Congress's Q2 Review

With the second quarter of 2018 in the books and Congress away this week on their Fourth of July recess, let’s take a look at what Congress worked on over the last three months.

What Passed?

• Stopping the Net Neutrality Rollback: The Senate passed a bill that’d undo the FCC’s rollback of Obama era net neutrality rules, but it’s unlikely to be considered in the House unless at least 25 Republicans join all Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force a vote.
• Farm Bill: The House passed its version of the Farm Bill, which strengthens work requirements for food stamp recipients, while the Senate-passed Farm Bill was more moderate in the reforms it made to the safety net program’s work requirements. It now goes to conference committee, where differences will be resolved before a final vote.
• Right to Try: A bill giving terminally ill patients the “right to try” experimental treatments passed the House, which has since been signed into law by President Trump.
• Banking Reform: Legislation reforming regulations for community banks passed the House after being approved by the Senate earlier in the spring, and President Trump signed it into law the following day.
• Spending Bills: Both chambers of Congress passed a “minibus” providing funding for three of the 12 appropriations bills ― veterans affairs & military construction, energy & water, and the legislative branch ― while the House also passed a $675 billion defense spending bill.
• Fighting Opioid Addiction: The House over 40 bills addressing various aspects of the opioid epidemic in June, including one aimed at improving Medicare and Medicaid substance abuse treatment & prevention programs.

What Failed?

• Immigration Reform Bills: The House failed to pass both the original “Goodlatte bill”, which authorized border security funding and gave legal status to DACA recipients, and “Goodlatte II” which provided $23 billion in funding and gave legal status to Dreamers.
• Balanced Budget Amendment: The House considered a proposal to add a balanced budget requirement to the U.S. Constitution, but was about 45 votes shy of the two-thirds majority required.
• Rescissions: After the Trump administration’s bill to rescind $15 billion in unused funding from previous fiscal years passed the House, an attempt to bring it up for a vote in the Senate was blocked.

What’s Coming Up?

• Family Separation: Discussions in the Senate about a narrow, bipartisan bill to address the separation of unauthorized immigrant families at the border began prior to the Fourth of July recess and will resume when senators return to the Capitol.
• More Spending Bills: The remaining appropriations bills will need to be approved by the end of September, several of which may require contentious conference committees to resolve differences between bipartisan Senate bills and House-passed bills with a more conservative flavor.
• Nominations: With the Senate set to forego most of its traditional August recess in favor of working in the Capitol, it will likely spend much of the month focused on nominations while the House is on vacation.

Tell your reps how they did in Q2 and what you want to see them address in Q3 using the Take Action button and share your thoughts below!

— Eric Revell

RELATED READING

• What the 115th Congress Has Done So Far

(Photo Credit: dszc / iStock)