A 2024 wish list for federal lawmakers
What Connecticut’s delegation wants, and needs, to get done
When Congress returns to Washington next week, lawmakers will need to immediately tackle funding the government ahead of two deadlines to avoid a shutdown.
The must-pass spending bills, plus the delay of President Joe Biden’s national security aid package, will leave little time for other legislation at least in the first couple of months of the year.
But Connecticut’s congressional delegation has a long list of priorities it hopes to accomplish as it faces the realities of a divided Congress and a shorter legislative calendar with next year’s presidential election.
“The major obstacle is simply legislative time on the floor and the scheduling of votes on all of these other very, very important measures,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-conn., said.
“The simple nuts and bolts schedule issues are very much on all of our minds right now,” he added. “Then I see a window shortly after that initial crush of must-do items.”
Regardless, Connecticut’s members have their eyes on a number of legislative and investigative priorities.
The renewal of the Farm Bill, which authorizes funding for nutrition and agricultural programs, is another must-pass measure expiring in September. The most recent version was extended by Congress after major delays to negotiate a new one in 2023.
They also hope to see more movement on children’s online safety legislation, a college athlete bill of rights and gun safety measures like safe storage and bans on ghost guns, though they acknowledge the hurdles facing some of these measures.
And they want to make progress on congressional investigations, especially related to the Coast Guard, which is under fire for covering up a yearslong investigation and report looking into sexual harassment and assault at its academy in New London.
Funding fights in the new year
Before they can get to any of that, Congress must either pass all appropriations bills to fund government agencies through September or approve another short-term funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, if compromise fails.
Rep. Rosa Delauro, D-3, will play a key role as the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee in trying to negotiate the 12 spending bills ahead of the first deadline on Jan. 19 and then again on Feb. 2.
If they do not reach a deal or pass a bill to keep government funding at existing levels, there will be a partial shutdown, since funding for four departments expires by the first deadline. The remaining eight would then be at risk by the February deadline.
The national security supplemental with aid for Ukraine,
Israel, border security and humanitarian efforts in Gaza is also likely to get early treatment in the new year. Republican demands for conditioning Ukraine aid on stricter immigration policy stalled the package, prompting bipartisan Senate talks to see if the parties could strike a deal.
As the Democrats’ lead negotiator, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-conn., has been engaged in talks with a small negotiating group for weeks. Before the holiday recess, he said they were getting much closer to a deal, but the group still needed more time to reach an agreement. Senate leaders said members will tackle the issue “early in the new year.”
Murphy and others involved in the talks have largely kept the details of negotiations private, and it is unclear what remains in play.
But Republicans have reportedly pushed for changes to asylum policy — increasing the “credible fear” standard — and parole authority that allows the administration to temporarily allow some migrants into the U.S.
Even if they strike a deal over the next couple of weeks, passage is not guaranteed with opposition in both parties.
Democrats, particularly Latino senators who have not been at the main negotiating table, worry about giving concessions that could limit legal immigration without getting measures like protections for those who were illegally brought to the U.S. when they were children and covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Republicans, meanwhile, want Congress to go even farther with some who say they will not accept a deal that does not include more restrictions on immigration.
But the supplemental is key for Connecticut because of the additional $3.4 billion it would provide to the submarine industrial base. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, and others are hoping for that extra boost of funding, especially after Congress approved a pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
One of the biggest components of AUKUS will be Australia’s purchase of at least three nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines that are produced at Electric Boat. But the sale is not planned until the early 2030s.
Despite the time crunch, the Connecticut delegation hopes to get as many of its priorities as possible through, even during a presidential election year when Congress tends to steer away from more controversial legislation and has a lighter schedule to leave time for campaigning.
Farm Bill
While the Farm Bill has traditionally garnered bipartisan support, negotiations for a new version were behind schedule and funding started to lapse in the fall. Congress decided to extend the 2018 legislation to give lawmakers more time to enact a new one. They will need to play catch up in 2024 to get a bill prepared before next fall.
The Farm Bill, which is renegotiated every five years, mainly consists of nutrition programs — like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps — with the rest going toward agriculture and conservation.
Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, wants to see the expansion of eligibility for SNAP benefits. She is the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee’s Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture subcommittee, and a former recipient of food stamps.
The Thrifty Food Plan determines the costs for a family of four to eat a healthy diet and sets the amount of nutrition assistance given to those in need. Hayes said she wants a reevaluation of the plan included in the legislation given that families using SNAP are struggling to afford healthy foods because of high costs.
SNAP benefits will likely be at the center of debate when lawmakers are hashing out the Farm Bill. Republicans pushed for increasing the age limit for full SNAP eligibility, which ultimately made it into the deal to raise the debt ceiling in May.
Outside of the nutrition component of the bill, Hayes and others in the delegation want rural broadband prioritized, as well as higher funding for popular conservation programs used in the state and around the country.
Access to land — and preserving it to remain as farmland — are among the biggest challenges facing farmers, ranchers and forest owners in Connecticut, especially with a competitive real estate market in the Northeast and less viable farmland in smaller states. Federal lawmakers in the state are looking for more assistance with closing costs, down payments and subsidized interest rates.