Perspectives

The House The House is back in Washington, D.C. for votes this week. After passing an initial draft of President Biden’s proposed American Rescue Plan early Saturday morning, the House will turn to other Democratic priorities as it waits for the Senate to take up the nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation. One major bill […]

Both chambers of Congress are speeding towards passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package through budgetary reconciliation, which bypasses the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule in favor of a simple majority vote. In a 50-50 Senate, the move would require every Democrat – including centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) – to vote for the measure […]

The House After cancelling scheduled votes for early in the week, the House will formally be back in session on Wednesday this week with much to accomplish before the end of the year. Federal government funding is currently set to expire in just eleven days. Last week, it was widely reported that House Appropriations Committee […]

The Elections That Will Determine Control of the Senate For the first time since 2014, control of what has been called the world’s greatest deliberative body – the United States Senate – feels truly up for grabs. The Senate of the current 116th Congress is comprised of 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats (though two are […]

The House The House formally returned to session today for the final legislative week before the November elections. There are a number of important hearings scheduled for this week: The Natural Resources Committee will hold both a markup and legislative hearing this week; The Oversight Committee is holding two days of hearings on prescription drug […]

On Tuesday, the House passed a stopgap continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 11 on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. It now awaits consideration in the Senate, where it is expected to pass in the next week before government funding runs out on October 1. Congress will attempt to finalize nearly $1.4 […]

The House The House formally returns to session on Monday with a series of votes on a number of non-controversial bills in the evening. The pressure on House Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi is increasing as negotiations on another coronavirus relief bill have stalled. Democratic Leadership has thus far been steadfast in their calls for […]

Following a weekend of discussions, the four main players in the latest round of coronavirus relief negotiations – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin – met again this afternoon in the Capitol. Despite meeting for two hours, it […]

The House The House is back in session today following a two-week absence. While the House is currently only scheduled to be in session for the next two weeks, Members are being advised that the start of August recess may be delayed by a week as the House has a number of important measures to […]

The House The House is in recess this week. Before adjourning for recess late Friday night, the House took legislative action to combat the spread and negative impact of the Coronavirus with the passage of HR 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Below are some of the bill’s key provisions: $250 million for HHS […]

The House The House returned to session on Monday. This week, the House is expected to vote on repealing President Trump’s travel ban in a way that limits Republican attempts to use a procedural tactic to significantly alter or delay legislation on the House floor. This could signal the beginning of the end for the […]

The House The House returns to session Monday evening. Following confirmed reports of the first U.S. death related to the coronavirus, the House is expected to vote this week on an emergency funding measure to provide $7 billion in funds to combat the disease. In addition to those focusing on the coronavirus, the House is […]

The House The House is officially back in session this evening. However, all recorded votes will be delayed until Wednesday at the earliest as many members are in South Carolina this evening for the Democratic debate. Once the majority of House members are back in Washington, there are a number of critical committee hearings this […]

The House The House is back in session this evening. Following the release of House Democrats’ infrastructure plan last week, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) is expressing cautious optimism of reaching a principle agreement on the proposal with the Trump Administration following a conversation with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin last week. Chairman […]

The House The House returned to session Tuesday evening. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is expected to hold a news conference rolling out a legislative agenda aimed at supporting military families. Democratic Leaders in both the House and Senate will hold a news conference with healthcare patients ahead of the State of the Union address to […]

The House The House returned to session Monday evening. House Democrats are expected to release their infrastructure plans, which will likely include stated priorities of the Transportation and Infrastructure, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce Committees, this week. There are also a number of important hearings in the House this week, including: Ways and […]

The House The House returns on Monday evening this week and is expected to take up legislation appointing House managers and transmitting articles of impeachment to the Senate. The vote is expected on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week. The House is also expected to hold a number of important hearings this week, including: The […]

The House The House formally returns to session on Tuesday evening this week. With tensions in the Middle East rising following the Trump Administration’s decision to authorize drone strikes in Iraq that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the House is expected to introduce and take up a measure limiting the President’s power to authorize potential […]

The House The House formally returns on Tuesday with a full plate ahead of what is expected to be the final legislative work week of 2019. On the impeachment front, the House Rules Committee is expected to meet on Tuesday to set the guidelines for floor debate on Articles of Impeachment. A final floor vote […]

The House The House returns Monday evening when they are expected to consider a number of bills under suspension of the rules including a reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and legislation which would require publicly traded companies to disclose the race, ethnicity, and gender of board members and executives. Additionally, this is a […]

The House The House returns to session Monday evening with a full agenda for a shortened week. Votes on Thursday have been cancelled following the passing of Congressman Elijah Cummings. Cummings will lie in state in the Capitol on Thursday. Following a ceremony for family and Members of Congress, the public will be permitted to […]

The House The House returns from a two-week break today with a number of bills under consideration for this week. Amid the ongoing trade dispute with China and the recent controversy that has directed public scrutiny towards the National Basketball Association’s relationship with the Chinese government, the House will take up a package of China-related […]

The House The House is back in session on Tuesday this week. While the House accomplished a great deal of its most pressing work last week in passing a Continuing Resolution aimed at avoiding another government shutdown at the end of the month and giving Congress breathing room as it works to pass spending bills […]

The House The House is back in session this week beginning on Tuesday as Congress continues work to avoid another government shutdown. The House is expected to begin work on a stopgap funding bill that would extend current government funding past the October 1st deadline in order to give lawmakers more time to work through […]

The House The House returns this week from its six-week summer recess with a busy agenda. Monday evening, the House is expected to vote on a series of energy bills, including some that would block oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and the eastern Gulf of […]

The House The House is back in session for their final week of work before August recess. There are tentative plans to vote on a number of measures under suspension of the rules including legislation addressing underfunded pensions, the Trump Administration’s ability to limit asylum claims, ending unwanted robocalls, and the veterans’ health initiative. There […]

The House The House is back in session as of Monday evening with much to accomplish before the August recess. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said discussions on a debt ceiling agreement with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will continue this week. Some notable bills are under consideration this week including a resolution recommending that Attorney General […]

The House The House returns from the July 4th holiday recess Tuesday evening. Among the bills expected to be considered by the House this week is HR 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020, a major funding hurdle Congress must clear. There are also a number of notable hearings taking place in the House […]

The House The House will continue consideration of H.R. 3055, a five-bill package encompassing appropriations spending for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, Veteran’s Affairs, Transportation and HUD, among others, for FY-20. The House is also considering H.R. 3351, the FY-20 Financial Services spending bill and H.R. 2722 which discusses elections security. House Democrats […]

The House The House will continue working on H.R. 2740 encompassing the appropriations bills for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State and Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development.   The House is also planning to take up a separate minibus package H.R. 3055 covering the Interior Department, EPA, and other environmental agencies.  This […]

  The House The House returns this week with a focus on oversight and appropriations. On Monday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing titled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes” featuring John Dean, former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon, and other prosecutors. The House is also expected […]

  The House The House returns for a short week starting Monday and ending Wednesday as lawmakers begin their push to pass important legislation before the August recess. The first order of business in the House will be passing HR 2157, the long awaited disaster aid bill that will provide $19.2 billion in funding for […]

  The House House Democrats’ oversight efforts continue this week with a number of significant actions expected in addition to votes on other notable legislation. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote this week on the public release of transcripts from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen as well as possible “enforcement action” against Attorney […]