Committee Hearings – Week of 12-4-22

This week with both the House and Senate in Washington trying to close out the lame duck session, there is a relatively limited committee hearing schedule. There is just one hearing of potential interest here, a House Rules Committee hearing on a new NDAA.

Today, the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing on four pieces of legislation that will include HR 7776 which will be used as the vehicle for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. No text is currently available.

Back in July, the House passed HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, by a substantially bipartisan vote of 329 to 101. The Senate has attempted to take action on that bill, but has failed to come to an agreement that would be acceptable to 60 Senators to be able to move to an actual vote.

Commentary

With no language yet being offered for the substitute language that will be considered today, the Rules Committee will be relying on the backroom work being done by the bipartisan leadership of the two Armed Services Committees in developing that language. The rule that will probably be adopted today would be a closed rule with limited debate and no floor amendments. There is a distinct possibility that the HR 7776 portion of today’s hearing might be postponed until tomorrow while negotiators continue to work out the final details of the substitute language.