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Capitol Hill Update: June 3, 2019

  • By: FW Staff
  • 06/03/2019

Schedule:

The House and Senate are in session this week.

House:

The House will return today. Legislative business begins at 2:00 pm. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. There are a total of ten bills coming to the floor on suspension between today and tomorrow. No votes are expected on Thursday and Friday.

  • Senate Amendment to H.R. 2157, Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019
  • H.R. 2940, To extend the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs through September 30, 2019
  • H.R. 1261, National Landslide Preparedness Act
  • H.R. 559, Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act
  • H.Res. 393, Remembering the victims of the violent suppression of democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4, 1989 and calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to respect the universally recognized human rights of all people living in China and around the World
  • S. 1379, Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act
  • H.R. 1237, COAST Research Act
  • H.R. 1716, Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act
  • H.R. 1921, Ocean Acidification Innovation Act
  • H.R. 988, NEAR Act

The House Rules Committee will meet at 5:00 pm today to consider the rule for the American Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 6. This bill is a package of the Dream Act, H.R. 2820, the American Promise Act, H.R. 2821. The American Dream and Promise Act would give conditional legal permanent status to “dreamers” and individuals who have or are eligible for temporary protected status (TPS). Several criteria are outlined for eligibility for conditional legal permanent status. For example, an individual who may be covered by Title I, the Dream Act, must have entered the United States before turning 18 years of age, been in the the United States for at least four consecutive years, must have a high school diploma or equivalent (other education specifics are listed in the bill), must pass a background check, and can’t have committed a state or federal felony or certain misdemeanor offenses. There are, of course, other criteria and the language does have some specifics that need to be followed. One of the biggest sticking points with the bill for most who will vote against it is that it provides a roadmap to citizenship.

Other legislation could be added to the calendar for the week, either on suspension or under a rule.

The committee schedule for the week is here.

Senate:

The Senate will return Monday at 3:00 pm. Around 5:30 pm, the Senate will vote on cloture for the motion to proceed to the Pennies Plan Balanced Budget, S. 1332. This is the FY 2020 budget sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The budget would cut two pennies for every dollar of federal spending, bringing the budget into balance by FY 2024. If cloture on Sen. Paul’s budget, the Senate will move to a vote on cloture for Andrew Saul to serve as a Commissioner of Social Security. There are several other nominations that will be processed by the Senate this week.

  • David Schenker to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
  • Heath Tarbert to serve as the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
  • Heath Tarbert to serve as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
  • Susan Combs to serve as an Assistant Secretary of the Interior
  • Ryan Holte to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • Rossie David Alston, Jr. to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
  • Richard Hertling to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims

The committee schedule for the week is here.

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