Old Business

The Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) bribery trial ran for only a few days this week before breaking for Memorial Day. It will return next week. CNN covered this week's activity.

Rep. Steube's (R-FL17) discharge petition was never formally acted on for his H.R. 5863: Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023 because the House Leadership put the bill up for a vote this week. It passed 382-7.

Appropriations are Coming!

As we noted in our preview, work has begun in earnest on FY 25 appropriations. A vote schedule has also been released.

Cryptocurrency

• H.R. 4763: Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act would, per CRS, create a regulatory structure for crypto. The Biden Administration opposes the bill.. The bill passed 279-136. 133 of the no votes came from Democrats, but 71 Democrats did vote for it. It had two successful amendments:

• • H.Amdt. 921 (Norman) to H.R. 4763: To require a study on the impact of digital asset registrants owned by foreign adversaries which passed 411-0
• • H.Amdt. 922 (Perry) to H.R. 4763: To add a sense of Congress to the end of title V that nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this Act should be interpreted to authorize any entity to regulate any commodity, other than a digital commodity passed 225-191

• H.R. 5403: CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, which would prohibit the Federal Reserve from creating a crypto equivalent of US currency, passed 216-192. It had three successful amendments:

• • H.Amdt. 924 (Ogles) to H.R. 5403: To add a sense of Congress that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee should not be permitted to develop, create, or implement a central bank digital currency passed 204-176
• • H.Amdt. 925 (Mooney) to H.R. 5403: To prohibit the Federal Reserve's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot programs passed 206-193
• • H.Amdt. 926 (Davidson) to H.R. 5403: To ensure the Federal Reserve Bank cannot design, build, develop, establish, or issue a CBDC passed 212-195

Voting in Washington, D.C.

In local elections only, non-citizens can vote in Washington, D.C. So, even if DC had real representation in Congress (Del. Holmes Norton does her job with zeal, but as a delegate her powers are very limited and there are no Senators), existing law would prohibit non-citizens from voting in any federal elections. Instead, D.C's law allows non-citizens to vote for things like mayor, city council, presumably school boards and similar.

However, House Republicans have decided that this is evidence of Democrats attempting to subvert US elections (a common refrain being that with this law Chinese spies could elect the next mayor of Washington, D.C.) and voted this week on a bill to repeal Washington, D.C.'s existing law. It passed 262-143. 52 Democrats voted for the repeal. The Washington Post covered the arguments for and against in detail.

Prison Oversight

H.R. 3019: Federal Prison Oversight Act creates a structure for inspections of federal prisons. It passed 392-2.

Ensuring Energy Inefficiency

S.J.Res. 58: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Furnaces" passed the Senate 50-45. It goes to the House next.