Compass

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is back in session this week and the Senate will be in session for the next 4 weeks. As House members departed Washington D.C. on May 25th for the Memorial Day recess, they knew that there was potential for them to return over the weekend or during the […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is in session this week and then will recess for the next week. The Senate is out of session this week, but will return next week and remain in session for four weeks straight. The House is in serious debt-limit negotiations with the White House and Congressman Chip […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is in session for the next two weeks and the Senate is in session for this week before they are out for a week of recess. This week is Police Week in the House of Representatives, so the House will take up a number of law enforcement aligned […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is in session for the next three weeks and the Senate is in session for the next two weeks. The House will take up H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023 this week, one of the majorities major promises for this Congress. H.R. 2 is a […]

Good morning from Capitol Hill. The House is out of session for a week and the Senate is in session for the next three weeks. Last week, the House passed their debt ceiling bill by a slim 217-215 margin. Many across the country, and particularly inside the D.C. bubble, did not think even drafting legislative […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both in session this week. Last week the House passed a party line bill to make sure biological men cannot compete in women and girls sports. The Senate debated amendments and then passed a bill to authorize appropriations for the U.S. Fire Administration and firefighter […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are back in session this week. The House will be in for eleven out of the next fifteen weeks dealing with everything from border security to debt ceiling (watch Speaker McCarthy’s pitch to the NYSE on his plan to raise the debt ceiling) to appropriations and […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both out of session the next two weeks for the Easter recess. Last week the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Cost Act on a bipartisan basis. The Senate passed a bill to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force in […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both in session this week, before they both depart for the two-week Easter recess. This week, the House will take up H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Cost Act. H.R. 1 is a compilation of energy bills, aimed at reducing the cost of energy in the […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House comes back for an abbreviated week after the Republican conference retreat and the Senate will be in session Tuesday through Friday this week. When the House returns this week, it will turn its attention to H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights Act. The Senate will debate and […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House is out of session and Senate will work 3 of the 5 days this week. In case you missed it, the Senate passed by a vote of 81-14, a Joint Resolution aimed at overturning the D.C. Council’s desire to weaken the D.C. criminal code. The House of Representatives […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both back in session this week. The Senate will continue to vote on and process nominations. House committees will begin marking up bills in earnest this week, with lots of committee action across the board. Undoubtedly there will be some drama on the House floor, […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both out of session and will return to Washington next week. The most deliberative legislative body in the world, the United States Senate, seems content to just process nominations with little else scheduled. The House of Representatives will be in session four out of the […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill, As the Republican House majority settles into committee assignments, the investigations into the Biden administration are beginning in earnest. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced today that he will have the first hearing on Biden family “influence peddling” next week. House Judiciary led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill, where for the first time in 100 years, a Speaker of the House was not elected on the first vote. Or the second vote. This is because 19 conservatives voted for someone other than Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA). And then on a third vote, the opposition increased to 20 conservatives […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  Before departing for the holiday last week, Congress passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus. Given the speed at which it was released and then passed, it’s safe to assume that members hardly knew what was in the more than 4,000 page bill. So just like Nancy Pelosi said back in 2010, […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  It’s officially Christmas time and we’re well into Hanukkah, but here in DC, it’s Washington at its absolute worst. The holiday deadline is a cynical excuse to jam through thousands of pages of legislation covering not only the nation’s annual spending, but billions more for Ukraine, passage of actual bills […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.  It’s spending season in Washington and things are about to get real. Democrat and Republican appropriators are still desperately trying to salvage a trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill. Republicans reportedly want higher defense spending, while Democrats want parity between defense and nondefense spending. There are three ways out of this:  1) […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are both in session, and it’s a big week in Washington. The Georgia Senate runoff is tomorrow, and, depending on the outcome, Democrats will either have a 50-49 seat majority, or the Senate will remain in a 50-50 tie. The continuing resolution, which is propping up […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate return to session this week. Last week, I wrote about the battle over religious liberty brewing in the Senate on the Respect for Marriage Act, which claims to “codify same sex marriage” (it doesn’t – nothing in the bill changes the status of, or benefits afforded […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. It’s Thanksgiving week, so Congress is out of session. Former president Donald Trump last week officially declared he will seek re-election to the presidency in 2024. And by week’s end, his Twitter account was officially reinstated after over 15 million people voted approvingly in a Twitter poll put out by […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. Congress is back in session and the lame duck session starts now. On deck is a government funding deadline on December 16th, the defense authorization bill, more aid for Ukraine, and possibly even a same sex marriage bill. But before we even get to that point, the tight majorities in […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. It’s T-1 day until Election Day. America has been undergoing a tectonic political realignment for at least the last two decades, one I would argue was reflected in the election of Donald Trump in 2016. One thing his election reflected was how broadly the demographic parameters of each party are […]

Good afternoon from Capitol Hill. The House and Senate are still out of session. The midterm elections are in 8 days. And Happy Halloween! I was trying to come up with a fun pun or a cute turn of phrase but then I realized that a town full of politicians collaborating with America’s biggest corporations […]