FY20 Appropriations Bills The House will start bringing FY20 appropriations bills to the floor next Wednesday with the Senate Appropriations expected to start marking up its bills shortly thereafter. Pending Nominations The Senate will continue considering pending executive branch and judicial nominations, including Edward Crawford’s nomination to be Ambassador to Ireland. FY20 National Defense Authorization Act Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) and Armed Services Committee Chairman Inhofe (R-OK) are aiming to bring the FY20 National…

Pending Nominations When the Senate returns on Monday, it will take up Andrew Saul’s nomination to be Commissioner of Social Security before moving to a number of other pending judicial and executive branch nominations, including Rita Baranwal’s nomination to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy. Disaster Aid The House returns on Tuesday and is expected to pass the Senate-passed supplemental disaster aid bill, sending it to the President for his signature.…

Disaster Aid The House and Senate are in recess this week coinciding with Memorial Day. Before leaving last week, the Senate reached agreement on a long-stalled disaster aid package and passed it overwhelmingly. The House had already left Washington, but leadership attempted to pass the bill by unanimous consent. Rep. Roy (R-TX) remained in town on Friday to object. Rep. Massie (R-KY) did the same this week, delaying passage until after the recess. TRACED Act…

Pending Judicial and Executive Branch Nominations The House and Senate are both in session next week with two weeks in Washington before the Memorial Day recess. Leader McConnell will continue to process pending judicial and executive branch nominations. Disaster Aid In the meantime, Senate leadership continues to negotiate an aid package to deliver supplemental funding to disaster-stricken areas around the country, though funding for hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico remains a point of contention. Majority…

Immigration Plan The House and Senate were both in session this week and on Tuesday, a group of Senate Republicans, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Graham (R-SC) and Senators Blackburn (R-TN), Cotton (R-AR), Cramer (R-ND), Crapo (R-ID), Grassley (R-IA), Lee (R-UT), McSally (R-AZ), and Perdue (R-GA), attended a White House briefing to hear about the President’s forthcoming immigration plan spearheaded by senior adviser Jared Kushner. On Wednesday, the President hosted a Cabinet meeting before flying to…

FY20 Spending Bills With the Memorial Day and lengthy August recess looming between now and the end of the fiscal year on September 30, appropriators will be focused on moving FY20 spending bills. The House Appropriations Committee held its first FY20 spending bill markup this week in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Over the coming weeks, the Committee and its subcommittees will continue to consider the remaining FY20 bills,…