What’s Happening Monday on Capitol Hill

April 17, 2023

Congress returns to Washington today after a district work period.

Monday is especially noteworthy for marking the return of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., coming back to the Hill after extended absences.

McConnell was hospitalized last month following a fall at a dinner fundraising event in Washington, D.C. He was treated for a concussion and a rib fracture. 

Fetterman returns to the chamber after checking himself into Walter Reed Military Medical Center last month for treatment for clinical depression.

While his colleagues and counterparts gather in Washington, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will be delivering a speech at 10 a.m. at the New York Stock Exchange on his vision to address “the urgent need” for a “responsible” debt-ceiling increase.

“If you gave your child a credit card and they kept hitting the limit, you wouldn’t just raise their credit limit — you’d sit down and help them figure out where they could cut back on spending,” he said in one tweet.

In another, he reminded his Twitter followers that former President Ronald Reagan spoke at the exchange in 1985 to share his vision for American prosperity.

Ahead of McCarthy’s remarks, deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said, “There is one responsible solution to the debt limit: addressing it promptly, without brinkmanship or hostage taking — as Republicans did three times in the last administration and as Presidents Trump and Reagan argued for in office. 

“In fact, in 2019 Donald Trump said, ‘I can’t imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wager.’ 

“Speaker McCarthy is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement,” Bates continued. “A speech isn’t a plan, but it’s clear that extreme MAGA Republicans’ wish lists will impose devastating cuts on hardworking families, send manufacturing overseas, take health care and food assistance away from millions of people, and increase energy costs — all while adding trillions to the debt with tax cuts skewed to the super-wealthy and corporations.”

House Meets

The House will meet for legislative business beginning at 2 p.m., with an agenda including H.R. 1149 — Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act, as amended; H.R. 1151 — Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace Act, as amended; and H. Res. 240 — Condemning recent actions taken by the Russian military to down a United States Air Force drone, as amended.

House Rules Committee 

The House Rules Committee will hold a hearing beginning at 4 p.m. on H.R. 734 — Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 and H.J. Res. 42 – Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform.

House Judiciary Committee

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a field hearing on victims of violent crime at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, located at 26 Federal Plaza, in New York.

The committee will hear testimony from former bodega clerk Jose Alba; Victims Rights Reform Council Chairwoman Madeline Brame (the mother of a homicide victim); Victims Rights NY founder Jennifer Harrison; Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo; New York City Councilmember Robert Holden; Barry Borgen, father of a victim of an antisemitic hate crime; Third Way co-founder and Senior Vice President for Policy Jim Kessler; and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Executive Director Rebecca Fischer.

U.S. Senate

The Senate will convene at 3 p.m. and proceed into executive session to resume consideration of the nomination of Radha Iyengar Plumb to be a deputy under secretary of Defense.