August was atypical for Congress as a whole this year. While the House of Representatives recessed for the duration of August, the Senate spent much of the month in session working on funding bills. On August 23, the Senate passed a combined bill consisting of the bills that fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) and Department of Defense (DOD). The House and Senate completed negotiating differences between the two bills on September 13. The Senate plans to approve the compromise version this week (the week of September 17), and then the House will vote on the final bill the following week before sending the funding bill to the President for his signature. On the foreign aid side, Congressional Republicans continue to plan to finalize funding bills for the agencies that play a primary role in immigration, which includes the Department of State and USAID, after the midterms. Neither chamber has brought any of these bills to the chamber floor for a vote.
The House returned to D.C. on September 4 with very few working days available to take legislative action on funding other bills, including the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which expires September 30 (the bill that funds biomedical countermeasures and other preparedness activities). Funding bills annually run up against a deadline of September 30, which is the end the current fiscal year. If Congress and the President are not able to pass funding bills by that date, the departments covered by the respective bill must be shut down unless a continuing resolution (CR) is passed, which temporarily funds the department at previous year’s funding levels.
On August 25, Arizona Senator John McCain passed away after a year-long battle with brain cancer. Gov. Doug Ducey (R) appointed former Sen. John Kyl to fill the remainder of McCain’s term through 2020. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who had been serving as interim Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in McCain’s absence, will take over the top role on Committee if Republicans maintain control of the Senate for the 116th Congress. Sen. Inhofe will thus have enormous sway over the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes authorizations for Department of Defense-oriented global health programs.