This Week on the Hill: With House Out, Senate Considers Air Force, FDA Nominees

After one of the busiest periods in the 115^th Congress last week, this week features less dramatic legislative work as the Senate works to confirm additional presidential nominees and consider the last congressional disapprovals of administrative rules advanced by the Obama Administration. The House is away from Washington for a weeklong in-district work period.

Floor action in the upper chamber starts today with two roll call votes scheduled this evening on significant nominations from the Trump Administration. A final confirmation vote will be held on the nomination of former House member Heather Wilson to be Secretary of the Air Force, followed by a cloture vote on the nomination of Scott Gottleib to be Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Senate will also need to complete work on any final disapproval resolutions this week per the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, which provides a deadline of this Friday, May 12, for rescinding regulations from the Obama Administration. Two resolutions are rumored to receive floor consideration, one that would reverse an Interior Department rule regarding methane emissions (H.J. Res. 36) and another that would prevent a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule on prepaid card transactions from coming into effect (H.J. Res. 62).

Senate committee action this week includes a markup in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee of FDA-related bills, including its reauthorization and user fee agreements. The reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will also be considered this week in the Senate Finance Committee. Both the FDA and CHIP reauthorizations need to be completed before the end of the fiscal year on Sep. 30. Finally, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt will appear before the Senate Banking Committee as legislators begin to discuss housing finance reform, particularly for the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.