Lawmakers are set to return to Washington, D.C., on Monday as Congress enters into a three-week sprint to check off as much of their legislative agenda as possible before breaking again for the August recess.
The House and Senate are scheduled to return to Capitol Hill after a two-week hiatus, coming back to a lengthy to-do list paired with looming deadlines at the end of September. Members must also deal with the fallout of intraparty tensions as well as the recent discovery of cocaine at the White House as they navigate their legislative duties.
CRUEL SUMMER: BIDEN FACES BRUISING FEW WEEKS OF SETBACKS AND SCANDAL
Here’s a look at what Congress will be focusing on over the next three weeks:
Lawmakers scramble to finalize spending bills
Congress has until the end of September to pass its annual budget before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, or else lawmakers risk a government shutdown. Budget disagreements typically drag out as both parties fight to include their own priorities, with a final deal often not made until the 11th hour after a marathon voting session.
House committees have already begun advancing some spending bills in an effort to bring the legislation to a floor vote before the lower chamber leaves town for its August recess. However, some disagreements over spending levels and lingering frustrations with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal could complicate that process.
Some Freedom Caucus members are already signaling opposition to the spending levels agreed to in the debt limit deal, hinting they won’t vote to advance budget legislation unless spending levels are cut.
“Unfortunately, the debt ceiling deal was another swamp deal … for very little changes, basically a two-year freeze in spending,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), policy chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told KSEV Radio last week. “So we’re having ongoing fights and debates right now within the Republican Party about what we do in the appropriations fight.”
Those sentiments are likely to put the House on a collision course with Senate Democrats, who are likely drafting budgets with a much larger topline number.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved government funding levels for a dozen fiscal 2024 spending bills toward the end of June. The committee voted along party lines to approve subcommittee allocations for the 12 appropriations bills, setting the levels in line with the caps laid out in the Fiscal Responsibility Act negotiated by Biden and McCarthy.
The debt limit bill limits overall national security spending in fiscal 2024 to $886 billion, which is roughly a 3% increase from current levels. In fiscal 2025, defense spending would be capped at $895 billion, a 1% increase from the previous year. The inflation-adjusted cuts have been a point of contention for defense hawks who continue to advocate spending increases to deter Chinese aggression.
Lawmakers in both chambers are facing a tough timeline to pass their appropriations bills in time for the September 30 deadline. They are about to return from the July 4th recess and will also be gone the entire month of August. The time crunch has lawmakers worried they will not be able to get all of the appropriations bills done in time.
“The chance of passing all the appropriation bills where the House and Senate agree on numbers is almost zero,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), another committee member, reiterated his concern.
“We’re heading toward trouble. OK? That’s clear,” he said.
A key Senate panel is expected to markup its Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill in the weeks to come. Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and ranking member Ted Cruz (R-TX) say the 461-page bill will improve runway safety, track high-altitude balloons, prevent airlines from charging families to sit together, and prepare the nation’s airspace for the future of air travel.
The initial session was delayed in mid-June amid an ongoing dispute regarding a pilot training amendment. Another battle is brewing over an amendment that would increase the number of long-distance flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, although it was unrelated to the delay of the markup.
House Republicans navigate intraparty tensions
House Republican leaders must also focus on wrangling their caucus to advance legislation even as some of their most conservative members remain in a tiff over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
House members reportedly voted to remove Greene from the House Freedom Caucus last month after the Georgia Republican had a profanity-laced exchange with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on the House floor, calling the Colorado Republican a “little b****.” It’s not yet clear whether Greene has been notified of her membership status, but the development is sure to hang over lawmakers’ heads as they attempt to move forward with their agenda.
Greene responded to reports of her ouster on Thursday but stopped short of saying whether she had been informed of her removal from the group.
“In Congress, I serve Northwest Georgia first, and serve no group in Washington,” she said in a statement. “I will work with ANYONE who wants to secure our border, protect our children inside the womb and after they are born, end the forever foreign wars, and do the work to save this country. The GOP has less than two years to show America what a strong, unified Republican-led Congress will do when President Trump wins the White House in 2024. This is my focus, nothing else.”
House to hold hearing upon hearing upon hearing
Aside from legislation, House lawmakers will return to a busy schedule of oversight hearings and briefings as Republicans continue to use their slim majority to crack down on the Biden administration.
One focus that is expected to garner a lot of attention over the next few weeks is the discovery of cocaine in the White House over the weekend, prompting a Secret Service investigation and bouts of criticism from congressional Republicans.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote a letter to United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Friday to request a hearing on the matter, citing concerns about the “level of security maintained at the White House.” Comer has requested a staff-level briefing by July 14.
House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are also set to hold a hearing featuring testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray on July 12, a spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is also expected to testify later in the month before the House leaves on recess.
Those hearings are expected to focus on the so-called “weaponization of the federal government” as Republicans accuse the Biden administration of using government agencies to target conservatives.
Senate holds a number of high profile hearings
A key Senate panel will hear from two leading figures for the PGA tour after the tour’s surprise agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf. Ron Price, the PGA Tour’s chief operating officer, and board member Jimmy Dunne will testify before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on July 11.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who chairs the panel, and ranking member Ron Johnson (R-WI) said the panel will have to wait to hear from LIV CEO Greg Norman and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Arabian national wealth fund, as both cited schedule conflicts.
“We appreciate the PGA Tour working with us and look forward to a robust, thoughtful exchange with both Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne on July 11, focusing on the details and background of this deal and what it means for this cherished American institution,” Blumenthal and Johnson said in a joint statement.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Senate Armed Services Committee will consider the nomination of Air Force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown is expected to testify before the panel on July 11.
President Joe Biden nominated Brown in late May to replace Army Gen. Mark Milley as his four-year term comes to an end in October. He will be the second black man in the position if he’s confirmed by the Senate, the first being the late Colin Powell, who held the role under former President George H. W. Bush.
