The Senate is in session, but the House will be gone for a one-week recess as Republicans head to Florida for their annual policy retreat.

The upper chamber will focus on nominations that have garnered bipartisan support due to the Democrats’ slim margins in the majority and the fact that Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have yet to return to Washington due to health challenges. Further, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could remain out after he was hospitalized last week after sustaining a concussion from a fall at an event. 

Should McConnell return, there is the possibility that the Senate will vote on H.J.Res. 27, which would overturn the Biden Administration’s environmental protections for waters and wetlands nationwide, known colloquially as WOTUS. The House passed the measure last week with the support of nine Democrats. All Republicans and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) support the resolution. If it passes and heads to the President’s desk, Biden could be forced to issue his second veto in the past month. 

Congress has also been paying close attention to the government’s ongoing intervention into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week. A second bank, Signature Bank, failed and was closed by New York state financial regulators on Sunday. In response, the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took extraordinary measures over the weekend to shore up confidence in the financial system, introducing a new backstop for banks that Federal Reserve officials said was big enough to protect the entire nation’s deposits. 

Administration

On Monday, President Biden will travel to San Diego to participate in a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom.

Senate Side

On Tuesday, the Senate will vote on whether to invoke cloture on Brent Neiman’s nomination to be deputy undersecretary of the Treasury Department. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has also filed cloture on former Los Angeles Mayor Eric M. Garcetti to be ambassador to India, Ravi Chaudhary to be an assistant secretary of the Air Force, and Laura Taylor-Kale to be an assistant secretary of Defense.

[View source.]