Senate Floor. This evening at 5:30pm, the Senate will vote on confirmation of Executive Calendar #671, Andrew B. Davis to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas.
Reconciliation 2.0. This week, the Senate will consider a Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Resolution, the text of which will be released tomorrow. Republican Senators will gather this evening at 5:45pm to discuss the path forward for the “skinny” resolution, which will provide reconciliation instructions to the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) and Judiciary Committees, setting up a narrow package to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
Once the Senate agrees to the Motion to Proceed (as soon as tomorrow evening), up to 50 hours of equally divided debate will begin, culminating in a vote-a-rama, likely Thursday night/early Friday morning (depending on how much time is yielded back). Typically, the minority party files the bulk of amendments, and we do not expect Republicans to push for amendment votes, except for possible “side by sides” to counter Democrat amendments.
While not substantive and not binding, Democrats can offer amendments on a wide variety of issues. As a general matter we expect them to focus on several core themes, including ICE/Border Protection operations; affordability measures; tax “fairness;” “Trump corruption;” and health care.
FISA. Last week, following several days of tumult in the House, the House and Senate passed a short-term extension of Section 702 of FISA through April 30. This came after the House was unable to agree on a longer extension with reforms, even after several days of negotiation with the White House. Leader Thune took initial steps to put S.4344, a clean 3-year FISA extension authored by Senators Cotton and Grassley, on the Senate calendar to preserve optionality should the Senate need to act first. At present it is possible the Senate will turn to FISA legislation as soon as next week.
Votes on Privileged Resolutions. The Senate may consider several privileged resolutions this week (none are likely to pass the Senate, let alone become law):
- Iran War Powers Resolutions
- S.J.Res.114 – Baldwin (expected this week)
- S.J.Res.124 – Kaine (possible)
- S.J.Res.110 – Warren Treasury Enhanced Supplemental Leverage Ratio CRA (expected this week)
- S.J.Res.99 – Rosen USCIS Immigration Employment System CRA (possible)
- S.J.Res.139 – Bennet EPA Colorado Air Plan CRA (possible)
House Floor. The House is scheduled to consider six rule bills on the floor this week as it waits on the Senate to adopt its budget resolution, a precursor for Leadership to move the Senate-passed DHS appropriations bill that omits ICE and CBP. House floor activity will include:
- H.R. 6387 – FIRE Act (ozone attainment/Clean Air Act)
- H.R. 2289 – American Broadband Deployment Act (broadband permitting reform)
- H.R. 4690 – Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act (eliminate building mandates)
- H.R. 5587 – HEATS Act (expedites geothermal permitting)
- H.R. 1897 – ESA Amendments Act (reform ESA)
- H. Res. 1182 – Expressing support for rural communities across the United States
Also of note, the House Rules Committee has set an amendment filing deadline this Wednesday, April 22, for amendments to H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (farm bill), which Leadership hopes to have on the floor next week. Meanwhile, the House’s next steps remain to be determined on a number of items, including the aforementioned budget resolution and DHS funding bill, as well as long-term FISA reauthorization and the Senate’s amendment to the Housing package.
Partisan fault lines will continue to be tested on privileged resolutions related to war powers and Member expulsions. Regarding the latter, the Iran war will reach the 60-day mark next week (April 29), without receiving formal congressional approval. To enforce the statute, a bipartisan group of Members, led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, are working to reassert congressional AUMF prerogatives. Leadership will balk at these moves, with the group’s real leverage coming once the Administration submits a supplemental war spending request.
Finally, the already fraught tensions in the chamber will be exacerbated by tomorrow’s results in the Viriginia redistricting ballot initiative. The outcome will not only indicate winners and losers in the Viriginia delegation, but also inside the Florida delegation, with the latter’s redistricting effort informed by tomorrow’s results.
OUTLOOK/ANALYSIS. This is a pivotal week for congressional Republicans as they work to coalesce around a narrow reconciliation package focused on funding three years of ICE and Border Patrol operations, beginning with Senate consideration of an FY26 budget resolution on the floor. Democrats are expected to force a series of non-binding votes on politically salient issues—including health care, taxes, trade/tariffs, and Trump-related matters—during the vote-a-rama. With a 53–47 majority, Senate Republicans are under pressure to maintain unity and pass the resolution by week’s end, sending it to the House for expedited consideration. Internal concerns persist that a border-focused package does little to address broader affordability issues (e.g., health care, energy prices) as the election approaches, and nothing is guaranteed with razor-thin margins.
To get the bill passed, President Trump and his team will aggressively lobby members, while Administration officials warn that funding constraints—particularly related to paying TSA agents—could emerge as early as June 1 absent action. In parallel, Republicans are also working to resolve the ongoing impasse over Section 702 of FISA, which expires on April 30.
Despite these pressures, we expect Republican leadership to ultimately advance the narrow reconciliation package in the coming weeks, with attention then turning—at least conceptually—to a potential “Reconciliation 3.0,” though the political window for a broader package is narrowing as the election nears.
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