SOTU Week, Iran War Powers Resolution in the House, Senate Will Try Again on DHS Funding, Vote on SAVE Act Looming, SCOTUS Tariffs Opinion
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.
State of the Union address: Trump will deliver the State of the Union address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday at 9:00 pm EST. The official Democratic response will be given by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) in Colonial Williamsburg.
Schedule and suspensions in the House: The House returns at 2:00 pm today for legislative business. Votes are postponed until Tuesday at 1:30 pm. We assume the reason for the postponement of votes from Monday to Tuesday is due to the snow in the DC area on Sunday evening. The House will also be in session on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last votes for the week are expected no later than 3:00 pm on Wednesday. No votes are expected on Thursday or Friday. Six (6) 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. 390, ACERO Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 2600, ASCEND Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 3679, Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 6329, Information Quality Assurance Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
H.R. 5235, Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
S. 2503, ROTOR Act (Transportation and Infrastructure 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 the Homeowner Energy Freedom Act, H.R. 4758, and the Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act, H.R. 4626.
Iran War Powers Resolution: A war powers resolution, H.Con.Res. 38, to remove the United States from hostilities against Iran is expected to be on the floor this week. Led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), this effort comes as some form of military action against Iran appears inevitable. The number of naval vessels the administration currently has in the Middle East is the fourth-highest since the first Iraq War in 1991. The administration’s talks with Iran are scheduled to continue on Thursday. If there’s no progress, a limited strike could follow, according to The New York Times, potentially followed by more significant strikes. And here you thought we were done with wars in the Middle East.
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.
DHS appropriations to start the week in the Senate: We’ve been in a partial government shutdown since February 14. Although Congress finished work on 11 of the FY 2026 appropriations bills, negotiations on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill haven’t gone anywhere. Before the Senate left town for its week-long recess, the cloture motion for the motion to proceed (MTP) to the vehicle for DHS appropriations, H.R. 7147, failed. The Senate will try again today on the cloture motion to the MTP to H.R. 7147 on Tuesday. The time of the vote isn’t clear yet.
And the so-called “SAVE Act” could come up soon: The Senate could consider the “SAVE Act” within the next few weeks. The SAVE Act, S. 1383, has become something of a rallying cry among the conservative and MAGA bases of the Republican Party. Among the bill’s provisions are requirements that any individual seeking to register to vote provide documentation of his or her citizenship in person, voter ID at the polls, and that states provide lists of voters to DHS. For the sake of space, I’m avoiding getting too much into the weeds here, but the proof-of-citizenship requirement could impose paperwork burdens on individuals and may well be an unconstitutional poll tax.
The process for the SAVE Act seems to be up in the air: There’s a question about the process for the SAVE Act. The way the House passed the bill allows the Senate to immediately bring the bill up as pending business and begin debate. The only remaining procedural hurdle is the vote on cloture to limit debate under Rule XXII. Conservatives, however, want to avoid the cloture motion to limit debate by forcing Democrats into a “talking filibuster.” To do this, Republicans have to stretch a legislative day—potentially for weeks—and enforce the two-speech rule under Rule XIX. This is known as the two-speech rule. It prevents any senator from giving more than two speeches on a question in a legislative day. Republicans believe Democrats will either a) tire out and move on or b) give up because of fears that they will be seen as obstructionists. Because amendments don’t have to be germane to the bill, Democrats could use this as an opportunity to make Republicans take a number of uncomfortable votes. The good news is that the Senate Republican Conference doesn’t appear inclined to go along with conservatives’ demands.
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.
IEEPA tariffs were shot down: Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you undoubtedly know that the Supreme Court held on Friday in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the tariffs imposed by the administration through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. However, Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence was a stroke of brilliance. I’ve got to say, though, that Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent was a tremendous disappointment. Unfortunately, the victory for the Constitution (and, by way of that, basic economics) was short-lived. Trump has already signed another order authorizing a 15 percent worldwide tariff through Section 122 of the Trade Expansion Act. Granted, the use of Section 122 is illegal. Section 122 is also temporary. Congress has to approve the action after 150 days. That’s not going to happen. However, it’s likely the administration will use another statute to impose tariffs once the 150 days elapse.
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