Outlook for the 118 th Congress: Leadership / Tribal Priorities The 118 th Congress will need to work through divided leadership and narrow majorities in both chambers over the next two years. Senate Democrats retain a slim 51-49 majority that includes three Independents caucusing with the Democrats. Republicans take control of the U.S. House of Representatives with a 222-212 majority. Senate Leadership. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) retain their respective leadership posts in the United States Senate. Likewise, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) retain the #2 posts in their respective caucuses. House leadership . After some debate, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected Speaker of the House on Saturday, January 7, 2023. The remaining Members of House Leadership include: Majority Leader - Steve Scalise (R-LA); Majority Whip - Tom Emmer (R-MN); Conference Chair - Elise Stefanik (R-NY); and Republican Policy Committee Chair - Gary Palmer (R-AL). Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top deputies handed over caucus leadership to the next generation. The following were elected to Democratic Leadership: Democratic Leader - Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Minority Whip - Katherine Clark (D-MA); and Democratic Caucus Chair - Pete Aguilar (D-CA). Legislative Outlook Senate Priorities. After two years of work to enact an aggressive agenda that included passage of the American Rescue Plan, bipartisan gun safety, infrastructure, and CHIPS and science laws, and the highly partisan Inflation Reduction Act, Senate Democrats plan a more moderate agenda for the 118 th Congress. Leader Schumer has indicated that the chamber will focus on must-pass bills that include passing debt limit legislation, the annual defense bill, the farm bill, and the annual appropriations / funding bills. Senators will also press to advance President Biden’s judicial and agency nominees. House Priorities. House Republicans are taking a more hardline approach. In the first weeks of reclaiming the majority, House Leadership has advanced bills to cut funding for the IRS included in the Inflation Reduction Act, address reproductive rights, and increase energy production. House leaders also made clear that it will focus on investigations of the Biden Administration and President Biden’s family, origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and “the Weaponization of the Federal Government”. FY’24 Appropriations. House Republicans have pledged to cut discretionary spending by $130 billion from the FY’23 levels, aiming to limit federal agency and program funding to FY’22 levels. The House will press appropriators to return to regular order to enact annual funding bills, vowing to reject the massive year-end omnibus bills that have kept government operations and programs open in recent years. Senate Appropriations leaders, Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R- ME), released a joint statement promising to “reach sensible solutions” to fund the government for FY’24. They have also resolved a return to regular order, which has delayed the advancement of the individual appropriations in the Senate. House Republicans are working to tie their pledge to cut federal spending to any vote that would increase the federal debt limit. The Treasury Department indicated that the United States could exhaust extraordinary measures needed to meet government financial obligations in June of 2023. Indian Country Priorities . Indian Country will continue to press Congress to advance many of the longstanding priorities, such as basic reauthorization and updating of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act and others, that have been held up in recent years by a few Senators seeking to advance bills to acknowledge groups as federally recognized Indian tribes. Limit Impacts of Castro-Huerta . Tribes nationwide continue to debate how to address expected fallout from the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma , which held that state governments have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against
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