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The House and Senate are in session this week with just over one week remaining before government funding expires, resulting in a government shutdown.
Led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Republicans introduced a stopgap spending bill on Sunday aimed at funding the government until December 20. The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (H.R. 9747) comes after leaders abandoned their efforts to include the SAVE Act, a conservative immigration proposal that former President Donald Trump endorsed. The 49-page short-term funding bill is anticipated to be voted on in the House by mid-week, as Congress faces a looming government shutdown deadline on September 30. “Our legislation will be very narrow, bare bones CR including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary,” the Speaker said in a Dear Colleague letter. Last week, 14 Republicans teamed up with most Democrats to reject Speaker Johnson’s original plan, which sought to fund the government for six months and included a GOP initiative requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. With a clean CR, Democrats will likely rally around the bill and pass it through the Senate.
In addition to funding federal agencies and programs mostly at FY 2024 levels, the legislation would allocate $231 million in additional funds to the Secret Service for protective operations during the presidential campaign. While it would not offer extra emergency funding for disaster relief, the measure would enable the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to expedite spending in response to disasters during the temporary measure's duration. Several expiring programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the National Flood Insurance Program, would be extended until December 20. However, other authorities set to expire on September 30, like the E-Verify program and the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, would not receive a renewal.
The House Rules Committee will convene today to establish the parameters for floor debate on the measure, requiring a simple majority for approval. As a reminder, full appropriations bills must receive approval by the end of April 2025 to avoid automatic 1% spending cuts as stipulated in the June 2023 debt-limit agreement.
The House will consider 59 bills under suspension of the rules, including the GAO Database Modernization Act of 2024 (S. 679), which requires to report to the Government Accountability Office on any actions they take that make a rule ineffective, including by revoking or amending a rule; the Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2023 (H.R. 2950), which modernizes would authorize the voluntary program supporting habit restoration efforts across priority coastal areas for $17 million annually through FY 2028.
The House will also vote on the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 8790), which expedites under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands; the Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People within the Chinese Communist Party Act (H.R. 3334), which imposes visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any person who is a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as any adult family member of such a person; the Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act (H.R. 8205), which amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to provide that Byrne grant funds may be used for public safety report systems; the condemnation resolution H. Res. 1469, which would condemn President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and hold them accountable for decisionmaking and execution failures throughout the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Senate will vote this week on Rose Jenkins to be a Judge of the U.S. Tax Court.
For the remainder of the week, the House and Senate will hold several committee hearings and markups, most notably a House markup on several bills, including the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2024 (H.R. 9723), providing critical funding for the program to continue its research into how to mitigate the injuries and property damage caused by windstorms; a Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy hearingon “Regulatory Recipe for Economic Uncertainty: The Endless Basel Endgame and an Onslaught of Hurried Rulemaking Undertaken by the Administration;” The Senate will also hold several hearings, including a Budget Committee hearing on “The Costs of Inaction: Economic Risks from Housing Unaffordability;” an Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight hearing on “Examining the Public Health Impacts of PFAS Exposures.
Today, Rep-elect LaMonica McIver (D-NJ-10) will be sworn into the House of Representatives after overwhelmingly winning a special election with 81 percent of the vote.
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