FY20 Spending Bills

With the Memorial Day and lengthy August recess looming between now and the end of the fiscal year on September 30, appropriators will be focused on moving FY20 spending bills. The House Appropriations Committee held its first FY20 spending bill markup this week in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Over the coming weeks, the Committee and its subcommittees will continue to consider the remaining FY20 bills, while their Senate counterparts have not yet scheduled any markups as they await their top-line funding levels.

Pending Nominations

Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s (R-KY) top priority for the coming months will be confirming as many of over 100 nominations pending before the Senate as possible, including dozens of judicial nominations.

Debt Ceiling Negotiations

There will also be an effort to address some 30 tax extenders set to expire in the coming months while McConnell and Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) negotiate around raising the debt ceiling before the Treasury Department runs out of so-called extraordinary measures, likely this fall.

House Minority Leader McCarthy (R-CA) also announced this week that his caucus will hold a policy retreat September 12-14 in Baltimore.