Letters from Capitol Hill that Members of Congress have written and signed on to lately.
Saturday Edition
Following funeral processions of former President Jimmy Carter and the first three legislative-related votes of the Season this week at the Capitol, in the queue for next week is consideration of Trump’s cabinet picks.
Closing the cabinet
Starting with committee inquiries, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) said Republicans are aiming to confirm some of the incoming President’s picks by Jan. 20 - Inauguration Day.
This ambitious timeline tees up a tight schedule of work for the newly formed committees, including the following on the calendar slated to begin Jan. 14:
TUESDAY
Senate Armed Services | Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary;
Senate Veterans’ Affairs | Doug Collins, Veterans’ Affairs; and
Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) | Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary.
WEDNESDAY
Senate Foreign Relations | Marco Rubio, Secretary of State;
ENR | Chris Wright, Energy Secretary;
Senate Commerce | Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary;
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary; and
Senate Judiciary Committee | Pam Bondi, Attorney General.
THURSDAY
Senate Banking | Eric Scott, Housing and Urban Development Secretary; and
Senate Finance | Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary.
Buttoning up the border
Beyond expediency to install these cabinet members, Trump has proclaimed border action as a priority for his second administration, which the House and Senate both addressed in their first few legislatively substantive votes of the 119th congressional season (yes, season).
Following an 84-9 cloture vote on Thursday, next week, Senators will pick up action on the “Laken Riley Act” (S. 5). A House version of this bill sailed through the lower chamber with several Democrats voting in support of the GOP-led legislation.
Read more about cloture votes and Senate procedure here.
In short, the bill would require Homeland Security to detain individuals illegally in the U.S. who are arrested for or charged with theft.
Despite some D support for advancing the Senate bill, several Members said they wanted an open debate with amendments.
Death and taxes
Contemporaneous to calamity from American citizen constituents, particularly conservatives, for Congress to act in concert with Trump and his new cabinet to address chaos at the country’s border is the matter of what to do on concluding tax cuts.
Getting down to committee work, the House Ways and Means Committee is due to discuss permanently extending a bevy of tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017 scheduled to expire this year.
Ahead of this tax cut/extension debate, proffering terms to balance these cuts with provisions to pay for (at least part of) the reduced revenue, R House Budget Members are circulating a menu of policy options totaling $5.3-$5.7 trillion over 10 years.
Read more about the quiet importance of the House Budget Committee and its authority over revenue raising related resolutions here.
Compiled from the several versions and proposals of circulating House budget resolutions, one item on this menu is a savings of $2.8 trillion over a decade through changes to Medicaid and Medicare policy.
Additionally, the menu identifies hundreds of billions in potential savings through:
“...reimagining” the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare);
Ending green energy tax credits, saving and estimated $200-$500 billion;
Discontinuing clean energy provisions from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, saving another estimated $300 billion; and
Recaptured a repeal of electric vehicle tax credits, for a cool approximated $112 billion.
Marbled in the meat of the expiring provisions from the 2017 tax law, Republican members on the House Agriculture Committee are set to bring a renewed push to repeal the estate tax.
This tax raised the exemption level of the levy, but is set to expire at the end of the year without congressional action. The tax impacts the ultra-wealthy but also some farmers.
Hell and health care
Speaking of the ACA, lawmakers are also reportedly working to revive an extensive health package and considering a strategy to expedite passage in the House.
Resurrecting the same 500-page bipartisan deal reached and included in a temporary funding bill passed in Dec. due to expire mid-March, among other provisions, the health bill would rein-in pharmacy benefit managers; boost Medicare doctor payments; and extend telehealth services for multiple years.
Republicans ultimately dropped the measure and opted for standard funding extensions after Trump rejected the bipartisan deal with Democrats and made additional demands.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), chair of the Health Energy and Commerce health panel, told reporters Thursday he’s in talks with leadership to pass the health package, either in a stand-alone vote or as part of the larger talks on a budget reconciliation bill:
“I’d like to do it as a standalone, get it done, and have it behind us, personally,” Carter said. “If we did it through suspension, we could probably put it on the floor. I mean, it was an agreement. It was bipartisan, bicameral.”
A suspension vote limits floor debate and prohibits amendments, but it requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
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NEXT WEEK | House Schedule
On Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.
Seven bills are slated for consideration on a variety of matters ranging from rail and Amtrak to disaster assistance, and there are still 10 bills outstanding for passage from the rules package adopted by Representatives on Jan. 3.
Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
H.R. 192 – Amtrak Executive Bonus Disclosure Act (Sponsored by Rep. Rouzer / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 188 – Amtrak Transparency and Accountability for Passengers and Taxpayers Act (Sponsored by Rep. Nehls / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 152 – Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act (Sponsored by Rep. Ezell / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 153 – Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act (Sponsored by Rep. Ezell / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 164 – POWER Act of 2025 (Sponsored by Rep. Hoyle / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 144 – Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act (Sponsored by Rep. Cohen / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
H.R. 189 – Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act (Sponsored by Del. Norton / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business.
On Thursday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes expected no later than 3:00 p.m.
Legislation Considered Pursuant to a Rule:
H.R. 28 – Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 (Sponsored by Rep. Steube / Education and Workforce Committee)
H.R. 33 – United States-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act (Rep. Smith (MO) / Ways and Means Committee)
H.R. 30 – Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act (Rep. Mace / Judiciary Committee)
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Jan. 10
Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) led 11 Ways and Means Committee colleagues sending a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai. The letter expresses concern regarding reports USTR is negotiating new binding interpretations of key provisions within the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement and calls on USTR to refrain from finalizing any new terms for these agreements and instead use President Biden’s remaining days in office to seek input from Congress and American stakeholders.
Signers of the letter include: Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Aaron Bean (R-FL), Carol Miller (R-WV), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Ron Estes (R-KS), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Max Miller (R-OH), and David Schweikert (R-AZ)
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Jan. 10 | Calls for Semiconductor Union Considerations
Representative Val Hoyle urged Analog Device Inc. (ADI) and Microchip Technology Inc. (Microchip) to consider adopting neutrality agreements to ensure employees can organize freely and without interference. Rep. Hoyle sent the letters in response to public reporting and outreach from workers concerned about low wages, delayed raises and furloughs, and other challenges at ADI’s plant in Beaverton, Oregon and Microchip’s plant in Gresham, Oregon.
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Jan. 10 | Anti-ESG OCC
U.S. Congressmen Sean Casten (IL-06) and Juan Vargas (CA-52) sent a letter urging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to issue a federal preemption determination for complying with certain anti-ESG laws in Republican-led states.
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Jan. 10 | Ensuring Windfall Elimination
With a full repeal of Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) now signed into law, the Social Security Administration (SSA) must provide Congress and the public with clear guidance on how it will deliver immediate relief to those who have been impacted by the flawed WEP and GPO, demanded Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Ron Estes (KS-04) in a letter today to SSA Acting Commissioner Carolyn Colvin:
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Jan. 09 | A Jan. 16 Deadline
U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) are demanding answers from U. S. Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after several Minnesotans in Cook County reported not receiving mail delivery since last year. Residents were also turned away from local post offices when attempting to retrieve undelivered mail. Minnesota-North Dakota District leadership reportedly didn’t know of the issue until Senator Smith inquired on January 8.
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Jan. 09 | Members Want Answers on Middlemen and Drugs
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), alongside Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging them to vote “yes” on releasing a second interim report on prescription drug middlemen, or pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), at the FTC’s Open Commission Hearing on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
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Jan. 09 | Cortez Mastro, Congressional Colleagues on the Middle Class
U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) led a letter signed by Senators John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Chair of the Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) urging Senate Republicans to work in a bipartisan way to reduce the deficit and protect the middle class from tax hikes.
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Jan. 09 | Cory at Full Staff
Congressman Cory Mills (FL-07) sent a letter to congressional leaders in both chambers, urging them to exercise their authority and raise the U.S. flags at the Capitol to full-staff on the morning of January 20, 2025, in honor of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. This gesture would recognize the historic occasion while respecting the traditional mourning period for the late President Jimmy Carter.
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Jan. 08 | ACE in the hole with Congress, and not the good kind
Congressman Van Drew sent a letter to Atlantic City Electric (ACE) seeking updates on the company’s planned audit, any potential public outreach events, and whether it has reconsidered its recent rate increase request. In addition, he provided a list of unresolved constituent issues, urging the company to address each one promptly and thoroughly.
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Jan. 08 | The Eyes of Chip Roy are Upon UT
Congressman Chip Roy of Texas sent a letter to the University of Texas at Austin on Monday to inquire about its use of federal research funds being sent to a Planned Parenthood chapter in Illinois.
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Jan. 07 | Calls from Congress on Caja del Rio
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) called on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to protect the Caja del Rio.
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Jan. 02 | House Cmte. on the Chinese Communist Party - AI Export Controls
Chairman Moolenaar and Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi urged Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to impose strict redlines in a soon to be published ‘Export Control Framework for AI Diffusion.’ This framework would establish the protocols in which high-end U.S. technology used in Artificial Intelligence can be exported abroad.
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