Capitol Hill Update: August 27, 2018

Schedule:

The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess.

Senate:

The rumor going around the Capitol early last week was that the Senate would be out of session this week. But that rested on a deal on a slate of 17 nominations, including a dozen district court appointments. No deal was reached, and the Senate will be in session for at least part of the week. The Senate will reconvene on Monday at 4:00 pm to resume consideration of Lynn Johnson to serve as assistant secretary for family support at the Department of Health and Human Services. A vote to invoke cloture will take place around 5:30 pm.

The other nominations waiting for consideration: One can reasonably expect that nominations will consume the floor in the Senate this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed cloture on Johnson and 16 nominations on Wednesday of last week. Those nominations are as follows:

• Richard Clarida to serve as the vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four years
• Richard Clarida to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the unexpired term of fourteen years from February 1, 2008
• Joseph H. Hunt to serve as an assistant attorney general
• Isabel Marie Keenan Patelunas to serve as assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis, Department of the Treasury
• Terry Fitzgerald Moorer to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Alabama
• R. Stan Baker to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia
• Charles Barnes Goodwin to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma
• Barry W. Ashe to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana
• James R. Sweeney II to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana
• Susan Paradise Baxter to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• Marilyn Jean Horan to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• William F. Jung to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida
• Dominic W. Lanza to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona
• Charles J. Williams to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa
• Robert R. Summerhays to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana
• Alan D. Albright to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas

Remember, absent consent agreements or other considerations to reduce the allowed time for debate on the floor, each nominee could take 30 hours of post-cloture time, split between both parties.

Neither chamber has taken up measures for the three remaining appropriations bills, which are Homeland Security, State and Foreign Operations, and Commerce, Science, and Justice. We’ve heard that the Commerce, Science, and Justice may not come to the House floor before the end of the fiscal year because of the likelihood of messaging amendments from Democrats and Republicans related to the Russia investigation. Below, we have a breakdown of which appropriations bills have passed the House or Senate.

The Senate committee schedule for the week can be found here.

House:

The House was in pro forma session on Tuesday and Friday of last week. The House will again be in pro forma on Tuesday at 12:00 pm. As noted before, the House will reconvene on Tuesday, September 4. We expect House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) office to send the floor calendar for next week on Friday.