PSW Weekly Round-Up - 4/25

Legislative Update

Senate. The Senate is beginning its week with nominations, voting today and tomorrow to end debate on the nominations, respectively, of Lael Brainard to serve as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and Lisa Cook to serve as a Fed governor. Assuming Brainard and Cook clear the cloture votes, the Senate later this week could approve both nominations as well as those of Jay Powell to serve another term as Fed Chair and Philip Jefferson to serve as a governor. The Senate also plans to take votes to confirm Alvaro Bedoya to serve on the Federal Trade Commission, with the expectation that Vice President Harris will break 50-50 ties. Bedoya’s confirmation would give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the Commission.

Earlier this month, Senate leaders unofficially named 13 Democrats and 13 Republicans to serve on the conference committee to work out differences between the two chambers on the China competition bills (USICA in the Senate and COMPETES in the House). This week, the Senate will take votes to officially name the conferees and formally go to conference with the House’s 81 conferees.

House. The House will be in session this week before recessing Friday for one week. Numerous hearings are scheduled as well as suspension votes on non-controversial measures. One bill of note on the House floor is legislation the Senate approved unanimously on April 6, the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act. The measure would expedite the transfer of military equipment and other critical supplies to Ukraine by cutting bureaucratic red tape. It would allow the Defense Department to lend or lease equipment and supplies to Ukraine or any other eastern European country, such as Poland.

Ukraine Aid. President Biden this week will be asking Congress to approve additional aid for Ukraine, and it’s possible the House could move quickly to take up the bill. However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated he would like to combine the Ukraine funding with legislation to provide $10 billion more to address the Covid pandemic. The Covid funding bill stalled in the Senate before the recess after Republicans demanded votes on Biden’s decision to lift Title 42, effective May 23. Title 42 is a public health order implemented in the Trump Administration that allows the federal government to expel or stop migrants from entering the U.S. due to the Covid pandemic. With a handful of Democrats supporting the Republican effort, Schumer decided against moving forward on the Covid funding bill. It’s unclear how the issue will be handled legislatively or whether the Administration will delay the May 23 effective date.

FY 2023 Appropriations. The House Appropriations Committee has sketched out a schedule for marking up FY 2023 spending bills. The plan envisions subcommittee markups from June 13 to 22, followed by full committee markups June 22 to 30. “These could be long days,” a memo to committee members advises.

Committee Action of Note:

• Tuesday, April 26:
  • Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing: To receive testimony on the health of the defense industrial base
  • Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Hearing: A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 Funding Request for the U.S. Department of Justice
  • Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Hearing: A review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 funding request and budget justification for the Missile Defense Agency
  • Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing: Review of the FY 2023 State Department Budget Request
  • Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Hearing: Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing
  • Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress
  • Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy Hearing: Child Care and Other Policy Tools to Combat Bottlenecks and Inflation

• Wednesday, April 27:
  • House Committee on Financial Services Hearing: Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • House Committee on Armed Services Hearing: Department of the Air Force Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies: FY 2023 Budget Request for the Food and Drug Administration
  • Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Hearing: Department of Commerce Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Priorities
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security
  • House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Hearing: The FY 2023 HHS Budget
  • House Committee on Budget Hearing: Department of Defense FY 2023 Budget
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Hearing: National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command FY 2023 Budget
  • House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy Hearing: Science and Energy Research Infrastructure Needs of the U.S. Department of Energy
  • Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing: Review of the FY 2023 Budget Request for the U.S. Department of State
  • House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request of the Department of Defense for Fixed-Wing Tactical and Training Aircraft Programs
  • House Committee on Appropriations Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the U.S. Forest Service
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation

• Thursday, April 28:
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the U.S. Department of the Interior
  • House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology Hearing: The Urgent Need for Ambitious Climate Action
  • House Committee on Energy and Commerce Hearing: The Fiscal Year 2023 DOE Budget
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the Department of State
  • House Ways and Means Committee Hearing: Proposed FY 2023 Budget with HHS Secretary Becerra
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
  • House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness Hearing: F-35 Sustainment

• Friday, April 29
  • House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing: FY 2023 Budget Request for the Environmental Protection Agency
  • House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Hearing: Department of Defense Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Information Assurance for FY 2023