July 7th
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 7, 2023
Congress returns from 4th of July recess on Monday and will only be in session for a short time before the August recess. Here's what they have up for next week on the Hill:
Next Year’s Pentagon Budget
Legalizing Marijuana Banking
Stopping Illegal Fentanyl
Accountability for Bank Executives
Plan B for Student Loans
Administration Appointment Update
Next Year’s Pentagon Budget
The annual defense “appropriations” bill, or budget bill, is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill is required to fund defense programs for the next fiscal year, which starts in October. It’s also one of the few remaining and longest running bipartisan efforts.
The House has their bill ready first, with a vote scheduled for next week. The main components of the $886B bill are a 5.2% raise for military members and civilian workers, alongside increases in housing allowances, $300M more for Ukraine, funding for the Pacific region to counter China, and provisions that authorize domestic mineral exploration and processing to compete with China. Several House Freedom caucus members are using amendments to try to cut funding to Ukraine, provide oversight, or alter policy there.
Members are also using this bill to advance social and political agendas unrelated to defense.
Republican members added measures to the bill that limit military DEI work, including anything related to critical race theory, ban funding for drag shows (which were already banned by the Defense Secretary), and cut funding for climate programs.
Members have offered an additional 1,400 amendments on the bill, like bans on federal money for gender reassignment procedures and hormone therapies and the use of facilities that do not correspond with the gender assigned at birth, alongside restrictions on which flags the White House can fly, like the LGBTQ+ pride flag.
The bill also brings up tensions around abortion policy, particularly in light of Sen. Tommy Tuberville, (R-AL) blocking hundreds of appointments over the issue, and the fight between Colorado and Alabama over the location of Space Command due to state abortion policy. Currently, the House bill would stop the administration from choosing where military bases go based on a state’s abortion policy. And Rep. Ronny Jackson, (R-TX) offered an amendment to ban the Pentagon from using any funds for abortion unless the life of the mother is in danger or the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.
Republican leadership is hustling to find the 218 votes they need to pass the bill, especially since the debt ceiling bill passed with more support from Democrats than Republicans.
Legalizing Marijuana Banking
Previously existing federal law and policy left over from the “War on Drugs” has cannabis scheduled as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. This makes it extremely risky for banks to work with emerging cannabis industry businesses in states that have legalized weed. If they were to do so, they would be subject to federal anti-money laundering laws.
The SAFE Banking Act is a bipartisan Senate bill that would make it easier for banks to work with legal cannabis companies. We covered this last year, as the House passed the bill and there was a lot of pressure for the Senate to pass it before the end of the previous Congress. The Senate is now talking about taking up the bill before the August recess.
Stopping Illegal Fentanyl
Congress has been talking about action to restrict access to fentanyl. There are several bills in discussion that could come up for a vote in both chambers. The House already passed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which would move fentanyl-related substances into Schedule 1 classification, making users subject to criminal penalties for a felony, like four-figure fees and prison time. The Senate passed the END Fentanyl Act which would strengthen searches for illicit drugs and people smuggling at ports of entry and along U.S. borders.
In the Senate, the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl or FEND Off Fentanyl Act takes a different approach. This bipartisan anti-money laundering bill from Sen. Tim Scott, (R-SC) would use sanctions to target opioid traffickers and their money laundering so that federal agencies can better disrupt illegal fentanyl supply chains. Senators are talking like they will vote on it before the end of the month.
Accountability for Bank Executives
Since the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic bank in the spring, Congress has been discussing ways to penalize banks, and their executives, for the risk-averse decision making that drives collapse. This issue has seen bipartisanship in unexpected places- Trump-supporting Sen. J.D. Vance, (R-OH) and progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) are working on legislation together and pushing to keep this issue in the news.
The Recovering Executive Compensation Obtained from Unaccountable Practices or RECOUP Act, is one bipartisan bill from Sen. Sherrod Brown, (D-OH) that would threaten bank executives with fines and taking back compensation to incentivize better leadership of banks. It is likely to be the first such bill to get a vote in the chamber, with Senators saying they will vote on it in July.
Plan B for Student Loans
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s student loan cancellation rule, putting the 16 million people who were approved for relief in limbo while the administration works out their next move to fulfill the campaign promise on student debt.
While interest is slated to start accruing in September and the first payments are due in October, and Biden said that if you can make your payments, you should, there will be a 12 month grace period in which people who fall behind in payments will not be referred to credit agencies to offer people a buffer while the pandemic pause ends.
The basis of the original plan was the 2003 HEROES Act, which required a national emergency to implement. The Biden administration cited Covid as the emergency. The new plan will use the Higher Education Act, under which the Secretary of Education can develop rules for loan relief, but the administration is light on details, and it has stressed that any new approach will take much longer than what was nixed by the Court. Plus Republican attorneys general around the country have been working to sue the administration to block any progress on this front, saying that it’s an overreach of executive power.
This scenario ties into three bills that House Republicans passed this year to check the power of the executive branch: the REINS Act, REIN IN Act, and Separation of Powers Restoration Act. While highly unlikely, in theory, if the Senate did pass them and the president signed them into law, these bills would require that all new administration rules get Congressional approval, like the ones on student loan relief. It remains to be seen where things go from here. We will keep you updated.
Administration Appointment Update
The Senate has been busy this summer approving Biden administration political and judicial appointments. They approved reproductive rights lawyer Julie Rikelman to the federal bench as U.S. Circuit Judge for the First Circuit, which serves much of New England and Puerto Rico, and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund lawyer Natasha C. Merle to be District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Next week, votes are slated for:
Xochitl Torres Small, of New Mexico, to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
Rosemarie Hidalgo, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the Violence Against Women Office, Department of Justice
Kymberly Kathryn Evanson, of Washington, to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington
Tiffany M. Cartwright, of Washington, to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington
Biden also announced 9 new nominees to district courts in New York, Delaware, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of International Trade and the D.C. Superior Court. Votes in the Senate on these nominees are imminent.
What Congress Passed This Week
Nothing. They’re finishing their two-week district work period for the 4th of July holiday.
What POTUS Signed Into Law This Week
Changing Age-Determined Eligibility To Student Incentive Payments Act, or the CADETS Act
And that is your weekly roundup...
Congress is back on the Hill next week. We’ll be keeping a close watch.
P.S.
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