Federal offices in Washington will be closed again today due to the winter storm, however, the House will meet at 11:00 A.M. for legislative business, with the only vote of the day at 1:00 P.M. when the chamber will consider pursuant to a Rule H.R. 29 – Laken Riley Act. The bill, which would require the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes, is named in memory of a 22-year-old student who was murdered in February by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been cited for shoplifting. The legislation passed the House last year, but stalled in the then Democratic-controlled Senate. The GOP Senate is expected to take up the bill on Friday in an early test of how quickly both chambers will be able to move legislation in the 119th Congress.
The Senate will also reconvene at 11:00 A.M. and following Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. Former President James Earl Carter, Jr. will lie in state in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol from Tuesday, January 7th through Thursday, January 9th. The Arrival Ceremony will be held in the Capitol Rotunda at 3:00 P.M this afternoon.
As Congress begins to plot its work for the coming months, President-elect Donald Trump’s public back-and-forth over whether Republicans should pass his agenda in one or two massive packages is deepening the disagreements among lawmakers over how to tackle the ambitious undertaking. Over the weekend, the president-elect put a stake in the ground by calling for “one powerful bill” that would deal with energy, the border, taxes and potentially the debt limit. But he seemingly undercut himself less than a day later, saying in an interview Monday morning that he is open to a two-bill track, muddying the talks over how the party should proceed. President-elect Trump will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday at the invitation of Senate Republican leadership. The meeting is expected to be more of an opportunity for senators to get face time with President-elect Trump than a heavy discussion on strategy or policy details, however one of the big questions that needs to be hashed out is whether to move the Trump agenda in a single budget reconciliation package or break it up into two packages. Using the budget reconciliation process would allow Republican leaders to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) has spoken in favor of first moving a budget reconciliation package that would beef up border security and expand fossil fuel production domestically, then he wants the second package to be devoted to extending the expiring 2017 Trump tax cuts and reducing spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and House Republican leaders, however, would prefer to tackle all of Trump’s major agenda items in a single package to avoid going through the arduous task of passing a budget reconciliation bill twice, given their very slim majority.