Senate Begins Consideration of HR 4366 (again) – First FY 2024 Minibus

Yesterday, after the House passed H Res 1061 and sent HR 4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, back to the Senate with an amendment turning the bill into a six-bill minibus spending bill, the Senate began consideration of the amendment. A cloture motion was filed “to close further debate on the motion to concur in the amendment of the House to the amendment of the Senate to the bill”. The vote on that amendment is slated for later today.

House Passes H Res 1061 – First Minibus for FY 2024 Spending

This afternoon, the House took up H Res 1061, describes as a resolution “Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to HR 4366, with an amendment.", making this the vehicle for the first FY 2024 minibus that I described on Monday. While we will not know for sure until the language for H Res 1061 is published but this should be the language released by the House Appropriations Committee on Sunday.

After just a bit more than the scheduled 40-minutes of debate a recorded vote was demanded. The vote was subsequently held and the bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 339 to 85; the Republican vote was 132 to 83.

While the vote was on H Res 1061, the bill that will go to the President (if the new language is accepted in the Senate) will be HR 4366. That bill started out in the House as the Military Construction spending bill. On November 1^st the Senate passed the bill after adding Senate language  for the ARD spending (S 2131) and THUD spending ( 2437) bills. The revised bill provides compromise language for those three spending bills and adds language for CJS, EWR, and IER spending bills. The remaining six spending bills are due to be similarly considered before March 22^nd.

HR 4366 Passed in Senate – Consolidated Appropriations Act

Yesterday, the Senate completed action on HR 4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act. After adopting the substitute language for the House bill, the Senate voted 82 to 15 to pass the amended legislation. The final bill includes the Senate version of original Military Construction spending bill (S 2127), and also the Senate’s ARD spending (S 2131) and THUD spending ( 2437) bills. Earlier in the day, the Senate rejected four additional amendments (none of specific interest here) by recorded votes.

The bill now goes back to the House for approval of the changes made by the Senate. There is no chance that that will occur, the House will insist on their version of the bill, and it will be referred to a conference committee to work out a version of the bill that could pass in both chambers. In a good year, this behind-closed-doors work takes weeks of political give and take, and a compromise is reached that no one totally likes and, it is presented to the two bodies. After much speechifying and objection, the final bill is passed and the President signs the legislation.

Depending on who gets appointed to the Conference Committee (In the House, Republicans by the Speaker, Democrats by the Minority Leader) this conference could end up being very acrimonious. There is a very real possibility that intransigent Republican negotiators could insist on their spending levels and policy riders and kill any possibility of a compromise. If a compromise bill is crafted, it will be rejected by a significant number of Republicans in the House and the bill will require at least an equal number Democrats to vote for the bill if it is to pass. The last time a spending bill required bipartisan support to pass (back at the end of September, remember that?) the Speaker lost his job, and the House was plunged into Speaker Chaos 2.0.

Oh, and remember November 17^th is the date currently set by which all twelve spending bills (not just these three) have to be signed by the President to keep the government open. This bill (forget the other nine) is unlikely to be out of conference by that date, much less signed by the President. So, we will almost certainly see a continuing resolution fight before that date.

Senate Continues Consideration of HR 4366 Amendments – FY 2023 MilCon Spending – 10-31-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued to consider amendments to HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations (MilCon) Act, 2024. The Senate considered 5 amendments (none of specific interest here), adopting three (SA 1200, SA 1349, and SA 1177) and rejecting two (SA 1296 and SA 1243). Consideration of further amendments will continue today.

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.

Senate Continues Consideration of HR 4366 Amendments – FY 2023 MilCon Spending – 10-26-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued consideration of amendments for HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024, the Senate began consideration of those amendments yesterday. Only one amendment was considered, SA 1182, which would have added a new §4, Prohibition on Earmarks. There was no debate, and the amendment failed by a recorded vote of 35 to 62.

The Senate returns to Washington on Monday and may resume consideration of HR 4366 after dealing with a cloture vote on a judicial nomination.

Senate Begins Consideration of HR 4366 Amendments – FY 2023 MilCon Spending – 10-26-23

After reaching an agreement Tuesday on what amendments would be considered on HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024, the Senate began consideration of those amendments yesterday. There were 29 amendments considered; two amendments were rejected (by recorded votes), two amendments were passed by recorded votes, and 25 amendments were passed by voice votes.

None of the amendments considered were of specific interest here. There were two amendments, however, that were part of the political deal that allowed the Senate to resume consideration of the bill:

• Kennedy Amendment No. 1354 (to Amendment No. 1092), to prohibit the availability of funds for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Passed by a vote of 53 to 45.

• Lankford Amendment No. 1232 (to Amendment No. 1092), to provide for a period of continuing appropriations in the event of a lapse in appropriations under the normal appropriations process, and establish procedures and consequences in the event of a failure to enact appropriations. Failed by a vote of 56 to 42 (60 vote margin).

The Senate began the process to consider HR 4366 on September 7^th, 2023. A reminder, while this is the Military Construction spending bill, the substitute language being considered in the Senate includes language from the following Senate bills:

• Division A, S 2127, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs,

• Division B, S 2131 (removed from paywall), Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (ARD), and

• Division C, S 2437 (removed from paywall), Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (THUD).

The House has not yet considered their versions of the ARD and THUD spending bills.

Review - S 2605 Introduced – FY 2024 IER Spending

Back in July, Sen Merkley (D,OR) introduced S 2605, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (IER) Appropriations Act, 2024. The Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. Like the House bill (HR 4821), the two cybersecurity mentions in the bill are buried in other funding, and there are two cybersecurity mentions in the Report. CSB funding is increased. And the Report includes two chemical safety discussions of note.

Moving Forward

The Senate typically waits for the House to pass a spending bill and then begins its consideration of that bill by substituting language from their version of the spending bill. This year the Senate has tried a new tact by taking a single passed House bill (HR 4366) and adding Senate language from two other spending bills. This has the benefit of speeding up the consideration of spending bills. That could be important as the November 17^th deadline for spending bills approaches.

But spending bill process problems still exist. See my post “Coming FY 2024 Spending Bill Logjams”.

 

For more details about the provisions in the bill and the discussions in the Report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2605-introduced - subscription required.

Senate Considered HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending Bill – 9-21-23

Yesterday, the Senate took no action on HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. Ten additional amendments were proposed, none were of specific interest here.

Senate Considered HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending Bill – 9-20-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued their consideration of HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The cloture vote for ending debate on providing unanimous consent to suspend Rule XVI for the consideration of Schumer (for Murray/Collins) Amendment No. 1092, failed by a vote of 49 to 48 (60 votes required). Sen Schumer entered a motion to reconsider the vote. No other action was taken on the floor on this bill.

Negotiations continue with Sen Johnson (R,WI) on his objection under Rule XVI to proceeding with the debate on the substitute language that expands this legislation to include two other spending bills (ARD and THUD). Johnson may get his vote on the amendment that would end government shutdowns when spending bills are not passed by the end of the fiscal year. Interestingly, that amendment would also violate Rule XVI.

Eight additional amendments to HR 4366 were proposed yesterday, none of which are of specific interest here.

Senate Considered HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending Bill – 9-18-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued their consideration of HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The cloture vote on waiver of Rule XVI for the of the amendment providing for substitute language (SA 1092). That vote is now scheduled for this morning. There were 26 new amendments offered for this legislation, none of which are of specific interest here.

Senate Considered HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending Bill – 9-18-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued their consideration of HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The Senate is processing a motion to suspend Rule XVI for the of the amendment providing for substitute language (SA 1092). That suspension is necessary because the substitute language expands the scope of bill by adding two additional spending bills and Sen Johnson (R,WI) objected last week to a unanimous consent motion to suspend the rule. A cloture motion was filed and a potential vote on cloture could occur today.

Fourteen additional amendments were proposed for HR 4366 yesterday. None of them are of specific interest here.

Senate Considered HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending Bill – 9-13-23

Yesterday, the Senate continued their consideration of HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024, continuing the debate on moving to consider the bill. A vote is expected today that would allow the Senate to begin debating amendments to the bill, including the substitute language that would expand the bill into a three-bill minibus covering MilCon, ARD, and THUD.

There were 61 new amendments proposed for HR 4366. One, SA 1157 offered by Sen Paul (R,KY), would provide substitute language for the proposed Divisions B and C that would be added in the substitute language being offered for HR 4366. I have not read the full amendment, but based upon some random spending levels it looks like this amendment is based upon language from HR 4368 (the House ARD bill that was effective quashed in July) and HR 4820 (the House THUD bill which I have not yet reviewed). The spending levels are lower than the Senate Appropriations Committee’s figures, but not low enough to appease the Republican 11.

Committee Hearings – Week of 9-10-23

This week, with both the House and Senate back in Washington, the major focus is going to be on spending bills, but not much in the way of hearings to watch. There is one Rules Committee hearing on the DOD spending bill and a 9/11 anniversary hearing in New York looking at evolving terror threats.

DOD Spending Bill

The House Rules Committee will meet tomorrow to formulate the rule for the consideration of HR 4365, the FY 2024 DOD spending bill. There are currently 341 amendments that have been submitted to the Committee for potential inclusion in the floor consideration of the bill, most of them political plays from both Republicans and Democrats. There are two cybersecurity amendments in all of that political chaff that I briefly mentioned last week in my CFSN Detailed Analysis post (subscription required). The Republican 11 have three votes on the Rules Committee which may be enough to stop consideration of legislation if the four Democrats also vote no. This could be a real possibility for H 4365, because Dems already have a lot to object to in this bill, so the Republican leadership probably needs to include a large number of radical amendments, including more spending cuts, to be able to move the bill to the floor.

Post 9/11 Terror Threats

Today, the Emergency Management and Technology Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee will be holding a hearing in New York City on “Evolving Threats: Security and Safety in a Post-9/11 World”. The witness list includes:

• Joseph Pfeifer, New York City Fire Department,

• Laura Kavanagh, New York City Fire Department,

• Rebecca Weiner, New York City Police Department,

• Patrick J. Ryder, Nassau County Police Department

• Greg Ehrie, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

This will be a narrow view of the ‘terror threat’, from the perspective of ‘just one city’. I do not expect any major threat revelations, but I do expect to hear complaints about funding for prevention and response activities.

On The Floor

The Senate will resume consideration of HR 4366, their first (?) omnibus spending bill for FY 2024. The first (of potentially three) cloture votes is scheduled for this evening. A successful vote will kick off the consideration of amendments. There are indications that this could take through next week sometime to pass this bill.

The House is currently scheduled to consider seven bills (nothing of particular interest here) under the suspension of the rules process tomorrow. Then they will take up the DOD spending bill under a rule. Currently there is no mention of any action on a Biden impeachment bill this week.

Review - S 2437 Introduced – FY 2024 THUD Spending

Back in July, Sen Schatz (D,HI) introduced S 2437, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The Senate Appropriations Committee also published their Report on the bill. There is just one cybersecurity mention in the bill, but there are a number of discussions of cyber issues in the Report, along with additional mentions of chemical safety issues and UAS issues.

Moving Forward

As I mentioned Friday, the Senate has started the consideration process for HR 4366, the Military Construction and VA spending bill. The substitute language that will form the basis for that consideration includes the language from S 2437 as Division C. The amended spending bill is likely to pass with bipartisan support in the Senate. Then it will go to conference to work out the differences between the Senate and House language. See my post, “Coming FY 2024 Spending Bill Logjams”, for my thoughts on the consideration process this year for spending bills.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill and the discussions in the Committee Report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2437-introduced - subscription required.

Senate Begins Consideration of HR 4366 – FY 2024 MilCon Spending

Yesterday, the Senate began consideration of HR 4366, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. A cloture motion was filed to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to HR 4366. An agreement was reached to vote on the cloture motion on Monday evening. A positive vote on that motion would allow the amendment offering process to begin.

One amendment was proposed yesterday for HR 4366 yesterday, SA 1092. It was offered by Sen Murray (D,WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The amendment offers substitute language for the bill, changing the name to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. It includes language from the following Senate bills:

• Division A, S 2127, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs,

• Division B, S 2131, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (ARD), and

• Division C, S 2437, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (THUD).

The bipartisan nature of the spending bills passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee means that the Senate will likely pass this consolidated spending bill after considering some number of amendments. The bill would then go back to the House for an up or down vote on the Senate amendments to HR 4366 and the House will almost certainly insist on it’s more limited version of the bill. The actual fight in the House over the provisions in the bill will only really start once the conference committee reports back a further modified version of the bill, which will again typically receive an up or down vote in the House and Senate.

There remains a very real possibility that the conference version of the bill will be essentially killed in the House Rules Committee where the Republican 11 have (probably) three votes out of thirteen. If each of the four Democrats vote against the conference report rule (historically typical) then the three radical Republican votes could block the bill from moving to the House floor. If a deal is reached, however, between moderate Republicans and at least two of the Democrats on the Committee, the bill would move to the Floor for consideration. This would get the bill passed on the floor of the House, but would cause problems for Speaker McCarthy (R,CA).

NOTE: I will be reporting on the cybersecurity and chemical safety provisions of S 2437 this weekend.

Bills Introduced – 6-27-23

Yesterday, with the House meeting in proforma session, there were 37 bills introduced. Six of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 4364 Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Amodei, Mark E. [Rep.-R-NV-2]

HR 4365 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024 Calvert, Ken [Rep.-R-CA-41]

HR 4366 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 Carter, John R. [Rep.-R-TX-31]

HR 4367 Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Joyce, David P. [Rep.-R-OH-14]

HR 4368 Making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Harris, Andy [Rep.-R-MD-1] 

HR 4387 To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program providing for the establishment of Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers, and for other purposes. Nunn, Zachary [Rep.-R-IA-3]

I will be covering HR 4365, HR 4367 and HR 4387.

I will be watching the remaining spending bills for language that specifically cover cybersecurity provisions not dealing with internal agency cybersecurity.