Perspectives

The Final Countdown Congress returns for its final working week of the year before breaking for the holidays. In that time, lawmakers are set to pass national defense and water project authorization legislation, along with a short-term government funding bill lasting through March to avoid a shutdown this Friday. House lawmakers will also take up […]

Congress Clears the Decks Over the weekend, House lawmakers released the text of the nearly $900 billion must-pass annual defense authorization bill ahead of an expected program lapse at year’s end. That, along with the biennial water project authorization bill, are set for floor votes this week. While Senators will meet this week to take […]

Congress Pivots to 2025 Lawmakers return to Washington this week for their last working period of the year before breaking for the Holidays and swearing in a new Congress in early January. Congress still needs to pass a government funding bill by December 20th to avoid a shutdown, in addition to passing key defense and […]

Lame Duck Session Continues Lawmakers return to Washington this week for the final time this month before breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday. In the meantime, Senators will take up judicial nominations while House Members will move through a packed legislative agenda. House bills set for expedited procedures this week include veterans affairs operations, agency grant […]

Congress Closes Out 2024 Congress returns to Washington this week following the 2024 election, where Republicans flipped the Senate and the White House and potentially held the House of Representatives depending on yet-to-be-called races. Lawmakers will begin their lame-duck session to pass a series of must-pass legislation and take up nominations of both the outgoing […]

The advancement of AI is rapidly transforming multiple sectors, from healthcare to finance. However, with this progress comes an increasing demand for regulation to ensure the safe and ethical development of AI technologies. Lawmakers at both the federal and state levels are actively pursuing legislation to address the ethical challenges, risks, and potential of AI. […]

The House and Senate are finalizing a compromise on the biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2024 which aim to enhance the nation’s water infrastructure through various US Army Corps of Engineers projects. The House passed its WRDA – H.R. 8812 – on July 22, while the Senate passed S. 4367 on August 1. While […]

Shutdown Showdown 2.0 Congress returns to Washington this week to take a second crack at passing a short-term government funding bill after falling short last week. Over the weekend, House Republicans released the text of a stopgap proposal extending government funding through December 20th after lawmakers failed to pass a previous version last week containing […]

Congress’ September Slog Continues Congress is back in session for its second to last working week of the month before breaking for its October recess.  While lawmakers continue to debate a government funding package ahead of the September 30th shutdown deadline, the House returns to a packed legislative agenda for the week including bills concerning […]

Congress Returns to Washington Lawmakers from both Chambers return to D.C. this week after their month’s long August recess with just three weeks before a government shutdown deadline. On the eve of their return, House Republicans released the text of a stopgap measure that would fund the government through March 28th of next year, and […]

Congress Pivots to Summer The Senate returns to DC for one last working week before breaking for the month-long August break, following the House’s lead which cancelled this week’s votes to begin its recess today. The Senate will take up judicial nominees and will work to advance appropriations for healthcare, education, and labor to the […]

Shakeup in Washington Lawmakers return to a seismically different Washington this week with President Joe Biden announcing that he will end his reelection campaign and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him, just one month shy of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the party will select its nominee for president. Meanwhile, Congress […]

House Lawmakers Close Out June The House is the only Chamber in town this week with the Senate out until after the Fourth of July recess week (which the House will also observe). President Joe Biden will spend the week at Camp David preparing for his Thursday night debate against former president Donald Trump. House […]

Senate in Session Half of Congress is in session this week with only Senators returning to Washington to vote on nominees amid a mid-week recess commemorating Juneteenth. Senators will also participate in several committee hearings this week, including the following: The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will consider legislation reauthorizing the FCC’s spectrum auction […]

Congress Back in Washington: This marks the last week that both the House and Senate will be in Washington at the same time for the month of June. Senators return to take up regular business, and House lawmakers have several votes scheduled in both regular order and expedited procedures. Moving through regular order is a […]

Summer Session Begins Lawmakers return to D.C. this week following its Memorial Day recess to kick off its summer appropriations agenda ahead of the September 30th government shutdown deadline. It is expected to be a quick working week as several Members will be travelling to Normandy, France ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day this […]

Memorial Day Push Congress returns to Washington this week to tackle its legislative agenda before breaking for its week-long Memorial Day recess. In the Senate, Members are slated to vote on judicial nominees. It’s also been reported that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is set to revive the stalled bipartisan immigration bill authored by Sens. […]

The House Stays Open The House of Representatives is still open for business this week after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) easily survived a motion to vacate brought by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last week, thanks to a bipartisan vote to kill the measure. This week, Members return to Washington to pass a long-awaited bill […]

To Vacate or Not to Vacate? Congress returns to Washington in what could be House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) final week as leader of the Chamber. That’s because Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is set to proceed with a motion to vacate this week to strip Speaker Johnson of the gavel over long-standing policy disagreements. […]

Congress Returns from Recess Congress returns to DC from its recess this week after passing a long-awaited foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, which would also effectively ban the social media app TikTok. House lawmakers return to a packed legislative agenda with 17 bills to be taken up on expedited procedures, including those […]

Congress Revamps Agenda The House returns to Washington with an entirely new agenda this week in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel over the weekend. Instead of taking up legislation regarding appliance efficiency standards, lawmakers will shift to a series of financial-themed bills targeting Iran, including prohibitions of certain financial transactions, sanctions of foreign […]

Congress Returns The House and Senate return to Washington for the first time in two weeks following lawmakers’ Spring recess. Members left just before passing a full FY24 appropriations package, thus closing out a drawn-out government funding battle to avert a shutdown through the end of September. Senators are set to consider judicial nominations this […]

Another Shutdown Showdown Lawmakers return to Washington this week ahead of another potential government shutdown on Friday for roughly three-quarters of the federal government. The deadline is the second out of the two-tiered government funding stopgap Congress passed in recent weeks, splitting funding deadlines into two dates for different portions of the federal government. Congress […]

Government Still Open The House and Senate return to a fully-open Washington, D.C. after lawmakers passed a final appropriations bill fully funding departments set to shut down last Friday – including the Departments of Transportation, Justice, and Commerce – thus ending a drawn-out appropriations process that kicked off this time last year. Members have one […]

Shutdown Averted(?) Lawmakers from both Chambers return to Washington this week after passing another extension of short-term “laddered” government funding to March 8th and 22nd, all before reaching a final agreement on FY24 appropriations for those bills falling under the new March 8th deadline. Over the weekend, Members released the text of a partial appropriations […]

Shutdown Showdown House and Senate lawmakers return to Washington this week, cutting short their President’s Day recess in an attempt to pass a full appropriations bill ahead of a partial government shutdown this Friday (and a full shutdown next Friday).  The leadership of both parties will meet with President Joe Biden this week at the […]

Congress Back in Town The House and Senate return to Washington this week with a packed legislative agenda before leaving town for their Presidents Day week-long recess. The majority of House bills set for the week will be taken up on expedited procedures and deal with international issues, including human rights abuses in China, Indo-Pacific […]

Congress Debates the Border Lawmakers from both Chambers return to Washington this week after Senate negotiators released the text of a long-awaited national security proposal over the weekend providing $118.3 billion in both aid to Ukraine and changes in immigration policy. The proposal would provide $60 million for Ukraine as well as make several changes […]

Congress Back in Town Both Chambers of Congress are back in town after the House’s recess last week. Lawmakers continue to negotiate a bipartisan tax proposal and an ongoing Senate-led immigration reform package – both of which the White House has announced its support for. However, the timing for when either item will get to […]

Shutdown Delayed Lawmakers voted last week to pass another stopgap funding measure to keep the government open on a “laddered” structure through March 1st and 8th (up from January 19th and February 2nd). The move will give Members more time to negotiate a full funding deal for the prior fiscal year. Meanwhile, the House is […]

Congress Full Steam Ahead Congress kicked off its second work week of 2024 with two bipartisan, bicameral proposals: a tax package and a stopgap funding deal to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week. The stopgap proposal was released Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee and has the backing of Senate Majority […]

The House: The House returns this week to continue discussions on the looming January 19th deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)  have negotiated an agreement on the top-line spending levels for the current fiscal, reducing the likelihood of a partial government shutdown on […]

The House: The House returns for its final scheduled working week of the year with several authorization bills teed up before Members leave town. Chief among the slated bills include a short-term FAA reauthorization through March 8th to give more time for negotiations amid the Senate’s stalled version. Others include the national defense authorization bill […]

Congress Back in Town: Congress returns to Washington this week down a Member after House lawmakers voted to expel now-former Rep. George Santos (R-NY).  This week, the Chamber is set to take up 11 bills under expedited procedures, including those dealing with veterans benefits, federal energy research, and commuter rail benefits. House lawmakers will also […]

Congress Closing Out 2023 With three working weeks left in the year, Congress returns to Washington this week from its Thanksgiving recess after extending government funding through two “staggered” dates – January 19th and February 2nd by which time Members will need to reach another funding agreement to avoid a shutdown. However, lawmakers are also […]

The House Congress returns to Washington in what is the last full week before the November 17th government funding deadline by which Members must pass a spending package to avoid a shutdown. House lawmakers will meet this week to vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) “laddered” stopgap bill proposal that would fund one group of […]

The House House lawmakers return to D.C. in what will be Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) second full week on the job. This week, Members will take up the FY24 Transportation-Housing & Urban Development (THUD) and Financial Services bills, in addition to legislation under expedited procedures which include the following: Several bills authorizing land transfers and […]

The House Congress is back open for business again after House lawmakers elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the next Speaker of the House following three unsuccessful nominations of prior candidates. With a Speaker now in office, the House can now conduct normal floor business including advancing appropriations bills. Upon his election, Speaker Johnson set […]

The House:  House Republicans return to D.C. this week to pick their third nominee for Speaker of the House after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to win the necessary votes on the floor over three ballots. Announced Speaker candidates include the following: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) Mike Johnson (R-LA) Jack Bergman (R-MI) Austin […]

Congress Trudges On: Congress is effectively paralyzed with the House of Representatives still lacking a Speaker. Last week, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) won his party’s nomination to be Speaker before withdrawing his name from consideration amid his narrow victory over House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-OH). House Republicans then nominated Rep. Jordan to […]

Congress in Standstill: Just as Congress narrowly averted a shutdown late last month, the House of Representatives is effectively closed for business after Members voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as Speaker of the House. Running to replace McCarthy are House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) who […]

Shutdown Averted … For Now: In a surprise turn of events, Congress avoided a government shutdown over the weekend by crafting and passing a stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government open through November 17th and give lawmakers more time to negotiate a full appropriations package. House Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass […]

Shutdown Showdown: This is Congress’ last full week to pass an appropriations package by midnight Saturday to avert a government shutdown. While House lawmakers are setting up votes on four individual FY24 appropriations bills – Defense, Homeland Security, State-Foreign Operations, and Agriculture-FDA – thin voting margins in the Chamber may complicate that process. The Senate’s […]

The House: House lawmakers return to Washington this week with a stopgap funding proposal from Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his leadership team to keep the government open past the September 30th deadline to allow more time to negotiate a full funding package. The stopgap would last through October 31st and would make an across-the-board […]

Congress Back in Session Washington, D.C. is back in full swing with the House returning from its month-long August recess. Both Chambers return to a packed agenda, including floor votes for various appropriations bills ahead of the September 30th deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The House will also vote on legislation dealing with sanctions […]

Congress Returns from Recess The Senate returns to DC this week from its month-long August recess, with the House to follow next week. Members have a lengthy agenda to attend to in the coming weeks, including passing a government funding package by September 30th to avoid a shutdown. Senate appropriators have marked up all 12 […]

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. […]

Congress Chugs Along Lawmakers return to Washington for the penultimate work week ahead of Congress’ month-long August recess. The Senate will take up its version of the FY 2024 defense authorization bill following the House’s lead last week, although the differences between the two bills will ultimately need to be reconciled before final passage. In […]

Crunch Time for Congress Both Chambers of Congress return to DC this week following a two-week recess, and have only three short weeks left to do business before the month-long August recess which signals the homestretch of this year’s session. The House The House is starting the week with a bang, as it will take […]

The House The House returns to DC this week after Speaker McCarthy reached a tentative agreement to reopen floor votes after a handful of lawmakers initially blocked the process due to objections over the debt limit deal passed earlier in the month. Lawmakers will take up several bills under expedited procedures, including those concerning VA […]

Congress Back to Business The House returns to Washington this week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent Members home earlier-than-expected last week. The Chamber is expected to take up a number of bills under expedited procedures, including those calling for the release of American prisoners in Russia, providing block grants for crop losses, and creating a […]

Congress Clears the Debt Limit Both Chambers of Congress return to Washington this week after swiftly passing the debt limit agreement negotiated by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy. With the debt ceiling behind them, Members are returning to regular business. House lawmakers are set to take up a number of market-related bills this […]

Debt Limit Crunch Time All eyes are on Washington this week as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy sell their bipartisan debt limit agreement to Members of Congress for passage before the expected June 5th default date. The text of the nearly 100-page deal was released over the weekend, the key details of which […]

The House The House is the only game in town this week with the Senate out on recess. The Chamber will take up several bills this week, including the following: A package of veterans-related bills that would expand healthcare and cost of living benefit eligibilities, as well as modify a veterans education and employment program […]

Congress Both Chambers of Congress return to DC this week to take up usual business. First, the House is set to take up a number of bills under expedited procedures, including a bill adding requirements for court orders preventing electronic communications service providers from informing customers if the government searches its electronic database. The House […]

Congress Both Chambers of Congress are back in session this week with the House set to take up several bills, including the following: A bill restricting asylum eligibility, resuming border wall construction, and requiring employers to verify their employees legal status A bill allowing states to reclaim 25% of recovered fraudulent unemployment or pandemic-aid payments […]

Congress The Senate is the only game in town this week with the House out on recess until next week. Senators will begin this week by holding a confirmation vote on Anthony Johnstone to become a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with additional votes lined up later in the week on three […]

Congress Back in Session Both Chambers return to DC this week to take up usual business. The House will consider several bills this week under expedited procedures, including those concerning the FCC’s oversight of satellites and authorization of spectrum usage to provide expanded emergency alerts. House Members will also take up Speaker McCarthy’s new Debt […]

The House House Members return to D.C. this week following a two-week recess for Easter and Passover. Lawmakers are hitting the ground running ahead of the next recess in June with a slate of floor votes on various measures. Three bills that will be taken up on expedited procedures include those condemning Russia for taking […]

The House The House returns to Washington this week before embarking on a two-week recess for Easter. This week, Members will take up legislation streamlining and increasing environmental permitting for domestic energy production, infrastructure projects, and other activities while reducing reliance on foreign minerals. Members are also set to take up several bills under expedited […]

The Senate The Senate returns this week to take up a repeal of the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq in addition to nominations which were teed up last week, although continuing health-related absences from Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could complicate that process. The Chamber will […]

Congress The Senate is back in session this week while House Members are on recess. Senators are expected to take up a number of Administration nominees and a bill repealing a House-passed bill repealing a Biden Administration rule governing water and wetland protections. However, three Senators’ health-related absences may complicate the process.  Key nominations this […]

The House The House returns to DC this week to take up a number of bills, chief among them being a bill that would repeal the Biden Administration’s rule expending environmental protections for several bodies of water. Other bills include those concerning servicemember tuition reimbursements and VA operations such as offsite emergency healthcare coverage, medical […]

Congress Back in Session The House and Senate return to Washington this week following their respective recesses. House lawmakers are hitting the ground running by taking up a number of bills, including those that would extend the FCC’s spectrum auction power through mid-May and require the Commerce Department to provide congressional reports on mobile network […]

The House The House returns this week to take up a number of bills on the floor, including: A bill requiring the Energy Department to provide financial assistance to certain post-grad students enrolled in cybersecurity and energy infrastructure classes. A bill placing hundreds of acres of federal lands in trusts for the Pala Band of […]

The 118th Congress Continues Both Chambers of Congress return to Washington this week, with only the House scheduled to hold votes. The House will take up a number of bills, including those that would reverse a number of COVID-19-era policies such as the healthcare worker vaccine mandate, pandemic-era work-from-home for federal agencies, and the public […]

The House The House returns this week to take up a number of bills, beginning with a measure to require the Energy Department to craft a plan to increase oil and gas production leases on federal lands before it can continue to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The Chamber will then proceed to several measures […]

The 118th Congress Begins Washington officially has two working branches of Congress after a four-day, 15-ballot marathon where House Republicans elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as the next Speaker of the House. Republicans won a majority in the 2022 midterms, but their narrower-than-expected victory allowed some House Republican holdouts to initially deny McCarthy the gavel […]

117th Congress: The Final Countdown Congress returns for its final working week of the year to pass a year-long, roughly $1.7 trillion government funding bill before December 23rd to avert a government shutdown. Lawmakers had passed a short-term extension of last week’s funding deadline to provide more time for negotiations. House and Senate leaders have since agreed […]

The House The House is set to take up a number of bills under suspension of the rules, including those that would update federal procurement regulations to better flag conflicts of interests, provide more collective bargaining rights to certain Veterans Health Administration professionals, and establish a nationwide law enforcement de-escalation training program at the DOJ. […]

The House The House returns this week to begin the final month of the 117th Congress and plan for the 118th. House Republicans will begin the formal process this week to select next Congress’ committee chairs who will set the tone for the party’s legislative priorities. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also announced that he […]

117th Congress’ Final Weeks The House and Senate return to DC this week after the Thanksgiving Recess for its final stretch of the 2022 working period. Lawmakers still need to clear must-pass pieces of legislation during that time such as a government funding bill and a national defense authorization, but the impending transfer of power […]

Meet the 118th Congress The following provides an overview of the 118th Congress beginning January 2023, including expected leadership structures of House and Senate committees. House Republicans will take control of the Chamber and committees next year, making Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) the next likely Speaker of the House with Rep. Steven Scalise (R-LA) as […]

Congress’ Lame Duck Session Begins Lawmakers return to Washington this week for the first time in over a month following the midterm elections where Democrats held their Senate majority. While votes are still being counted and a Georgia Senate runoff is set for December 6th, Congress still has a slammed agenda to grapple with this […]