Issue Backlog Builds in DC

L . Thomas Block
Key Takeaways
  • The list of legislative "must-do" items continues to grow, adding to the Congressional backlog.
  • Tax legislation that included credits for low-income working families and incentives for small businesses passed the House with bipartisan support.
  • However, there appears to have been little progress on passing funding for Israel and Ukraine and for security on the U.S. southern border.

The week ends with a growing list of “must do” items being added to the Congressional agenda.  The list includes the Supplemental Spending Bill that has been requested by the White House to send arms to Ukraine and Israel, the crisis at the Southern border, a bipartisan tax bill that overwhelmingly passed the House this week, and a government shutdown a month away.

While there appears to be support for sending arms to Ukraine and Israel, the votes to act seem to be slipping away.  Progressive Democrats are raising issues with respect to aid for Israel and some conservative Republicans have become opposed to aid for Ukraine.  In addition to the declining support for the Supplemental funding, there is the tug-of-war on a bipartisan border/immigration measure that is being developed in the Senate.  Senate Leader Charles Schumer has said that the bill will be introduced shortly, and the Immigration/Supplemental package could come to the Senate floor next week.

On the more positive side, the House demonstrated rare bipartisanship when it approved a tax bill that helped businesses with tax incentives while simultaneously renewing and expanding the Child Tax Credit designed to help impoverished working families.  The vote in the House was 357 to 70.  As has become a regular pattern, the NO votes came from the most progressive Democrats and the most conservative Republicans.  The Ds opposed the business tax breaks, and the Rs opposed the Child Tax Credit, framing it as big-government welfare.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it seems that quick action will be stymied by the same split that led to the NO votes in the House; but mainly from Senate Republicans who felt left out of the process.  The Senate will need 60 votes to pass the House bill, but a handful of Republicans want the opportunity to offer amendments to curb the Child Tax Credit. At this point, it is not clear how Leader Schumer will structure the debate on the bill.

In addition to these issues, Congress has made little progress on passing any of the 12 appropriation bills required to keep the government open past the dual deadlines of March 1 and March 8.

Bottom line is that the legislative queue just gets longer by the week.

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L . Thomas Block
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