Congressional Outlook

The House and Senate are both back in session this week following their two-week spring recess. The House will vote on 28 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2022 (H.R. 6445), which reauthorizes the SBA’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program through Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. For the remainder of the week, the House will vote on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 (H.R. 350), which authorizes offices at the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security dedicated to monitoring, investigating, and prosecuting perpetrators of domestic terrorism; and the Senate-passed Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 (S. 3522), which authorizes the president to expedite the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion through lend-lease agreements.

The Senate will vote on several nominations, including Lael Brainard to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Lisa Cook to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Alvaro Bedoya to be a Federal Trade Commissioner. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to revisit the $10 billion plan (H.R. 4373) to boost pandemic preparedness. That legislation stalled on the eve of the spring recess because of efforts to attach an amendment that would halt the Biden Administration’s move to end Title 42 beginning on May 23, a pandemic-related immigration restriction. Additional items the Senate will likely consider in the coming weeks include: additional supplemental spending plans to address Russia’s war on Ukraine; legislation to enhance U.S. competition with China and support domestic chip manufacturing; and a long-stalled social spending package via budget reconciliation.

House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees will hold numerous hearings this week with Biden Administration officials to discuss President Biden’s FY 2023 budget proposal to Congress. This includes the Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers & Bureau of Reclamation; Department of the Interior; Department of Agriculture; Department of Education; Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; Department of Justice; Department of Energy; Department of Transportation; and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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