The nomination of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) for NASA Administrator moved forward earlier today after a Senator switched his vote. Initially, the vote to move the nomination forward stood tied at 49 to 49. After a number of conversations, Jeff Flake (R-AZ) changed his vote to a ‘yes’ to move forward on the nomination. The vote cut off debate on the nomination and sets up a final vote.
Category: 115th Congress
Changes Seen on Senate Appropriations Committee
As expected, with the resignation of Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL) has officially taken over the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Along with the top spot on the full committee, Sen. Shelby has also assumed the gavel of the Defense Subcommittee, which was also led by Cochran before his resignation.
The vacancy in the top spot on the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee created by Shelby’s move to Defense has been filled by Jerry Moran (R-KS).
Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to fill the remainder of Cochran’s term by the governor of Mississippi, has taken his seat on the full committee.
Omnibus Signed After Last Minute Veto Threat
After surprising most of Washington with a last minute tweet this morning threatening to veto the FY2018 omnibus spending bill, President Trump ultimately signed it into law this afternoon. As the last minute hurdles were being cleared on the Hill earlier this week, White House staff had assured Congressional Republicans that Trump would support the measure.
Earlier today, the President tweeted that he might veto the bill because it did not address the DACA issue and did not fully fund the border wall that he had wanted. Ultimately, he was persuaded to sign it to avoid a government shutdown.
What We’re Reading, March 19-23
Here’s a selection of articles we read this week.
What does a scientist look like? When asked to draw a scientist, school-age kids in the United States are increasingly sketching women. That’s the main conclusion of a new study that compiled information about 20,860 pictures drawn by students age 5 to 18 over 5 decades. Read more from Science Magazine.
The Omnibus – Congressional negotiators reached a tentative agreement Wednesday night on a $1.3 trillion federal spending bill, releasing it to the public just 52 hours before a government shutdown deadline. The draft billruns 2,232 pages, and we’re going through it so you don’t have to. Click through to Washington Post for the key highlights.
Word on the Hill – Roll Call is all over Capitol Hill and its surrounding haunts looking for good stories. Some of their best are ones they come across while reporting the big stories. Read ’em at Roll Call.
Randy’s blog is back! – Randy Hodgins, UW’s vice president for external affairs (and our boss) is back to blogging! Read his first post which happens to discuss his recent trip to DC here.
Senate Clears Spending Package
A few hours after House did its part, the Senate cleared the FY2018 omnibus spending package by a vote of 65 – 32. President Trump has signaled that he will sign the measure, avoiding a shutdown, which would occur if it were not signed into law before midnight tonight.