House Plans Work on Four Appropriations Bills, Senate Has More Nominees on the Agenda
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.
Schedule and suspensions in the House: The House returns today at 2:00 pm 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. Nineteen (19) bills are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are here.
H.R. 890, Guidance Out Of Darkness (GOOD) Act
H.R. 1631, Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act (Judiciary Committee)
H.R. 2969, Financial Technology Protection Act (Financial Services Committee)
H.R. 4136, U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson Memorial VA Clinic Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 5464, To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Guntersville, Alabama, as the "Colonel Ola Lee Mize Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic" (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 6162, To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 379 North Oates Street in Dothan, Alabama, as the "LaBruce 'Bruce' Tidwell Post Office Building" (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7280, HUD Transparency Act (Financial Services Committee)
H.R. 7333, To name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in West Palm Beach, Florida, as the “Thomas H. Corey VA Medical Center” (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 7377, Royalty Resiliency Act (Natural Resources Committee)
H.R. 7385, To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 29 Franklin Street in Petersburg, Virginia, as the "John Mercer Langston Post Office Building" (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7887, Allowing Contractors to Choose Employees for Select Skills (ACCESS) Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 8812, Water Resources Development Act (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
S. 227, Improving Access to Our Courts Act (Judiciary Committee)
S. 1258, Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
S. 1973, All-American Flag Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
S. 3249, A bill to designate the outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas, as the “Captain Elwin Shopteese VA Clinic” (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
S. 3285, A bill to rename the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Butte, Montana, as the “Charlie Dowd VA Clinic” (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
S. 4548, Foreign Extortion Prevention Technical Corrections Act (Judiciary Committee)
S. 3706, Victims’ VOICES Act (Judiciary 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 today at 4:00 pm to mark up the rule providing for the consideration of four FY 2025 appropriations bills. Those bills are the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, H.R. 8773; the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 8998; the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 8997; and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 9027. More than 200 amendments have been filed to FSGG, nearly 200 to Interior, a little more than 100 to Energy and Water, and slightly more than 100 to Agriculture. The House may also consider a resolution on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. That text is not yet available.
Status update on appropriations in the House: Not that it matters, because we all know a continuing resolution (CR) is coming in September, the House has passed four of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY 2025. The bills that have passed are the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 8774; the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, H.R. 8752; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 8580; and the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, H.R. 8771. The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, H.R. 8772, failed on the floor. The bills that may be tough to pass, in addition to Leg Branch, are the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 9026; the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 9029; and the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 9028. This is for various reasons. CJS includes DOJ funding, such as the investigations into Trump while Labor-HHS will see culture war amendments.
Rest in peace, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Rep. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) passed away on Friday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 74 years old. Jackson Lee was first elected to the House in 1994. She served on the Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Budget committee. She was the ranking member of the Crime, and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee.
Party divisions in the House: The party divisions are 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats. The current vacancies are in NJ-10 (Payne), TX-18 (Jackson Lee), and WI-01 (Gallagher). I failed to previously note that Rep. Greg Lopez (R-CO) was sworn in on July 8 to serve out the remainder of the term left by the resignation of former Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO).
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.
Nominees across the Capitol: The Senate returns on Tuesday at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of Colleen Duffy Kiko to serve as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. A roll call vote on the confirmation of the Kiko nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. Cloture motions were also fled on the nominations of Kashi Way to serve as a judge on the United States Tax Court, Adam B. Landy to serve as a judge on the United States Tax Court, and Margaret L. Taylor to serve as a legal adviser for the Department of State. Those cloture motions ripen on Wednesday.
Mendendez found guilty: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was found guilty last week on several felony counts. Although Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and others have called on Menendez to resign, he has indicated that he has no plans to do so. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has said he will lead the effort to expel Menendez if he doesn’t resign.
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.
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