Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the bill codifying same-sex marriage would receive a vote in the House early next week and outlined other priorities for the last weeks of the legislative session in her Thursday press conference.
Pelosi said the House would pass the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday and quickly send it to President Joe Biden’s desk for approval. The two other top priorities are to pass the National Defense Authorization Act and an omnibus spending bill before government funding runs out on Dec. 16.
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“We are going to take [the Respect for Marriage Act] up next week on Tuesday. That’s going to be announced by the Rules Committee, so you heard it here first,” she said. “We will send it swiftly to the president’s desk for signature. I’m particularly happy because it’ll be one of the last bills that I will sign as speaker.”
The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday, sending it back to the House.
Congressional leaders are pushing for an omnibus spending bill that will provide a year of government funding. Pelosi said the top Democrats and Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are negotiating the bill and that she hopes to avoid the “last resort” of a continuing resolution that would keep funding at current levels if an agreement isn’t reached.
“If the Republicans and Democrats, in a bipartisan way, on the Appropriations Committee can reach a solution, then we should let them do that,” she said. “But sadly, we’d have no choice if they can’t get that. We would have to have a yearlong CR bill. We don’t like that.”
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The speaker added that she does not know what the House Ways and Means Committee plans to do with former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, which it just received from the Department of Justice on Wednesday. Democrats have been pushing for access to the documents for years but may not have time to conduct an investigation before they lose control of the House in January.
Pelosi is wrapping up her 20 years as leader of the House Democrats, and current Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will become minority leader when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3.
