WASHINGTON UPDATES
Capitol Advocacy Partners provides weekly newsletter updates featuring curated news from the executive and legislative branches, along with timely information on federal funding opportunities—tailored to keep you informed and ahead.
Weekly Update: 2/10/20
President and Administration
Today, 2/10, the President released his proposed 2021 Budget…
On Tuesday, 2/4, President Trump delivered the 2020 State of the Union address. President Trump focused a large part of the speech on immigration and called on Congress to ban “free government health care for illegal aliens”...
On Thursday, 2/7, the Administration’s partial vaping ban took effect. The ban affects most e-cigarettes that use pre-filled pods…
Education
In his address, President Trump called on Congress to pass a controversial tax credit scholarship that would allow states to direct billions of dollars to private and religious schools….
Congress
The Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment Wednesday, 2/5, marking the inevitable and historic end to a bitterly fought, divisive impeachment trial that will reverberate into the 2020 election and shape Trump's presidential legacy.
On Tuesday, 2/4, the House passed a resolution officially condemning the Trump administration’s new Medicaid block grant plan...
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a $760 billion legislative infrastructure framework and signaled her willingness to include in the infrastructure plan a bill that would create a $70 billion grant program and a $30 billion tax credit bond program for high-poverty schools….
Other
The frequency of ransomware attacks — among the scariest and most costly online assaults — has been hard to pinpoint because many victims quietly pay off their attackers without notifying the authorities….
Weekly Update: 2/3/20
President and Administration
The White House announced on Friday, 1/31, the first decline in overdose deaths since the earliest days of the opioid crisis and attributed it to administration actions…
Congress
The Senate is scheduled to convene as a court of impeachment today, Monday 2/3, to hear the closing arguments on whether to remove President Trump from office...
The President's FY’21 budget will be released on Monday, 2/10, but the White House has reportedly told federal departments and agencies to wait until mid-March before testifying before Congress to defend their budget requests…
On Wednesday, 2/5, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “A Threat to America’s Children: The Trump Administration’s Proposal to Gut Fair Housing Accountability.”
On Wednesday, 2/5, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “Vaping in America: E-Cigarette Manufacturers’ Impact on Public Health.”
On Wednesday, 2/5, the House Committee on Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “Strengthening Community Recycling Programs: Challenges and Opportunities.”
On Thursday, 2/6, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “A Threat to America’s Children: The Trump Administration’s Proposed Changes to Broad Based Categorical Eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”
Weekly Update: 1/27/20
President and Administration
The White House legal team resumed opening arguments at President Trump’s impeachment trial today, Monday, 1/27, in dramatically changed circumstances…
The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that significantly reduces the federal government’s role in regulating waterways, fulfilling a campaign promise to farmers and energy interests and handing a win to conservatives who have pushed for changes to the Clean Water Act regulations…
Education
Today, 1/27, the House is expected to vote on a bipartisan Holocaust Education Bill under a suspension of the rules, according to the floor schedule released by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer…
House Democrats are moving ahead this week with a package of bills related to consumer credit reporting, including legislation that would provide new benefits and protections to private student loan borrowers who fall behind on their payments…
Congress
House Democrats are weighing a return to an earmark-like system that would allow members to secure cash for select projects at home...
On Wednesday, 12/18/19, immigration reform stalwart Richard J. Durbin’s announcement on the Senate floor about a rare bipartisan breakthrough flew largely under the radar, overshadowed in the chaotic flurry of impeachment…
Other
A Swiss company is bringing its apprenticeship model to Utah to build a skilled workforce for its new facility in this country…
Weekly Update: 1/21/20
President and Administration
President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday, 1/20, offered a sweeping condemnation of the articles of impeachment against him, contending they’re a legally defective “affront to the Constitution and to our democratic institutions”...
Education
In a bipartisan vote on 1/16, the House passed legislation to overturn Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ rule that curtails student loan forgiveness for students who claim they were defrauded by their college...
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue(Case No. 18-1195), a case brought by three Montana families who argue the state unconstitutionally prohibited religious schools from a program that would provide tax credits for donations to private school scholarship programs...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday, 1/17, announced plans to further relax heightened school meal nutrition standards created by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010...
Upcoming changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are expected to affect nearly 700,000 Americans, with college students among them...
Congress
The seven House Democratic managers released their own legal brief on Monday, 1/20, arguing that the Trump team’s objection to the abuse of power charge ignored the intentions of the founders, and in doing so left the country “powerless to remove a president for corruptly using his office to cheat in the next election”...
More than 40 U.S. states could allow some form of legal marijuana by the end of 2020, including deep-red Mississippi and South Dakota...
Weekly Update: 1/13/20
President and Administration
President Trump on Monday, 1/13, said it didn’t matter if Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani posed an imminent threat to the United States because of his “horrible past,” in an effort to defend the decision to strike Soleimani - who commanded Iran’s Quds Force, a designated terrorist organization – after days of scrutiny about the intelligence underlying the decision to authorize the strike against him…
Congress
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is expected to name managers and transmit the articles this week, but when exactly is up in the air. In her “Dear Colleague” note on Friday 1/10, she said that she will do so after meeting with the Democratic caucus to discuss it on Tuesday morning, 1/14. Once the articles are transmitted, the Senate trial is expected to start almost immediately (The Hill).
On Tuesday, 1/14, at 10am EST the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “On the Brink of Homelessness: How the Affordable Housing Crisis and the Gentrification of America Is Leaving Families Vulnerable.”
On Tuesday, 1/14, at 10am EST the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “Making HUD-VASH Work for all Veteran Communities.”
2020 Election Update
On Monday, 1/13, Cory Booker announced he was ending his campaign for presidency. Despite his announcement, the field of Democratic presidential candidates remains historically large (The New York Times). There are currently 12 people still running for the 2020 Democratic nomination…