Happening on the Hill: June 20, 2016

Schedule

This week the House and Senate are in session. The House will go on recess for July 4 after this week, while the Senate will be in session for one more week. Here is what is happening on Capitol Hill.

House

The House Judiciary Committee will be considering a resolution to impeach the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen. FreedomWorks has been urging for the impeachment of Commissioner Koskinen for his stonewalling attempts to investigate the misuse of the IRS in singling out Tea Party groups for review and intimidation. FreedomWorks’ issued a statement about the impeachment process in April. We support this initiative and hope that the impeachment effort makes it out of the House Judiciary Committee and to the House floor for a vote. Also, last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to censure Commissioner Koskinen. Check out our statement about the censure vote here.

Also on tap this week, the House will take up another spending bill, the Financial Services and General Government appropriations measure. As the Appropriations Committee explained, the legislation “provides annual funding for the Treasury Department, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other related agencies.”

Finally, earlier this month, President Obama vetoed legislation from Congress that would nullify a rule from the Department of Labor. That rule, known as the fiduciary rule, would increase red tape for financial planners, increase the cost for financial planning assistance, and harm people trying to save for their retirement. The House will vote this week to try and override the president’s veto.

Senate

In the Senate, controversy abounds. The chamber is trying to move through the Commerce, Justice, and Science spending bill. Democrats are blocking consideration of the measure with unnecessary and unwise gun control amendments. This week the Senate will vote to see if there is enough support in the chamber to vote on two Democrat amendments on gun control and two other compromise amendments by Republicans. FreedomWorks will be watching the amendment process in the Senate closely.