House to Focus on EPA Rule and Foreign Gifts to Schools, Senate Has More Nominees and Disgraceful Home Confinement CRA
Jason Pye - Director, Rule of Law Initiatives
About the SEC Championship Game: Frankly, I don’t want to talk about it.
About the College Football Playoff: The committee’s decision to put a one-loss Alabama team in above an undefeated Florida State team that beat two SEC schools is messed up and without serious logic. The committee let Texas Christian in last year despite the fact that they lost their conference championship. I know Florida State has faced injuries at QB, but they deserved to be in the playoff, even if it meant that Alabama didn’t make it.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. No votes are expected today in the House. Votes on suspensions will be pushed to Tuesday. Legislative business will begin at 12:00 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and at 9:00 am on Thursday. The last votes for the week are expected no later than 3:00 pm on Thursday. Nine (9) bills are expected to be considered under suspension of the rules. The cost estimates for those bills can be found here.
H.R. 1547, One Seat Ride Act (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
S. 992, I-27 Numbering Act (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 4688, To direct the Administrator of General Services to sell the property known as the Webster School (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 1734, TRANQ Research Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 1713, DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 2980, DOE and NSF Interagency Research Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 2988, DOE and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 3848, HOME Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 542, Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H.R. 3581, COPE Act (Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
H. Res. 894, Strongly condemning and denouncing the drastic rise of antisemitism in the United States and around the world (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 markup the rule providing for the consideration of Choice in Automobile Retails Sales (CARS) Act, H.R. 4468; the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, H.R. 5933; and the Income-Driven Repayment Rule CRA, H.J.Res. 88. The CARS Act prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing a rule that would put even stronger emissions limits on vehicles beginning in 2027. Older vehicles will be phased in, but auto manufacturers will be pushed into transitioning more to electric vehicles. House Republicans’ messaging on this CRA is generally anti-electric vehicles. (Full disclosure: I drive an EV, and I like it.) The DETERRENT Act would reduce the reporting threshold for foreign gifts to colleges and universities from $250,000 to $50,000. For gifts from countries of concern, any dollar amount would have to be disclosed. Additionally, the bill would close loopholes in reporting requirements, require disclosures of foreign investments in endowments, and impose financial penalties if colleges and universities fail to disclose foreign investments. H.J.Res. 88 would nullify the Income-Driven Repayment Rule published by the Department of Education. The rule governs the repayment of student loan debt by borrowers.
Party divisions in the House: Following the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), there are 434 members of the House of Representatives, 221 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Presumably, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) will call a special election in NY-03 in the coming days.
A quick thought on Santos’ expulsion: As you know, Santos was expelled. The guy created a fictional version of himself to get to Congress. He had no shame. He shouldn’t have been there. Still, I find myself sympathetic to the argument that the House should’ve waited on expelling Santos, if he refused to resign, until he was convicted of a crime. That has been practice for years, and it’s why only two members were expelled in the 20th century. That being said, Santos wasn’t only under indictment, but the way he got himself elected, through deceit and lies, was too much for too many members. Regardless of the circumstances, I still find it so odd that many conservative and far-right House members defend Santos and Trump, who are under indictments for their alleged crimes and who have mountains of evidence against them, but continue to accuse President Biden of crimes without any evidence. Look, I’m not a fan of Biden. I didn’t vote for him in 2020. (I didn’t vote for Trump either.) Republicans’ hypocrisy here is just so clear.
And a formal vote on an impeachment inquiry may be on the horizon: The House may waste more time with a vote to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Let’s be clear here. Even if the House impeachment inquiry produces articles of impeachment, and one or more of those articles pass the House, this is dead on arrival in the Senate. Everyone knows it. It also makes Republicans look extraordinarily weak going into 2024 when President Biden’s approval rating is, well, not great.
House committee schedule: When I checked this morning only two hearings had been noticed. Because that may change, I’m just going to post the link to the committee calendar for the week because more may be added. If you’re interested in watching any hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
More nominees in the Senate: The Senate will convene at 3:00 pm today to resume consideration of the nomination of Irma Carrillo Ramirez to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Cloture was invoked on the Ramirez nomination on Thursday. A vote on confirmation of the Ramirez nomination is expected to begin around 5:30 pm. Cloture motions have been filed on the nominations of Loren L. AilKhan to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Elizabeth H. Richard to serve as Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department.
Supplemental could be on the floor: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had previously indicated that the supplemental appropriations bill for Israel and Ukraine would be on the floor this week. Republicans, though, have strongly pushed back on consideration of the supplemental unless language is included that addresses the issues at the border. Those bipartisan negotiations are happening, so it may delay consideration of the supplemental until there’s a deal reached.
When more than 3,000 people become pawns in the quest for political power: It’s possible that S.J.Res. 47 could come to the floor this week or next week. This disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act aimed at a DOJ rule that allows individuals placed in home confinement under the CARES Act to remain in home confinement after the expiration of the public health emergency. The rule was based on an OLC opinion issued in December 2021 stating that nothing in §12003 of the CARES Act required individuals who were placed into home confinement during the pandemic to return to prison at the conclusion of the covered emergency period. Of course, the opinion is correct, §12003(b)(2) only limits the authority of the BOP “to place” individuals in home confinement. The CARES Act is silent about those who were placed into home confinement. Currently, some 3,400 individuals, all of whom are nonviolent and have done everything required of them, remain in home confinement under the CARES Act. S.J.Res. 47 would send these individuals back to prison, right before Christmas if this CRA were to become law. Of the more than 13,000 people who were placed into home confinement under the CARES Act, only 27 committed new crimes. That’s a rate of 0.19 percent. The White House has issued a very strong veto threat against S.J.Res. 47. Clearly, the CRA is a blatant messaging bill that is aimed at hurting vulnerable Democrats. The fact that this CRA exists is bad enough, but it’s cruel that if passed, some 3,400 people would be sent back to prison just so the National Republican Senatorial Committee can run misleading ads to try to get a few more votes. It’s sickening.
Senate committee schedule: There’s more happening in Senate committees than in the House, but not a ton more. So, I’ll just leave you a link to the Senate committee calendar. If you’re interested in watching any hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
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