Capitol Hill Update, 27 April, 2015

Capitol Hill Update, 27 April, 2015

House & Senate/Schedule: Both House and Senate are in session this week. The House will take recess next week, while the Senate remains in session through Memorial Day week (May 25).

Legislative Highlight of the Week: The House and Senate are both in conference to reconcile differences between their respective budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2016. Both chambers are reporting that they are close to an agreement, and a vote on the conference report could happen this week. This budget resolution is more crucial than normal, as it ought to contain reconciliation language that could be used to send a repeal of much of ObamaCare to President Obama’s desk. For more on why this reconciliation tactic is so crucial, read HERE.

House/Spending: The House is set to bring up its first two appropriations bills of the year – the bills that actually spend the money authorized by their budget resolution. This first of these bills, H.R. 2029, is the rarely controversial military construction and Veterans’ Affairs Department appropriation.

The second, H.R. 2028, is the Energy & Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations. This bill routinely sees a multitude of good amendment votes to end some of the massive waste and government overreach contained within, such as Department of Energy green energy grants and other corporate welfare. Stay tuned this week for a full list of amendments that FreedomWorks supports or opposes.

House & Senate/Surveillance: The House Judiciary Committee may hold a markup hearing this Thursday of an updated version of the USA Freedom Act. This bill, expected to be released shortly, would reauthorize the expiring section 215 of the Patriot Act for two years while making some reforms to the government’s limitless spying upon Americans’ telephone data. More detail on what’s to come on surveillance reform HERE.