Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

• Both chambers of Congress are in session, a change from the original Senate schedule as Democratic leaders force a confrontation over voting rights legislation and the filibuster.
• A bipartisan group of senators is returning from Ukraine, where they met with Ukrainian leaders as long-simmering fears of a Russian invasion and armed conflict continue to grow.
• President Joe Biden will hold a virtual bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

HOUSE

• The House is in session today through Friday. Planned floor votes include legislation to automatically enroll eligible veterans into the Veterans Affairs health system.
• Tomorrow, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on the state of America’s seaports, with testimony from the heads of three of the nation’s largest ports.
• Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will testify Thursday at an Agriculture Committee hearing on the rural economy.
• The current schedule of committee activity can be found here.

SENATE

• The Senate again plans to take up voting rights legislation and possibly a vote on eliminating the filibuster, after last week’s session was cut short and this week’s planned recess was postponed amid Democratic infighting over the issue.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday plans to mark up antitrust legislation targeting big tech companies.
• The committee schedule is light, as senators hope to hold the contentious votes today or tomorrow and leave town ahead of the recess now scheduled for next week.
• Any committee meetings that might be added can be found here.

WHITE HOUSE

• Biden will hold his first press conference of 2022 tomorrow afternoon at the White House.
• Friday, Biden will meet virtually with Prime Minister Kishida to discuss “cooperation on critical issues like combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, and partnering on new and emerging technologies.”
• Also Friday, the president will speak at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Annual Meeting.