The Senate reconvened at 10:00 A.M. and passed H.R.4445, Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act which will restore assault victims rights to hold abusers and the corporations who enable them accountable in court, instead of being forced into arbitration. The bill passed the chamber by a voice vote, days after it passed the House in a 335-97 vote, capping off a years-long debate on Capitol Hill sparked by the #MeToo movement. The Senate is now expected to resume consideration of the nomination of Max Vekich to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner for a term expiring June 30, 2026.
Congressional leaders reached an overarching agreement Wednesday to boost military and non-defense budgets, paving the way for a comprehensive Omnibus deal to fund the government into the fall. The accord is a crucial breakthrough that’s expected to lead to enactment of a sweeping 12-bill spending bundle in the next few weeks, following months of tense cross-party negotiations. Appropriations leaders won’t divulge the funding totals they struck, and contentious policy debates may yet upend negotiations on final bill text. Despite the bipartisan funding agreement hatched Wednesday, Congress will still need to clear another short-term spending patch to prevent a government shutdown at the end of next week. The House passed that temporary measure on Tuesday in an effort to buy leaders about a month to perfect the dozen spending bills. The Senate is expected to clear the new stopgap bill next week to keep the government funded through March 11th. Congress already overwhelmingly backed a $25 billion increase to the president’s Pentagon funding request in December, passing a defense policy bill that set a $740 billion military budget, about a 5 percent increase above current spending. That total wasn’t actually funded, but Republican leaders took it as a sign that they could squeeze Democrats for at least that much defense money in a final spending package, as well as insist on “parity”- equal increases in defense and non-defense spending. Other sticking points in getting to an agreement in addition to Republicans wanting military spending to be increased by the same proportion as nonmilitary spending included the Hyde Amendment, the decades-old provision prohibiting federal funds from being spent on abortion services. The funding legislation needs support from at least 10 Republicans to pass in the Senate.
The House is now in recess until Monday, February 28th, except for committee work days next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
