Senate Returns to Pass Short-Term Gov’t Funding Bill & Postal Reform as House Goes on Recess

What’s happening in Congress?

• The Senate returns to D.C. this week with an eye toward sending to President Joe Biden’s desk a stopgap funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown from occurring at midnight Friday. 
• Senators are also expected to consider a bipartisan Postal Service reform bill and may take up a Russia sanctions bill if Democratic and Republican negotiators are able to reach a compromise.
• Meanwhile, House lawmakers will begin what’s expected to be a two-week break from floor work. 

SENATE SCHEDULE

• The Senate starts its week Monday with a procedural vote on the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act, which passed the House on a bipartisan 342-92 vote last week. A vote on final passage is expected to occur before the end of the week.
• At a time to be announced, senators will take up the House-passed bill to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown through March 11th. To avert the shutdown, the Senate will need to pass the bill before midnight on Friday, February 18th.
• Senators may consider a bipartisan sanctions bill aimed at deterring and/or punishing Russian aggression against Ukraine. While a bipartisan group of senators has negotiated a number of provisions that would feature prominently in the package, there were several unresolved issues at the end of last week so it’s unclear how quickly the package can be finalized.
• Committees will hold hearings on addressing barriers to youth mental healthcare; 

HOUSE SCHEDULE 

• The House has a district work period this week as part of what’s expected to be a two-week recess from floor work that will continue after President’s Day next week.
• While lawmakers won’t be holding floor votes this week, some committees will hold hybrid or remote hearings.
• Committees will hold hearings on strategies for electric grid resilience and reliability; the Environmental Justice For All Act; and “Why Congress Needs to Abolish the Debt Limit”.

Check below throughout the week to see the vote results and updates to the schedule.

Schedule subject to change. All times Eastern.

HOUSE

• No votes are expected. 
• The House is scheduled to return for its next floor votes on Monday, February 28th.

SENATE

Monday after 5:30pm

• Cloture motion on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3076: Postal Service Reform Act

Rest of the week

• Passage of H.R. 3076: Postal Service Reform Act
• Possible cloture motion on H.R. 6617: Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act
• Passage of H.R. 6617: Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act
• Cloture motion on the nomination of Robert Califf to be Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dept. of Health and Human Services
• Cloture motion on S.Res. 467: Arecibo Observatory with technical amendments
• Cloture motion on S.Res. 510: National Poll Worker Recruitment Day

Tell your reps how to vote on this week's bills and share your thoughts below!

— Eric Revell