Becker & Poliakoff

Washington Update: June 1

Washington Update: June 1

Becker & PoliakoffHouse appropriators will start their markup season in late June, about a month and a half later than usual, racing to get bills out of the committee in the middle of the summer under a condensed legislative schedule due to the coronavirus.

The House does not have any floor votes scheduled until June 30 under a recent schedule released by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). House Committees will work through June to work on must-pass legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The delayed appropriations schedule will make it difficult to get any appropriations bills signed into law before the September 30 deadline other than a stopgap continuing resolution.

Appropriators will begin subcommittee and full-committee markups at the end of June and beginning of July. At the end of June and throughout July, the House will consider appropriations, NDAA, surface transportation, Affordable Care Act, and Water Resources Development Act legislation, according to Rep. Hoyer. Votes will need to go long, as members vote on a series of major bills under social distancing requirements that have lengthened the time it takes to conduct a vote.

If the House completes its work by the end of July, no changes will be made to the August District Work Period unless any additional measures need to be taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic.