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:
The House and Senate this week are aiming to pass legislation to keep the government funded through Dec. 20 and then lawmakers will recess until after the November elections.
Read MoreWashington observers continue to question whether House Speaker Johnson will have enough Republican votes to pass his proposal to extend government funding for six months.
Read MoreNo one expects the government to shut down at the end of the month, but the path to enacting a continuing resolution could be bumpy.
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