July 14th

Written By DSEANTE PARKS

1000 MORE's weekly nonpartisan roundup of the most important happenings in federal government, written in a way that doesn't require a law degree to understand, with tools to take action

July 14, 2023

This week on the Hill:

Government Shutdown?
Culture Wars in Defense Bill
Sen. Tommy Tuberville Blocks Military
Senate Greenlights Supreme Court Ethics Oversight
House Republicans' "Election Integrity" Bill

Government Shutdown?

If Congress doesn’t pass all of the following bills by the September 30th deadline, the government will shut down and funding will end for critical programs: 

Government budget (i.e. funding for all federal agencies and programs, like Medicare and Social Security)

The Farm Bill, which funds a safety-net for farmers alongside food and nutrition programs like SNAP

Authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees safety standards and funding for airports, aircraft, and airspace, as well as pilots, crew and staff

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 

What is Congress doing about it? 

Annual government funding and defense authorization bills like the NDAA are in the works in Congress, as are a new Farm Bill and authorization for the FAA, in Sen. Maria Cantwell’s bill FAA Reauthorization Act. Leaders in both chambers hope to have all bills ready for a vote before the August recess, with votes to start when members return to D.C. in September. 

What happens next 

If a 2024 budget bill doesn’t pass by September 30th, an across the board 1% spending cut kicks in on January 1, and there is a potential for a government shutdown if Congress doesn’t pass a stop-gap funding bill while they work through the final 2024 budget.

Stop gap bills are likely in the case of the Farm Bill and FAA reauthorization, as the budget bill is the priority to avoid a shutdown. If a shutdown happens, it could lead to airport delays, stalled Medicare and Medicaid payments, and veterans benefits. 

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Culture Wars in Defense Bill

Today, House Republicans passed their version of the annual defense “appropriations” bill, or budget bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The vote was 219-210, with four Democrats in swing districts joining 215 Republicans to pass it.

While it was one of the few remaining and longest running bipartisan efforts, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, (R-CA) gave in to House Freedom Caucus demands to add in “culture war” amendments. Rep. Jim McGovern, (D-MA) said: “We are here at 11 p.m. because once again Republicans are fighting with Republicans in a back room about how to make what should have been a bipartisan bill into a hyperpartisan bill.”

The main parts of the bill are approval of a 5.2% raise for military members and civilian workers, alongside increases in housing allowances, $300M more for Ukraine, and funding for the Pacific region to counter China. It also includes House Freedom caucus member amendments to limit the Biden administration’s military DEI work, as well as to stop reimbursements of service member travel for abortion care, books on gender, and trans healthcare.

The bill goes to the Senate next.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville Blocks Military

This week, military officials made headlines for publicly criticizing Sen. Tommy Tuberville, (R-AL) for holding up hundreds of military appointments in the Senate over the military’s policy of reimbursing service members who have to travel for abortion procedures. In an extremely rare move, Lt. Gen. Andrew Rohling, the deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Europe-Africa was giving Senators a tour of an encampment on the Lithuania Belarus border went out of his way to say Tuberville’s actions were “reprehensible, irresponsible and dangerous” and ask Senators for their help in overcoming his blockade. 

Critics say the delay is not only harming strategic decisions in the U.S. national security interest and readiness for conflict, but it is also hurting military families, as nominees are losing out on salary increases, benefits, and the relocation of their families to their assignments. The Marine Corps is now without a Senate-approved commandant for the first time in more than a century. If Tuberville does not relent, 50% of the sitting Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military’s top commanders, could retire without confirmed successors in place. While not joining him in the blockade, Tuberville’s Republican colleagues have been near mute on the issue, fearing being viewed as harming national security.

Senate Greenlights Supreme Court Ethics Oversight

The Supreme Court is the one branch of the federal government that is not voted in by the public. They are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. That’s why we update you on judicial confirmations regularly, so you know what’s happening in the federal judiciary.

Traditionally, the Court has been responsible for policing its own members, setting ethical standards, monitoring them and enforcing them internally. Yet as we have learned in a series of articles by ProPublica outlining corruption scandals involving Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, they are not holding themselves to required ethical standards. Public pressure has been on Congress to act since reporting exposed the justices' ties to wealthy GOP donors. 

Now, the Senate is taking action, since the court has failed to uphold ethical guidelines. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI) put forward the bill S.359 Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act. If it passes and gets signed into law, it would mandate that the Court adopt a code of conduct, make justices explain decisions to recuse themselves, or not recuse themselves, and strengthen standards for disclosure of conflicts.

A vote has been scheduled in the Senate Judiciary Committee for July 20th. It is expected to pass, with a full Senate vote to come shortly thereafter, but it is unlikely to pass the House without significant public pressure.

House Republicans' "Election Integrity" Bill

For the past few decades, election integrity has been largely considered the domain of the Democratic Party, which claims to be fighting to protect and enhance voting rights in bills like the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. This week, Republicans stepped into the election integrity space, introducing a bill that they see as a model for what should happen in states across the country. 

House Republicans are hailing their American Confidence in Elections Act as the biggest conservative election reform legislation in 20 years. The bill is a mashup of nearly 50 individual bills on voting, and its sponsor Rep. Bryan Steil, (R-GA) highlights that it would “protect political speech and donor privacy.” The bill would implement specific changes in Washington, D.C. that it encourages states to take up as well, like requiring voters show ID, restricting ballot drop boxes and banning mail-in ballots except upon request, among other changes like making the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration share data with the states to check the citizenship of registered voters and whether they had died. Democrats have slammed the bill, saying it appeases election deniers and targets voters of color.

The bill announcement coincided with the Major League Baseball All Star Game, which Steil said was pulled from Atlanta in 2020 due to false claims about new Georgia voting laws making it more difficult to vote. While Steil pointed to an increase in voter participation in 2020 to refute the claim, advocacy groups attribute the growth to long standing local organizing by voting rights activists, who increased their efforts in Georgia in response to changes in the law. 

The House is finalizing The American Confidence in Elections Act this week. We expect a vote in the House to be scheduled very soon.

What Congress Passed This Week

Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Training Act
No CORRUPTION Act
A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to strengthen benefits for children of Vietnam veterans born with spina bifida, and for other purposes

What POTUS Signed Into Law This Week

Again, nothing.

And that is your weekly roundup...

You did it!

P.S.

Check out the national interview I did this week on Congress & the Supreme Court!

DSEANTE PARKS
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