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The House and Senate are in session this week.
As the House continues unveiling and advancing parts of its mammoth budget reconciliation package, three committees are holding markups on critical pieces of the legislation beginning on Tuesday afternoon/evening: the House Committees on Ways & Means, Agriculture, and Energy & Commerce. The House Ways and Means Committee will meet to markup its portion of the budget reconciliation legislation beginning at 2:30 pm ET on Tuesday. Ahead of the markup, House Republicans released the 389 pages of text covering the key tax policies, including a $4 trillion tax cut, $1.5 trillion in spending reduction, and increasing the public debt limit by $4 trillion. Some provisions in the tax section of the bill include permanent codification and extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and an increase in the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap to $30,000 for households making less than $400,000 annually. House Republicans aim to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts by rescinding unobligated funds from numerous funding programs enacted by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, including billions from green energy and emissions-reduction programs, according to a GOP summary of the bill. The House Agriculture Committee unveiled its plan late Monday night and will begin its markup at 7:30 pm ET on Tuesday. Starting in FY 2028, states will need to pay for part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. One major piece in the Agriculture portion of the text includes various Farm Bill measures. In the Energy and Commerce Committee’s section of the bill, which will be marked up beginning at 2 pm ET on Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office score notes that in order to accomplish the $880 billion in spending cuts, there would need to be cuts to Medicaid.
President Trump mentioned on Truth Social that there should not be many outstanding issues to the reconciliation package but that he would engage House lawmakers once returning from the Middle East later this week to work through any challenges. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) goal is to have the House Budget Committee markup and package the budget reconciliation provisions this Friday, May 16 from all 11 House committees over the past three weeks; have the House Rules Committee advance the bill early next week; and have the House take a vote on the entire package by Thursday, May 22 prior to recessing for the Memorial Day break. If the House is able to pass the entire package by May 22, the Senate will then work throughout June on modifying the House-passed version to ensure all of the provisions abide by the rules of reconciliation in the upper chamber. 217 votes are required for passage on the House floor (if all 433 current House members are present and voting); the House GOP Conference currently totals 220 members, which means that Speaker Johnson can only lose up to three votes among his members and still pass the bill on a party-line vote.
The House will hold several hearings including a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024: An Update on Implementation One Year Later;” a Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance hearing on “Expanding Choice and Increasing Supply: Housing Innovation in America;” and a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on “Fixing Our Forests: How Improved Land Management Can Protect Communities in the Wildland-Urban Interface.” The Senate will hold hearings including a Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “Examining the Insurance Industry’s Claims Practices Following Recent Natural Disasters;” and a Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on “FAA Reauthorization One Year Later: Aviation Safety, Air Traffic, and Next Generation Technology.”
Multiple House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees will hold FY26 budget oversight hearings this week with agency heads, including: the Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Labor; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Transportation; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Capitol Police; and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Senate will vote on Reed Rubinstein to be the Legal Adviser of the State Department; Troy Meink to be Secretary of the Air Force; James Danly to be Deputy Secretary of Energy; Katharine MacGregor to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior; Michael Rigas to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources; Emil Michael to be Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Eric Ueland to be Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget; and Sean Donahue to be an Assistant Administrator and General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Senate committees will also be holding business meetings and hearings on various Trump administration nominees, including:
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Senate Environment and Public Works Committee nomination hearing to consider the nominations of Sean McMaster to be Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration; John Busterud to be Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste, Environmental Protection Agency; and Adam Telle to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army, Department of Defense;
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Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee business meeting to vote on the nomination of Janet Dhillon to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation;
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Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing to consider the nomination of Jason Quinones to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
The House will consider 14 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Expedited Appeals Review Act (H.R. 677), which establishes a process to expedite the review of appeals of certain decisions by the Department of the Interior. The House will also vote on H.R. 331, which amends the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act to clarify a provision relating to conveyances for aquifer recharge purposes. The House will also vote on the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act (H.R. 2240), which requires the Justice Department to report to Congress on aggression and attacks against law enforcement as well as the availability of mental health resources for officers; the LEOSA Reform Act (H.R. 2243), which allows qualified off-duty and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms in more areas currently restricted by state and local laws, including national parks and school zones; and the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act of 2025 (H.R. 2255), which requires the General Services Administration to establish a program to allow federal law enforcement officers to buy surplus firearms from the US government.
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