This Week: A $152 billion bill for veterans affairs, military construction, and related agencies – GovTrack.us

News From Us, Legislative Preview

This Week: A $152 billion bill for veterans affairs, military construction, and related agencies

June 22, 2025 · by Daniel Schuman

Reps. Massie and Khanna introduced a bipartisan War Powers Resolution on June 17 “to prohibit ‘United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.’ ” In light of President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran on Saturday evening — only Congress can declare war under U.S. Constitution Article 1, section 8, clause 11 — this resolution may receive increased attention. War Powers Resolutions are privileged in the House of Representatives and can be called up for debate and vote after 15 calendar days of committee inaction. Over the weekend, Massie, a Republican, said of the bombing, “This is not Constitutional.” and “I’m amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren’t at war…so they can make war.

House bills this week

The House and Senate are in session this week. Four bills are scheduled for consideration in the House under a rule. The rule is a majority-leadership-influenced resolution governing how legislation will be debated. Note that all rules bills may change further depending on the resolution reported by the House Committee on Rules. Passage requires a simple majority of representatives present. Those bills include:

• Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (bill text, committee report, rules committee print), H.R. 3944. This legislation provides appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction under the Department of Defense, and related agencies such as the American Battle Monuments Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Army Cemeterial Expenses, Armed Forces Retirement Home, and more. Read the Republican and Democratic fact sheets describing what is in the $152 billion bill. While the committee report is not law, agencies generally follow its instructions.
• Special Interest Alien Reporting Act of 2025 (bill text and committee report), H.R. 275. This legislation, sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, is described by the Library of Congress as requiring the Homeland Security Secretary to publish monthly the number of non-U.S. nationals who attempt to enter the U.S. and potentially pose a national security risk. This data will be broken down by the number of people, their nationalities, and the location of the encounters.

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House

The House will reconvene on Monday, with first votes starting at 6:30 p.m. Five bills are lined up for consideration under a rule, which is a majority leadership-influenced resolution governing how legislation will be debated. Passage requires a simple majority of members present. Those bills include:

News From Us, Legislative Preview

Bills and Appropriations Hearings

June 9, 2025 · by Daniel Schuman

The House of Representatives and Senate are in session this week. House

• Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act, H.R. 2096, which the Congressional Budget Office describes as modifying Washington, D.C.’s police disciplinary procedures. Specifically, it would (1) strike a provision that prohibits collective bargaining on matters of police discipline, and (2) affect  the statute of limitations for when members of the public can bring claims against the DC Police Department.
• Legislation to repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, H.R. 884, which CBO describes as repealing Washington, D.C. law 24-242, which allows noncitizens to vote in D.C.’s local elections and ballot initiatives.
• HALT Fentanyl Act, S. 331, which the Congressional Research Service describes as permanently classifying fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Criminal offenses involving fentanyl-related substances would be triggered by the same quantities and thresholds and subject to the same penalties as fentanyl analogues.
• District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of 2025, H.R. 2056, which CBO describes as directing the Washington, D.C. government to comply with requests from federal immigration authorities to share information and detain non-U.S. nationals. Currently, D.C. law requires a judicial warrant before the District officials would cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
• Rescissions Act of 2025, H.R. 4. The bill text and summary are not available from Congress.gov, but the text is available from the House Rules Committee. Rescissions laws claw back funds already authorized by Congress for programs. The Associated Press reports this bill would rescind $9.4 billion from already approved spending, including $8.3 from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. NPR and PBS would lose federal funding, as would AIDS relief, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and others. The White House outlined the proposed rescissions here. Should Congress agree, the effect on the deficit would be negligible. 

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House passes 1,100-page spending and tax bill, raising debt by up to $4 trillion – GovTrack.us

News From Us – Legislative Recap

House passes 1,100-page spending and tax bill, raising debt by up to $4 trillion

May 23, 2025 · by Amy West and Joshua Tauberer

Early Thursday morning the House passed H.R. 1: One Big Beautiful Bill Act — yes, that’s it’s official title — a 1,100+ page bill with large cuts to both spending and taxes. We know the big picture but little about the details because it hasn’t been available for long enough for anyone to actually read it.

This is the “reconciliation” bill, the first signature legislation moved by Republicans in Congress and President Trump. This bill has special rules that make it immune to the Senate filibuster, so it can pass the Senate if a simple majority vote for it.

Here’s the bottom line: The bill has very large cuts to federal government spending, but it has even greater cuts to taxes. So overall, it’s projected to increase the yearly federal deficit by around $230 billion or 10%. (That’s so large that the global bond market has begun to reassess U.S. bonds, making the national debt even more expensive to keep up interest payments.) The last provision of the bill increases the statutory limit to the national debt by $4 trillion.

Some of the biggest cuts are in the low income food assistance program SNAP and medical assistance program Medicaid, in part through cuts and in part by making it harder for Americans to get the assistance.

But about half of those savings to the federal government are offset by increased funding for the military, border barriers (presumably on the border with Mexico), immigration enforcement, and immigration detention facilities, based on the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate.

The biggest change is to taxes: higher for low-income earners and lower for high-income earners. CBO estimated that “household resources,” meaning mostly household income but also federal benefits, would decrease by around 4% for the lowest earners and increase by the same amount for the highest earning households. That includes a higher “SALT” tax deduction, which benefits high income earners in high-tax states, restoring it to roughly how it was before President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The tax cuts are the main reason the bill adds to the deficit.

Other changes include repeals of laws and funding for green energy, bans on transgender care (originally limited to minors, then expanded to all people) and abortion. The bill also includes a provision limiting the enforcement of court orders against the government (see text in bill).

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Read the Supreme Court rulings on due process for immigrants – GOVTRACK.us

News From Us, The White House

Read the Supreme Court rulings on due process for immigrants

May 20, 2025 · by Joshua Tauberer

Today I’d really like you to open up one of the Supreme Court rulings that I’ve linked to in my post below and give it a read. If that’s something you haven’t done before, I think you’ll appreciate it.

This post is about recent court challenges to Trump Administration deportations that have reached the Supreme Court. You’ve probably read about them in the news. I hope I can fill in some details and give you some links to read the law for yourself and those rulings.
“Oopsie” to a court order, Trump Administration says

J.G.G. v. Trump is a case about the deportation of Venezuelan nationals purported to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang. This is the case in which a district court judge ordered planes removing the Venezuelans to turn around mid-flight. The planes didn’t and took the Venezuelans to El Salvador’s Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), a prison. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted “Oopsie” on social media:

The Alien Enemies Act (50 U.S.C. 21) gives the President the power to apprehend and remove non-citizens aged 14 or older during either a war declared by Congress or “any invasion or predatory incursion . . . by any foreign nation or government.” President Trump declared Tren de Aragua to be an “invasion or predatory incursion … at the direction … of the Maduro regime in Venezuela” in Proclamation No. 10903 on March 14.

Lawyers for the Venezuelans argued they should have a chance in court before they are removed from the country.

The Supreme Court agreed in a ruling on April 7:

[A]n individual subject to detention and removal under that statute is entitled to judicial review as to questions of interpretation and constitutionality of the Act as well as whether he or she is in fact an alien enemy fourteen years of age or older. . . . It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in the context of removal proceedings.

(This quote is on page 3. I again encourage you to read the opinion for yourself at this link.)

The Trump Administration had not waded into some new grey area of law. At “well established,” the Supreme Court cited back to a 1903 decision affirming immigrants’ right under the Constitution to due process before deportation. This is not a new concept.

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President Trump purports to install new officials at the Library of Congress

President Trump purports to install new officials at the Library of *Congress*

By Daniel Schuman (May 13, 2025)

The Library of Congress is not just shelves of books or a museum. It’s an active support agency that legislators in Congress rely on for nonpartisan research to make informed and independent policy decisions, and it runs the indispensable Congress.gov portal that provides public access to Congress’s daily work, which we rely on. That’s why President Trump’s action to take over the Library as Daniel describes below is incredibly concerning. This is a short version of Daniel’s extended post at his First Branch Forecast.

Monday was a tumultuous day for the Library of Congress, the broader Legislative Branch, and our system of government.

This past Thursday, President Trump asserted he fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. On Saturday he announced he fired Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. According to CBS News, Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve as the Librarian of Congress concurrently with his role at the Justice Department. Blanche previously served as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney. Trump also designated an acting Deputy Librarian of Congress and an Acting Register of Copyrights.

The three Department of Justice officials attempted to enter the Library of Congress but were reportedly escorted from the building. While some reports described a standoff between Capitol Police and the officials, the exact details remain unclear and the Capitol Police have denied they were involved in a confrontation.

In an email to Library staff, Acting Librarian Robert Newlan stated he did not immediately recognize Trump’s appointment as valid. According to Politico, Newlen wrote “Congress is engaged with the White House and we have not received direction from Congress about how to move forward.”

Senate Majority Leader Thune, a Republican, said “congressional leaders ‘want to make sure we’re following precedent and procedure’ in naming a replacement for Carla Hayden” and added “we want to make sure congressional equities are respected and protected in this process.” (“Equities” is government jargon for Congress’s stake and rights in the matter.)

The President’s actions threaten Congressional independence and implicate constitutional and statutory issues. The Library of Congress and its staff provide confidential, nonpartisan support to Congress. That work must remain insulated from Executive Branch interference.

Read more: President Trump purports to install new officials at the Library of Congress

Source Links: https://www.govtrack.us/posts/503/2025-05-13_president-trump-purports-to-install-new-officials-at-the-library-of-congress

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There’s about a week left to go in this Kickstarter from the folks behind GovTrack.us: We’ve been tracking the U.S. Congress for twenty years. Now it’s time to track the White House.. “I created GovTrack twenty years ago with the idea that information in context helps us hold our government accountable and empowers us to become the best advocates for the issues we each care most about. Now, […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/03/11/new-kickstarter-from-the-folks-behind-govtrack-us/

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Sign this to prevent the bill from limiting free speech

Sign:
https://action.aclu.org/dissent

The Bill:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/s4136

The timelines at the bottom are particularly interesting
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/statistics
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