The House's Sprint to the August Recess, Nominations in the Senate, CR to December on the Agenda

Point of Order is a (mostly) weekly preview of key congressional activity for those with more than a passing interest in federal policy.

Schedule and suspensions in the House: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 pm. The House will also be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The last votes for the week are currently expected on Thursday. Twenty-four (24) bills are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are available here.

• H.R. 8720 – Campaign Finance Transparency Act (House Administration Committee)

• H.R. 2715 – Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 2821 – FDA Modernization Act 3.0 (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 4348 – To reauthorize the Kay Hagan Tick Act, and for other purposes (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 5160 – Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 3747 – Accelerating Access to Dementia and Alzheimer’s Provider Training (AADAPT) Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 8209 – School-Based Health Centers Reauthorization Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 2001 – To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize a grant program for addressing dental workforce needs (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 1493 – To reauthorize and make improvements to Federal programs relating to the prevention, detection, and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, and for other purposes (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 3491 – DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Project Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 4541 – EARLY Act Reauthorization (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 6238 – NIH IMPROVE Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 8205 – Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Reauthorization Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 1703 – Choices for Increased Mobility Act (Energy and Commerce Committee)

• H.R. 8823 – Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act (Education and Workforce Committee)

• H.R. 1118 – Value Over Cost Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 7283 – Ensuring Federal Purchasing Efficiency Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 2069 – Stop Secret Spending Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 4123 – FIT Procurement Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 6330 – Federal Relocation Payment Improvement Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 1722 – Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 5578 – Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act (Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• H.R. 3029 – Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)

• H.R. 8790 – Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)

Bills that come to the floor under suspension of the rules require two-thirds of members present and voting for passage. This is the most common way that bills considered by the House come to the floor. Some of these bills may be passed by a voice vote, rather than a roll call vote. Most bills that come to the floor under suspension aren’t widely considered controversial, although leadership may occasionally test a bill under suspension to gauge opposition or sneak a bill through the chamber.

Rule bills: The House Rules Committee will meet today at 2:00 pm to mark up the rule(s) providing for the consideration of the Main Street Capital Access Act, H.R. 6955; the Stop Insider Trading Act, H.R. 7008; the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2027, H.R. 8800; Establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2027 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2028 through 2036, H. Con. Res. 113; the Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, H.R. 8884; and the Continuing Appropriations Act for FY 2027, H.R. 9770.

We may have a CR on the floor: H.R. 9770 is a continuing resolution (CR) through Friday, December 4. Some conservatives are apparently annoyed by the decision to put this CR on the floor and want to look at budget reconciliation to fund more of the federal government because, they say, Democrats want to shut down the government. It’s not clear where Democrats will come down on the CR, but H.R. 9770 doesn’t have poison pills attached to it. It’s clean, and, if passed, it would take a shutdown off the table until after the midterm elections.

About the budget resolution: H.Con.Res. 113 is the budget resolution for “reconciliation 3.0.” It provides reconciliation instructions to four House committees—Agriculture, Armed Services, Intelligence, and House Administration—and allows for a budget deficit of up to $95 billion over the ten-year budget window. Notably, the resolution doesn’t provide for any offsets. It’s not clear that House Republican leadership has the votes to move H.Con.Res. 113 out of the chamber. One sweetener for conservatives is the $10 billion to the House Administration for the so-called “SAVE America Act.” However, because most of the SAVE America Act can’t be done through budget reconciliation, this $10 billion would be for grant programs to push states to adopt elements of it, such as citizenship checks when someone registers to vote and voter ID.

About the Stop Insider Trading Act: The Stop Insider Trading Act was already pretty toothless, but the House Republican leadership has attached voter ID to H.R. 7008. Critics argue that the Stop Insider Trading Act doesn’t go far enough because it largely prohibits lawmakers from buying new individual stocks while allowing them to keep—and in many cases sell—the stocks they already own. As a result, members of Congress could still hold investments in companies affected by the laws they write and vote on, leaving what many see as the core conflict of interest intact. Opponents also note that the bill doesn’t broadly restrict other types of investments, such as private companies, cryptocurrencies, or certain narrowly focused funds, leading them to conclude that it reduces some opportunities for questionable trading without fully addressing the appearance or reality of lawmakers profiting from their public office.

This week is it for the House until August 31: The House is currently scheduled to begin the August recess at the end of the week. Unless changes are made to the calendar, the House won’t come back until Monday, August 31.

House committee schedule: The full House committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.

Nominations to start the week in the Senate: The Senate convenes today at 3:00 pm. A roll call vote is scheduled at 5:30 pm for the cloture motion for the nomination of Benjamin M. Flowers to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. We also expect the Senate to vote on the confirmation of Kara Marie Westercamp to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade. Cloture was invoked on the Westercamp nomination last week. We’re not sure about the rest of the week, but work on the CR is possible if the House can get it over to the Senate.

Budget reconciliation in the Senate: It doesn’t seem like the Senate wants anything to do with the House budget resolution. Unlike the House, the Senate doesn’t begin its recess until Monday, August 10. It’s possible that the chamber sits on the budget resolution if the House sends it over until later in the work period. Watching this develop over the next couple of weeks is going to be very interesting.

Senate committee schedule: The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.

Due Process Institute is a bipartisan nonprofit that works to honor, preserve, and restore principles of fairness in the criminal legal system. Follow us on Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook.