Civic Register
| 1.8.17

What's Congress Voting On? Week of January 9, 2017

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The second week of the 115th Congress looks set to be a busy one, with both chambers scheduled to be in session for a full work week.

The House will begin its week voting on five suspension bills, including one aimed at researching weather and improving forecasts which may be of interest to those of you in parts of the country experiencing winter storms. On Tuesday, it'll move on to bills promoting the role of women in entrepreneurship and STEM fields, along with legislation to prioritize federal job training programs focused on the energy and manufacturing industries. It is expected that the House will wrap up its week with votes to reform the federal rule-making process and reauthorize and reform the agency which regulates derivatives and commodities markets.

Senators have been debating amendments to a budget resolution that sets top-line funding levels for the rest of fiscal year 2017 since last week, and that looks set to continue for at least the first two days of the week. That being said, the Senate could get around to voting on final passage before the end of the week and send the budget resolution, which also outlines the process for repealing parts of Obamacare, to the House for a vote.

The first confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees will begin in the Senate's various committees on Tuesday. His picks for Attorney General and secretaries of Homeland Security, State, Defense, Commerce, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development all complete their hearings this week. Add to that the confirmation hearings for CIA Director and potentially one more cabinet post — Labor Secretary — and there could be 11 nominees who complete their hearings this week.

Of those, only the hearings for Attorney General are scheduled to last more than one day, which will be particularly intriguing because the nominee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), is also a sitting member of the Judiciary Committee and could technically vote to advance his own nomination. Assuming the Senate committees advance the nominees, they will then face a confirmation before the full Senate some time after Inauguration Day.

We'll keep this post updated throughout the week with vote results, so check back later to see what Congress actually accomplished.

Schedule subject to change. All times Eastern.

House

Monday after 6:30pm (all suspensions)

  • H.R. 304: Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medication Act Passed 404-0.
  • H.R. 353: Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 309: National Clinical Care Commission Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 315: Improving Access to Maternity Care Act Passed 405-0.
  • H.R. 302: Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2017 Passed by voice vote.

Tuesday after 12pm

  • H.R. 79: HALOS Act Passed 344-73.
  • H.R. 321: INSPIRE Women Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 255: Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 306: Energy Efficient Government Technology Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 288: Small Business Broadband Deployment Act Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 239: Support for Rapid Innovation Act of 2017 Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 240: Leveraging Emerging Technologies Act of 2017 Passed by voice vote.
  • H.R. 274: Modernizing Government Travel Act Passed by voice vote.

Wednesday between 1:30 and 6pm

  • H.R. 39: TALENT Act of 2017 Passed 386-17.
  • H.R. 5: Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 Passed 238-183.

Thursday between 4 and 5pm

  • H.R. 238: Commodity End-User Relief Act Passed 239-182.
  • H.R. 78: SEC Regulatory Accountability Act Passed 243-184.

Friday after 12pm

  • S.Con.Res. 3: Budget Resolution for FY 2017 Passed 227-198.
  • S. 84:A bill to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces. Passed 268-151.

Not considered

  • H.R. 338: To promote a 21st century energy and manufacturing workforce.

Senate

Monday

  • S.Con.Res. 3: Budget Resolution for FY 2017 Amendment votes.

Tuesday

Wednesday

  • S.Con.Res. 3: Budget Resolution for FY 2017 Amendment votes.
  • Judiciary Committee: Day 2/2 of confirmation hearings for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), nominee for Attorney General. Hearing Link
  • Foreign Relations Committee: Confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson, nominee for Secretary of State. Hearing Link
  • Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee: Confirmation hearings for Elaine Chao, nominee for Secretary of Transportation. Hearing Link

Thursday

  • S.Con.Res. 3: Budget Resolution for FY 2017 Passed 51-48 (early morning vote).
  • S. 84:A bill to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces. Passed 81-17.
  • Armed Services Committee: Confirmation hearings for Gen. James Mattis, nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hearing Link
  • Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee: Confirmation hearings for Ben Carson, nominee for Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Hearing Link
  • Intelligence Committee: Confirmation hearings for Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), nominee for CIA Director. Hearing Link

Friday

  • Pro forma session.

You can use the "Take Action" button to let your reps know how you want them to vote on bills under consideration this week or how to vote on the confirmation of Trump's nominees.

— Eric Revell