Bills Introduced – 5-1-23

Yesterday, with just the Senate in Washington, there were 12 bills introduced. One of those bills may received additional attention in this blog:

S 1388 A bill to authorize the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to enter into contracts to demonstrate or validate technology related to the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system, and for other purposes. Hoeven, John [Sen.-R-ND] 

I will be watching this bill for definitions and language that specifically address potential measures to restrict drone overflight of registered critical infrastructure facilities. I am not holding my breath.

There is one other bill that I will mention in passing:

S 1395 A bill to temporarily suspend the debt limit through December 31, 2024. Schumer, Charles E. [Sen.-D-NY] 

This is the Democratic response to HR 2811 which passed in the House last week. I have not seen the text, but this should be the ‘clean’ debt limit bill that President Biden has been asking for. It is unlikely to pass in the Senate unless Sen McConnel (R,KY) decides that moving the debate until after the Presidential elections in 2024 is the way to go. If passed in the Senate, this bill would provide moderates in the House a way to bypass the conservative Republican block in that body, but it could be very costly to Speaker McCarthy. June 1^st is the new deadline for some sort of debt limit action.