With much fanfare, Majority Leader McConnell announced last week that the Senate would stay in session for most of August to vote on more nominations and more appropriations bills. The Senate had already agreed to bipartisan schedule with a goal of completing all 12 of the appropriations bills through Committee before they reach the July 4th break.
The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee will take up its bill the week of June 25. That is the same time that the Defense Department bill is to be taken up and it will make those two bills the last two bills of the 12. CWLA has submitted its testimony to the subcommittee (deadline for public testimony was June 1).
The House last week approved a three-bill package of Energy and Water, Military Construction-Veterans, and the Legislative Branch. The Senate has also discussed the possibility of such three-bill packages to speed things up. The Senate Committee appears to be on time with HHS likely to come up in a few weeks. There is a $2 billion difference in funding for Labor-HHS-Education between the House and Senate and that will likely mean some late year compromise between the two houses. That likely won’t happen until after the November election. The Senate Appropriations Committee acted on their version of Transportation-Housing, and Military Construction-Veterans.
CWLA has submitted testimony to both houses with the Senate testimony here. In the meantime, the House is moving on a rescissions package of $15 billion in cuts that will likely yield approximate a small $1 billion in savings. It also seems to have little traction or interest in the Senate.
In regard to the Senate schedule, Senator McConnell said the Senate would be in recess for only one week in August instead of four but it’s not clear how long the weeks will be. The House schedule will remain the same.
