The House of Representatives will return from its recess on August 23, 2021, to resume consideration of the budget resolution. Rep. Hoyer highlighted that upon their return, representatives will remain in session until they complete work on the budget resolution and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Budget Resolution

The Senate passed the widely anticipated $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday morning on a 50-49 party-line vote. Senators Manchin and Sinema did not vote alongside other Democrats on several of the 41 amendments presented during vote-a-rama – including those relating to the promotion of “critical race theory” in schools, limiting electric-vehicle tax credits, or those aimed at keeping the Hyde Amendment – limiting federal funding for abortions – intact.

The summary of the budget resolution can be found here

The text of the resolution can be found here

Infrastructure

On Tuesday, the Senate – 69-30 – passed the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill. As the bill moves to the House for a vote, Democrats seek to keep the legislative wins and will likely succeed in the inclusion of other relevant provisions. Concerning amendments regarding cryptocurrency and provisions permitting increased state and local governments’ discretionary use of up to 30 percent of previously enacted federal COVID-19 dollars was not included in the final package.

Vaccines

Concerning news brought in the beginning of this week as official reports demonstrated that the U.S. was averaging – for the first time since February of this year – more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day. The depressing numbers were most prevalent in states with large portions of unvaccinated people.

Currently, children under 12-years are not eligible for the currently available vaccinations that have been advanced under the FDA’s emergency use authorization – but parents are seeking answers.  The Pentagon has, however, made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for the 1.3 million active-duty troops who must get the shot “no later” than the middle of September 2021