Committee Watch: Foreign Influence Operations, Preventable Violence & Trade

Before bills and nominations are brought up for a passage vote in Congress, they typically have to be considered and approved by relevant committees. Here’s a look at some of this week’s high profile committee hearings.

Schedule subject to change.

Tuesday

• The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations will hold a hearing titled "Preventable Violence in America: An Examination of Law Enforcement Information Sharing and Misguided Public Policy". The subcommittee will hear testimony from a deputy director of the FBI, a sheriff from Shenandoah County, VA, along with witnesses from the Manhattan Institute and Child Trends. 10am ET

• The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing regarding "The Need to Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act", which has been reauthorized by Congress three times since its enactment in 1994. The most recent reauthorization in 2013 expanded federal protections for American Indians, immigrants, gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals. 10am ET

Wednesday

• The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing about the "U.S. Trade Policy Agenda" featuring testimony from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. 10am ET

• The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold an open hearing about election security. 10am ET

• The House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing titled "State and Non-State Actor Influence Operations: Recommendations for U.S. National Security". It will hear testimony from a former commander of U.S. European Command, a former Pentagon official who focused on special operations and low-intensity conflict, and a former senior adviser to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Trumbull. 10am ET

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific will hold a hearing titled "U.S. Responses to China’s Foreign Influence Operations". Subcommittee Chairman Ted Yoho (R-FL) notes that China’s influence operations “threaten the independence of media, the freedom of academic institutions, and the very primacy of democracy in the post-Cold War era.” 2pm ET

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa will hold a hearing titled "Implications of a U.S.-Saudi Arabia Nuclear Cooperation Agreement for the Middle East". Subcommittee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said the hearing will provide “an opportunity to assess the status of Saudi Arabia’s nuclear plans, the implications if the U.S. agrees to a deal below the so-called gold standard”, and legislative options to improve oversight to ensure national security interests take precedence over political or commercial considerations in future nuclear negotiations. 2pm ET

• The House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security will hold a hearing titled "Bureaucratic Challenges to Hurricane Recovery in Puerto Rico". 2pm ET

Thursday

• The House Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing to adopt its "Investigative Report into Russian Active Measures During the 2016 Presidential Election". 9am ET

See the full House committee hearing schedule here.

See the full Senate committee hearing schedule here.

Hit Take Action to tell your reps what you think of the issues being discussed in committees this week, then share your thoughts below in the comments!

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— Eric Revell