Yesterday, the House Rules Committee approved an initial package of nearly 300 amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act in a party-line vote just after 11 p.m. However, Republicans are still fighting over the most divisive amendments, including Pentagon abortion policies, medical care for transgender troops and various diversity programs. The Rules Committee will meet again to send even more proposals to the floor for votes this week and it is uncertain whether or not they will be able to complete work on the NDAA as Republican leadership had hoped to this week. Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee filed its version of the NDAA yesterday, and Chairman Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) has said he hopes the bill hits the Senate floor next week.
For today, the Senate convened at 10:00 A.M. and is considering the nomination of Tiffany M. Cartwright to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington, Myong J. Joun to be United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, Kalpana Kotagal to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a Motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of David M. Uhlmann to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The House met at 12:00 P.M. and has begun consideration of H.R. 2670 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.
Meanwhile at 10:00 A.M., the House Judiciary Committee began a hearing on FBI oversight with Director Christopher Wray testifying. The Director has spent a lot of the day defending his record and that of his agents as Republicans repeatedly attacked the bureau for what they called politically motivated investigations and threatened to take away some of the agency’s budget or surveillance authority. The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee is Wray’s first congressional testimony since former president Donald Trump was indicted last month on 37 charges of mishandling national security documents and obstructing government efforts to recover them.
