After signing the fiscal year 2022 budget into law in early March, President Biden and his administration wasted no time turning their attention to the FY2023 budget, releasing their proposal to Congress last week. The quick turnaround was necessary because delays in passing the previous budget had set the timetable for this budget significantly behind…
This year has been off to a bit of an odd start in Congress. Despite the same party controlling the House, Senate and White House, an agreement on funding for fiscal year 2022 has proven elusive. As a result, the House and Senate last month passed a short-term continuing resolution, with the hopes that a…
After a disappointing ending to 2021, President Biden and congressional Democrats entered this year with an ambitious agenda. They hoped to pass the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills, resolve any lingering disagreements and pass the President’s top legislative priority, the Build Back Better Act (BBB), and enact election reform legislation. February arrives with work on…
As Congress returns to session this week, the stakes for President Biden and Democratic leadership couldn’t be higher. As outlined in my last column, President Biden had hoped that by the end of December he would be able to tout passage of the Build Back Better Act, the signature bill of his legislative agenda, as…
Following a recess for the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. House and Senate returned to session this week facing some near-term deadlines. With current funding for the federal government set to expire on December 3, on December 2 Congress agreed to another continuing resolution extending current funding until February 18. While there was optimism initially that…
While most of Washington’s focus at the moment is centered upon the President’s visit to Glasgow for the U.N. Climate Conference and the ongoing negotiations around the Build Back Better Act, members of the House and Senate are quietly negotiating a large fiscal package that will include funding for every federal agency for the remainder…
As I noted in my last column, the fall was expected to be one of the most active legislative sessions in recent memory. Work was planned to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, focused mainly on traditional transportation programs like roads and bridges, and a second, even larger spending package that would focus on climate…
The last week of August is usually a calm one in Washington, D.C., with members of Congress spread out across the country enjoying time off and spending time with their constituents. This year, however, has turned out to be one of the busiest in recent memory, and the level of activity forced staff and many…
As of the time I am writing this column, members of the U.S. Senate are working furiously to complete work on a significant infrastructure bill that provides more than $500 billion in new federal spending intended to modernize the nation’s transportation and energy sectors. While the arts are not specifically addressed in this legislation, completion…
The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations approved a $33.5 million increase to the fiscal year 2022 appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This matches the amount proposed by the White House to bring the agency’s funding level up to $201 million. The bill will next move to the House floor for its…
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