Both the House and Senate are back for two weeks before departing for August recess. Last week, Republicans rallied support for the nomination of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, President Biden announced on Sunday that he will not seek reelection and conveyed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.
This week, the House will continue working to advance fiscal year 2025 spending bills, with votes planned on four bills: Agriculture-FDA, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, and Interior-Environment. The House will also honor Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), who died last week after being diagnosed earlier this year with pancreatic cancer.
Additionally, the House leadership plans a vote this week to create a bipartisan task force to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Trump in Butler, PA. The resolution posted yesterday would establish an 11-member body—six Republicans and five Democrats—who will be empowered with subpoena authority to “investigate and fully examine all actions by any agency, Department, officer, or employee of the federal government, as well as State and local law enforcement or any other State or local government or private entities or individuals,” before delivering a final report and legislative recommendations by December 13.
In the upper chamber, Senate appropriators will mark up their versions of the Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD fiscal year 2025 spending bills.
Administration
On Tuesday, President Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.
House Votes
On Monday, the House will meet to consider multiple bills under suspension.
- Bills expected under suspension of the rules.
- H.R. 7377 – Royalty Resiliency Act, as amended (Rep. Hunt – Natural Resources). The bill would require oil and gas leaseholders to make royalty payments based on proposed production allocations until the Interior Department approves a final allocation.
- H.R. 2969 – Financial Technology Protection Act of 2023, as amended (Rep. Nunn – Financial Services). The bill would establish an independent working group to recommend to regulators ways to prevent illicit use of digital assets and other innovative technologies to launder money, evade sanctions, or finance terrorism.
- H.R. 7280 – HUD Transparency Act of 2024, as amended (Rep. De La Cruz – Financial Services). The bill would require the Housing and Urban Development Department’s inspector general to testify before Congress annually on efforts to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.
- S. 3706 – Victims' VOICES Act (Sen. Cornyn – Judiciary). The legislation would require defendants convicted of federal crimes to pay restitution for financial losses to individuals acting on behalf of victims.
- S. 227 – Improving Access to Our Courts Act (Sen. Cornyn – Judiciary). The legislation would permit Texas and Washington judicial districts to hold court in additional locations.
- S. 4548 – Foreign Extortion Prevention Technical Corrections Act (Sen. Whitehouse – Judiciary). The legislation would make technical changes to the 2023 Foreign Extortion Prevention Act to clarify the definitions of bribery and expand its anti-bribery restrictions to cover agents acting on behalf of foreign officials.
- H.R. 1631 – Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act, as amended (Rep. Issa – Judiciary). The bill would permit private developers of consensus building, safety, and industry standards to maintain their copyright even if the standard has been incorporated into a public law or regulation.
- H.R. 8812 – Water Resources Development Act of 2024, as amended (Rep. Sam Graves – Transportation and Infrastructure). The legislation would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start 12 navigation, flood mitigation, and other water-related infrastructure projects estimated to cost almost $10 billion.
- S. 1973 – All-American Flag Act, as amended (Sen. Brown – Oversight and Accountability). The bill would require executive agencies to purchase flags in the United States, with exclusively American materials.
- S. 1258 – Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2023, as amended (Sen. Ernst – Oversight and Accountability). The bill will would direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue guidance requiring executive and independent regulatory agencies to report annually to Congress on the status of projects that are more than five years behind schedule or have exceeded their original cost estimate by $1 billion.
- H.R. 7887 – Allowing Contractors to Choose Employees for Select Skills (ACCESS) Act, as amended (Rep. Mace – Oversight and Accountability). The bill would prohibit federal contract opportunities or solicitations from setting education requirements for contractors to be eligible for an award without justification.
- H.R. 890 – Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act, as amended (Rep. Comer – Oversight and Accountability). The legislation would require federal agencies to publish guidance documents, including directives, news releases, or speeches by agency officials, on a single public website designated by the OMB.
Tuesday – Thursday, the House is scheduled to meet for legislative business.
- Bills expected under a rule.
- H.R. 8997 – Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 (Rep. Fleischmann – Appropriations). The legislation would allocate $59.2 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025 to the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers, and related agencies.
- H.R. 8998 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 (Rep. Simpson – Appropriations). The legislation would allocate $38.5 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025 to the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department, and related agencies.
- H.R. 8773 – Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2025 (Rep. David Joyce – Appropriations). The legislation would allocate $23.6 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025 to the Treasury Department and related agencies.
- H.R. 9027 – Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 (Rep. Harris – Appropriations). The legislation would allocate $25.9 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025 to the Agriculture Department, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies.
Senate Votes
On Tuesday, the Senate will begin consideration of the nominations of Colleen Duffy Kiko to remain as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Kashi Way and Adam Landy to sit on the U.S. Tax Court, and Margaret Taylor to be the State Department’s legal adviser.