Outlook for the 118 th Congress: Tribal Priorities
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, the CHIPS Act, and the highly partisan Inflation Reduction Act, Senate Democrats plan a more moderate agenda for the 118 th Congress. Leader Schumer has focused the 118 th Congress on must-pass bills that include passing debt limit legislation, the annual defense bill (NDAA), the Farm Bill, and the annual appropriations bill. The Senate also continues to prioritize judicial and agency confirmations. House Priorities. House Republicans are taking a more hardline approach. In the first weeks of reclaiming the majority, House Leadership advanced bills to cut funding for the IRS included in the Inflation Reduction Act, address reproductive rights, and increase energy production. House leaders have also focused on investigations of the Biden Administration and President Biden’s family and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The House Oversight Committee Republicans have launched a wide-ranging investigation into the Biden family’s domestic and international business dealings to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security. Republicans have also created a Judiciary subcommittee on the “weaponization of the federal government” and are using the forum to review the FBI investigations into former President Trump. These investigations are meant to fire up the Republican base and have thus far not resulted in any substantive legislative activity. 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 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 – passing each of the 12 individual spending bills through Committee. So far, the House and Senate Subcommittees have endeavored to live up to this commitment and have been moving bills through the various Subcommittees. On July 13, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved their bill and it will be marked up by the full committee on July 19. The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee has not taken action on their bill. In related news, on June 1, Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The bill was a negotiated compromise between the House Republican leadership and the Biden Administration to raise the debt ceiling while limiting future spending. The law keeps non-defense funding essentially flat for the fiscal year that begins in October 2023 at approximately $637 billion. Defense funding would be capped at President Biden’s budget request of $886 billion, a 3.5 percent increase over FY’23 spending. Non-defense spending would increase by 1 percent in FY’24, followed by years of non-enforceable funding targets. A group of House Republicans have stated opposition to an omnibus spending bill. They have threatened to cut spending across the board by 1 percent – a return to sequestration - if appropriators do not pass all 12 separate spending bills by the end of December 2023. There is some hope that this carrot-and-stick approach will motivate Congress to pass annual, low-drama appropriations bills in calendar year 2023. Indian Country Priorities . Indian Country continues to press Congress to advance many of the longstanding basic reauthorizations 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
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