Congress stares down hefty to-do list in its final week of 2023

Congress is staring down a hefty to-do list as it heads into the final legislative week of 2023, sparking a last-ditch effort in both chambers to complete must-pass legislation and check off various priorities on party agendas.

Toward the top of that list for the Senate is striking a deal on border security and sending more aid to Ukraine, which the White House and lawmakers in both parties have underscored as a pressing need as the year closes out. That goal will come under acute focus this week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting Capitol Hill, giving him an opportunity to ask lawmakers for more support directly as Kyiv battles against Russia.

Zelensky is scheduled to attend an all-senators meeting, gather with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and meet with President Biden on Tuesday.

Also in the Senate, lawmakers will consider the annual defense bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with hopes of sending it to the House before the chambers break for the holiday recess.

On the House side, Republicans this week are slated to hold a vote on bolstering their impeachment inquiry into Biden, a priority as the probe enters a more difficult phase that includes landing high-profile witnesses.

Zelensky on Capitol Hill as Senate border talks continue

Zelensky is set to visit Washington this week, putting a spotlight on talks in the Senate over border security as lawmakers look to unlock aid for Ukraine.

Zelensky is slated to attend an all-senators meeting in the Capitol Tuesday morning, according to a Senate leadership aide, after receiving an invitation from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Zelensky is also set to meet with Johnson in the Capitol on Tuesday, the Speaker’s spokesperson announced on Sunday.

The conversations come as Congress is stuck on sending aid to Ukraine with a growing contingent of Republican lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol opposed to more support for Kyiv amid its battle against Russia.

“America has sent enough money to Ukraine. We should tell Zelensky to seek peace,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote on X Sunday.

The White House, however, has implored Congress to send more aid to Ukraine. Last week, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said the U.S. is “out of money — and nearly out of time” to send more aid to Ukraine. The White House unveiled a roughly $100 billion national security supplemental earlier this year that includes about $60 billion for Ukraine, but the package has not moved.

Instead, Republicans in both chambers are insisting that any aid for Ukraine is paired with border security. A bipartisan group of senators has engaged in talks for weeks over striking a deal on border security but it has struggled to reach a deal amid bitter disagreements.

On Sunday, Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), the lead Democratic negotiator, called GOP demands “unreasonable.”

“We are still trying to resolve some pretty big differences that remain,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” later adding: “This has to be resolved right now, which is why Republicans have to be reasonable. We are not going to solve the entire problem of immigration between now and the end of the year. But we can make a down payment.”

Murphy also said he thinks the White House will “get more engaged this week” on the border talks.

Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), the lead GOP negotiator, meanwhile, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he is eyeing the finish line.

“These negotiations haven’t been going on a week, they’ve been going on months. So, we’ve come a long ways. It’s time to be able to finish this, make a decision and do what we can do to be able to help the nation,” he said. “We can’t do everything on the border. But we can do the things to actually begin to control the border so that the United States is in control of our boundaries, not the cartels.”

House to vote on bolstering Biden impeachment inquiry

The House this week is set to vote on a resolution bolstering the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into Biden with the conference looking to put more legal heft behind the probe as it heads into a more combative phase.

The resolution, which spans 14 pages, says its purpose is directing “certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Joseph BIden, President of the United States.”

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to mark up the legislation on Tuesday.

Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden in September, directing the chairs of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees to continue their investigations into the Biden family finances and a Justice Department probe into Hunter Biden’s alleged failure to pay taxes.

McCarthy declined to hold a vote on establishing the inquiry in September, instead declaring it open on his own accord. Johnson, however, is now staging a vote after the White House — while responding to subpoenas from the panel — argued that the investigation was not legitimate because it had not been set up through a formal House vote.

Johnson on Sunday accused the White House of “stonewalling” GOP lawmakers.

“We have to be very methodical and careful and follow the facts where they lead. The impeachment inquiry is the next necessary step because the White House is now stonewalling our investigation,” he said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

House tees up ‘queen-of-the-hill’ for FISA

The House this week is teeing up a “queen-of-the-hill” vote on reforming the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers, a bitter battle that has pit two powerful committees against one another.

The chamber is scheduled to vote on a bill to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) from the House Judiciary Committee and another from the House Intelligence Committee, two pieces of legislation with differences that are sparking a showdown between the two panels. Whichever receives more support on the floor will be sent to the Senate.

FISA’s Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreigners abroad without a warrant that, in the process, picks up communications from Americans.

Members of the Judiciary Committee are pushing for a requirement that the government receives a warrant before it reviews information on Americans communicating with those abroad who are swept up in the process. Lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee, however, see such a requirement as weakening the purpose of the surveillance powers and preventing law enforcement from sifting through information it may need to act immediately.

Politico reported last week that the GOP conference will meet Monday night to discuss the debate over FISA’s Section 702. To settle the disagreement, however, Johnson last week said he would bring both bills to the floor to assess which has more support — then send that one to the Senate.

“My intention is to bring the bills reported by the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to the floor under a special rule that provides members a fair opportunity to vote in favor of their preferred measure. Further, we have received commitments from Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell that the Senate will work in good faith on a final reform bill that can be passed in both chambers,” Johnson wrote in a letter to colleagues.

In the meantime, however, the House-Senate compromise defense bill includes a short-term extension of FISA’s Section 702 until April 19, allowing the intelligence community to work as Congress hashes out differences on long-term reforms.

The Senate is scheduled to consider that annual defense bill this week. Last week, the measure overcame its first procedural hurdle: the Senate voted 82-15 on the motion to proceed to the NDAA.