A number of pressing issues are facing Congress as the end of the fiscal year approaches on September 30, with only a few weeks remaining on the House of Representatives’ calendar. In addition to the legislative priorities listed below, Congress still needs to pass the FAA reauthorization and the Farm Bill.
Impeachment Inquiry
On September 12, 2023, Speaker McCarthy announced he would assign the Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden regarding alleged corruption around his family’s business dealings.
An impeachment inquiry doesn’t mean articles of impeachment will be brought to a vote by the full House, but it does allow for further investigations by the key committees.
A Possible Government Shutdown & Appropriations
Congress has until September 30 to either pass appropriations bills or a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. The House GOP’s current plan is to pass a short-term CR through October 31 that would include a 1 percent cut to current fiscal levels, disaster relief funding, and border security reform while allowing more time for the full appropriations process to play out. The House has passed one of 12 appropriation bills so far.
Complicating the situation is that any bill that passes through the House would also need to pass the Democrat-led Senate and be signed by President Biden.
Additional Funding For Ukraine
Congress will soon consider President Biden’s request for an additional $24 billion in assistance for Ukraine. Punchbowl News reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Capitol Hill this week to make appeals for the additional funding. In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are in broad agreement for supporting Ukraine with more funding, but there’s more skepticism in the GOP-led House and the latest proposed short-term CR from House Republicans would leave out the Ukrainian funding.
How Look Ahead Gives Our Clients a Significant Competitive Advantage
Look Ahead Strategies offers a variety of premium services to keep our clients fully updated and informed on policy developments at the state and national level:
- Media Intelligence: Look Ahead offers always-on media intelligence services to provide “eyes and ears” on the public policy debate on a daily basis, giving our clients total informational awareness about their key issue targets and allowing them to quickly respond to events and news in real-time. Look Ahead’s unique console-based dashboard serves as a hub for news articles, tweets, and other commentary relevant to our clients’ objectives, and enables authorized users to log in and view all of this content in one convenient location.
- Rapid Response & Crisis Management: Look Ahead specializes in providing aggressive rapid response and crisis management services that are seamlessly integrated into our clients’ existing organizational structure. Our team will work hand in glove with an existing communications apparatus to identify earned media opportunities in real time and leverage them to advance their strategic objectives.
- Congressional Issue Briefing Reports: Understanding the landscape of where Congress stands on a particular issue – or a set of issues – is often an arduous, time-consuming process. We simplify that process by collaborating with our clients to develop policy matrixes, which can be overlayed onto sitting members of Congress profiles to give them crucial insights on how to spend their time and resources most effectively.
- Lobbying Matrix: Before launching a lobbying campaign, it is critical to develop profiles on targets, their background, and clearly define why it’s important. Look Ahead can streamline this process by building a comprehensive lobbying campaign matrix and work with our clients to accomplish their strategic goals.
Learn more and get in touch at LookAheadStrategies.com.
