Congress back to work on 2024 funding bills |
Both chambers of Congress are chipping away at 2024 appropriations bills as lawmakers aim to avoid the need for a giant omnibus bill at the end of the year, while also working to avoid a government shutdown in the short term.
The House, stalled for three weeks without a Speaker, resumed work on the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill Thursday with newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) leading the chamber.
The Senate continued amendment votes on a minibus package of three appropriations bills after wrapping up negotiations on amendments earlier in the week. Voting on the package is expected into next week.
Where things stand: The House has passed four appropriations bills. The Senate has passed zero. There are 12 bills in all.
Legislative reminder: Both chambers of Congress and President Biden have to support the same version of each bill.
Johnson’s “Dear Colleague” letter ahead of the Speaker vote laid out an agenda aiming to pass all House appropriations bills by the end of November, with negotiation time planned into next year. Government funding under the current stopgap (temporary funding measure) is set to expire Nov. 17. Johnson said he’d propose a stopgap expiring Jan. 15 or April 15 “to ensure the Senate cannot jam the House with a Christmas omnibus.” A handy resource: The Congressional Research Service’s Appropriations Status Table: FY2024 lets you easily track where bills are in the process in each chamber.
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Maine shooting suspect at large |
The suspect in a Wednesday night mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that left at least 18 people dead and 13 wounded, is still at large.
The suspect, identified as Robert Card, 40, opened fire at a bowling alley Wednesday night during a children’s bowling league. He then traveled to a nearby restaurant, where he again began shooting.
He then escaped, sparking a multistate manhunt on land and water, with more than 100 federal and local investigators involved, according to The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky. Following the shootings Wednesday night, local police advised residents to shelter in place, warning that the suspect was “considered armed and dangerous” and not to approach him.
Card, an Army Reservist, underwent a mental health evaluation at a psychiatric facility earlier this year after he “began acting erratically during training,” according to The Associated Press. His family also claimed that his mental health had started to deteriorate lately and that he was hearing voices, according to NBC.
Police have issued a warrant for Card’s arrest on eight counts of murder.
Follow The Hill’s live blog for more information.
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Democratic rep to file presidential bid in N.H.
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Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) will file his candidacy for president in New Hampshire tomorrow, according to the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office.
The news comes days after President Biden‘s reelection campaign announced he won’t file for the New Hampshire presidential primary in line with Democratic National Committee (DNC) guidance. The DNC’s new primary calendar puts South Carolina first in the lineup, but New Hampshire is planning to hold the first primary.
Phillips recently stepped down from his position as co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, saying, “My convictions relative to the 2024 presidential race are incongruent with the majority of my caucus, and I felt it appropriate to step aside from elected leadership to avoid unnecessary distractions during a critical time for our country.”
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DHS, FBI warn of increasing threats to Jewish, Arab American and Muslim communities
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned of increasing threats in the U.S. amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“Since DHS and FBI issued the 10 October Public Service Announcement, the volume and frequency of threats to Americans, especially those in the Jewish, Arab American, and Muslim communities in the United States, have increased, raising our concern that violent extremists and lone offenders motivated by or reacting to ongoing events could target these communities.” Read more here. |
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Following a series of high-profile reports on Supreme Court justices receiving luxury travel accommodations and other lavish gifts, experts and others have argued that the High Court needs a code of ethics. Several justices have expressed openness to a Supreme Court ethics code. Is it only a matter of time until one is adopted?
The Hill’s Elizabeth Crisp reached out to several experts to get their thoughts. Here’s what they said (some reports have been respectfully trimmed for space): |
📣 “I’m heartened that Members of Congress are stepping into the ethics void by introducing legislation like the SCERT Act and by those Justices who are speaking out individually in favor of adopting a formal ethics code…In my view, the Court has no real choice. One way or another, if it is to survive with any semblance of judicial integrity, the Court will adopt a code of ethics.” — Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
📣 “It is ‘only a matter of time.’ But how much time and the code’s content and enforcement procedures are the tough questions. A serious ethics code that can win unanimous support within the court may take a generation and several new justices. If a court majority or the Judicial Conference…conclude that they are empowered to adopt a binding code, it will happen sooner but still not soon enough. This saddens me because it would not be a hard job.” — Stephen Gillers, legal ethics expert and professor at NYU Law School
📣 “A Supreme Court ethics code will be pointless without enforcement. The Justices are not capable of enforcing an ethics code themselves. As in many other workplaces such as police departments and academic units, in the Supreme Court colleagues cover for colleagues…To assure that an ethics code is enforced, Congress should pass legislation installing a full-time ethics lawyer and an inspector general in the Supreme Court.” — Richard Painter, professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and former chief White House ethics lawyer
📣 “Having the Court impose a Code on itself is far preferable to having Congress do so, and this is an important step in that direction. And yes, I do think it is only a matter of time before the Court adopts a Code, but whether that will be sooner, when the intransigents on the Court cave to pressure from their colleagues, or later, when they cave to the inevitability of retirement or death, remains to be seen.” — Charles Gardner Geyh, professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law whose research focuses on judicial conduct and ethics
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© AP/Jose Luis Magana, AP/Bryon Houlgrave, AP/Charlie Neibergall, AP/Jose Luis Magana |
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Third GOP debate could be make or break |
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Learn about breast cancer screening recommendations
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This past year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force began recommending all individuals assigned female at birth get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40. Recommendations for screening depend on age and a variety of other risk factors.
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“From personal memory to national history — how the stories we tell shape our world” — Tara D. Sonenshine served as the executive vice president of the United States Institute of Peace. She is the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. (Read here) “Speaker Johnson’s paradoxical job security” — Jay Sterling Silver, a law professor emeritus at St. Thomas University College of Law. (Read here) |
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13 days until the third GOP presidential primary debate.
22 days until the government funding deadline. |
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9 p.m.: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Politico’s Olivia Beavers reported. |
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Be on the lookout tomorrow for the second installment of our Friday Figures swing state series, where we dig into Arizona’s presidential and Senate election battleground terrain. |
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