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Both chambers are in session this week. The House returns on Monday evening, while the Senate returns on Tuesday evening.
Congress has four days left to pass the five-year Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill. In the Senate, negotiations regarding amendments took place over the weekend. Senators will work to meet the Friday deadline to extend the FAA’s authority by passing the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (H.R. 3935). The final legislation, agreed to by House and Senate leadership from both parties in late April, authorizes more than $105 billion in appropriations for the FAA for FYs 2024 through 2028 and includes dozens of aviation-related policy changes. In order to meet the May 10 deadline, the House would have to pass the Senate-passed version of the bill by midnight on Friday. If it appears that the deadline may not be met, Congress may opt for passing a fourth short-term extension in order to work through additional policy-related issues and consideration of amendments.
After House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders shared their versions of the Farm Bill last Wednesday, clear divisions appear to still exist. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) shared the potential necessity to pass another extension of the Farm Bill’s provisions as the current Farm Bill authorizations are set to expire on September 30, 2024. House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) announced a markup for May 23 on the House’s version of the Farm Bill. Some of the major differences between the House and Senate versions of the must-pass legislation include differences regarding conservation funds, discrepancies in SNAP funding, climate change provisions, and other partisan issues.
The House will consider thirteen bills under suspension of the rules, including the Senate-passed Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023 (S. 870), which amends the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize appropriations for the United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs through FY 2028; and the Special District Grant Accessibility Act (H.R. 7525), which requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to agencies requiring special districts to be recognized as local government for federal financial assistance determinations. The House will also vote on the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act (H.R. 6192), which requires the Energy Department to face stricter requirements when issuing energy efficiency standards for home appliances; a Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolution (H.J. Res. 109) nullifying a 2022 Securities and Exchange Commission bulletin requiring public companies to include digital assets they hold for clients on their balance sheets; the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024 (H.R. 2925), which would allow mining companies to not have to prove there is a valuable mineral deposit underneath land before obtaining approval to use the land; and the Equal Representation Act (H.R. 7109), which requires the Commerce Department to include a citizenship question on future censuses, starting in 2030. The Senate will vote this week on Donna Welton to be Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
Democratic Representative-elect Tim Kennedy, who won a special election on April 30 in New York’s 26th congressional district by more than 37 percentage points, was sworn-in to the House on Monday evening. He will serve the remainder of former Rep. Brian Higgins’ term in the House, through January 3, 2025; Higgins resigned on February 2 to become President and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY. With Rep.-elect Kennedy’s swearing-in, there is now a total of 213 House Democrats, 217 House Republicans, and 5 vacancies.
For the remainder of the week, the House will hold several hearings, including multiple House Appropriations subcommittee FY25 budget oversight hearings for the Department of Commerce, the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Communications Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporations. The Senate will also hold several committee hearings, including Appropriations subcommittee FY25 budget oversight hearings for the Department of Interior, the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense, the Food and Drug Administration, the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Government Publishing Office. The Senate will hold an Environment and Public Works hearing on “The FY 2025 Budget of the Environmental Protection Agency;” and a Budget hearing on “Reducing Paperwork, Cutting Costs: Alleviating Administrative Burdens in Health Care.”
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