Congress has a plate more full than Thanksgiving dinner when they return to Washington, with deadlines on funding and other policies fast approaching and the Biden impeachment inquiry reaching a pivotal moment.
Lawmakers jetted home to spend the holiday week in their districts after narrowly avoiding a shutdown with a stopgap spending bill that bought them until the new year to work out a long-term government funding plan – wrapping up a marathon 10 weeks of session in the House.
But after the week’s respite, here’s what to look out for on Capitol Hill:
Biden Impeachment
Top Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry say they have 12-15 more interviews to conduct, and are planning a deposition of Hunter and James Biden in December.
Lawmakers skipped town to spend Thanksgiving week back home after narrowly avoiding a government shutdown
They must then decide whether to vote on impeachment articles – and force moderates to make a politically fraught vote on whether or not to impeach the president.
Republicans would likely accuse the president of improperly using his office to further his family’s business dealings. They are also probing whether there was political bias in the tax and gun crimes case against Hunter Biden.
Ending an impeachment inquiry without a vote, or with a failed vote, would be an embarrassing defeat for Republicans, and would effectively look like it cleared the president of any wrongdoing.
Top Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry say they have 12-15 more interviews to conduct, and are planning a deposition of Hunter and James Biden in December
Spending deadline drama
Congress will now run up against two new funding deadlines as they try to hash out the details of a longer term spending plan.
Speaker Mike Johnson passed a two-part continuing resolution, CR, to punt the government funding deadline into the new year – despite cries from hardline conservatives – eight of whom ousted Kevin McCarthy for passing a CR.
Funding for four non-controversial agencies and projects including military construction and veterans’ affairs will be extended through January 19 and funding for eight others would run through February 2.
In the run-up to Thanksgiving week, the House yanked votes on three appropriations bills it had been hoping to pass. After months of back and forth the House had passed seven of 12 single-subject spending bills along party lines and has yet to conference those bills with the Democratic-led Senate.
If a majority in both chambers cannot agree on top line figures, they must then either pass another continuing resolution, CR, to fund the government at 2023 levels or an omnibus that combines all government funding priorities into one bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson passed a two-part continuing resolution, CR, to punt the government funding deadline into the new year
FISA renewal
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires on December 31, 2023, and Congress has been debating whether and how to renew the controversial provision that allows for warrantless wire-tapping of foreign citizens.
The Biden administration has heavily lobbied for Congress to reauthorize the program, warning that to is ‘essential’ to disrupt terrorists.
Some Republicans warn the program needs to be aggressively scaled back if it is renewed after it swept up Americans in its surveillance, while others warn not reauthorizing it could lead to serious national security risks.
A string of recent reports have revealed the FBI has not followed its own standards and there have been hundreds of thousands of abuses of the program.
Warrantless searches of Americans’ data reached a sky-high level of 3.4 million in 2021, before changes were institute and they plummeted to just over 204,000 in 2022.
FAA reauthorization
Congress must reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – the bill that governs the nation’s air traffic control system and expires at the end of the year.
An outside review commissioned by the FAA after a number of near-misses this year found the agency understaffed, outdated and inadequately funded, prompting an ‘erosion in the margin of safety.’
The House has passed its own FAA reauthorization bill but the Senate has not yet passed theirs, hung up on pilot training regulations, and then conference the bill with the House.
The Senate bill has been on ice since the summer over disagreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate GOP Whip John Thune, who proposed an amendment that would allow pilots to count flight simulator training toward their 1,500 hours of training to become a certified pilot.
Foreign aid for allies
As President Joe Biden makes a desperate plea for Congress to pass aid for Ukraine and Israel, the prospects of that ever happening seem to be dwindling.
The White House has requested $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region.
House Republicans have already passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel – but the bill repurposed money from the IRS – which Democrats balked at. Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted any emergency package must be offset.
Fallout in Ukraine’s Donetsk region from a Russian missile strike this week
Meanwhile, some liberal lawmakers have insisted Biden must condition aid on whether Israel commits to avoiding civilian casualties.
In the Senate lawmakers have been working on package that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan – and offers Republicans border security provisions in exchange.
But striking a balance on border security that would satisfy House Republicans and Senate liberals is a tall order.
Johnson has not ruled out Ukraine aid as long as it’s attached to sufficient border provisions, even as hardliners warn him to drop any efforts to push through aid for the war-torn country.