Committee Hearings – Week of 05-13-18

With both the House and Senate in session this week we see both bodies working on must complete issues; spending and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We will also see a markup hearing dealing with our ICS cybersecurity bill.

Spending Bills

The House Appropriations Committee is fully into the spending bill markup process. The Full Committee will mark-up the FY 2019 Energy and Water and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill on Wednesday. Subcommittee mark-ups of possible interest here this week include:

• FY 2019 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill – Tuesday; and

• FY 2019 Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (THUD), and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill – Wednesday

The Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittees are still looking at the details of the respective budget requests, so they are a tad bit behind the House on the bill writing schedule. That is not a significant problem as the House has to consider spending bills before the Senate can act on them. The Appropriations Committee will have language ready by the time the House bills make it to the Senate even if they do not have their own bill introduced.

NDAA

The House Armed Services Committee finished their mark-ups of HR 5515 last week and ordered the bill reported to the House. I expect to see an official version of the bill published this week. The House Rules Committee has announced that it is accepting proposed amendments to the bill through Thursday morning. This means that it will probably be considered on the floor of the House next week.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is starting the mark-up process for their version of the NDAA (not yet introduced) this week with subcommittee mark-ups. The Subcommittees of potential interest here include:

• Subcommittee on Cybersecurity; and

• Subcommittee on Emerging Threats

Both will hold their mark-ups on Tuesday. Both will be closed hearings.

Cybersecurity Mark-Up

On Wednesday the House Homeland Security Committee will be holding a mark-up hearing to consider nine bills. HR 5733, the DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act of 2018, is one of the bills being considered. No word yet on any possible amendments.