After a week of failed attempts to bring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding measure to the floor for consideration, the Senate will return on Monday to continue to seek a path forward on providing DHS with necessary appropriations before the current funding bill expires on February 27th. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been attempting to bring the House-passed DHS appropriations bill to the Senate floor for debate but needs 60 votes to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed (in order even to begin debate on the bill itself), which means he needs the support of at least six Democratic Senators even begin deliberations on the bill (and on the last cloture vote he lost a Republican senator). On Thursday, he failed to garner enough votes to end debate on proceeding to the bill for the third time. Senate Democrats are opposed to the measure due to policy riders attached by the House of Representatives to nullify President Obama’s recent Executive Orders on deferred action for immigrants in the country illegally and attendant benefits. Democratic senators have put forward a clean bill, without the policy riders, and have called on Majority Leader McConnell to bring that clean bill up for consideration. Without any Democratic support in the Senate, Republican leadership will need to find an alternative strategy in order to move forward on the bill. Should the Senate pass a clean bill, the measure would go back to the House. With Congress in recess the week of February 16 and current funding for DHS expiring the following week, a short-term or stopgap funding measure is an option until an agreement is worked out. If nothing is done, the lapse in funding would shut down most functions of the Department of Homeland Security.
Also on Monday, the Senate is scheduled to be in Executive Session to consider the nomination of Michael P. Botticelli to be Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The Senate’s schedule beyond the DHS appropriations measure is undetermined at this date.
The House of Representatives returns on Tuesday to consider four bills under suspension of the rules. The first bill is the NASA authorization bill; the other three bills deal with transportation security-related issues. On Wednesday, the House will consider one bill under suspension of the rules, legislation to grant a congressional gold medal to participants in the 1965 marches in Selma, Alabama. The House will then take up the Senate-passed version of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill passed by the Senate, instead of seeking to reconcile the differences between its version of the bill and the Senate version. The President has promised to veto the bill, and the Senate appears to lack the votes to override the veto, but the bill will be headed to the President’s desk after Wednesday.
On Thursday and Friday, the House will take up tax relief legislation. Thursday, it will consider legislation to make permanent the law allowing tax breaks for food donations. On Friday, it will consider the Small Business Tax Relief Act. These bills mark the start of Republican efforts to provide tax relief for specific purposes as Congress continues to consider comprehensive reform of the tax code. These bills, which are not paid for by offsetting cuts or revenue increases are generally opposed by Democrats. The debate will no doubt provide fodder for the parties to argue over economic policy and incentives and what the government taxes and who does and should bear the burdens of taxation.
Both House and Senate authorizing and appropriating committees will continue to hold hearings this week focused on the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request. Other notable hearings are the Senate HELP Committee hearing on vaccines on Tuesday, which should be of interest given the recent measles outbreak and its connection to parents foregoing vaccines; a Senate Finance Committee hearing on tax reform; hearings in both chambers on Iran; a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the threat of homegrown terrorism from fighters returning from Syria or other war-torn locations; and an opening House Judiciary Committee hearing to kick off this year’s patent reform debate on Thursday afternoon. In addition, the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to report favorably Ashton Carter’s nomination to serve as Secretary of Defense, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Thursday markup at which we expect it will begin consideration of the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General. The schedule for these hearings and other key congressional hearings for the week are included below:
Tuesday February 10th
House Committees
VA Land Use Management
House Veterans’ Affairs – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
4 p.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
Senate Committees
U.S. National Security Strategy
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., 216 Hart Bldg.
U.S. Supply Chain
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation – Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 253 Russell Bldg.
Tax Code Overhaul
Senate Finance
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 215 Dirksen Bldg.
Iran Nuclear Negotiations
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Closed Briefing
9:30 a.m., SVC-217 Capitol Visitor Center
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 106 Dirksen Bldg.
Wednesday February 11th
House Committees
Rural Economic Issues
House Agriculture
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 11, 10 a.m., 1300 Longworth Bldg.
CFTC Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 2362-A Rayburn Bldg.
Indian Health Service Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee Hearing
9:30 a.m., B-308 Rayburn Bldg.
Army Corps of Engineers Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 2362-B Rayburn Bldg.
Ebola Funding in Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 2359 Rayburn Bldg.
Armed Services Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.
Federal Mental Health Efforts
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 11, 10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.
Health Care Coding System Implementation
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Hearing
10:15 a.m., 2322 Rayburn Bldg.
FHA Oversight
House Financial Services
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., HVC-210 Capitol Visitor Center
Homegrown Terrorism and Foreign Fighters
House Homeland Security
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 311 Cannon Bldg.
Asset Forfeiture Oversight
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.
Subcommittee Designation Meeting
House Veterans’ Affairs
Full Committee Business Meeting
10:30 a.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
VA Fiscal 2016 Budget Request
House Veterans’ Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
IRS Asset Forfeiture and Small Businesses
House Ways and Means – Subcommittee on Oversight
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., B-318 Rayburn Bldg.
Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Military Personnel
Subcommittee Hearing
1 p.m., 2212 Rayburn Bldg.
DOE Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Energy and Power
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.
Iran and Terrorism Threat
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.
Immigration Enforcement Legislation
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security
Subcommittee Hearing
1:30 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.
Poverty Assessment
House Ways and Means – Subcommittee on Human Resources
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 11, 2 p.m., B-318 Rayburn Bldg.
Human Resources Subcommittee Organizational Meeting
House Ways and Means – Subcommittee on Human Resources
Subcommittee Business Meeting
Feb. 11, 2 p.m., B-318 Rayburn Bldg.
Senate Committees
Situation in Afghanistan
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., 216 Russell Bldg.
Social Security Disability Fund Fiscal 2016 Budget
Senate Budget
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 608 Dirksen Bldg.
Consumer Devices and Internet Analytics
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 253 Russell Bldg.
National Labor Relations Board Election Rule
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.
High Risk Government Programs
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 342 Dirksen Bldg.
U.S. Role in Ending Human Trafficking
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
2:15 p.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.
Thursday February 12
House Committees
Agriculture Budget Views and Estimates
House Agriculture
Full Committee Business Meeting
9:30 a.m., 1300 Longworth Bldg.
CFTC Agenda Outlook
House Agriculture
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 1300 Longworth Bldg.
Bureau of Reclamation Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 2362-B Rayburn Bldg.
Technology and Student Privacy
House Education and the Workforce – Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
Subcommittee Hearing
11:15 a.m., 2175 Rayburn Bldg.
DOJ Mortgage Lending Settlement
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.
Secret Service Oversight
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.
Weather Satellites and Forecasting
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittees on Environment and on Oversight
Subcommittees Joint Hearing
Feb. 12, 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.
Intelligence Issues
House Select Intelligence
Full Committee Business Meeting
9 a.m., HVC-304 Capitol Visitor Center
Small Business Contracting Issues
House Small Business
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2360 Rayburn Bldg.
Veterans’ Affairs Legislation
House Veterans’ Affairs
Full Committee Markup
10:30 a.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
Guantanamo Bay Detainee Transfers
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
3 p.m., 2212 Rayburn Bldg.
Syria Human Rights Issues
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittees on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations and on the Middle East and North Africa
Subcommittees Joint Hearing
1:30 p.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.
Emerging Threats and Technologies
House Homeland Security – Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 311 Cannon Bldg.
Patent Law and Supreme Court
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet
Subcommittee Hearing
1 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.
HealthCare.gov Privacy Issues
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittees on Research and Technology and on Oversight
Subcommittees Joint Hearing
2 p.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.
VETS Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Veterans’ Affairs – Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
Senate Committees
Community Bank and Credit Union Regulations
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 538 Dirksen Bldg.
Energy Fiscal 2016 Budget Request
Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen Bldg.
Judiciary Issues
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Business Meeting
10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.
Friday February 13
Agriculture IG Fiscal 2016 Budget
House Appropriations – Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 2362-A Rayburn Bldg.
Islamic Terrorism Assessment
House Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
9 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.