Review - House Began Consideration of HR 4821 – FY 2023 IER Spending – 11-2-23

Yesterday, the House began consideration of HR 4821, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies [IER] Appropriations Act, 2024. The House completed consideration of 75 amendments, passing 52. One of the passed amendments was an en bloc amendment including 47 of the amendments listed in Part A of H Rept 118-261. None of the amendments were of specific interest here.

Moving Forward

The House resumed consideration of the bill today and ended up passing it by a near party-line vote of 213 to 203, with 17 members (6 Republicans and 11 Democrats) not voting. I may have more details about today’s actions on the bill before the final vote after I get a chance to look at the Congressional Record and Congress.gov for today’s activities.

In any case, once the bill gets to the Senate, all of these program cuts and spending reductions will be forgotten while the Senate considers a substitute language amendment based up on the language of the Senate’s version of the spending bill (S 2605, removed from paywall). Once (if) the Senate passes their bill, the two versions will go to a conference committee for reconciliation of the two versions. As I have mentioned a couple of times, this year that reconciliation will be more difficult, and subsequent action in the House will require Democratic votes to offset intransigent Republican votes.

 

For more details about the amendments considered, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/house-began-consideration-of-hr-4821 - subscription required.

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.

Bills Introduced – 7-27-23

Yesterday, with the House and Senate preparing to recess until September, there were 305 bills introduced. Eight of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 5017 To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue guidance with respect to space systems, services, and technology as critical infrastructure, and for other purposes. Lieu, Ted [Rep.-D-CA-36] 

HR 5067 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a task force to study and report on supply chains for local electric distribution grids in the United States, and for other purposes. Wittman, Robert J. [Rep.-R-VA-1]

S 2587 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Tester, Jon [Sen.-D-MT] 

S 2605 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Merkley, Jeff [Sen.-D-OR]

S 2618 A bill to rename the Office of Technology Assessment as the Congressional Office of Technology, to revise the functions and duties of the Office, and for other purposes. Lujan, Ben Ray [Sen.-D-NM]

S 2624 An original bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Baldwin, Tammy [Sen.-D-WI]

S 2625 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Murphy, Christopher [Sen.-D-CT]

S 2715 A bill to authorize the Secretary of Defense to conduct detection, monitoring, and other operations in cyberspace to counter Mexican transnational criminal organizations that are engaged in certain activities that cross the southern border of the United States, and for other purposes. Rounds, Mike [Sen.-R-SD]

I will be covering S 2587, S 2605, S 2624, S 2625, and S 2715,

I will be watching HR 5017, HR 5067, and S 2618 for language and definitions that would include control system cybersecurity within the scope of the coverage of the bill.

Mention in Passing

I would like to mention one bill in passing:

S 2597 A bill to amend the Clayton Act to establish a new Federal commission to regulate digital platforms, including with respect to competition, transparency, privacy, and national security. Warren, Elizabeth [Sen.-D-MA]

The Clayton Act is an outcome based anti-trust statute. It’s use to regulate ‘digital platforms’ looks to be a novel way to control the internet, especially the inclusion of ‘national security’ as one of the areas for potential regulations. With Warren being the sponsor it would be easy to pass this off as a liberal bill with little chance of proceeding, but her sole Cosponsor is Sen Graham (R,SC) who is anything but liberal.

Bills Introduced – 8-4-21

Yesterday, with just the Senate in Washington, there were 23 bills introduced. Three of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog:

S 2599 An original bill making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]

S 2605 An original bill making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]

S 2610 An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes. Sen. Warner, Mark [D-VA]