Committee Hearings – Week of 3-17-24

This week, with the House and Senate both in session, there is a relatively heavy hearing schedule. Budget hearings are starting the FY 2025 spending cycle. And there are a lot of markup hearings with three of particular interest here. There will also be an oversight hearing on the DHS cWMD office.

Budget Hearings:

The FY 2025 spending process starts this week with budget hearings. I do not cover these much anymore since Presidential Budgets have been ‘dead on arrival’ for almost a decade now, but they do deserve, at least, mention in passing.

Budget Hearings	House	Senate
DOE	3-20-24 E&C
SBA		3-20-24 SBC

Markup Hearings

Energy and Commerce Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24 – 28 bills:

HR 7655, Pipeline Safety, Modernization, and Expansion Act of 2024, and

HR 7589, Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24 – 2 bills:

HR 7659, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2024

Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24  - 8 bills:

HR 7073, Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act

WMD Hearing

On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Securing our Nation from WMDs: A Review of the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office”. The witness list includes:

• Mary Ellen Callahan, DHS,

• Tina Won Sherman, GAO, and

• Herbert Wolfe, DHS

On the Floor

With an overall agreement reportedly reached on the 2^nd Minibus spending bill (including DHS and DOD), there is a good chance that the bill will come to the floor of the House this week, but it seems unlikely that it will be able to clear both houses before the midnight Friday deadline to keep the government funded. Politicians may risk a technical shutdown over some of the weekend if they think that the House and Senate can finish the bill by Sunday, but it is more likely that there will be yet again a short-term continuing resolution to allow the political posturing in both the House and Senate to run its course.