Review - HR 5893 Introduced – FY 2024 CJS Spending

Last month, Rep Rogers (R,KY) introduced HR 5893, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The House Appropriations Committee did not publish a report for this bill, nor has it published an explanatory text as it did for HR 5894. There are three cybersecurity mentions in the bill, none of particular interest here. There have been 285 amendments submitted to the House Rules Committee for possible inclusion in the rule for the consideration of the bill. Only one of those amendments is of potential specific interest here.

Moving Forward

The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow to formulate the rule for the consideration of the bill on the floor of the House. The bill could move to the floor later this week. Based upon actions from last week, I think that there is a very real possibility that the bill will proceed through consideration of the amendments selected by the Committee, but floor action will stop before the final vote is taken. I have no idea what the House leadership is going to do with HR 4820, the THUD spending bill, and HR 4664, the Financial Services spending bill, but I suspect they will have to do the same with this bill.

Commentary

Spending bills have always been something of a legislative problem, but this year the House Republicans have elevated the problems to heights never considered before. This bill, and its late introduction partner HR 5894, the LHH spending bill, were introduced almost three months after the other 10 spending bills this year, and more importantly after Speaker McCarthy was fired. The bill could not be offered earlier due to disagreements in the Committee about what anti-DOJ measures were going to be included. The inability of the Committee to come to agreement bodes ill for this bill moving forward in the House.

For more details about the cybersecurity issues addressed in the bill and amendments proposed for the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5893-introduced - subscription required.

Committee Hearings – Week of 11-12-23

This week, with both the House and Senate in session and the latest funding deadline set for Friday midnight, there is a modest hearing schedule in the both houses. For the purposes of this blog, there are three hearings of interest (all in the House); a homeland threat hearing and two rules hearings.

Homeland Security Threat

On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland”. The witness list includes:

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, DHS,

Christopher A. Wray, FBI, and

Christine Abizaid, DNI

This will be a high-level overview, so do not expect a lot of details (which would be classified in any case). Cybersecurity will be touched upon, but the major focus will be on threats from Iran and China.

Rules Hearings

Today, the House Rules Committee will meet to craft the rules for the consideration of two spending related bill for possible floor consideration on Tuesday. Those two bills are:

HR__ – Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024, and

HR 5894 - Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

With the Republican 11 having three votes on the Committee, this hearing will be the first major test of Speaker Johnson’s first attempt at crafting a continuing resolution. TheHill.com reported on Saturday about the opposition of Rep Roy (R,TX) to this plan. If his two fringe cohorts join him in voting against the rule, this CR will go nowhere.

Tomorrow, the Rules Committee will take up two other bills:

HR 5893 - Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

HR 5961 - No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act

On the Floor

The current schedule in the House lists three of the four bills mentioned above as “Possible Legislation Considered Pursuant to a Rule”, the odd man out is the CR. Some sort of CR needs to be signed by the President before Friday midnight to prevent a government shutdown this weekend. If the CR rule is approved today, then it will almost certainly be first up on the agenda tomorrow.

Interestingly, HR 4820, the THUD spending bill that the House considered (but did not complete) last week is back on the schedule for this week. Like HR 4664, the House considered a full slate of amendments, but failed to conduct a final vote on the bill. In both cases there was some Republican opposition to provisions in the bill, and it only takes four Republican nays to kill the bill. It will be interesting to see if an additional amendment is considered on the floor to get this bill to move to completion, or if some other deal has been made.

House Continues Consideration of HR 4664 – FY 2024 FinServices Spending

Yesterday, the House continued consideration of HR 4664, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024. The last four amendments listed in Part B of H Rept 118-269 were considered and three were adopted. The House recessed for the Veterans Day weekend without taking a vote on the amended bill.

TheHill.com is reporting that the House leadership was not sure that it had enough votes to pass the bill because of some Republican concerns over abortion provisions and FBI funding. Earlier this week similar non-actions were seen with HR 4820, the FY 2024 THUD spending bill. The inability of the House leadership to see controversial spending bills passed is going to complicate efforts to keep the government funded passed the current spending deadline of November 17^th, 2023, next Friday. 

House Continued Consideration of HR 4820 – FY 2024 THUD Spending – 11-7-23

Yesterday, the House continued consideration of HR 4820, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act, 2024. Thirty-three amendments were considered and 21 of those were adopted. None of the amendments were of specific interest here. Of the five amendments initially considered on Monday, but held over for votes yesterday, only one passed.

The expected final vote on the bill was not held. The Hill.com is reporting that the vote was postponed because a number of Republican members from New York objected to the reduction in spending for Amtrak included in the bill. There were apparently concerns that there might not be enough votes to pass the bill because of that opposition. The House is not scheduled to resume consideration of the bill today.

House Begins Consideration of HR 4820 – FY 2024 THUD Spending

Yesterday, the House began consideration of HR 4820, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act, 2024. Eleven amendments were considered and four were adopted. One of the adopted amendments was an en bloc amendment that included 24 non-controversial amendments. Five of the amendments considered yesterday are awaiting voice votes. Consideration of the bill resumes today.

NOTE: None of the amendments authorized for consideration by the House Rules Committee in Appendix B to H Rept 118-261 are of specific interest here.

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.

Review - HR 4820 Introduced – FY 2024 THUD Spending

Back in July, Rep Cole (R,OK) introduced HR 4820, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies [THUD] Appropriations Act, 2024. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the Bill. While there are only limited mentions of the topics of cybersecurity, counter-UAS operations and chemical safety in the bill, there are more extensive discussions of those topics in the Report.

Before the House evicted the Speaker, the House Rules Committee called for proposed amendments for HR 4820 to be submitted by October 5^th, 2023. A meeting date had not yet been set before administrative chaos ensued.

Moving Forward

With the November 17^th deadline fast approaching, the House needs to move on these spending bills sooner than later. Of course, they need to resolve the Speaker issue before they can resume any legislative work. Unless that resolution includes some sort of power sharing arrangement between moderates in the two parties, the underlying problem that I discussed earlier this summer will remain in effect.

 

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/hr-4820-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-24-23

Yesterday, with the House meeting in pro forma session, there were 22 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 4820 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 Cole, Tom [Rep.-R-OK-4]

HR 4821 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 Simpson, Michael K. [Rep.-R-ID-2]