Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy arrives to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday for a two-week legislative recess after a snowflake
Lawmakers return to Washington, D.C. after a two-week recess with a hefty legislative agenda, including addressing the fallout from a recent leak of classified U.S. intelligence documents and the looming debt limit crisis.
Despite the threat of a debt default due to the fact that there is still no agreement in sight to raise the debt ceiling, Republicans are considering passing a debt ceiling increase and spending cuts in an attempt to get the Biden administration to negotiate.
Kevin McCarthy will address the looming crisis at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, when he will deliver a speech on the economy. This is a big problem for House Republicans, if they are able to come up with a detailed list of cuts.
The House Republican leadership is trying to get their conference to agree to raise the debt ceiling with a number of cuts and revenue raisers.
The White House made a statement ahead of McCarthy’s speech saying that the debt limit should be addressed “promptly, without brinksmanship or hostage taking.”
Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic Senator, has not cast a vote since mid-February as she recovers from shingles. Her Democratic colleagues are calling on her to step down, including a fellow Californian named Ro Khanna who told NPR that she doesn’t tell people when she will show up.
In order for her to be replaced on Judiciary, Democrats will have to get the support of all Republicans, or force a vote on a resolution with the GOP’s blessing. It’s still not clear whether GOP leaders or even rank-and-file members will back the move, especially because granting the request could speed confirmation of judicial nominees they strongly oppose.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been out recovering after a fall, has said he will return to the chamber on Monday. John Fetterman will be going back to the Senate after the break after being treated for clinical depression.
House-of-Dependence Investigations into the Pentagon Leaked Papers on Nov. 28: Update on the Pentagon and the House Returns Recess
Concern and frustration from lawmakers over highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks will also be center stage as congressional leaders press the administration for information and details about how the damaging leak happened and what the consequences will be for allies and adversaries of the US now that sensitive intelligence has been revealed.
McCarthy said on Friday that House committees would look into the leak. All senators will receive a briefing on the leaked documents on Wednesday afternoon, according to a Senate Democratic aide. Sources have told CNN that a classified briefing is expected for House members on Wednesday.
Separately, key lawmakers are continuing their review of classified documents found at the homes of Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence as they assess the potential fallout from those improperly stored materials.
When Trump pleaded not guilty to felony criminal charges of altering business records in a New York court, Congress was not in session. Lawmakers, and in particular Republicans, are sure to be pressed by reporters for their reaction to those developments back on Capitol Hill.
Among other legislative items, the House as early as Monday plans to vote on a bipartisan measure “condemning recent actions taken by the Russian military to down a United States Air Force drone.”
The House is also expected to take up a GOP-led resolution to block a DC policing bill. If the resolution passes the House, it would next go to the Senate.
This comes after both chambers of Congress voted to overturn a controversial DC crime bill – and Biden signed the measure, upsetting some Democrats who argued that debate over the bill had been distorted and the federal government should not interfere in the district’s affairs.
A White House official says Biden would veto the GOP proposal to overturn the police reforms in Washington, DC if it reached his desk.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/politics/congress-returns-recess/index.html
Reply to the Associated Press Dispatch: The Biden nominee in the labor secretary’s job search and the case for alleged Russian war crimes
Democrats have decried as an attack on trans youth a GOP bill that would require athletes to use the gender listed on their birth certificate.
A key Biden nominee, Julie Su to be labor secretary, will also face scrutiny in the weeks ahead as Republicans paint her as too liberal to head that department. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will discuss the nomination at a Thursday hearing. The nominee’s performance during the hearing – and how lawmakers react – will be key to see if she can be confirmed.
The House Judiciary Committee will be in New York on Monday for a field hearing with Republicans expected to highlight violent crime in New York City as part of the GOP effort to discredit Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg amid the criminal case against Trump. The hearing was called a political stunt by the office of the district attorney.
When Democrats return to Washington, they’ll likely highlight the issue of medication abortion after a big legal battle. The Senate Judiciary Committee has announced plans to hold a hearing during the upcoming work period on the consequences and aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on ethics standards in the Supreme Court. That comes in the wake of a ProPublica report that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose that he and his wife have gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by and stays at properties owned by a GOP megadonor.
Republicans on the Oversight Committee are expected to criticize the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, which was made by the Biden administration.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing the same day examining alleged Russian war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine. The prosecutor general of Ukraine is set to testify.
Reply to Senator Jack Reed, the House Armed Service Committee Chairman, on the ‘Fake News’ Paper about the 2010 Air National Guard Leakout’
Last week, Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested as a suspect for leaking classified U.S. intelligence documents.
Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, said the leak was a “major security breach that cannot be allowed to happen again.”
“More answers are still needed,” the Rhode Island Democrat said in a statement. There are a number of issues relating to intelligence, security, and the way it is handled that need to be addressed.
“The fact that [Teixeira] had access at all, that even he could access these documents and gain that knowledge is inappropriate, needs to be fixed, and that’s what we’re going to be addressing on Capitol Hill,” the Ohio Republican told Fox News.
Fetterman will be back after an absence for treatment for clinical depression. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May of last year and had a pacemaker and aibrillarimplant to help his heart rhythm.
The US reached its borrowing limit in January but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that she would use “extraordinary measures” to continue paying the bills until they were exhausted. It is likely to happen in the early summer.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1170370451/congress-returns-from-recess-with-a-big-to-do-list
The GOP Debt Problem: How President Biden and Congress can’t agree on a $femto$-$regular$ proposal
The White House and House Republicans have not been able to get a deal done. President Biden continues to advocate for Congress to pass a clean bill and wants to see a GOP budget before continuing negotiations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“Without exaggeration American debt is a ticking time bomb that will detonate unless we take serious, responsible action,” McCarthy, R-Calif., warned in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
As NPR’s Deirdre Walsh reports, the GOP bill would cap federal spending levels from those of two years ago, add a provision to put work requirements in place for adults without dependents who receive food assistance benefits, and include reforms for how new energy projects are permitted. The Senate is in the hands of Democrats, so it is unlikely that this would move forward.
Bragg’s office is investigating the former president over a $130,000 payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, made just before the 2016 election. Trump denied that he had an affair with Daniels.
The Rules committee will meet Monday to discuss legislation that would effectively prohibit school athletic programs from allowing transgender women to participate in women’s school sports programs.
Much like the Parents Bill of Rights that GOP lawmakers passed in March, this bill is not expected to even be taken up in the Senate, but rather serves as another messaging bill for the GOP base ahead of the 2024 elections.