Both the House and Senate will be in session this week.
President Biden will send his fiscal year 2023 budget proposal to Congress on Monday, which will showcase a $1 trillion reduction in deficit spending over the coming decade, generated in part by a new tax targeting the income and unrealized capital gains of billionaires. Biden is attempting to appeal to moderates with his proposal, including through an absence of details on his climate and social safety net proposals. Instead, the budget document will include a placeholder known as a “deficit-neutral reserve fund,” signaling Biden’s commitment to sweeping policy changes without spelling out the costs and benefits.
The request also includes $813 billion for national security spending, a 4% increase from the current fiscal year. Further, Biden is also proposing a minimum 20% tax rate on both the income and unrealized capital gains of U.S. households worth more than $100 million, which is predicted to generate an estimated $360 billion in new revenue over the next decade.
The Senate will resume consideration of legislation that would boost technological innovation and provide $52 billion for domestic manufacturing of computer chips in an effort to go to conference committee with the House by the end of the week. Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) indicated last week that he thought the Senate could act on four nominees to the Federal Reserve: Jerome Powell for a second term as chair, Lael Brainard as vice chair, and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson for the board of governors. Additionally, the upper chamber may consider House-passed measures to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus (H.R. 7108) and ban the importation of Russian oil (H.R. 6968) after objections were raised last week by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) over language included in the provisions that would extend and expand the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
Administration
On Tuesday, President Biden will host Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the White House. He will also sign the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law, with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivering remarks.
House Side
Monday – Tuesday, the House will meet to consider multiple bills under suspension.
- S. 2629 – Better Cybercrime Metrics Act (Sen. Schatz – Judiciary), which would require the Justice Department to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to develop a classification system for cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime.
- H.R. 3359 – Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act of 2021, as amended (Rep. Swalwell – Judiciary), which would permit families of homicide victims to ask federal investigators to review and potentially reopen cold cases.
- H.R. 1621 – Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2021 (Rep. Cohen – Judiciary). The bill would prohibit federal courts from considering criminal defendants’ past acquittals during sentencing except when mitigating a sentence.
- H.R. 4738 – COVID-19 American History Project Act (Rep. Letlow – House Administration), which would direct the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to create a history project focused on personal COVID-19 experiences.
- S. 3294 – To obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on the Capitol grounds of a statue to honor U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and a statue to honor U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Sen. Klobuchar – House Administration).
- H.R. 6865 – Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, as amended (Rep. DeFazio – Transportation and Infrastructure). The bill would reauthorize the Coast Guard and the Federal Maritime Commission through fiscal year 2023. It would provide $13.9 billion in fiscal year 2023, restrict Russian vessels from entering U.S. waters, establish policies to curb sexual assault and harassment in the maritime industry, and modify ocean shipping laws.
- H.R. 2954 – Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022, as amended (Rep. Neal – Ways and Means), which expand retirement savings options for workers, including by requiring automatic enrollment in new employer plans. The bill would also increase the age at which individuals must start drawing on their retirement accounts, expand tax incentives for small businesses to create retirement plans, and allow employers to make matching contributions to retirement accounts based on employee student loan payments.
Wednesday – Friday, the House will meet for legislative business and to consider additional bills under suspension.
- Bills expected under a rule
- H.R. 3617 – MORE Act (Rep. Nadler – Judiciary), which would decriminalize cannabis, impose a tax on cannabis products, and provide assistance to cannabis businesses.
- Bills under suspension
- H.R. 5706 – Stop Sexual Assault and Harassment in Transportation Act (Rep. DeFazio – Transportation and Infrastructure), which would require airlines, cruise ships, rideshare companies, passenger motor carriers, and rail and transit systems to maintain formal sexual assault and harassment policies that are available to passengers.
- S. 400 – William T. Coleman, Jr. and Norman Y. Mineta Department of Transportation Headquarters Act, as amended (Sen. Wicker – Transportation and Infrastructure). The legislation would name the headquarters building of the Transportation Department in southeast Washington, D.C. the “William T. Coleman, Jr. and Norman Y. Mineta Federal Building.”
- H.R. 5673 – Safeguarding Tomorrow Through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Technical Corrections Act (Rep. Titus – Transportation and Infrastructure). The bill would create several technical changes to a program created in 2021 that provides capitalization grants for states and tribes to create hazard mitigation revolving loan funds.
- H.R. 5343 – FEMA Caseworker Accountability Act, as amended (Rep. Tom Rice – Transportation and Infrastructure), which would have the Government Accountability Office report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s personnel turnover rates.
- H.R. 5547 – CEDS Act, as amended (Rep. Nikema Williams – Transportation and Infrastructure). The legislation would require applications for Economic Development Administration grants to include information about access to care services for children, older adults, and others.
- S. 2938 – To designate the U.S. courthouse and federal building located at 111 North Adams Street in Tallahassee, Florida, as the “Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building” (Sen. Rubio – Transportation and Infrastructure).
- S. 1226 – To designate the U.S. courthouse located at 1501 North 6th Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as the “Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse” (Sen. Casey – Transportation and Infrastructure).
- S. 233 – Donna M. Doss Memorial Act of 2021 (Sen. Cornyn – Transportation and Infrastructure), which would designate the Rocksprings Station of the U.S. Border Patrol located on West Main Street in Rocksprings, Texas, as the “Donna M. Doss Border Patrol Station.”
- S. 2126 – To designate the federal office building located at 308 W. 21st Street in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as the “Louisa Swain Federal Office Building” (Sen. Lummis – Transportation and Infrastructure).
Senate Side
On Monday, the Senate will vote on the substitute amendment to H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act, which would replace the text of the legislation with language from the upper chamber’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1620). Once the Senate formally takes up H.R. 4521, members from both chambers will be named to a conference committee to resolve the differences in the two bills.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has also filed for cloture votes on Nani A. Coloretti to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and C.S. Eliot Kang to be State Department assistant secretary for international security and nonproliferation.