What to Watch in the Senate When the 116th Congress Begins

With the third partial government shutdown of the 115th Congress looking increasingly likely to last into the new year, legislation to reopen impacted agencies will be a high priority after the Senate convenes to start the 116th Congress. Aside from funding those agencies, here’s a look at some other notable agenda items the Senate will look to address early in 2019.

National Parks Maintenance: A bipartisan bill that’d use royalties from existing energy development on public lands to fund the National Park Service’s nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog will get a vote early in January. In the 115th Congress, the Restore Our Parks Act passed the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan 19-4 vote.

Nominations: In addition to mixing in confirmation votes on the usual cadence of nominations to district & circuit courts and deputy-level agency officials, there will be several high-profile, Cabinet-level vacancies to fill, including:

• Attorney General: President Donald Trump nominated Bill Barr to serve as his attorney general, a role currently filled in an ‘acting’ capacity by the controversial Matthew Whitaker. Dates for Barr’s confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee haven’t been announced.
• Ambassador to the United Nations: Outgoing UN Ambassador Nikki Haley will leave the post in January, and Trump nominated current State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to replace her. The Foreign Relations Committee hasn’t yet announced a date for Nauert’s confirmation hearings.
• Defense Secretary: Jim Mattis resigned from this post effective January 1, 2019, over policy disagreements with President Trump. Patrick Shanahan will serve as Acting Defense Secretary following his departure, but a permanent replacement hasn’t yet been nominated.
• Interior Secretary: Ryan Zinke will be vacating this position at the end of 2018, and President Trump hasn’t yet nominated a replacement.

U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA): Once President Donald Trump formally submits the USMCA trade deal to Congress, lawmakers will consider it within a 90-day timeframe under the fast-track trade promotion authority (or TPA). Because tariffs are taxes that generate government revenue, the House generally acts first on trade implementation bills to avoid a “blue slip” issue that violates the Constitution’s Origination Clause.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons)