Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, the DC Download, to get updates on what’s happening on the Hill, what we are reading, key issues to watch, and progressive analysis and tools.

DC Download 04.17.2023

Congress is in full swing this week with a packed agenda before lawmakers break for a two-week recess. Biden Administration officials continue to defend their budget proposals before committees. Additionally, House Republicans are set to advance one of their legislative priorities, a bill that would increase production and export of American energy and roll back key environmental protections. Meanwhile, the Senate continues to debate a bill that would repeal the authorizations for the Gulf and Iraq wars.

Table of Contents:

Supreme Court Reform

No matter where we live or what we look like, most of us believe the Supreme Court should protect our most fundamental freedoms.

But today, 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.

Read more at the Progressive Playbook.

Facts and Resources:

Polling finds 81 percent of voters nationwide support a code of ethics, including Republicans by a +63-point margin, Independents by a +71-point margin, and Democrats by a +76-point margin.
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.
Supreme Court Reform: Examining Key Issues and Proposals - Progressive Caucus Action Fund

House Floor

The House will vote on three suspension bills from the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Suspension bills require a ⅔ majority to pass. For a list of all suspension bills being considered, click here.

The House will also consider the following bills, subject to a rule:

H.J. Res. 42 - Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 (Sponsored by Rep. Clyde; Oversight and Accountability Committee): The bill would block a local Washington, D.C. law that would reform police practices, including prohibiting the use of chokeholds, limiting the use of tear gas, and increasing public access to footage from body-worn cameras.

House Republicans Introduce Resolution To Block D.C.’s Police Reform Bills (DCist)

H.R. 734 - Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 (Sponsored by Rep. Steube; Education and the Workforce Committee): The bill would require schools that receive federal funds to ban transgender girls from participating in school sports designated for women or girls.

Four Myths About Trans Athletes, Debunked (ACLU)
Myths and Facts: Battling Disinformation About Transgender Rights (Human Rights Campaign)

The House may also vote on overriding President Biden’s Veto Message to Accompany H.J. Res 27. Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Revised Definition of 'Waters of the United States.'"

House Committee Highlights

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

Tuesday Hearings

Investigating the Origins of COVID-19, Part 2: China and the Available Intelligence (Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic)

The Homeland Security Cost of the Biden Administration’s Catastrophic Withdrawal from Afghanistan (Homeland Security)

Oversight of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Alien Children Program (Oversight & Accountability)

American Nuclear Energy Expansion: Powering a Clean and Secure Future (Energy & Commerce)

Oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Financial Services)

Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler is testifying

Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the United States Department of Education (Appropriations)

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is testifying

Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Appropriations)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge is testifying

Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of Commerce (Appropriations)

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo is testifying

Wednesday Hearings

Examining Existing Federal Programs to Build a Stronger Health Workforce and Improve Primary Care (Energy & Commerce)

Exposing Putin's Crimes: Evidence of Russian War Crimes and Other Atrocities in Ukraine (Foreign Affairs)

The Biden Administration's Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Part I: Review by the Inspectors General (Oversight & Accountability)

A Review of the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security (Homeland Security)

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is testifying

Examining the President's FY 2024 Budget Request for the Department of the Interior (Natural Resources)

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is testifying

Thursday Hearings

American Confidence in Elections: Ensuring Every Eligible and Interested American Has the Opportunity to Vote -- and for Their Ballot to Count According to Law (House Administration)

Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of Transportation (Appropriations)

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is testifying

Friday Hearing

The State of the American Economy: The South (Ways & Means)

Senate

Senate Floor

S. 870 - Fire Grants and Safety Act (Sen. Peters, D-MI): The bill would reauthorize federal funds for local firefighters provided through the Homeland Security Department’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG), staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants, and the US Fire Administration (USFA) for seven years, through fiscal year 2030.

Press Release (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Nominations

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

Radha Iyengar Plumb, of New York, to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
Amy Lefkowitz Solomon, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Attorney General

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

A Rigged System: The Cost of Tax Dodging by the Wealthy and Big Corporations (Budget)

Foreign Competitive Threats to American Innovation and Economic Leadership (Judiciary)

Cleaner Vehicles: Good for Consumers and Public Health (Environment & Public Works)

The FY24 DHS Budget: Resources and Authorities Requested to Protect and Secure the Homeland (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is testifying

Wednesday Hearings

To receive testimony on artificial intelligence and machine learning applications to enable cybersecurity (Armed Services)

Holding Russian Kleptocrats and Human Rights Violators Accountable for their Crimes Against Ukraine (Judiciary)

SNAP and Other Nutrition Assistance in the Farm Bill (Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry)

The President’s Fiscal Year 2024 IRS Budget and the IRS’s 2023 Filing Season (Finance)

Commissioner of the IRS Daniel I. Werfel is testifying

Thursday Hearings

Beyond the 9 to 5: Dismantling Barriers and Building Economic Resilience for Older Workers (Aging)

Nomination of Julie Su to serve as Secretary of Labor (HELP)

A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Funding Request and Budget Justification for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Appropriations)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge is testifying

Full Committee Hearing to Examine the President’s Budget Request for the U.S. Department of Energy for Fiscal Year 2024 (Energy & Natural Resources)

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is testifying

Debt Limit

This morning, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave a speech at the New York Stock Exchange making clear that the Republican-controlled House won’t pass a clean bill to raise the debt limit, but would instead seek spending cuts in exchange for avoiding default. In his speech, Speaker McCarthy announced that the House would consider a bill in the coming weeks to raise the limit until May 2024, but would also slash non-defense domestic spending to fiscal year 2022 levels, rescind unspent COVID-19 funds, and impose new restrictions on Medicaid and SNAP beneficiaries. The White House, however, has maintained that forestalling a debt default—and the resulting worldwide financial crisis—should not be a bargaining chip given the high stakes for the public. Additionally, with Republicans in control of only one chamber of Congress, any final deal would also have to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate before reaching President Biden’s desk. Since the debt limit’s creation, Congress has raised or suspended it to avoid a default hundreds of times. Currently, the Department of the Treasury is employing extraordinary measures to pay the government’s bills and has set a June 5th deadline to raise the limit or risk a default.

Court Watch: Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

In AHM v. FDA, a Trump-appointed judge struck down the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion. The Department of Justice appealed the decision, and a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel partially reversed it. However, that reversal would have still allowed a number of prior restrictions for the drug to take effect. The Department of Justice and the manufacturer of mifepristone, Danco Laboratories, have now asked the Supreme Court to step in to prevent this latest ruling imposing restrictions on mifepristone from taking effect. Last week, Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary hold on the lower court ruling until Wednesday. Revoking access to mifepristone would threaten the FDA’s authority to approve and regulate drugs and have enormous consequences for people’s ability to access critical abortion and miscarriage care.