Both the House and Senate were scheduled to leave Washington, D.C., for the year as early as the end of this week. The House, instead, has now formally added a week to its schedule, meaning the lower chamber will now start its break around December 17th, while senators are warning they could possibly remain in session right up until Christmas. Both chambers face a legislative slog that could eat up two weeks of floor time, with negotiations continuing this week on a sweeping defense bill, President Joe Biden’s social and climate spending plan and how to raise the debt ceiling. In addition, after failing to block funding for the Biden vaccine mandate as part of last week’s government funding bill, Senate Republicans are poised to force a vote this week to kill the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). All 50 GOP senators have backed the resolution and Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) became the first Democratic senator to say that he’ll vote for it, giving the effort to roll back the mandate enough support to pass the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has just sent a letter to his Senate Democrats saying to expect weekend votes, and for the Senate to be in session the next couple of weeks, a forthcoming announcement on a Capitol service honoring former Senator Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and that he anticipates the Build Back Better legislation passing the Senate by Christmas. Senate Democrats are continuing negotiations as they try to get it through the upper chamber in a matter of weeks. In addition to negotiating with each other, Democrats are expected to keep meeting with the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, as she weighs in on whether or not pieces of the bill comply with rules that outline what can be included in the spending legislation because it’s being passed under budget reconciliation. Democrats are waiting to find out if MacDonough will sign off on their latest immigration plan, which would grant 6.5 million foreign nationals a temporary parole status that would give them five-year work and travel permits, while also ramping up meetings with her on health care provisions of the bill.
As Congress looks to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the House is expected to take up a final deal on the sweeping defense policy bill this week after hitting speed bumps in the Senate. Leadership on the House and Senate Armed Services committees have been informally negotiating a final agreement as the Senate has struggled to get its version of the defense bill across the finish line. The House passed its initial version of the NDAA in September and typically the two chambers form a formal conference to work out the differences. Senate Majority Leader Schumer hasn’t formally announced that he’s pulling the Senate’s defense bill even as he pivots to other business, but the Senate’s bill is stuck amid a standoff between Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and the House over his legislation, which would ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region, where administration officials have accused Beijing of carrying out genocide against Uyghur Muslims. House Democratic leaders have discussed adding a provision addressing the debt ceiling to the final National Defense Authorization Act and voting on it as soon as this week. That’s assuming, of course, that compromise NDAA language is actually ironed out between the two chambers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has privately signaled to Majority Leader Schumer that he could go along with this idea, which would end their months-long stalemate. However, it remains unclear whether such a proposal can pass the Democratic-controlled House, given some progressive pushback to the NDAA.
While the House is not in session today, the Senate will convene at 3:00 P.M. and will start the week with votes on President Biden’s nominees, including an initial vote on Monday evening on Jessica Rosenworcel’s nomination to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission. After the Rosenworcel nomination, they’ll turn to Deirdre Hamilton’s nomination to be a member of the National Mediation Board and Chris Magnus’s nomination to be commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
