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DC Download 07.10.2023

Lawmakers are back on the Hill after the July 4th recess with a full agenda before they break again for the August recess. The House’s to-do list before they leave for the summer includes passing appropriations bills necessary to avoid a government shutdown in the fall and reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. This week, House lawmakers are considering the mammoth National Defense Authorization Act. On the Senate side, senators are advancing nominations for positions in the Biden Administration.

Table of Contents:

The People vs. SCOTUS: Understanding the 2023 Supreme Court Term

The conservative supermajority in the U.S. Supreme Court has finished another term where basic rights and protections hung in the balance. We’ll take stock of what’s happened and explore what this term’s rulings mean for Congress and for all of our civil rights. Join the Progressive Caucus Action Fund for a Tools for Progress briefing: “The People vs. SCOTUS: Understanding the 2023 Supreme Court Term” on Thursday, July, 27th at 1pm ET. You can register here.

House Floor

The House will vote on three suspension bills from the Committee Financial Services. 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 bill, subject to a rule:

H.R. 2670 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (Sponsored by Rep. Rogers (AL) / Armed Services Committee): The bill authorizes $886 billion for defense, which is $28 billion (or 3.3%) more than last year’s bill. This is the funding level reflected in the recent debt ceiling deal. The House Rules Committee is meeting tomorrow to discuss the bill’s consideration on the House floor as well as amendments. Amendments being considered include a repeal of the 1991 and 2002 Iraq AUMFs, and reducing the Pentagon Budget by $100 billion. The bill currently contains language that would reduce civilian positions at DOD, prevent service personnel from traveling to seek reproductive health care, ban funding for DEI efforts, ban funding for surgical procedures or hormone therapies for gender-affirming care, and ban funding for any activity that promotes or advances “Critical Race Theory,” among other partisan policy riders.

Top House Armed Services Dem worried about ‘extreme right-wing amendments’ filed to defense bill (The Hill)

House Committee Highlights

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

Tuesday Hearing

Investigating the Proximal Origin of a Cover Up (Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic)

Wednesday Hearings

Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Judiciary)

Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, is testifying

Protecting Investor Interests: Examining Environmental and Social Policy in Financial Regulation (Financial Services)

Examining the Biden Administration’s Record on Federal Coal Leasing (Natural Resources)

Where is all the Welfare Money Going? Reclaiming TANF Non-Assistance Dollars to Lift Americans Out of Poverty (Ways & Means)

Protecting the U.S. Homeland: Fighting the Flow of Fentanyl from the Southwest Border (Homeland Security)

Thursday Hearings

The State Department's Climate Agenda: A Budget Overview by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (Foreign Affairs)

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is testifying

Beyond the Budget: Addressing Financial Accountability in the Department of Defense (Oversight & Accountability)

Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission (Judiciary)

Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, is testifying

Stolen Taxpayer Funds: Reviewing the SBA and OIG Reports of Fraud in Pandemic Lending Programs (Small Business)

Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, is testifying

Nominations

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

Xochitl Torres Small, of New Mexico, to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
Rosemarie Hidalgo, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the Violence Against Women Office, Department of Justice
Kymberly Kathryn Evanson, of Washington, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington
Tiffany M. Cartwright, of Washington, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington

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

Accelerating Breakthroughs: How the Special Diabetes Program Is Creating Hope for those Living with Type 1 Diabetes (Appropriations)

Superbugs: The Impact of Antimicrobial Resistance on Modern Medicine (HELP)

The PGA-LIV Deal: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Influence in the United States (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Exploiting the American Dream: How Abusive Land Contracts Prey on Vulnerable Homebuyers (Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs)

Wednesday Hearings

Protecting Social Security for All: Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share (Budget)

Bank Mergers and the Economic Impacts of Consolidation (Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs)

Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property – Part II: Copyright (Judiciary)

Thursday Hearings

Assessing 25 Years of the Child Tax Credit (1997-2022) (Finance)

Appropriations

With only a couple weeks before Congress breaks for the August recess, the House Appropriations Committee’s agenda is still pretty full. Out of the 12 annual appropriations bills necessary to fund the government, only six have passed the full Committee and none are scheduled for a House floor vote. Additionally, out of the six remaining bills that need to be passed out of Committee, four bills have not even been introduced. Last month, the Appropriations Committee adopted 302(b) allocations, or the cap on spending for each of the 12 annual appropriations bills, which are below the topline spending numbers negotiated between the White House and House Republican Leadership in the debt limit deal—meaning even steeper cuts up to $189 billion for programs and services families rely on. Congress has until September 30 to pass all 12 bills in order to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown.

2024 Appropriations Update (Appropriations Committee)
House GOP may move stopgap spending bill as soon as this month (Roll Call)
Granger sets fiscal 2024 funding targets below debt limit deal (Roll Call)

Raise the Wage Act Reintroduction

Lawmakers in Congress are preparing to reintroduce the Raise the Wage Act later this month. The Raise the Wage Act would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour, two dollars more than earlier iterations of the bill in previous Congresses that proposed a $15 dollar minimum wage. In May, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, held a press conference announcing the new proposal and making the case for the two dollar adjustment, citing the rise in inflation. While some states across the country in recent years have raised their minimum wage, Congress has not passed a minimum wage increase since raising the level to $7.25 an hour in 2009.

Bernie Sanders introduces his largest minimum wage proposal yet (ABC News)
The minimum wage fight that will define the decade (Politico)

SCOTUS Aftermath: Moore v. Harper

In this case, Republican state legislators in North Carolina tried to validate discriminatory congressional maps based on the so-called “independent state legislature” theory. This invented, extremist theory claims that the Constitution gives sole power to regulate federal elections to state legislatures. It alleges that neither state courts nor governors can interfere with federal elections, no matter how egregious or discriminatory the legislature’s actions are. Last month, the Supreme Court rejected the “independent state legislature” theory, finding that the Constitution does not give state legislatures unchecked authority over federal elections. Now, North Carolina must redraw the congressional maps for the 2024 election.