Lawmakers return for what’s expected to be the last workweek of the year with no continuing resolution yet in sight.
The text of a stopgap spending bill that would continue funding until at least March 14 was not released over the weekend, though it had been expected to be. Late hiccups this time include a dispute over how to extend farm programs and provide relief to those in the agriculture sector.
Absent congressional action, funding would lapse at the end of the night on Friday, when the current stopgap funding law expires. The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees each issued weekend statements criticizing the other party’s handling of the farm bill provisions.
“Their eleventh-hour offer fell short of what farmers need, shortchanged critical farm bill programs, and steals from critically needed assistance to address recent natural disasters. We can and should do both economic and disaster assistance, not pit one against the other.” Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and House Agriculture Committee ranking member David Scott, D-Ga., said in a joint statement.
“The failure to include economic assistance will have devastating and lasting consequences on our farm families, the rural communities in which they live and American agriculture. For that reason, we intend to oppose any supplemental spending package that does not provide meaningful assistance to our farmers,” House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., and Senate Agriculture ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., said in their own statement.
While the funding sparring and talks continue, the Senate is moving toward clearing the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which already passed the House. Senators vote Monday evening on a motion to limit debate on the bill, setting up a vote on final passage likely on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Also on the docket is the final agreement on the bipartisan water resources reauthorization bill, which has been named for retiring Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Thomas R. Carper, D-Del.
Under a unanimous consent agreement announced last week, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., can call up the House-passed agreement on that bill for a brief debate and vote notwithstanding the restrictions normally imposed by cloture, so it could be on the floor Tuesday while the Senate is still processing the defense authorization bill.
Social Security measure
Schumer has also filed the cloture motion on proceeding to a bipartisan bill that would eliminate reductions in Social Security benefits for people who held jobs that did not require them to pay into the system.
That includes firefighters, teachers and police officers — who may have had multiple jobs, including some for which they did pay Social Security taxes.
While the price tag is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office at $196 billion, the measure passed the House 327-75, and it appears to have at least 61 supporters in the Senate, which would be enough to break a filibuster if there’s strong attendance.
Schumer also said Sunday that he plans to push for the Senate to take up a bill sponsored by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., that would provide federal law enforcement with new authorities related to unmanned aircraft. The bill has bipartisan support. It was introduced last year, but the risks posed by drones have made headlines in recent weeks with widespread reports of unidentified flying aircraft, primarily in New Jersey.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Schumer wrote, “These sightings have exposed the federal government’s limitations when it comes to the authorities for protecting against the illicit use of UAS [unmanned aircraft systems]. State and local law enforcement agencies currently lack the explicit authorities to assist DHS in deploying technology to detect drone signals. These local agencies are responsible for keeping our citizens safe at the local level, and they must be part of a coordinated response.”
CRA watch
One other bit of House business is a prelude to the agenda for the early part of the next Congress.
The House is expected to vote on a bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., that would make it easier to disapprove of regulations under the Congressional Review Act by allowing a single disapproval measure for multiple executive branch rules to get expedited consideration in the Senate.
“House Republicans are stepping up to rein in executive overreach, protect Americans from burdensome regulations, and keep the legislative process transparent and accountable to the American people the way our Founding Fathers intended,” the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in announcing the bill’s placement on the week’s schedule.
While the measure probably will not come up in the Senate, it does underscore how much of the first months of the new Congress with President-elect Donald Trump may be spent stopping rules from President Joe Biden’s administration during the “lookback period” that allows a new Congress to overturn rules from the prior year.
The review window will likely apply to rules starting around Aug. 1, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The post Endgame not yet clear as lawmakers await CR appeared first on Roll Call.
