Advocacy Monthly - March 2024
Recent Legislative Happenings
This month has been an exciting one on Capitol Hill, particularly when it comes to government funding and retirements.
Government Funding
After months battling over final numbers for all twelve appropriations bills, Congress finally managed to pass two consolidated six-bill FY24 spending packages, while avoiding a noticeable government shutdown. Total spending for the fiscal year is now set at $1.659 trillion.
On March 6th, the House voted by a margin of 339-85 in support of a consolidated 6-bill spending package, including Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-HUD.
Support for this deal was later echoed by the Senate’s vote of 75-22 later that that week on March 8th and was signed off by the President.
On March 22nd, the House voted by a margin of 286-135 to fund the other half of the budget, including Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations. Passage in the Senate was held up by the threat of amendments that, if agreed to, would throw the package back to a recessed House.
Senate leaders were able to draw voting to a close without amendment, and the remaining consolidated appropriation bill was approved by the Senate by a vote of 74-24 at 1:51am. Because of the delay in passage, the government was technically shut down, but only briefly.
The passage of these consolidated spending bills has finally pulled the government out of the headlights of a shutdown, and Congress will finally be free to fully give attention to its agenda items for the first time in months. However, whether unity exists for such action remains to be seen.
Retirements
Recent retirements in the House will leave Speaker Johnson in a serious dilemma. The new breakdown by the end of April will be 217-213, meaning he can only afford one party defection on any legislative initiative. Meanwhile the threat of a vote of no confidence hangs over his head. Additional changes in the Senate are increasing the challenges.
Representative Ken Buck (CO-04) retired from his seat on March 22nd, and Representative Mike Gallagher (WI-08) will be retiring effective April 19th. As two more Republicans leave the House, the balance of power is once again set to narrow even further. The new breakdown by the end of April will be 217-213, meaning that Speaker Johnson can only afford the loss of 1 vote for bill passage. If all this was not bad enough, the embattled Speaker is also going to be faced with a Motion to Vacate as put forth by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene—a consequence of compromising with the Democrats to pass the budget. Speaker Johnson will have to survive this motion with the votes he has, and then continue to navigate the turbulent political waters in the remaining months until November. With the impending election season threatening his control and internal rebellion shaking up plans, Speaker Johnson’s position is far from secure.
In addition to this change in House membership, the Senate is also experiencing its own shake-up. Senator Mitch McConnell has announced that he will be stepping down from his position as Minority Leader. While he is not planning on leaving his seat anytime soon, this announcement represents a significant shift in Senate leadership. Senator McConnell has served as both Minority and Majority leader since 2006, and his place in leadership has largely defined the Senate Republicans through the Presidency’s of Obama, Trump, and Biden. Senate Republicans are now cued up to elect a new leader in November. With the Senate balance also being up in the air this coming November, the incoming elected leader will be immediately thrust into the position of defining their party’s agenda and direction when it comes to matters in the upper chamber.
As Congress transitions to a more stable financial footing now is a great opportunity for your organization to gain traction on your advocacy efforts and give that final push towards enacting your desired policy changes.