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Congress will continue working to address the $31.4 trillion debt limit with time winding down to take action to avoid default.
President Joe Biden and the Big Four (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)) will meet on Tuesday at the White House to continue working on addressing the debt limit. Following last week’s meeting yielding little results, lead negotiators President Biden and Speaker McCarthy released statements attempting to harden their positions on a potential debt limit solution. Aides from all parties have continued negotiations, including this morning, after postponing a Friday meeting. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the default on the federal debt could occur as early as June 1. The Congressional Budget Office shared Friday that the U.S. is at risk for default “at some point in the first two weeks of June.” The current discussions center around the following issues:
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Budget Caps – Republicans are eyeing budget caps across ten years, while Democrats favor two years.
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COVID-19 Funding – A central talking point for Republicans, who believe there are $60 billion in unspent funds that they are aiming to rescind. Some speculate that Democrats are willing to provide concessions around some of the funding.
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Permitting Reform – An item wanted by both parties for different reasons would streamline the federal permitting process and editing regulations. Democrats want edits to wind, solar, and renewable energy projects, while Republicans want to build out oil and gas pipelines. There is common ground for reducing timetables for large infrastructure projects.
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Work Requirements – President Biden wants to see what Speaker McCarthy and Republicans will propose but is potentially open to additional work requirements for some federal aid programs.
The House Appropriations Committee will begin marking up the Committee’s twelve spending bills for Fiscal Year 2024. The bills receiving a markup this week include the Military Construction – Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch, Agriculture, and Homeland Security spending bills. Appropriators officially added Military Construction-VA to the Committee’s website for a Wednesday morning markup. House Republicans will start with the Military Construction-VA bill after receiving criticism that returning VA spending to FY 2022 levels (a desire of House Republicans) would negatively impact veterans. Missing from the process is an agreement on FY 24 spending levels. Many believe House Appropriations subcommittee chairs are writing their bills with the FY 2022 topline number of $1.47 trillion. Additionally, the Senate will consider the nomination of Bradley Garcia to be a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The House will consider the Protect Our Law enforcement with Immigration Control and Enforcement (POLICE) Act of 2023 (H.R. 2494), which allows immigrants who are not US citizens to be deported if they have been convicted of assault, or admit to committing assault, against a law enforcement officer; the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act (H.R. 3091), which requires the General Services Administration to create a program, within one year of enactment, to facilitate the purchase of retired handguns by federal law enforcement officers from the agencies that issued them; and a resolution (H. Con. Res. 40) which expresses Congress’s support for local law enforcement officers and condemns calls to defund or dismantle the police.
For the remainder of the week, the House will hold several hearings, a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: a hearing titled “The Next Fifty Years of the Clean Water Act: Examining the Law and Infrastructure Project Completion;” a Agriculture hearing titled “To Review the National Forest System: Supporting Forest Health and Confronting the Wildfire Crisis.” The Senate will also hold various hearings, including a Finance Committee hearing on “Tax Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act: Jobs and Investment in Energy Communities;” and an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on “Perspectives on New and Existing US Army Corps of Engineers Authorities to Respond to Water Management Issues Including Drought and Water Conservation.”
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