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Both chambers are in session this week. The Senate returns to Washington on Monday evening, followed by the House on Tuesday evening. The Legislative Update will take a one-week hiatus with Congress for the Memorial Day holiday and return on Monday, June 3.
After President Biden signed the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (P.L. 118-63) into law last Thursday, Congress is pivoting its attention to consideration of the Farm Bill, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, and border security legislation. House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) last week released the text of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (H.R. ___), the House GOP majority’s version of the Farm Bill. Friday’s release of the full bill text sets up the Committee’s highly anticipated markup of the Farm Bill this Thursday afternoon. The Republican-led bill draft has several bipartisan initiatives but also includes several issues seen as major points of contention for Democrats. Rural Democrats face the challenge of determining whether they will support the measure or potentially vote against it after senior Democratic leadership put pressure on them to oppose the bill. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) released a detailed summary of Senate Democrats’ version of the Farm Bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024, on May 1, however, full bill text has still not yet been released.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) shared subcommittee allocations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 last week. Chair Cole will begin marking up the twelve FY 2025 spending bills with a proposed 1% percent increase in defense spending and a 6% decrease in non-defense spending. The topline allocations total $1.6 trillion, setting up a fight with Senate appropriators. House Republicans also released an aggressive FY25 markup schedule, including subcommittee markups for Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and the Legislative Branch spending bills this week. Last week, House members began posting their selections for Community Project Funding (CPF) requests for FY 2025 and will continue to do so this week. In the Senate, lawmakers face deadlines ranging from May 30 to June 6 to publish all of their submitted FY25 Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) confirmed in a recent Dear Colleague letter that the Senate will be voting on $118.3 billion bipartisan border security legislation this week, as he has been hinting for weeks. However, it is expected to be unsuccessful. Schumer has made it evident that Democrats see this as an opportunity to highlight the differences between themselves and Republicans on border security, as well as to support vulnerable Democratic incumbents. The bill will not receive full support from all Democrats, meaning Majority Leader Schumer will need support from Republicans to pass the legislation, which was first publicly unveiled on February 4.
The House will consider 11 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023 (H.R. 5863), which provides tax relief with respect to certain federal disasters; and the Think Differently Transportation Act (H.R. 6248), which requires Amtrak to report to Congress information on Amtrak’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with respect to trains and stations. The House will also vote on the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 4763), which sets up a regulatory framework for digital assets under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and blocks the Federal Reserve from creating a digital dollar; a bill (H.R. 192) prohibiting voting by non-citizen residents of the District of Columbia in local elections; and the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act (H.R. 5403), which prevents the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to individuals, ensuring the Fed cannot mobilize into a retail bank able to collect personal financial information on Americans. The Senate will vote this week on Seth Aframe to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the First Circuit.
For the remainder of the week, the House will hold several hearings, including multiple House Appropriations subcommittee FY25 budget oversight hearings, including for the Department of State and the Federal Aviation Administration, in addition to a hearing on “Nutritious Foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).” The House will also hold an Agriculture Committee markup on the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024,” and a Small Business Committee hearing on “Burdensome Regulations: Examining the Biden Administration’s Failure to Consider Small Businesses." The Senate will also hold several committee hearings, including Appropriations subcommittee FY25 budget oversight hearings for the Department of Energy, the U.S. Army, the Department of State, the Library of Congress, the Architect of the Capitol, and Indian County. The Senate will hold an Environment and Public Works markup of its version of WRDA 2024; a Budget hearing on “Droughts, Dollars, and Decisions: Water Scarcity in a Changing Climate,” a Natural Resource Committee hearing on “Examine the Opportunities, Risks, and Challenges Associated with Growth in Demand for Electric Power in the United States,” and a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing “Examining the Roadway Safety Crisis and Highlighting Community Solutions.”
Voters in California’s 20th Congressional District will head to the polls to vote in a special election to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who resigned from the House on December 31, 2023 following his ouster as Speaker in early October. On Tuesday, Republicans Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux will face off in a special runoff election to serve in the seat through the remainder of the current 118th Congress. Voters in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, and Oregon also vote in congressional primaries this Tuesday.
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