With the political conventions in the rearview mirror, Congress returns this week facing the traditional election-year push and pull of members wanting to get out of Washington as quickly as possible while doing just enough to avoid a government shutdown.
House conservatives have been agitating about attaching a noncitizen voting bill to the September stopgap spending bill and for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pitch a plan to punt the spending debate into 2025.
The stopgap bill released Friday night by House Republicans would combine a six-month continuing resolution with a House-passed bill that supporters say would help to ensure that noncitizens can’t vote in federal elections — something Democrats note is already against the law. If it becomes law, the continuing resolution would set a March 28 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.
As with any spending bill in the narrowly divided House, its path to passage is far from certain. And in any case, Senate Democrats are unlikely to seriously entertain the noncitizen voting legislation — which likely would set up a scenario where the Democrat-led Senate would kick back a “clean” stopgap bill that would force a decision on Johnson’s part.
Aside from that, appropriators might rather tackle spending issues in the lame-duck session, while current members are still in office. That would set the stage for an omnibus spending package — exactly what House conservatives would like to avoid.
“Democrats support a CR to keep the government open,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a weekend letter to colleagues. “As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way. Despite Republican bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.”
Spending won’t be the only thing on the agenda, however.
The farm bill lapses at the end of September, meaning it will need an extension either as part of the continuing resolution or in some other legislative vehicle. And the fiscal 2025 national defense authorization measure is still awaiting action.
Schumer began the recess talking up the possibility of attaching legislation advanced by the Rules and Administration Committee intended to counter the use of deepfakes in political advertising.
“These are American bills. We are going to fight because democracy is at such risk. We’re going to fight to get these done in every way that we can, and we hope our Republican friends will relent,” Schumer told NBC News. “As I said, we do have some Republican support. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. Democracy is at risk if these deepfakes are allowed to prevail.”
The House is kicking off a week full of bills targeting China, many of which are likely to have bipartisan support because they are being considered under suspension of the rules, an expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
That may be the primary substance, but there’s also plenty of room for more politics.
In the Senate, Schumer could opt to call another vote on legislation intended to support access to and availability of fertility treatments like IVF. A procedural vote to advance the measure back in June got only 48 votes. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine crossed over in support. Sixty votes were needed.
Still, since then former President Donald Trump has been talking up his support for IVF and there may be a political advantage for Democrats to forcing another vote, especially if Trump doubles down on his support during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
House Republicans will surely have plenty of politically charged votes of their own.
There is an ongoing possibility of an effort to impeach President Joe Biden — which could be forced onto the floor agenda by conservative agitators even if Republican leaders would prefer to focus on other matters.
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