House Looks to Complete More Appropriations Bills, Senate Begins Week with Nominations, Cruel CRA Could Send 3,400 Low-Risk Individuals Back to Prison for No Real Reason
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.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. Legislative business will begin at 10:00 am on Tuesday and at 9:00 am on Wednesday and Thursday. Six bills are expected to be considered under suspension of the rules. The cost estimates for those bills can be found here.
H.R. 1607 – To clarify jurisdiction with respect to certain Bureau of Reclamation pumped storage development, and for other purposes (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 1722 – Grand Ronde Reservation Act Amendment (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 3448 – American Battlefield Protection Program Enhancement Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 359 – Fort San Geronimo Preservation Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 2717 – Hershel Woody Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 1318 – Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act (Natural Resources 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 is expected to begin consideration of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2024, H.R. 4820. The House already passed the rule for consideration of T-HUD, H.Res. 838, and more than 70 amendments were made in order. The House Rules Committee will meet today at 4:00 pm to markup the rule for the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for FY 2024, H.R. 4664. Nearly 250 amendments have been submitted for consideration. Rules has queued up the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2024, H.R. 5894, and the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2024, H.R. 5893. Therefore, additional legislation is possible.
Regular disorder: It’s worth noting that the Labor-HHS and CJS appropriations bills weren’t subject to markup by the House Appropriations Committee. The bills were approved by their respective subcommittees, but committee consideration is a key part of what we call “regular order.” Although we’re a little more than a month into FY 2024, the House has now passed seven of the 12 appropriations bills. Five more are left to go, including the four that will be considered this week and next.
House committee schedule: Below are some House committee hearings that may be of interest. The full House committee schedule for the week is here.
Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons (Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
The Tangled Web of Global Governance: How the Biden Administration is Ceding Authority Over American Financial Regulation (Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Ensuring that "Woke" Doesn't Leave Americans Broke: Protecting Seniors and Savers from ESG Activism (Ways and Means, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Various Legislative Measures (Foreign Affairs, Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Veterans Serving Veterans: The Impact of America’s Businesses on Veteran Employment and Opportunity (Veterans’ Affairs, Tuesday at 10:30 am)
Markup of Various Legislative Measures (Science, Space, and Technology; Wednesday at 10:00 am)Free Speech on College Campuses (Judiciary, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
United Nations’ Bigotry Towards Israel UNRWA Anti-semitism Poisons Palestinian Youth (Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations; Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Burdensome Regulations: Examining the Effects of Department of Energy Regulations on America’s Job Creators (Small Business, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Friend and Ally: U.S. Support for Israel After Hamas’ Barbaric Attack (Foreign Affairs, Wednesday at 2:00 pm)
Advances in Deepfake Technology (Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation; Wednesday at 2:00 pm)
Member Day (Financial Services, Thursday at 9:00 am)
If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
Over in the Senate: The Senate will reconvene today at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of Monica M. Bertagnolli to serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health. A roll call vote on the cloture motion for the Bertagnolli nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. Additionally, cloture motions were filed on the nominations of Kenly Kiya Kato to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Julia E. Kobick to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and Ramon Ernesto Reyes, Jr. to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Oh, and the Senate is in the game on appropriations: After weeks of consideration, the Senate finally passed H.R. 4366, which is the vehicle for three appropriations bills—MilCon-VA, Agriculture, and T-HUD. H.R. 4366 passed by a vote of 82 to 15. The Senate has nine more appropriations bills to go. We expect supplemental appropriations for Israel, Ukraine, and disaster relief to come up relatively soon, if not this week. The House bill for Israel, H.R. 6126, which didn’t include Ukraine and disaster relief, isn’t likely to move in the Senate.
A cruel move could send nearly 3,400 low-risk, nonviolent people back to prison: A disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), S.J.Res. 47, has been introduced in the Senate, and it might be one of the cruelest, unjust pieces of legislation I’ve ever seen. The CARES Act provided the Bureau of Prisons with authority to place individuals with a low risk of recidivism who hadn’t committed a violent offense into home confinement. Between March 2020 and June 2023, more than 13,000 individuals were placed into home confinement under the CARES Act. As of August, nearly 3,400 individuals remain in home confinement. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion in December 2021 saying that these individuals wouldn’t be forced to go back to prison when the emergency related to COVID-19 ended. DOJ published a rule carrying this out. However, S.J.Res. 47 was introduced last week, and it would cancel the DOJ rule and force these nearly 3,400 people to go back to prison. Keep in mind that these individuals have started to rebuild their lives, but the progress they’ve made is now threatened. Also, it’s worth noting that of the more than 13,000 individuals placed into home confinement, only 27 have committed a new crime. That’s a new crime rate of 0.19 percent. This CRA is, without question, utterly absurd and without merit. We’re tracking this closely, but to be clear, it can come up at any point after today Tuesday if 30 senators sign a petition to discharge it from committee.
Tuberville is making a lot of enemies: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has, for months, blocked the Senate from approving nearly 400 military promotions, which usually go through unanimous consent. Tuberville has blocked the nominations over the Department of Defense’s abortion leave policy. Last week, Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Joni Ernst (R-IA), both of whom served in the military, tried to break the stalemate by trying to move 61 promotions. Tuberville blocked every single one. With everything going on in the world, the stalemate over the military promotions seems like a bad idea, to say the least, and tensions with Tuberville are boiling over, so much so that the Senate may try a procedural move to get around Tuberville. Such a move would have to be bipartisan, and it would almost certainly be criticized by conservative groups, especially pro-life organizations, but that’s just where the Senate is right now. This one-man blockade is dangerous because the world seems like it’s on fire right now.
Senate committee schedule: Below are some Senate committee hearings that may be of interest. The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here.
Abuse in Foster Care: A Deeper Look (Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, Field Hearing in Atlanta, Monday at 11:00 am)
Social Media and the Teen Mental Health Crisis (Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law; Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Sustainable Tourism for a Thriving Economy (Commerce, Transportation, and Science Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion; Tuesday at 10:00 am)
Nominations Hearing (Commerce, Transportation, and Science; Tuesday at 2:30 pm)
Understanding Roadway Safety: Examining the Causes of Roadway Safety Challenges and Possible Interventions (Environment and Public Works, Tuesday at 2:30 pm)
A Review of the President’s Supplemental Request for the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security (Appropriations, Wednesday at 9:00 am)
U.S. National Security Interests in Ukraine (Foreign Relations, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Accessing Clean Water Infrastructure Assistance: Small, Rural, Disadvantaged, and Underserved Communities (Environment and Public Works, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility: Cracking Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats (Budget, Wednesday at 10:00 am)
Reforming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board – The PREVAIL Act and Proposals to Promote U.S. Innovation Leadership (Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Wednesday at 2:30 pm)
Avoiding a Cautionary Tale: Policy Considerations for Artificial Intelligence in Health Care (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security; Wednesday at 2:30 pm)
The Philosophy of AI: Learning from History, Shaping Our Future (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Thursday at 9:30 am)
Executive Business Meeting (Judiciary, Thursday at 10:00 am)
Addressing Close Calls to Improve Aviation Safety (Commerce, Transportation, and Science Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation; Thursday at 9:00 am)
If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
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