Lawmakers in D.C. are in for a busy week. Following tragic mass shootings across the country, House lawmakers are readying a package of gun control measures. Senators, meanwhile, are negotiating their own plan to reduce gun violence. At the same time, Members of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol are preparing for their first public hearing this year to share their investigation’s findings.
Table of Contents:
- Progressive Playbook
- House
- Senate
- Issues to Watch
- Key Dates
- What We’re Reading
Progressive Playbook
Whether we are Black or White, Latino or Asian, newcomer or Indigenous, we all want our families to grow up healthy, happy and safe for generations to come. But for too long, fossil fuel CEOs and corrupt politicians have divided and distracted us with lies while they pollute our air and poison our water. They exploit their workers, while dumping toxins into Black, brown and low-income neighborhoods. By coming together, we can heal the damage done to all of our communities, and power our future with locally produced renewable energy that creates millions of good union jobs in the process.
WORDS THAT WORK
- Communities of color and low-income communities have paid the highest price for pollution and climate change for too long. Lead in the water. Pesticides and toxic air. Unaffordable and dangerous extractive energy. We must invest in the communities who are on the frontlines and ensure that polluters pay to clean up their messes.
- We must set our country on a sustainable path that will rebuild our economy for the future. We need a plan that creates high-quality, good-paying union jobs that can support our families and protect the health of our communities and planet.
- We can have locally-made, sustainable energy from the wind and sun that ensures our air is clean and our water is healthy. We can have locally grown, tastier food, a traffic-free commute, and a happy surprise when we open our energy bills. The choice is ours to make for a clean energy future.
- Wealthy corporations and oil companies are spending billions to hide the damage they’ve done to our climate so they can keep lining their pockets while setting our forests on fire, flooding our communities, and poisoning our children with toxic air and water.
House
House Floor
The House will vote on 12 suspension bills from the Committees on Education & Labor, Small Business, Judiciary, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Energy & Commerce. Suspension bills require a ⅔ majority to pass. For a list of all suspension bills being considered, click here.
The House will also consider the following bills, subject to rules:
H.R. 7910 – Protecting Our Kids Act (Rep. Nadler – Judiciary): The bill would raise the lawful age to purchase a semiautomatic centerfire rifle from 18 to 21 years old, establish a new federal offense for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of large capacity magazines, establish new federal offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchases, establish requirements to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises, ban the manufacture, sale, or possession of bump stocks for civilian use, and limit the sale of ghost gun kits.
- Press Release (Judiciary Committee)
H.R. 2377 – Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2022 (Rep. McBath – Judiciary): The bill would allow family members and law enforcement to obtain an extreme risk protection order to temporarily remove access to firearms for those who are deemed a danger to themselves or to others by a federal court.
- Press Release (Rep. McBath)
House Committee Highlights
A full list of this week’s hearings and markups can be found here. Notable hearings and markups include:
Wednesday Hearings
The Urgent Need to Address the Gun Violence Epidemic (Oversight & Reform)
Detecting and Quantifying Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Sector (Science, Space, & Tech)
Addressing the Roadway Safety Crisis: Building Safer Roads for All (Transportation & Infrastructure)
Markup of H.R. 7900 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Armed Services)
A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill: Stakeholder Perspectives on SNAP (Agriculture)
Fiscal year 2023 Budget Request for the United Nations (Appropriations)
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield is testifying
Turning the Tide for Ocean Climate Action: Unleashing the Climate Benefits of Our Blue Planet (Climate Crisis)
On the January 6th Investigation (Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol)
Friday Hearings
The U.S. and International Humanitarian Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (Oversight & Reform)
Senate
Senate Floor
H.R. 3967 – Honoring our PACT Act (Rep. Takano – Veterans’ Affairs): The bill would expand access to Veterans Affairs Department health care and expedite disability compensation for veterans exposed to toxic substances in the line of duty, including those exposed to burn pits, which the military has long used to dispose of jet fuel, medical waste, and garbage.
- Press Release (Rep. Takano)
Nominations
The Senate this week has teed up votes on the following nominees:
- Alex Wagner to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force
Senate Committee Highlights
A full list of this week’s Senate committee hearings, including confirmation hearings, can be found here. Notable committee hearings include:
Tuesday Hearings
European Energy Security Post-Russia (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe)
The Western Water Crisis: Confronting Persistent Drought and Building Resilience on our Forests and Farmland (Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry)
Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack (Judiciary)
The President’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget (Finance)
- Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is testifying
The President’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request for the United States Department of Education (Appropriations)
- Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is testifying
Wednesday Hearings
The Path Forward On U.S.-Syria Policy: Strategy And Accountability (Foreign Relations)
The Small Business Workforce Challenge: Causes, Impacts and Solutions (Small Business & Entrepreneurship)
Thursday Hearings
European Energy Security: America’s Role in Supporting Europe’s Energy Diversification Agenda (Foreign Relations)
Domestic Extremism in America: Examining White Supremacist Violence in the Wake of Recent Attacks (Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs)
Issues to Watch
January 6th Committee Public Hearings
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is set to hold their first of a series of public hearings this Thursday evening. The hearings come after almost a year of investigatory work in which the Committee conducted thousands of interviews and reviewed hundreds of thousands of records as they work to create a clear understanding of the events that led up to and took place on January 6, 2021. The Committee has already subpoenaed and interviewed former members of the Trump Administration, former White House officials, and rally planners – and some might be called as public witnesses. While the exact schedule for the hearings has not been released, public reporting suggests that they will be held on Monday, June 13; Wednesday, June 15; Thursday, June 16; Tuesday, June 21; and Thursday, June 23.
- Trump on Trial: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality (Brookings)
- “Witnesses with Baggage” — Anticipating the Jan 6 Hearings and Related Investigations (Just Security)
- The January 6 committee is about to show its work. Here’s what you need to know. (CNN)
Gun Control Reforms
Following the devastating mass shootings in Buffalo, New York that targeted Black people and left ten dead, and in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers, Senators are negotiating the details of a possible reform package that could make it to the president’s desk. The talks are led by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and include Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Possible reforms include red flag laws that would prevent at-risk individuals from purchasing a firearm, enhanced background checks, and funding for mental health programs. On the House side, lawmakers are voting this week on two bills that would establish a red flag law, raise the age for buying semiautomatic rifles to 21, ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, restrict the sale of “ghost guns,” and require the safe storage of weapons. In March 2021, the House passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would establish new background check requirements, by a vote of 227-203.
- President Biden calls for assault weapons ban and other measures to curb gun violence (NPR)
- A Timeline of Failed Attempts to Address U.S. Gun Violence (The New York Times)
Invasion of Ukraine
After providing over $40 billion in emergency funding for military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, lawmakers from both parties are calling for the Department of Defense and the Biden Administration to provide accountability and oversight of the recent aid package. Some lawmakers have warned that future aid packages could fail to garner bipartisan support without proper transparency over earmarked funds. President Biden also announced that the U.S. will begin to send long-range missile systems to Ukraine, in a reversal of the Administration’s position on sending rockets capable of reaching Russia. Over 6.5 million people have been forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries and more than 7 million people have been displaced internally since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
- Why Ukraine Matters for the Left (The New Republic)
- Ukraine War Not a Reason to Increase Base Pentagon Budget (WAND & Public Citizen)
Yemen War Powers Resolution
On June 1, 2022, a bipartisan group of nearly 50 lawmakers introduced a Yemen War Powers Resolution (H.J.Res.87), which would end the United States’ unauthorized military and logistical support for Saudi Arabia and its coalition’s war in Yemen. The resolution would allow Congress to reclaim its Article I power of declaring war and setting the scope of U.S. military engagements. The resolution would also end U.S. intelligence sharing with the Saudi-led coalition, end logistical and military support for Saudi-led airstrikes, and prohibit U.S. personnel from assisting Saudi and coalition personnel in engaging in hostilities.
- Members of Congress Introduce Bipartisan War Powers Resolution to End Unauthorized U.S. Involvement in Saudi War in Yemen (Congressional Progressive Caucus)
- Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have been called war crimes: Many relied on U.S. support (The Washington Post)
Key Dates
May 27 – June 6: House is out of session
June: Immigrant Heritage Month
June: LGBTQ+ Pride Month
June: National Gun Violence Awareness Month
June 11: Second March for Our Lives
June 15: 10th anniversary of DACA
June 18: Poor People’s Campaign Moral March on Washington
June 19: Juneteenth
June 27 – July 8: Senate is out of session
June 28: House remote voting expires
July 1 – 11: House is out of session
July 4: Independence Day
July 26 – 24: Latino Conservation Week
July 30 – Sept. 5: August Recess
What We’re Reading
‘This is our time’: How women are taking over the labor movement (The 19th)
The Supreme Court Is on the Verge of Expanding Second Amendment Gun Rights (Brennan Center)
How long covid could change the way we think about disability (The Washington Post)
The Republicans’ New Climate Plan Is Really an Old Plan for Destroying the Planet (The New Republic)
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