The Senate is operating with a heavy workload this week as it races to confirm the nominee for Israeli ambassador, organize a larger defense spending bill, and begin passing appropriations bills ahead of the deadline to avert a government shutdown.
All the while, the House remains in “disarray” over its inability to elect a speaker, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put it on Tuesday.
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The Senate has made Israel a top priority this week after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack. Schumer passed a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas on Tuesday and organized an all-members classified briefing on Wednesday. He is also working with GOP leadership on the start of a larger aid bill that will include assistance for Israel.
That defense bill will include four tranches: three aid bills for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel and a border security measure.
Jack Lew, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Israel, will have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning. Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-MD) has said he’s hoping to move forward with a vote to send Lew’s nomination to the floor “as soon as possible,” ideally sometime this or next week.
Lew, who was treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, has come under scrutiny from Republicans over his handling of Iran sanctions following the Israel attack. Most of the GOP conference have said they’re waiting to see how Lew performs at his highly anticipated confirmation hearing before deciding how they’ll vote, though some have already come out in opposition.
On the government funding front, the House and Senate must pass their 12 respective appropriations bills and deliver them to the conference committee, where legislation is sent to sort out differences by Nov. 17 to avert a shutdown.
Schumer has faced public calls for weeks, especially from Republicans, to start bringing the Senate’s bills to the floor for passage. Senators on both sides of the aisle have argued that doing so would place pressure on the House to find a solution to the speaker crisis and thus bring leaders to the table to reach consensus on government funding levels and a defense bill.
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The top Senate Democrat reached a deal with members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on amendment vote thresholds for the minibus, which combines three of the 12 appropriations bills, on Tuesday evening.
Four committee members — three Republicans and one Democrat — told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that they expected a floor vote on the minibus in the coming days. Another member, a Democrat, speculated that the legislation would receive floor time early next week at the latest.
