[author: Lai Lam]

The Senate returns Wednesday at noon. Here’s the agenda for the short work week:

Confirmations. The chamber will consider the nominations of Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr. and Julius Ness Richardson to be U.S. circuit judges for the 4th Circuit.

FY 2019 Appropriations. H.R. 6157, the third “minibus” spending package, is expected to hit the floor. The package is expected to include funding for Defense and Labor-HHS-Education.

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The 2019 NDAA will be signed by the president today in Fort Drum, NY. The $717 billion defense reauthorization measure contains a set of provisions to update operations at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), strengthening U.S. export controls and subjecting more joint ventures and other transactions to CFIUS review.

Upcoming Hearings

Aug. 16

• Senate Commerce Committee to hold an oversight hearing to examine the FCC.

Aug. 21

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to hold a hearing to examine the CMS’s efforts to fight Medicaid fraud and overpayments.

Sept. 4

• Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to kick off hearings for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.