What’s Next in Congress After Passage of Foreign Aid Package
The Home is scheduled to take up a number of payments, with probably the most notable being laws to fight anti-Semitism on school and college campuses.
After passing a $95 billion bundle final week that included help to Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and a invoice with measures comparable to banning TikTok, Congress returns subsequent week from a week-long break.
The Home is scheduled to take up seven payments, with probably the most notable being laws to fight anti-Semitism on school and college campuses, The Epoch Occasions has realized.
The Anti-Semitism Consciousness Act, launched by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), would have the U.S. authorities undertake the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which was within the government order in making use of the definition government-wide as the usual in coping with anti-Semitic incidents, particularly on school and college campuses. (The State Division adopted the definition by itself in 2016 below President Barack Obama.)
There are examples of anti-Semitism below the definition together with hatred towards the Jewish state of Israel.
Whereas Jews are technically thought of a spiritual group, which Title VI doesn’t cowl, the bipartisan invoice states that “discrimination in opposition to Jews could give rise to a violation of such title when the discrimination is predicated on race, shade, or nationwide origin, which might embrace discrimination based mostly on precise or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic traits.”
The laws would permit for schools and universities to lose federal funding in the event that they fail to handle, or insufficiently handle, anti-Semitism on their campuses.
The invoice comes amid a wave of virulent anti-Semitism on campuses comparable to Columbia College, Harvard College, and Yale College.
Moreover, the Home is predicted to take up measures associated to federal lands and eradicating the grey wolf from safety below the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Movement to Vacate?
Republicans have expressed frustration with Home Speaker Mike Johnson, who succeeded former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October after the latter was stripped of the gavel following a profitable movement to vacate.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a movement to vacate in March after Mr. Johnson put forth a $1.2 trillion invoice to fund many of the authorities. On the time, she stated the movement was a warning shot to the speaker.
“Mike Johnson’s speakership is over. He must do the best factor to resign and permit us to maneuver ahead in a managed course of. If he doesn’t achieve this, he will likely be vacated,” Ms. Greene advised Fox Information on April 21.
Nevertheless, Democrats have stated or instructed they might come to Mr. Johnson’s rescue if he put the bundle on the Home flooring.
Ms. Greene’s movement has the assist of Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).
Senate Schedule to be Decided
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has not launched a schedule for the higher congressional chamber.
Mr. Schumer’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
However in a letter to colleagues on April 5, Mr. Schumer listed agenda gadgets that the Senate has but to take up.
This consists of funding for the Port of Baltimore and the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed on March 26 when a container ship bumped into it.
“It can take bipartisan cooperation for the Senate to behave rapidly to assist reopen the Port of Baltimore, a serious artery for commerce, and rebuild the Key Bridge as rapidly as doable,” wrote Mr. Schumer.
The Biden administration has not given Congress a selected greenback quantity, however has known as on Congress to allocate funding to handle the scenario.
Lastly, Mr. Schumer, in his letter, listed different targets together with passing laws coping with web security for youngsters; increasing the kid tax credit score, which expired on the finish of 2021; hashish banking; web affordability; combating the fentanyl disaster; reducing the price of prescribed drugs comparable to insulin, capping that drug at $35; and rail security within the aftermath of the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, practice derailment.
“There are a lot of essential, bipartisan points this Congress might handle this 12 months, and I hope our Senate Republican colleagues don’t permit the ultra-right wing of their get together to derail progress on these bipartisan payments,” he wrote.