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Congress is back in session this week, with the House returning Wednesday and the Senate returning today. The government will shut down in 18 days without passage of another short-term spending bill.
After 22 days without a Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) won the election by a vote of 220-209. Speaker Johnson began his Speakership by saying his “first priority” is avoiding a government shutdown. In doing so, the House Leadership canceled the chamber’s originally scheduled two-week recess and will now be in session from Wednesday to Friday this week and Monday to Thursday next week. House Leadership hopes to finish passage of the chamber’s seven remaining FY 2024 Appropriation bills before the November 17 government funding deadline. Last Thursday, the House passed its FY 2024 Energy and Water appropriations bill. The House has passed five funding bills so far, leaving seven appropriations bills for FY 2024 to pass before November 17. If Congress cannot pass all 12 bills by Nov. 17, the Speaker is on record saying he will aim to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the government through January 15, 2024.
Today, House Republicans introduced a standalone package which includes $14.3 billion in aid to Israel. House GOP leadership expects to introduce the bill early this week and vote on it Thursday. Speaker Johnson has said the aid package will receive an offset from budget cuts elsewhere, including rescinding $14.3 billion in unobligated funding to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) originally provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Questions remain if the House would pass legislation pairing funding for both Ukraine and Israel. While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to include aid for Ukraine in a funding package for Israel, his stance places him at odds with Speaker Johnson and some members of his own conference over the strategy. As support wanes among Senate Republicans, Leader McConnell’s approach to the aid package will be one to follow as it may have implications on the passage of short-term government funding legislation as Congress nears the November 17 funding deadline.
The Senate is still considering its $280 billion FY 2024 Agriculture, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-HUD appropriations “minibus” package, including ten remaining amendments left to vote on. The Senate voted on an amendment from Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) last week to remove Congressionally Directed Spending projects for local and state projects from the minibus spending package. The amendment, which failed 35-62, would have removed $3.8 billion in earmarked dollars from 1,270 projects across the three spending bills. Five Senators who voted for the amendment secured FY24 earmarks for their state during the appropriations process, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Kennedy (R-La.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). After completing the amendment process, including the adoption of 27 amendments, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he hopes the upper chamber will pass the package this week. The Senate may also vote to confirm Jack Lew as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
The House will consider six suspension bills, all focusing on the war between Israel and Hamas. On Wednesday evening, the lower chamber will consider its versions of the FY24 Legislative Branch, Interior-EPA, and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills. The House Republican Conference will vote on Speaker Johnson’s replacement as vice chair of the Conference on November 8. The House will also potentially vote on three resolutions, including an expulsion motion against Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), which requires two-thirds majority support from House members, a censure motion against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and a censure motion against Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Speaker Johnson told the House Republican Conference during a Sunday call that he would rather “beat Democrats on policy.”
For the remainder of the week, the Senate will hold several hearings, including an Appropriations Committee hearing on “A Review of the National Security Supplemental Request;” an Environment & Public Works hearing on “The Science of Extreme Event Attribution: How Climate Change Is Fueling Severe Weather Events;” and a Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on “AI and the Future of Work: Moving Forward Together.”
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