Both the House and Senate are now in August recess until September.
Before leaving town, the Senate cleared the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday evening by an overwhelming 86-11 vote. Lawmakers ultimately considered 98 amendments to the legislation, 44 Democratic, 44 Republican and the rest bipartisan. Negotiations will now kick off to get into the conference committee between the Senate and House to resolve significant differences in their bills teeing up what is expected to be a bitter negotiation with the House, where hard-right Republicans muscled through a vastly different version of the $886 billion package loaded with divisive provisions rejected by most senators including whether the final bill will include hard-right provisions to roll back Pentagon policies on abortion access and gender-affirming care. Overshadowing the defense bill this year is an ongoing effort by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) to block hundreds of military promotions, including a new commandant for the Marine Corps, until the Pentagon agrees to rescind its policy of reimbursing the travel costs for servicewomen who cannot obtain an abortion in the state where they are stationed.
The Senate Appropriations Committee also cleared all 12 spending bills Thursday for the first time in five years, with relatively smooth floor votes expected when senators return in September. The bills passed with near unanimous support at the levels agreed to in the McCarthy-Biden budget deal and with none of the culture war-driven riders added by the House.
The Senate held a brief pro forma session this morning and will next convene for votes at 3:00 P.M. on Tuesday, September 5th. The Senate is expected to hold pro forma sessions on: Tuesday, August 1st at 12:15 P.M., Friday, August 4th at 12:00 P.M., Tuesday August 8th at 10:00 A.M., Friday August 11th at 9:00 A.M., Tuesday August 15th at 12:00 P.M., Friday August 18th at 1:00 P.M., Tuesday August 22nd at 2:00 P.M., Friday August 25th at 12:00 P.M., Tuesday August 29th at 11:45 A.M. and Friday September 1st at 11:45 A.M.
In the House, Republicans on Thursday passed their first government funding bill, overcoming an initial hurdle in Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-California) attempts to wrangle the GOP conference to approve all 12 appropriations bills amid intense pressure from conservatives to lower spending levels. The bill, H.R. 4366, which allocates funding for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and related agencies, passed in a 219-211 vote. Two Republicans, Representatives Tim Burchett (Tennessee) and Ken Buck (Colorado) voted with every Democrat against the measure. The package now heads to the Senate, where it is dead on arrival. Senate appropriators marked up their spending bills at levels different from the House GOP measures, setting the scene for a chamber vs. chamber showdown in the fall. Lawmakers have until September 30th to send President Biden legislation to fund the government or risk a shutdown. The chamber was scheduled to vote on funding legislation for agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration this week, but party leaders scrapped those plans Thursday afternoon as disagreements continued to plague the measure’s passage.
The House will next convene for votes on Tuesday, September 12th.
