Congress This Week

This week

• Primetime Jan. 6 hearing
• House to vote on bill protecting access to contraceptives (H.R. 8373)
• Senate to vote on bill to bolster semiconductor industry
• Talks continue on budget reconciliation bill

House set to vote on proposal that would codify same-sex marriage into federal law (H.R. 8404) • The legislation, named the Respect for Marriage Act, was introduced by a group of mostly Democratic lawmakers on Monday. If enacted, the bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman. The bill would also alter the federal definition of marriage to include same-sex unions. 

Ukraine’s first lady to address Congress this week • She met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. • On Tuesday, Zelenska will deliver remarks at the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington and accept the Dissident Human Rights Award on behalf of the people of Ukraine. • Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska will address Congress on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Monday. The first lady will deliver remarks in the congressional auditorium of the Capitol Visitor Center and all members of the House and Senate are invited.

Republicans ready grenades against Democrats’ dwindling dream bill • “Senate Republicans will raise their own objections this week as Democrats scramble to address the West Virginia Democrat’s further narrowing of their party-line bill. The GOP is readying arguments before the Senate’s nonpartisan rules arbiter in a bid to eject more items from the ever-slimmer package Democrats once called Build Back Better. … This week’s wonky faceoff before the Senate parliamentarian is likely to be substantially quicker and less painful for the majority party now that Manchin has sworn off tax hikes, which Republicans were ready to protest as unworkable under the chamber’s rules. But even the central piece that remains after Manchin’s latest ultimatum — policy to lower prescription drug prices — is at risk of dwindling further under the Republican onslaught.”