In Context: No one to fear, Everyone to love

During the weekend prior to an election, a noticeable number of people turn their mind to other things like rental entertainment. A mental break can indeed be useful to take a step back and consider the larger context of our time.

Deuteronomy 28 offers two descriptions of life for a nation. One has blessings everywhere and enemies nowhere. The other has confusion, disease, fear, madness, want, untrustworthy defenses, and is besieged on all sides.

If it isn't already obvious, we've been shifting from one to the other. Collapse may soon be on our doorstep. Supply chains seizing up could soon become our most obvious symptom. Congress is right where it was at the beginning of the month. People are fearful and teaching fear of a virus that most people survive.

Congress Update

Daily Digests – House • Senate — Prayers — Committee Reports

Related Headlines:

Senate — Daily Leader Remarks • Actions begun, passed, declined, summarized

Executive Session

Senate Confirms Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Nominee

Biden pick Elizabeth Prelogar confirmed by Senate to be US solicitor general

Unanimous Consent

Rubio, Markey Applaud Senate Passage of Secure Equipment Act — H.R. 3919

Opioid Abuse Prevention Bill Passes Senate, Heads to President — H.R. 1899


House — Actions passed, summarized

Suspension of the Rules

Congress to award Congressional Gold Medal to service members killed in attack at Kabul airport — H.R. 5142

House Passes Wagner Legislation to Protect Seniors and Vulnerable Adults From Financial Exploitation — H.R. 2265

H.R. 5763 – Further Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2021
House extends highway funding to Dec. 3 amid delayed infrastructure vote

Considered Pursuant to a Rule

H.R. 2119 – Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021

• Pro-life implications
• House Bulldozes Religious Freedom to Pass H.R. 2119

#ProLife implications of #HR2119, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021

Today, October 26, 2021, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2119, the “Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021,” by a vote of 228 – 200.

Background: The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA), which was enacted as Title III of the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984 (P.L. 98-457), is one of two main pieces of legislation used to provide federal support for preventing and responding to domestic violence. H.R. 2119 would reauthorize FVSPA through fiscal year 2026. More information on the FVPSA is available in this report by the Congressional Research Service and in the attached resources from the Education and Labor Committee.

Because previous iterations of the law stated that the assistance provided did not allow “reimbursement for any health-care services,” it was clear that abortion would not be funded through this program.

H.R. 2119 removes that prohibition and fails to include Hyde protections to prevent the funding available through the FVPSA from paying for elective abortion.

In Context: Progressive Learning

The pro-life movement has patiently worked for years to be in a position to overturn Roe v. Wade and enact pro-life legislation into law to punish the evil of taking human life through abortion. Along the way, they've learned that a party majority doesn't necessarily mean there is an ideological majority.

Some criticize Republicans for doing nothing to protect human life during the Bush 43 years when Republicans had control of the Legislative and Executive Branches of government. They never had, however, a 60-vote majority in the Senate to overcome the filibuster. Democrats had that briefly a few years later which is how we ended up with the Affordable Care Act.

Progressives have been ascendant in the Democratic party, and are beginning to wield sizeable clout within the Democratic party. Some have been disappointed to learn that a party majority doesn't necessarily mean there is an ideological majority.

Congress Update

Daily Digests – House • Senate — Prayers — Committee Reports

Related Headlines:

Senate — Daily Leader Remarks • Actions begun, passed, declined, summarized

U.S. Senate confirms Gelpí and O’Hearn to federal judgeships

Senate Narrowly Confirms Due Process Foe Catherine Lhamon To Education Department

GOP blocks Senate Democrats' revised elections bill — S. 2747


House — Weekly Leader Colloquy • Actions passed, summarized

Jan. 6 Committee, House votes to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt

House passes bill to expand workplace protections for nursing mothers — H.R. 3110

In Context: The Intervening Election

The Senate often has an “intervening day” in between when intended action is filed and when votes are taken. Give the cooling saucer a chance to cool.

Going up an order of magnitude on the time scale, Congress is in a two-month intervening period between debt limit actions. While the two sides remain at heated odds, there is a factor that could have a cooling effect: Virginia.

Congress Update

Daily Digests – House • Senate — Prayers — Committee Reports

Related Headlines:


House of Representatives

House votes to raise debt ceiling

In Context: Strategic Pause

After rejecting a request for a strategic pause from a Senator from his own party a month ago, Majority Leader Schumer this week accepted an offer for a pause from Republican Leader McConnell. Wall Street was getting nervous and credit rating agencies were announcing intended changes if the debt ceiling was not raised.

While Republicans felt they had a strong case for having nothing to do with a debt limit increase, they gave a temporary reprieve to ensure their case was airtight. Make no mistake, if they are not taken seriously, if the U.S. hits a hard fiscal limit, and Members of Congress start taking incoming from all corners of the economy, the pressure to “do something” will be immense, unlike anything yet seen.

Congress Update

Daily Digests – House • Senate — Prayers — Committee Reports

Senate — Daily Leader Remarks • Actions begun, passed, declined, summarized

Related Headlines:

Senate

Executive Session

Lauren King confirmed to U.S. district court

Legislative Session

Congress sends 30-day highway funding patch to Biden after infrastructure stalls — H.R. 5434

S. 1301, the legislative vehicle to suspend the debt limit
Senate approves short-term debt ceiling increase

Schumer Gloats (Full Speech), Senate Democrats are still vowing not to act later via reconciliation

Biden Warned In Letter Ripping Schumer’s Speech: ‘Even Democratic Senators Were Visibly Embarrassed’

Why the Senate blinked — and stepped back from the brink of a federal default

In Context: Legislative Rock Paper Scissors

There are three items at hand in Washington right now, each of which has similarities to items in the zero-sum game Rock Paper Scissors: the bipartisan infrastructure bill (rock), the partisan budget reconciliation option (paper), and the debt limit (scissors). Each one of these items is functioning as leverage over another.

Congress Update

Daily Digests – House • Senate — Prayers — Committee Reports

Related Headlines:

Senate

Executive Session

Schumer moves to break Cruz’s vise on diplomatic nominations

Parsing the drama in the Senate over Biden’s nominations

Senate votes to confirm Warren ally Rohit Chopra as CFPB chief

Tracy Stone-Manning, of Montana, to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management
Senate confirms eco-terrorist-linked Biden nominee who endorsed population control

Legislative Session

H.R. 5305, Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act
Senate Republicans thwart legislation pairing government funding with debt limit increase • Senate Votes Down Republican Amendment to Block Biden Vaccine Mandate (Still No Timeline for Implementing OSHA Vaccine Rule)

Unanimous Consent

Senate stalls borrowing limit increase


House of Representatives

Suspension of the Rules

US House passes Libya sanctions bill after blow to unity government — H.R. 1228

House passes bill to end crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity — H.R. 1693

House passes legislation to strengthen federal cybersecurity workforce — H.R. 3599

Considered Pursuant to a Rule

NDAA Amendment (prior week)
House Votes to End Support for Long Entanglement in Yemen — H.Amdt. 113

S. 1301 (legislative vehicle)
House Passes Debt Ceiling Bill to Suspend Limit • Two Dems, one Republican vote against parties on debt ceiling