Legislative Update
House. The House has another light legislative schedule this week. House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries informed his Democratic colleagues last week that the Caucus Issues Conference will be postponed from its original dates of Feb. 9-11 due to the ongoing pandemic. Jeffries hopes that the conference can be rescheduled for early March.
Senate. The Senate was scheduled to be in recess this week but instead will be out of session next week. On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to hold a cloture vote on legislation dealing with voting rights and election reform. The cloture vote, which needs 60 votes to end debate, will fail. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated he will then take steps to set up a vote to change the filibuster rules. While the rules could be changed by a simple majority vote, Schumer does not have the support of all 50 Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, and he has not said exactly what rules change he will propose.
Committee Action of Note:
House leaders from the two parties have now agreed on the ratios of Republicans to Democrats on the various committees.
Read MoreWith the election of a speaker on the 15th ballot, House Republicans are now moving forward to choose committee chairs and adopt a rules package for the 118th Congress.
Read MoreThe 118th Congress got underway on Tuesday, with the House mired in the process of electing a Speaker.
Read More