Legislative Updates – June 9, 2023

House Committee on Education & the Workforce Hearing with Julie Su on the FY 24 DOL Budget Request

In a raucous and wide-ranging hearing, Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) expressed frustration with Acting Secretary Julie Su’s attempts to evade testifying, as well as DOL’s lack of responsiveness to Committee requests. In many ways it was another confirmation hearing, offering an opportunity for Republicans to attempt to poke holes in Su’s leadership credentials. Su’s confirmation prospects remain uncertain, given several Senators remain noncommittal.

Democrats countered by touting the Administration’s job creation record, as well as its workforce development efforts, with several Democrats highlighting the importance of expanding Registered Apprenticeship programming. Other issues areas discussed included disconnected youth, the Career-Connected High School program, overtime regulations, and WIOA. Our memo may be accessed here. Download the memo to utilize all hyperlinks.

House Committee on Education & the Workforce Subcommittee Hearing on Postsecondary Innovation

On Wednesday, June 14, at 10:15am Eastern, the House Committee on Education & the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold a hearing on “Postsecondary Innovation Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Opportunities”. It will be streamed here.

House Floor Action Stalls

Eleven conservative Republicans stalled Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s agenda this week, defeating a rule on Tuesday that would have set the framework for debate on a package of conservative bills. This rebuke to House leadership was the first time a rule has been blocked on the House floor since 2002. Conservative opposition to the rule was due to frustration over the bipartisan debt-limit bill signed into law by President Biden over the weekend, and sentiment that Speaker McCarthy was backing off pledges he made to his conference in January that helped secure his Speakership.

Both chambers will be in session next week. The House Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting on Monday afternoon to consider the terms of debate for several bills, now also including an additional bill pertaining to firearms, an overture to conservatives. It remains unclear if House Republicans will be able to resolve their intraparty disagreements in order to advance legislation on the floor.

Also this week, President Biden vetoed a congressional resolution that would have struck down his loan-forgiveness program. There is not enough support in Congress to override Biden’s veto. The Supreme Court held oral arguments on the Administration’s plan in February, and has not yet issued its ruling.

FY 24 Appropriations

The appropriations process, which had stalled during the debt-limit bill negotiations, is expected to move forward with the continuation of markups next week in the House.

The debt-limit agreement set defense and non-defense discretionary toplines for FY 24 and FY 25, previously a major sticking point for appropriators, thereby greatly increasing chances for successful completion of the FY 24 appropriations process. The agreement, including technical adjustments, amounts to flat funding for FY 24 domestic programming when compared to the current FY 23 level. Yet flat funding amounts to less funding given inflation, and there is sure to be further programmatic reductions in some accounts to provide increases to other high-priority areas. Furthermore, after conservatives blocked floor action this week, Speaker McCarthy said the House should write their bills at lower spending levels than the cap in the debt-limit law.

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to hold the Military Construction-VA Full Committee markup on Tuesday, the Agriculture Full Committee markup Wednesday, and the Defense as well as Energy-Water Subcommittee markups on Thursday. There is no date set for the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee markup.

When the Senate passed the debt-limit agreement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell entered a joint statement into the congressional record stating the debt ceiling deal does nothing to limit the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds. There is bipartisan support in the Senate on the need for supplemental defense funding above the defense cap to aide Ukraine as well as to counter China.

Speaker McCarthy, however, has stated that defense spending should go through the appropriations process and adhere to the defense caps set in law, saying a Ukraine supplemental would go nowhere in the House. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), also said that appropriators should adhere to the caps passed in the law, but added that she was open to a defense supplemental if there was a willingness to increase domestic spending at the same time.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to write their bills to the topline levels in the debt-limit law. The Senate tentatively plans to start Subcommittee markups on Thursday, June 22, with the Agriculture and Military Construction-VA bills. There is no date set for the Senate Labor-HHS Subcommittee markup.

Appropriations leaders intend to pass bills in regular order and to reconcile differences in conference committees. The debt-limit agreement incentivizes appropriators to complete their spending bills in a timely manner. If all 12 appropriations bills are not completed by January 1, after a grace period discretionary spending will see an automatic one percent cut from current FY 23 levels.

House Agriculture Committee Hearing on the Farm Bill, SNAP

On Wednesday, the House Agriculture held a hearing on “Innovation, Employment, Integrity, and Health: Opportunities for Modernization in Title IV”, the nutrition title of the farm bill which includes SNAP. Given the inclusion of SNAP provisions in the debt limit agreement, after passage there seemed to be some bipartisan agreement among the lead authorizers in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees not to focus on revisiting SNAP work requirements or state exemption issues in the farm bill. However, Speaker McCarthy has expressed openness to further changes to SNAP work requirements and there are conservatives in the House that would like to see more stringent changes, particularly given the CBO analysis which noted the SNAP provisions in the debt limit bill would cause an increase in spending and in the number of people eligible for benefits. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said Democrats will oppose the farm bill if Republicans include additional restrictions or spending cuts to SNAP. The Senate held a hearing on “SNAP and other Nutrition Assistance in the Farm Bill” last month. The farm bill needs to be reauthorized by September 30.