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DC Download 07.22.2024

House lawmakers decided to start their month-long August recess early and are expected to return to Washington, D.C. on September 9th. The Senate, on the other hand, is expected to break for the month-long recess on August 5th. This week, the Senate will finish marking up five appropriations bills and begin to examine the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. 

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Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congressional Democrats are providing funding for sustainable energy to tax-exempt entities like towns and nonprofits in your district. Under the Direct Pay program, these entities can receive tax-free cash payments from the IRS for projects such as wind and solar energy. The IRS’s pre-registration portal for 2023 is open, allowing completed projects to claim their Direct Pay tax credits.

This initiative aims to expand publicly-owned energy, support communities transitioning from polluting sources, generate affordable electricity, and create local jobs. For the first time, the federal government will directly fund renewable energy projects for local governments, schools, hospitals, public utilities, houses of worship, and nonprofits.

By highlighting the IRA’s implementation, you can showcase your work in Washington's positive impact on your constituents, emphasizing new funding and job opportunities. Our new toolkit offers useful context, information, and resources to help you illustrate how the IRA is creating local jobs and lowering costs at home.

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

 

 

Nominations

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

  • Adam B. Landy, of South Carolina, to be a Judge of the United States Tax Court for a term of fifteen 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

Tax Tools for Local Economic Development (Finance)

Strategic Competition with the PRC: Assessing U.S. Competitiveness Beyond the Indo-Pacific (Foreign Relations)

The Future of Europe (Foreign Relations)

Examination of the Security Failures Leading to the Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Banning Noncompete Agreements: Benefits for Workers, Businesses, and the Economy (Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs)

Wednesday Hearings

Long-Term Economic Benefits and Impacts from Federal Infrastructure and Public Transportation Investment (Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs)

Charging Ahead: The Future of Electric Vehicles (Budget)

Birth Behind Bars (Judiciary)

Understanding the Potential Environmental Impacts of the Chemical 6PPD (Environment & Public Works)

Thursday Hearings

Safeguarding the Homeland: Examining Conflicts of Interest in Federal Contracting to Protect America’s Future (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)

Competing for Influence Around the Globe: Is the U.S. Winning? (Foreign Relations)

Full Committee Markup of Energy and Water Development; Defense; Labor, Health, and Human Services; Homeland Security; and Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Acts (Appropriations)

 

 

Government Funding

Last week, the House passed an appropriations bill that would fund the Department of Interior and related agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. House Republican Leadership haven’t had the easiest time passing their funding bills. In recent weeks, they’ve pulled some appropriations bills from floor consideration, such as Financial Services and General Government, Agriculture/FDA, and Energy and Water, and failed to pass the Legislative Branch funding bill. Lawmakers were expected to continue considering appropriations bills this week before breaking for a month-long August recess, but instead decided to start their break early. When they return on September 9th, they will only have three weeks to wrap up the appropriations process or pass a stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), before government funding runs out at the end of the month. So far, the House has approved five of the 12 bills necessary to fund the government. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to finish marking up their appropriations bills this week. The full Senate, however, has yet to pass any of the 12 bills. 

 

 

July 30: 59th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid 

August 2-September 8: House is in recess

August 5-September 8: Senate is in recess