|
Congress continues working through their extensive legislative items in the “lame-duck” with this week’s focus on disaster relief in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the ever-looming December 20 Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 government funding deadline.
Over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on “Fox News Sunday” that he prefers a three-month continuing resolution (CR) to give President-elect Donald Trump more say in the FY 2025 spending bills. The Speaker’s position stands in contrast to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Republican House and Senate appropriators who prefer a series of minibuses that would fund the government through September 30 of next year. As government funding is set to run out on December 20, Congress will need to chart a course soon. Many believe a stopgap extension into late March 2025 would impede the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as much of the early days of the Republican trifecta would focus on finalizing government spending. House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said there is no reason to potentially punt funding to next year. This is on the heels of the Senate Appropriations Committee releasing the last of the spending bills for FY 2025 last week, the Homeland Security bill.
Today, President Biden sent his administration’s request to Congress for disaster aid to secure additional funding for ongoing cleanup and recovery efforts. Congress will need time to work through the $98.6 billion supplemental aid request and develop a legislative package. Lawmakers are aiming to spend the next few weeks finalizing a bipartisan bill that addresses at least part of the Biden Administration’s request, with the goal of passing it sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Given that Congress also faces a government shutdown deadline on December 20, there's an increasing possibility that disaster aid could be included in a temporary spending measure or a larger FY25 funding package.
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) released text of the Senate Democrats’ version of the five-year Farm Bill reauthorization, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024. Notably, House Republicans advanced their own version of the Farm Bill, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (H.R. 8467) out of the House Agriculture Committee back in May. Movement on this legislation before the end of the 118th Congress continues to be a long shot as lawmakers will most likely opt for a one-year extension. However, leaders on both Agriculture Committees are hoping to negotiate the bill within the remaining four legislative weeks this year.
House Democrats will hold their leadership elections on Tuesday, with the leadership structure of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) to remain the same since there is no announced opposition.
The House will consider ten bills under suspension of the rules, including the Grant Transparency Act of 2023 (H.R. 5536), which requires all federal agencies to report a description of any rating system, evaluation and selection criteria, scoring method, or other methods used to evaluate applications when issuing notices of funding opportunities for competitive grant programs. The House will also vote on the Vote by Mail Tracking Act (H.R. 5658), which requires mail-in ballots to contain a barcode that allows tracking and includes the official Election Mail logo; and the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 8371), which expands support for private health care for veterans, in-home services, and caregiver. The House will also vote on the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now (CLEAN) Act (H.R. 1449), which requires the Department of the Interior to increase the frequency of lease sales under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 and establishes deadlines for consideration of geothermal drilling permits; and the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495), which requires the Treasury Department to postpone tax deadlines and suspend penalties for U.S. nationals held hostage abroad, and also enables the department to revoke the tax-exempt status of U.S. nonprofits that support designated foreign terrorist groups.
The Senate will vote this week on Embry Kidd to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit; Mustafa Kasubhai to be a District Judge for the District of Oregon; Sarah Russell to be a District Judge for the District of Connecticut; and Rebecca Pennell to be a District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington.
For the remainder of the week, the House will hold several hearings, including a Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing on “Impacts of Emergency Authority Cybersecurity Regulations on the Transportation Sector;” a Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management hearing on "In the Eye of the Storm: Oversight of FEMA's Disaster Readiness and Response;" and an Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” The Senate will hold several committee hearings, including an Appropriations Committee hearing on “A Review of Disaster Funding Needs;” and a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy hearing on "Tax Policy in 2025: Implications for the American Economy.”
| 
