Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) on Tuesday night teed up H.R. 3935, the FAA Reauthorization, for a procedural vote on Thursday. The package will need 60 votes to advance. The Senate’s push to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is coming down to the wire this week as they struggle to strike a time agreement and try to avoid a lapse of the program ahead of Friday’s deadline. While progress had been made toward extending the FAA’s authority for five years, there remain landmines that Senate leadership is trying to avoid in order to complete its work by the end of the week. These landmines are in the form of nongermane amendments lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are requesting to move priorities as Leaders on both sides are trying to fend off unrelated amendments from receiving votes and getting attached to the final product, and argue that if one member receives a vote, hordes of others will object, further complicating passage of the bill. That is making it increasingly unlikely that any nongermane amendments make it on the bill. As of Tuesday night, there are over a dozen holds on the package including the Kids Online Safety Act and the House-passed tax bill. In addition, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) maintained Tuesday that he will not allow members to speed up passage without a vote on his legislation to reup a $50 billion compensation program to aid nuclear radiation victims.
For today, the House convened at 12:00 P.M. for legislative business and is expected to consider the following pursuant to a Rule: H.J. Res. 109 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 and H.R. 2925 – Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024. The House is also expected to consider H.R. 7109 – Equal Representation Act.
