Senate Legislative Activity The Senate will convene at 10:30 am on Tuesday, March 21. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour, with Republicans controlling the first half and Democrats controlling the final half. After morning business, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session for the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President Releases “Skinny Budget” On March 16, the Administration released the President’s “Skinny Budget.” As is typical with a budget outline provided by a new President, the request is very high level and does not include nearly the detail of a full budget proposal. The Administration has said it will release its full … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate will convene at 2:00 pm today, March 13. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Seema Verma, nominated to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, post-cloture; all time on the nomination will expire at 5:30pm and the Senate will vote … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Resolution Repealing BLM’s Planning 2.0 Rule Sent to the President Last week, the Senate passed H. J. Res 44, using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Management Planning rule, known as the BLM Planning 2.0 Rule, by a vote of 51-48. The House passed the resolution … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Transportation Stakeholders Hopeful for More Information This Week As the Trump Administration and Congress continue to develop a large-scale infrastructure proposal, transportation stakeholders are hopeful they will get additional information this week. The President’s ‘Skinny Budget” is expected to be released on Thursday, March 16. While it is unclear how much detail will … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate stands adjourned until today, March 6 at 2:00 pm. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.J.Res.37, disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration relating to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, with the time until … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Secretary Chao Discusses Infrastructure Priorities as Administration Begins to Release More Details As the Trump Administration and Congress continue to develop a large-scale infrastructure proposal, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary, Elaine Chao, discussed the Administration’s priorities. Speaking to the National Governors Association last week, Secretary Chao acknowledged challenges in passing the $1 … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate convenes today, February 27, at 12:00pm. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session and resume consideration of the nomination of Wilbur Ross, to be Secretary of Commerce. At 3:00pm, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) will be recognized to deliver Washington’s Farewell Address. Following the reading of Washington’s … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Cabinet Update The Senate is expected to continue voting on President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. A floor vote for the confirmation of Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) to serve as the Secretary of the Department of the Interior is expected to take place this week. The Senate is scheduled to proceed to a cloture … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity CHOICE Act 2.0 Could Be Weeks Away as GOP May Need to Resolve Differences While previous reports indicated that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) was set to move on a revised version of the Financial CHOICE Act (CHOICE Act 2.0), his plan seems to have been met with delay. Though … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity The Prospects for Tax Reform in Trump Town With the 115th Congress nearing the end of month two, tax reform continues to be a focal point of the political debate in Washington. Intent to move forward with their tax reform “Blueprint” released in June 2016, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Ways and Means … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President Trump Expected to Discuss Infrastructure in Coming Weeks The President is expected to release additional information on his infrastructure agenda in the coming weeks. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the President will discuss infrastructure in his address to Congress on Tuesday. Additionally, he noted that more information will be included … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate stands adjourned until 12:00pm today, February 13. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will enter Executive Session and resume consideration of the nomination of Steven Mnuchin to be Secretary of the Treasury. There are seven hours of post-cloture debate time remaining. Upon the use or yielding back of time, the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate May Move on Nominees In addition to taking up the methane flaring measure under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), the Senate could potentially vote on the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt, to serve as EPA Administrator. With the Senate calendar being quite full, the Senate might note vote this week on the nominations … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Transportation Committee to Begin Holding FAA Hearings The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee will begin examining Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization this week, with the first of five expected hearings on the issue. The first hearing, titled “Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America: State of American Aviation Manufacturing.” The witnesses … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate stands adjourned until 12:00pm today, February 6. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education. The confirmation vote on the DeVos nomination is expected on Tuesday, February 7. Procedural votes are possible tonight around 6:00pm. As a reminder, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity OMB Director-Nominee Rep. Mulvaney’s Confirmation Vote Moves to the Full Senate Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) is one step closer to being confirmed as President Donald Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after being confirmed in a party-line vote by the Senate Committee on the Budget (12-11) and the Senate … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Begins to Evaluate Infrastructure Needs, Senate EPW to Hold Hearing this Week The Trump Administration has provided few specifics on its trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal, and it has become increasingly clear that Congress will not act on a broad infrastructure bill in the first 100 days of the new administration. Recently, House Speaker … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate will convene today, January 30, at 3:00pm. Following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00pm. At 5:00pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to resume consideration of Executive Calendar #2, the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State. There … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Nomination Proceedings The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled votes for Tuesday, January 31 beginning at 9:30am on the nominations of Rep.Ryan Zinke (R-MT) for Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Governor Rick Perry for Secretary of the Department of Energy. Also at that meeting, subcommittee assignments and jurisdictional … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Approve Chao Nomination This Week On Tuesday, the Senate will vote on the Honorable Elaine Chao’s nomination to serve as Transportation Secretary. Secretary-designate Chao is expected to face little opposition in the Senate and should be confirmed easily. For additional information on Ms. Chao and her nomination hearing in the Senate … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate will convene on Monday, January 23, at 3:00pm. Following any leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to resume consideration of the nomination of Mike Pompeo to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. There will be up to six hours of debate, equally divided, followed by a … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Confirmation Hearing for OMB Director Nominee On Tuesday, January 24, the Senate Committee on the Budget and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC). It is anticipated that … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate May Approve Chao Nomination This Week While Nominee-designate Elaine Chao was not included in the two cabinet members approved by the Senate on Friday (Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were confirmed), but Ms. Chao may be confirmed this week. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John … Continue Reading
