Congressional Outlook

The House and Senate are in recess this week. However, several House committees are holding virtual/hybrid markups and hearings.

On Thursday, the House Natural Resources Committee will markup its $25.6 billion portion of congressional Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package of domestic spending and tax breaks. According to a memo sent last week for members by committee staff, the Committee has the ability to spend an additional $6 billion on top of the $25.6 billion authorized by the FY 2022 budget resolution. The Committee proposes spending $150 million for NEPA consultations; $5.5515 billion on National Parks, Forests, Public Land programs; $1.318 billion on Insular programs; $5.565 billion for tribal programs; $550 million for wildlife programs; $12 billion for oceans and coastal programs; $2.89 billion for energy and mineral resource programs; and $3.575 billion for water-related programs.

On Thursday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee will also markup its $7.5 billion portion of the budget reconciliation package, including spending on electrifying the federal vehicle fleet; electrifying and rehabilitating federal buildings; federal investments in green materials procurement; and resilience efforts. On Thursday, September 9, the House Education and Labor; Science, Space and Technology; Small Business; and Veterans Affairs Committees will markup their parts of the package. On Friday, September 10, the House Agriculture; and Homeland Security Committees will hold their markups. On Monday, September 13, the House Energy and Commerce; Financial Services; and Judiciary Committees will hold their markups. On Tuesday, September 14, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold its markup. The House Ways and Means Committee will hold its markup of at least $1.75 trillion in spending over four separate days (Sept. 9, 10, 13, and 14).

On Wednesday, the full House Armed Services Committee will markup the $744.2 billion FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350). The The annual NDAA authorizes the appropriation of budget authority for the Department of Defense (DoD), in addition to containing provisions governing the number of military personnel, rates of their compensation, DoD organization, weapons acquisition policy, and other aspects of U.S. national security policy.

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