This Week in Congress

The House is in session Tuesday through Friday.  Right now, there are no votes on gun control legislation scheduled this week—but that could change. I have heard that the Democrats are still divided on what gun control bills they wish to push.

The Senate will consider nominations and will likely vote on the continuing resolution funding the government through November.

You can see the House roll-call vote on the continuing resolution here.

Today, the House will vote on legislation regarding allegations that President Trump threatened to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless the Ukraine government investigates former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s Ukrainian business dealings. This legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent yesterday.

Right now, the big bills on the schedule are two bills dealing with immigration. The first bill, H.R. 2203 creates a commission to study the handling of families and children crossing the border. It also creates an Ombudsman to investigate complaints regarding border security and immigration.

The bill also forbids a removal of a child from their parents except in certain cases, such as when a federal court determines that removal is in a child’s best interest. The bill also reverses President Trump’s policies limiting asylum  requests.

The second bill is H.R. 3525, which requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish procedures to provide medical screening  for everyone entering the U.S.

The House will consider a number of bills under suspension this week, including:

1.  H.R. 1995– Protects financial institutions that provide services to businesses operating legally under state law from being punished by federal regulators.

2.  H.R. 3106– Requires a new report on domestic and international terrorism be prepared by the National Center for the Study of Terrorism.

3.  H.R. 3691– Requires the TSA to make its materials understandable to every traveler including those who do not speak English.

4. H.R. 2589– Requires the Homeland Security department to develop a “doctrine” including guidance on how agents should collect and disseminate information.

5. H.R. 3675– Requires a review of the trusted traveler program focusing on procedures to ensure the TSA is minimizing risks that travelers will be improperly removed from the program and are given proper redress once they are reinstated.

6. H.R. 3526– Gives the US Customs and Border Protection Agency new power to conduct counter terrorism activities.

7. H.R. 3694—Requires TSA agents to undergo training on how to properly screen pregnant women and families with young children. (Maybe this will help avoid incidents such as that experienced by Ron Paul Institute Executive Director Daniel McAdams and his family last year, but I doubt it.)

8. H.R. 3710—Gives Homeland Security new authority to share information on how to mitigate threats to cybersecurity and gives a prize to the agency, individual, or private business who comes up with the best way to mitigate cybersecurity threats.

9. H.R. 3722—Establishes a new task force in the Department of Homeland Security to focus on stopping opioids from entering the United States.