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Category: Congressional To Do

August Recess Updates

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August recess has officially begun! The Senate left town on Saturday and will return September 14. The House returns August 31.

Short-term funding bill passed:

Early on Saturday, the Senate passed HR 6500, in a 90-6 vote. The continuing resolution (CR) extends current funding levels through December 11, averting a government shutdown in September before the midterm elections. The Senate version is an expanded version of the recent House CR, meaning House members will need to vote again on the final measure once they return. President Trump has already indicated he would sign the CR in its current form.

UG revisions temporarily blocked: 

On a positive note, the Senate bill blocks OMB from implementing its proposed changes to Uniform Guidance through December 11. The House version did not include blocking language on uniform guidance.

NIL bill punted to September:

Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) were hopeful that their co-sponsored bill, The Protect College Sports Act (S. 4668), would receive a vote before recess, but last-minute debate bumped it until September. The bill would establish rules for athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL), and address revenue sharing, athlete eligibility, and transfers, among other details. It has sparked extensive debate among lawmakers, universities, and athletic conferences.

Cantwell suggested that Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had “set a date certain in September to bring it up.”

New attorney general:

Todd Blanche was narrowly confirmed by the Senate early Saturday morning as the new U.S. Attorney General. All Democrats, as well as Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted against him, for a final 50-49 vote.

Farewell pennies? 

And finally, it may officially be the end of the road for the one cent coin. On Friday, the Senate passed by unanimous consent S. 1525, which would direct the Treasury secretary to end production of pennies. The Senate bill is similar to HR 3074, which the House passed on July 14. Both bills would codify President Trump’s February 2025 directive to the Treasury department to end penny manufacturing.

House Races the Clock Before August Recess

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With just two legislative days left for the House before the August recess, Republican leaders are scrambling to make progress on several major priorities.

On Tuesday night, the House passed continuing resolution (HR 9770), a short-term funding package that would extend current funding levels through December 4. Congress is facing their yearly deadline of September 30 to pass all 12 appropriations bills before a government shutdown begins. Currently, there have been no Senate markups of any of the bills. This year’s legislative calendar has both the House and Senate out for an extended August recess, returning for only a few weeks in September, before leaving town again for all of October, in preparation for the midterm elections. The schedule leaves little time for any bills to move through.

HR 9770 passed 220-205 along mostly party lines, with one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voting in opposition and six Democrats voting in support. The bill now heads to the Senate for a rewrite. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said last night that he plans to bring a bill to the floor before the August break, and that both sides are working to reach an agreement on a stopgap funding bill that would run past the November midterms.

The House is also hoping to push through H.R.8800, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027. With a topline of $1.5 trillion, Democrats say the request is too high for them to support.

On the Senate side, Tuesday included a hearing on the Trump Administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war, farm aid, and other areas. The hearing featured testimony from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Hegseth revealed the Iran war has cost $37.5 billion so far, up from previous estimates.

Senator Darline Graham (R-S.C.) has been sworn in, and will take over her brother’s committee assignments, placing her on the Appropriations, Budget, Judiciary, Environment and Public Works committees. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) will take over as Chair of the State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) will take over the Budget Committee.

CJS Bill Clears House Appropriations Committee

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After a markup session during which numerous amendments were considered, the House Appropriations Committee adopted its FY2027 Commerce-Justice-Science funding bill by a vote of 32 – 28.

The bill, which funds a number of science agencies, including NSF, NOAA, NASA, and NIST, is available here.

The text of the report, which details how the funds are to be spent, is available here.

 

 

Five Hour Vote

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After five hours of an open vote, the House was able to pass the Senate budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 33) in an effort end the stalemate on DHS funding and if and how much for fund ICE. This resolution instructs Congress to provide $70 million for immigration enforcement funding.

The House voted to adopt the resolution 215-211, strictly along party lines with one member voting present.

While the budget vote marked an important step, it will not, on its own end, the 75-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. The House still must take up a Senate-passed appropriations bill (HR 7147) to fund the rest of the DHS, outside of immigration agencies. The concurrent resolution is a significant step for Congress to begin funding the agency.

At present, the Coast Guard, TSA and other DHS units are being funded through extraordinary measures. Funding available to do so will be fully depleted in the next month.

The House planned on having a busy week and was scheduled to consider the FISA reauthorization and the Farm Bill. However, after multiple caucus issues, the Farm Bill was removed from the House Floor and returned to the House Rules Committee.

 

Congress Home for the Holidays

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After a busy week, Senators huddled on the floor Thursday night as they made an eleventh-hour attempt to find a path forward on bringing up a bundle of five bills or minibus for consideration before the end of 2025. No agreement to move forward was reached after Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both of Colorado, announced they would hold up the package after White House OMB director Russ Vought’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is based in Colorado.

 

The package under consideration in the Senate would fund the Departments of Defense, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce (including NOAA), Health and Human Services (including NIH), Transportation, Labor and Interior, along with the EPA and NSF.

A few Republican Senators have held the bill from moving forward but released a hold after Senate leadership agreed to an amendment vote on stripping earmarks in the legislation. The Colorado hold is new to the OMB decision.

The Senate will resume consideration and negotiations in January.