budget deficit through the first six months of FY 2025 is $1.31 trillion. That is $245 billion more than the same point in FY 2024. Why? Although receipts are up 3 percent, spending is up 10 percent. Outlays for mandatory programs (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) are up 7 percent. Spending for other major programs/categories is also up by 7 percent. This includes a 32 percent increase in Homeland Security spending compared to the same point in FY 2024. Net-interest outlays are up 13 percent. You may say, “Pye, there’s a lot of waste and fraud in mandatory programs.” Not on a large scale. Elon Musk is simply wrong about that. Congress can’t meaningfully address deficits and debt until members have a serious conversation about modernizing social insurance and retirement programs. Those solutions have to be bipartisan. Not everyone will love the solutions. But what’s more important, putting the United States on a fiscally sustainable path or political tribalism and gaining political power?
Schedule and suspensions in the House: The House returns at 2:00 pm today 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. No votes are expected on Friday. Eighteen (18) bills are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are available here.
H.R. 452, Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act (Financial Services Committee)
H.R. 617, American Music Tourism Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 859, Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 973, Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1402, TICKET Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1442, Youth Poisoning Protection Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
S. 146, TAKE IT DOWN Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1479, Hotel Fees Transparency Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1664, Deploying American Blockchains Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2444, Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2480, Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 1721, Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing Feasibility Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2482, NTIA Reauthorization Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 906, Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2399, Rural Broadband Protection Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2449, FUTURE Networks Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 2458, Secure Space Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 866, ROUTERS Act (Energy and Commerce 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 mark up the rule providing for the consideration of five joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). H.J.Res. 60 would cancel the rule published by the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior relating to “Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: Motor Vehicles.” H.J.Res. 87 would cancel the rule published by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “California State Motor Vehicle and Engine Pollution Control Standards; Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty and Maintenance Provisions; Advanced Clean Trucks; Zero Emission Airport Shuttle; Zero-Emission Power Train Certification; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision.” H.J.Res. 88 would cancel the rule published by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “California State Motor Vehicle and Engine Pollution Control Standards; Advanced Clean Cars II; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision.” H.J.Res. 89 would cancel the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “California State Motor Vehicle and Engine and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; The ‘Omnibus’ Low NOX Regulation; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision.” Finally, H.J.Res. 78 would cancel the rule published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relating to “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Distinct Population Segment of the Longfin Smelt.”
Here comes the markups of reconciliation recommendations: Committees will begin the first round of markups pursuant to H.Con.Res. 14 this week. The House Armed Services Committee will begin to markup its recommendations on Tuesday at 10:00 am. The Chairman’s mark can be found here. The House Homeland Security Committee will also meet on Tuesday at 10:00 am. The House Education and Workforce Committee will meet on Tuesday at 10:15 am. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will meet on Wednesday at 10:00 am. The OGR recommendations are here. The House Financial Services Committee will meet on Wednesday at 10:00 am. The Financial Services recommendations are here. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is also supposed to meet this week to markup recommendations, but the hearing hasn’t been noticed yet.
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.
Nominations in the Senate: The Senate returns today at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of David Perdue to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China. A roll call vote is expected on the motion to invoke cloture around 5:30 pm. Cloture motions were also filed for Warren Stephens to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Thomas Barrack to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Türkiye, and Tilman Feritta to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino. It’s possible that the Senate will vote on another joint resolution to terminate the national emergency through which the Trump administration has imposed tariffs. Presumably, that’s S.J.Res. 49.
Just a reminder that the Senate isn’t as transparent as the House when it comes to legislation and nominations that may be considered. We usually know what’s happening at the beginning of the week, but it’s often unclear what will happen after that.
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.
FY 2024 Sourcebook: The U.S. Sentencing Commission has released the Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics for FY 2024. These data are useful, particularly for what’s provided on drug trafficking statistics. For example, Due Process Institute has supported the EQUAL Act, which would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Crack cocaine trafficking offenses as a share of all drug trafficking offenses have substantially declined over the years. In FY 1996, crack cocaine trafficking offenses were 26.8 percent of all drug trafficking offenses. In FY 2024, crack cocaine trafficking offenses fell to 3.8 percent. Seeing those data, it blows my mind that there’s still opposition to the EQUAL Act. Heroin spiked in the 2010s, reaching 14.3 percent in FY 2016 but has since plummeted to 3.3 percent. Meth remains at the top, accounting for 45.8 percent of all drug trafficking offenses.
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 Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook.