Pardon Our Dust
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Week in Review
The House and Senate remain in recess this week while incumbents and challengers alike make their closing arguments to voters ahead of next week’s midterm elections. The President is also campaigning this week for Republican candidates in Montana, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. The Vice President is also on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday, the President and First Lady traveled to Pittsburgh to visit the site and victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Back in Washington, policymakers reacted to the President’s announcement that he plans to sign an executive order intended to end the right to US citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizens. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were quick to argue that the President act cannot make such a change unilaterally, with Speaker Ryan (R-WI) saying that it would require amending the Constitution. However, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is likely to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, applauded the President and said he will introduce legislation mirroring the executive order.
On Wednesday, the White House held a discussion on workforce featuring a discussion between President Trump, Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump, and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow (see below for additional details).
The Week Ahead
Americans nationwide go to the polls next Tuesday to cast their votes in the 2018 midterm elections. When Congress returns to Washington the following Tuesday, November 13, the Senate will take up House-passed Coast Guard reauthorization legislation and Michelle Bowman’s nomination to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. During the lame duck session, bicameral Agriculture Committee leaders will resume negotiations on a final farm bill in hopes of sending the President a compromise package before the 115th Congress adjourns.
Congressional leaders will also look to pass FY19 appropriations measures for the remaining for areas of government programs – Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD), Commerce-Science-Justice (CJS), Agriculture, and Financial Services – before a short-term continuing resolution expires on December 7.