Special Report Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview Updated November 17, 2020 Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview Table of Contents Introduction 1 Lame Duck Preview 1 FY 2021 Appropriations ............................................................................................................................................. 1 COVID Relief............................................................................................................................................................... 2 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) ............................................................................................................. 2 National Defense Authorization Act .......................................................................................................................... 3 Energy Package .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Broadband and Telecommunications ........................................................................................................................ 4 Policing Overhaul ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Tax Extenders............................................................................................................................................................. 5 2020 Election Results Overview 7 The Administration .................................................................................................................................................... 7 The Electoral College………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 The House of Representatives ................................................................................................................................... 9 The Senate ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 1 Introduction Updated: The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, November 9th, and the House of Representatives (“House”) returned on November 16th to begin the final legislative days of the outgoing 116th Congress – also referred to as a “lame duck session.” Congress is expected to adjourn by December 18th. With this schedule, the Senate will be in session for 24 legislative days and the House for 13 legislative days. With limited workdays, there is a narrow timeframe for Congress to pass several important pieces of legislation, including final FY 2021 appropriations bills, another COVID relief package, the Water Resources Development Act, the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, and more. This NATaT Special Report provides an overview of the major remaining legislative items Congress may tackle before wrapping up this session of Congress. NATaT’s Special Report also provides an initial overview of the November 3rd election results and their impact on the House and Senate, Congressional leadership, and key committee leadership races. NATaT will continue to provide updates as we learn more about the election results and subsequent committee assignments/leadership. We will also provide additional updates on lame duck activities between now and when Congress adjourns. Updated portions of the Report are flagged. Lame Duck Preview FY 2021 Appropriations – updated To date, Congress has not enacted any of the 12 annual appropriations bills. The House passed 10 of 12 spending bills in July through two spending packages; however, the Senate has not advanced any of its bills through the appropriations committee - on November 10th, the Senate Appropriations Committee released all 12 of its FY 2021 Appropriations bills and explanatory statements. On October 1st, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law a Continuing Resolution (CR), P.L. 116-159, extending government funding at current FY 2020 levels through December 11th. H.R. 7608: The House’s four-bill spending package that covers Agriculture-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and State and Foreign Operations spending. The House passed this package by a 224-189 vote on July 24th with no Republican support. A TFG Brief on H.R. 7608 is available here. Senate Republicans disagreed with the legislation’s plan to offer amendments to include in the bill additional coronavirus relief and policing and law enforcement policies. President Trump threatened to veto the spending package. H.R. 7617: The House’s six-bill appropriations package includes Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Energy and Water, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-HUD spending. H.R. 7617 passed by a 217-197 vote on July 31st without any Republican support. This bill includes a few major policy provisions, such as a requirement for local governments to institute policing policy changes, including a chokehold ban; and an additional $210 billion in emergency spending on top of regular appropriations. A TFG Brief on H.R. 7617 is available here. Senate Republicans opposed the additional coronavirus response funding and policing measures included in the bill. The White House also threatened to veto this measure, criticizing the emergency spending and policing policy riders. Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 2 Lame Duck Outlook: House and Senate disagreements over both the spending numbers and policy provisions will require considerable negotiation between Congressional leaders in order to reach a compromised final spending package and one that will be signed into law by the President. It is expected that the current ongoing negotiations over the next coronavirus relief package will take priority over passing FY 2021 appropriations bills. In turn, there is a significant likelihood that Congress will pass another CR to fund the federal agencies into 2021. COVID Relief The election results will directly impact ongoing discussions and negotiations related to the next coronavirus relief package, but exactly how so remains unclear. So far this year, Congress has passed three major coronavirus relief packages: (1) the “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020” (P.L. 116-123), which was signed into law on March 6th; (2) the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (P.L. 116-127), which was signed into law on March 18th; and the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act” (P.L. 116-136), which was signed into law on March 27th. Since March, numerous proposals have been introduced and considered in both the House and Senate, but months of negotiation between Congressional leaders and the White House has yet to result in a fourth coronavirus relief package, despite all parties agreeing that another relief package is needed. Lame Duck Outlook: Right now, it is unclear if Congress will be able to approve another coronavirus relief package before the end of the year. The elections themselves slowed down negotiations between Congressional leaders and the White House, but in the days leading up to Election Day, it seemed several major issues were already hindering the ongoing negotiations. On October 29th, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has been leading the negotiations on behalf of Congressional Democrats, sent a letter to the White House’s principal relief package negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, stating that Congress is still awaiting draft legislative language and/or responses on several issues “of critical importance,” including testing, tracing and treatment, state and local funding, schools, child care, earned income and child tax credits, unemployment insurance, OSHA, and liability. In response, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin expressed that the White House has been negotiating in good faith on these provisions, but said the Speaker has “refused to compromise” on many of these major items, including additional funding for state and local governments. On November 4th, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he wants to pass a coronavirus relief package by the end of the year, but he maintained that the House-passed HEROES Act (H.R. 6800) (including the slimmed-down “2.0” version totaling $2.2 trillion passed on October 1) is too costly and includes too many provisions that are not directly related to the pandemic. Many Congressional Republicans have expressed concern with the cost of not only with the HEROES Act and HEROES 2.0 but also with the most recent proposal from the White House, which totaled approximately $1.8 trillion. House Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats remain committed to approving another package by the end of the year, as does the White House, but it is unclear if all sides will be able to come to an agreement on both cost and policy in short order, especially as many election outcomes are still unclear. Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) House and Senate WRDA bills would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to carry out a two-year roadmap of water infrastructure projects. Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 3 H.R. 7575: The “Water Resources Development Act” would make available $10 billion from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to address repair needs of the nation’s largest ports and the Great Lakes harbors, as well as other ports. It would direct funds for 38 new projects