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DC Download 02.26.2024

With a March 1 deadline quickly approaching, lawmakers are back on the Hill this week with one thing in mind: government funding, again. If Congress doesn’t pass the four expiring appropriations bills or a temporary funding measure by the end of the week, the government will see a partial shutdown.

Table of Contents:

Supreme Court Expansion

Our Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis. Everything we care about — our rights to vote and access abortion care, our safety against discrimination and from gun violence, the fate of our climate, and our right to organize at work — is under attack by the Supreme Court. Certain politicians and the corporate special interests who fund them packed the Court with an extreme right-wing supermajority interested in imposing their anti-democratic agenda instead of upholding our freedom.

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court in the past, and it’s time to do it again. Momentum is growing as the Court’s threats to our rights and freedoms become more and more dire. Together, we can expand and rebalance the Court, impose common sense ethics rules, and make sure that our highest court respects precedent and principle, protects our most fundamental freedoms, and stands up for the American people, not corporate special interests.

Fast Facts:

There’s no set number of justices required by the Constitution and Congress has changed the size of the Court seven times in our history. In fact, the number of seats on the Supreme Court used to reflect the number of federal districts. Today, there are 13 federal districts but only nine seats on the court.

Just 25 percent of Americans have high confidence in the Supreme Court, nearly half of what it was just 2 decades ago. Nearly 75 percent reported having “none,” “very little,” or only “some” confidence in the institution. And 61 percent of Americans disapprove of how the Supreme Court is handling its job.

Supreme Court Reform: Examining Key Issues and Proposals - Progressive Caucus Action Fund
Myth Busters: The Facts About Supreme Court Expansion - Demos

For more messaging tools and resources, visit the Progressive Playbook.

House Floor

The House will vote on 12 suspension bills from the Committees on Small Business, Energy & Commerce, Education & the Workforce, Oversight & Accountability, and Transportation & Infrastructure. Suspension bills require a ⅔ majority to pass. For a list of all suspension bills being considered, click here.

The House is also expected to consider additional legislative items related to Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations.

House Committee Highlights

A full list of this week’s hearings and markups can be found here. Notable hearings and markups include:

Thursday Hearings

Examining the Risk: The Dangers of EV Fires for First Responders (Science, Space, and Technology)

Port Cybersecurity: The Insidious Threat to U.S. Maritime Ports (Homeland Security)

Made in China: Is GSA Complying with Purchasing Restrictions? (Oversight & Accountability)

Nominations

The Senate this week has teed up votes on the following nominees:

Jacqueline Becerra, of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida
David Seymour Leibowitz, of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida
Hampton Y. Dellinger, of North Carolina, to be Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel, for the term of five years

Senate Committee Highlights

A full list of this week’s Senate committee hearings, including confirmation hearings, can be found here. Notable committee hearings include:

Tuesday Hearings

The U.S. Technology Fueling Russia’s War in Ukraine: How and Why (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Damming the Iron River: How to Stop the Deadly Flow of American Guns to the Cartels (Judiciary)

Yemen and Red Sea Security Issues (Foreign Relations)

Understanding the Presence of Microplastics in Water (Environment & Public Works)

Wednesday Hearings

Hearing to Examine the Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Developing Geologic Hydrogen in the United States (Energy & Natural Resources)

Water Resources Development Act 2024: USACE Water Infrastructure Projects, Programs and Priorities (Environment & Public Works)

Tehran’s Shadow Army: Addressing Iran’s Proxy Network in the Middle East (Foreign Relations)

Taking a Serious Look at the Retirement Crisis in America: What Can We Do to Expand Defined Benefit Pension Plans for Workers? (HELP)

No Rights to Speak of: The Economic Harms of Restricting Reproductive Freedom (Budget)

The Nation’s Correctional Staffing Crisis: Assessing the Toll on Correctional Officers and Incarcerated Persons (Judiciary)

Examining and Preventing Deaths of Incarcerated Individuals in Federal Prisons (Judiciary)

Oversight of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry)

Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack is testifying

Thursday Hearings

All Means All: Empowering People with Disabilities to Thrive in Careers and the Workplace (Aging)

Government Funding

In January, lawmakers kicked the government funding can down the road for the third time when they passed a temporary bill that set two new funding deadlines for March 1 and March 8. Now, Congress is facing the first deadline at the end of the week, but lawmakers are not any closer to passing the necessary appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2024. If Congress fails to pass the funding bills or a stopgap measure for the fourth time, government agencies—including the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development—will shut down. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden is expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to discuss the looming threat. Some lawmakers, like the House Freedom Caucus, are calling for a year-long stopgap bill, otherwise known as a continuing resolution (CR). If any CR is in effect past April 30, the bipartisan debt deal brokered last summer would trigger massive, indiscriminate cuts to programs families depend on.

Deal to dodge government shutdown appears to stall amid GOP policy demands (The Washington Post)
Spending Impasse Persists Amid G.O.P. Resistance as Partial Shutdown Looms (The New York Times)

Secretary Mayorkas Impeachment

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas by a party-line vote. Now, Senators are expecting to receive the articles of impeachment as early as this week. A trial, however, is not certain. Senate Democrats will either table the articles or refer them to a special Senate committee, which would only require a simple majority vote. A group of GOP Senators has urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to oppose Democratic efforts to quickly dismiss the articles of impeachment. However, other Republican Senators, including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), have no appetite to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, calling it a “pointless exercise.”

SCOTUS Watch: Moyle v. United States

On April 24, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moyle v. United States, a case that examines the conflict between state-level abortion bans and federal healthcare requirements. The case stems from Idaho's strict abortion law and its potential violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which mandates that hospitals provide necessary stabilizing treatment for any emergency medical condition. The plaintiffs, including healthcare providers and patients, argue that Idaho's law illegally restricts access to abortion in medical emergencies, conflicting with EMTALA's directive that hospitals must offer such care when it is necessary to stabilize the patient's condition. The case asks whether federal law preempts state-imposed abortion bans in the context of emergency medical care. The Supreme Court's decision has the potential to significantly impact not only the legal landscape surrounding abortion rights but also the operational realities healthcare providers face and access to emergency medical care for pregnant individuals across the country.