This Week In Congress

Congress is continuing to push ahead with their work on the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills with the expiration of the current continuing resolution (CR) looming on November 17th. With the current CR deadline fast approaching, there have been discussions about implementing an additional CR. The Senate is considering extending the deadline to mid-December, while the House is considering a CR that would run into January. House Republicans are also considering a “laddered” CR which would set staggered deadlines for appropriations bills, giving shorter deadlines to bills with more widespread support and more contentious bills a longer timeline.

House

The House tried to pass the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill Tuesday evening, but abruptly postponed the final vote due to concern that the legislation did not have the votes for passage because some Republicans oppose the measure over its cuts to Amtrak and transit grants. Earlier in the evening, an amendment to the bill that would have eliminated funding for HIV/AIDS housing assistance was soundly defeated with 71 Republicans joining all Democrats to support the program. And on Thursday, a vote on the Financial Services appropriations bill was also postponed, in part because at least eight republican members oppose the bill over restrictive contraception and family planning measures. Speaker Johnson has said that the Labor-HHS-Education and Commerce-Justice-Science bills are expected on the floor the week of November 13th, but given this week’s false starts, that schedule remains tenuous.

Senate

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm a new NIH Director, Monica Bertagnolli. On Wednesday, the Senate heard from the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services on the president’s $56 billion domestic supplemental.

Elsewhere in the federal government, the CDC released its first look at 2022 STI surveillance data and announced dire levels of congenital syphilis. NCSD’s statement on the report can be found here. It includes an urgent request for $1 billion to curtail STIs and urges the White House to appoint a coordinator for the response.