Committee Hearings – Week of 10-29-23

This week, with both the House and Senate in Washington, there is a very light hearing schedule. There is one hearing in the Senate of potential interest on threats to the Homeland.

Homeland Security

On Tuesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affair Committee will hold a hearing on “Threats to the Homeland”. The witness list includes:

• Alejandro N. Mayorkas, DHS, and

• Christopher A. Wray, FBI,

• Christine Abizaid, Director of National Intelligence

With these witnesses, this will be a high-level overview of the potential threats facing the US. Their will be some level of discussion about cybersecurity issues. I would not be surprised to hear at least one question from Committee members about the effects of the termination of the CFATS program.

On the Floor

This is going to be a busy week for spending bills. The Senate will continue to work on amendments to HR 4366, the MilCon spending bill. The House is currently scheduled to take up three spending bills this week:

HR 4364 – Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2024,

HR 4821 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (IER) Appropriations Act, and

HR 4820 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act, 2024

With a short work week (just three-days; Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) the House will have to fly through these bills, probably with a number of en bloc amendment considerations. Friday sessions tend to end early so that members can catch flights home. It will be interesting to see what happens this coming Friday.

It was an interesting move by the leadership to take up HR 4820. The Senate is already considering the THUD spending in their substitute language for HR 4366. While they could have let this one slide in order to get spending bills complete (a priority for Republicans this year), passing this bill will provide a list of provisions that could be included in the conference report on HR 4366.