Review - HR 2872 Passed in Senate and House – 3rd FY 2024 CR

Today the Senate and the House sequentially took up HR 2872, the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024. Both houses passed the bill in a substantially bipartisan vote, sending the continuing resolution to the President. The President is expected to sign the bill for the current CR runs out at midnight Friday.

Moving Forward

The hard part still remains, crafting spending bills to complete the funding of the federal government for the remainder of FY 2024. With this CR in place the House and Senate have until March 1st, to get the first four spending bills completed and to the President. Those first four bills (either individually or in a mini-bus) are

• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies,

• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies,

• Department of Defense, and

• Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.

The eight remaining spending bills need to be to the White House by March 8^th, 2024.

 

For more details about how the action unfolded in the Senate and House, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2872-passed-in-senate-in-house - subscription required.

Senate Continues Consideration of HR 2872 – FY 2024 3rd CR

Yesterday, the Senate continued the process of considering HR 2872, the bill that is being used as the vehicle for a 3^rd FY 2024 continuing resolution. No votes were taken. An agreement was reached that would allow for consideration today of two amendments before a vote on the substitute language would be held. The Senate will then conduct a final vote on the bill. All four votes will require 60-votes for adoption. Voting is scheduled to start today at 12:30.

The three amendments to be considered today are:

SA 1381 – Substitute language,

SA 1382 - Executive Order Mandated Inflation Accountability and Reform, and

SA 1384 - Prohibition on Foreign Assistance to the Palestinian Authority or Any Other Palestinian Governing Entity in the West Bank and Gaza.

The House Majority Leader’s web site (this link is only good today) reports that this bill may be considered today under the suspension of the rules process.

HR 2872 Considered in Senate – Vehicle for CR

Yesterday, the Senate officially began the consideration of HR 2872, which passed the House as the bill to amend the Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2013 to allow the Secretary of the Interior to issue electronic stamps under such Act, and for other purposes. It is being considered in the Senate as the vehicle for the “Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024”. Yesterday, the Senate voted to close debate on the motion to proceed to consideration of HR 2872, by a vote of 68 to 13. Weather problems delayed the vote and still 19 members did not get to the Chamber to vote, most of them (16) Republicans.

The substitute language amendment (SA 1381) that I had mentioned on Monday, was officially proposed yesterday. It would provide additional time (through March 8^th) for Congress to work on passing some sort of spending legislation. The Senate resumes consideration today; still waiting to see if some Republican Senators work to delay consideration and force additional cloture votes.

Committee Hearings – Week of 1-14-24

This week, with both the House and Senate in Session, there is a relatively light hearing schedule in Congress. There is one hearing of interest here, a Senate hearing on the Cyber Safety Review Board. Floor actions on spending could get interesting.

CSRB Hearing

On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “The Cyber Safety Review Board: Expectations, Outcomes, and Enduring Questions”. This hearing was originally scheduled for December 14^th, 2023, but it was postponed at that time. The witness list includes:

• Tarah M. Wheeler, Red Queen Dynamics,

• John Miller, Information Technology Industry Council, and

• Trey Herr, Atlantic Council

The Cyber Safety Review Board was established by §5 of EO 14028. That EO requires DHS to “convene the Board following a significant cyber incident triggering the establishment of a Cyber Unified Coordination Group”. DHS has indicated that they would like to see the Board formally established, and has offered proposed legislation to that end.

Artemis Hearing in Passing

On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on: “Returning to the Moon: Keeping Artemis on Track”. I am not covering space activities as a new topic here, but I thought that I would mention this hearing in passing.

On the Floor

Early this evening, the Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on beginning consideration of HR 2872. As I noted yesterday, this bill is going to be the vehicle for a relatively short period continuing resolution through March. While this CR has the support of the leadership of the House and Senate as well as a bipartisan majority in each, there will be some significant Republican opposition in both houses. This could bring delays in both, but there is a deadline of Friday to avoid the shutdown of about a third (by some measures) of the federal government. There will be lots of posturing, on and off the Hill, on the proceedings for this bill.

 

NOTE: The House is currently scheduled to be working from home districts next week. That could change if there is a hiccup on HR 2872.