Congress’ Final Stretch Before Recess
This week marks the final work week for Congress before breaking for its month-long August recess. In that time, Members plan to tee up several FY24 spending bills, in addition to key aviation and defense authorization bills, that they will need to clear before the September 30th government shutdown deadline.
As it stands, the House will have 10 appropriations bills pending a floor vote after August recess, while the Senate will have 12. Appropriators will need to reconcile key differences in those bills, as the House is largely setting levels below the caps set in the June debt limit agreement while the Senate is doing the opposite.
To buy more time, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is predicting a month-long continuing resolution that will extend government funding at current levels while lawmakers negotiate new funding levels.
In the meantime, lawmakers will hold several committee hearings this week, including the following:
- The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP will meet to discuss U.S. leadership in emerging technologies
- The Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss proposed regulations for AI
- The House Natural Resources Committee will examine the future of the Offshore Leasing Program
- The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up its FY24 spending bills for the Departments of Interior, Labor, Education, Health & Human Services, and Homeland Security
Programming note: Our Washington Weekly memo will resume in September when lawmakers return from August recess.