Homcides Continued to Fall in Big Cities in Q1, FISA in the House This Week, and Nominees 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.
Crime continued to fall in Q1: It’s early, so don’t read too much into the data yet, but on the heels of the preliminary 2023 data, homicide continued to fall in the first quarter of 2024. The preliminary data for 2023 show declines in index crimes, except motor vehicle theft. Homicides dropped by 13.2 percent. Violent crime overall fell by 5.7 percent. Granted, we’ll see the final figures in September or October. Still, it’s good news. But the good news continued into the first quarter of 2024. As Jeff Asher explains, “Murder is down more than 30 percent at the moment in Washington DC, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Columbus1, Nashville, Philadelphia, and I could keep going. There are 18 cities with available 2024 data that reported 30 or more murders through February 2023…murder is down as of now in 16 of them. Murder is down in 22 of the 26 cities that reported 20 or more murders through February 2023 and it’s down 25 percent or more in 15 of those 26 cities.” Let’s hope the trend continues for the rest of the year.
Over in the Senate: The Senate will reconvene at 3:00 pm today to resume the consideration of Susan M. Bazis to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. A roll call vote on the cloture motion for the Bazis nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. Cloture motions were also filed for Robert J. White to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Ann Marie McIff Allen to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.
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.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns on Tuesday at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. The House will also be in session on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Fourteen (14) are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are here. Another bill could be added to the list of suspensions. (I’m getting there.)
H.R. 6492, EXPLORE Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 524, To amend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act to create an exemption for certain shoreline borrow sites (Natural Resources Committee)
S. 382, Puyallup Tribe of Indians Land Into Trust Confirmation Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 1246, To authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 1792, South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 1829, To require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site to Gila County, Arizona (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 2560, Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 3250, National Museum of Play Recognition Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 4389, Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 6011, ROWATA Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 6233, Community Reclamation Partnerships Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 6443, Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act (Education and the Workforce Committee)
House Amendment to S. 2051, Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act (Education and the Workforce 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 on Tuesday at 4:00 pm to markup the rule providing for the consideration of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, H.R. ____; the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act, H.R. 529; a resolution denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies, H.Res. 1112; and a resolution opposing efforts to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza, H.Res. ____. Additional legislative items are possible.
Let’s talk about FISA, Part I: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is feckless. I’m sorry. There’s no other way to describe his approach to the debate over the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In December, Speaker Johnson tucked a provision to extend Section 702 in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) through April 19. Since then, the Department of Justice has sought to renew existing certifications. I believe those have been renewed. If so, the certifications are good for 12 months, far beyond the April 19 deadline. In February, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act was slated to come to the floor, with agreed upon amendments offered by the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Both committee has jurisdiction over FISA. HPSCI walked away, with Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) threatening to take down the rule if was brought to the floor. Turner also released a statement about some veiled “national security threat” that turned out not to be anything imminent, nor a previously unknown threat. Generally, I’m not super thrilled about the House Freedom Caucus these days because of its constant defenses of Trump, playing in the culture wars, and increasing mind-numbing populism, but had they threatened to take down the rule, Speaker Johnson wouldn’t have pulled it. He showed a lot of deference to Turner by pulling a vote on the rule—and, by extension, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act—and kicking the can down the road.
Let’s talk about FISA, Part II: That brings us to today. The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act is on the floor this week, but the nature of the deal between HJC and HPSCI has changed. As we understand it, the text of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act has been altered. The only HJC amendments that will be allowed are one to close the backdoor search loophole and another to strengthen oversight on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The amendment offered by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) to prohibit law enforcement agencies from purchasing data from third-party data brokers won’t be allowed. Instead, Speaker Johnson will bring the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, H.R. 4639, to the floor under suspension of the rules. Now, the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act is a great bill, and we support it. Unfortunately, bringing the bill to the floor this way guarantees that it will die in the Senate. We’re just going through the motions in the House. Oh, and if the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act doesn’t pass, Speaker Johnson is threatening a clean reauthorization without any reforms.
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.)
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