November 3rd

This week in MORE POWER:
Getting The House In Order?
Congress Budget Moves
Bills Impacting the Middle East Humanitarian Crisis
Finding Missing Foster Youth
Space Trash & Satellites
Budget Progress Report

Congress has two weeks to pass the full 2024 budget, or another extension to buy time to negotiate, before the federal government will face a shutdown.

Getting The House In Order?

The House of Representatives has two tools to discipline its own members: censure and expulsion. Censure means the House publicly shames the member, who has to stand on the House floor and listen to a rebuke of their behavior. Expulsion means the House kicks the member out of their job, and that their constituents lose representation until there is another opportunity to hold an election for the seat.

This week, the House voted on two resolutions singling out individual members: one to expel Rep. George Santos, (R-NY) and another to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D-MI). Other New York Republicans want to kick Santos out due to his pattern of lies, believing he is a stain on the Republican party.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green wants to censure Tlaib for antisemitism. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, who has been speaking out for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, attended a pro-ceasefire rally organized by two Jewish organizations. Bipartisan groups of members voted down both resolutions.

Congress Budget Moves

Both chambers of Congress continue to vote on budget bills, and the pressure is on to pass the 2024 budget by the 17th.

The House passed the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act this week, the seventh of 12 budget bills that the chamber has passed.

The Senate passed a minibus that included three bills:

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act

There are eight working days left to pass the full budget or another extension to avoid a government shutdown.

You can use the links above to read about the bills, and take action.

Bills Impacting the Middle East Humanitarian Crisis

Two weeks ago, President Biden asked Congress for a $106B aid package that included defense aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S-Mexico border. The package also includes $10B in humanitarian aid, most of which would go to Israel, Ukraine, Gaza, and the West Bank. The Senate is likely to move a bill along the lines of Biden’s request later this month.

New Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-LA) has his own bill that solely provides aid to Israel, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, and pairs it with IRS spending cuts. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel responded that these cuts would actually end up costing $90B, as they would eliminate tax evasion investigations among wealthy individuals. The House passed the bill along a slim bipartisan margin, 226 - 196.

The House also passed two other bills related to the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East:

The U.S. is the largest donor nation to Palestinian aid. The Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act would set up auditing of Palestinian textbooks and American aid to Palestinians to ensure that U.S. funds are not used to teach hate or intolerance.

The Hamas International Financing Prevent Action would enable the U.S. government to better target people and entities helping to finance Hamas.

All of these bills are headed to the Senate. You can use the links above to read about them, and take action.

Finding Missing Foster Youth

This week the Senate passed the Find and Protect Foster Youth Act. If the House passes the bill and the President signs it into law, it would improve how the federal government supports the identification of and response to reports of children missing from foster care. The bill goes to the House next. Have a view you would like to share?

Sign in to Contact Your Reps Here

Space Trash & Satellites

The Senate passed two bills to address pressing issues with satellites:
The ORBITS Act would remove space trash hitting satellites.
The Launch Communications Act would make it easier for businesses to get satellite use rights from the federal government.

You can use the links above to read about the bills, and take action.