Congress Is Back. Summer break is over, and like the many children who have recently returned to school, our congressional lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week to kick off a four-week stint before they leave to campaign ahead of the November elections. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate hope to register some last-minute legislative victories during this period and gather momentum for the campaign trail, recognizing that unified Democratic control of Congress might not carry over into 2023. During the next few weeks, Congress will likely focus on judicial branch confirmations, federal government funding (a likely continuing resolution will extend the deadline to sometime in December), military spending, and prescription drug pricing, among other issues.
Senate to Vote on Respect for Marriage Act? In addition to the aforementioned priorities, Senate Democrats are moving closer to a floor vote on the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404), which would, among other things, codify protections for same-sex marriage rights. The House passed the bill in July 2022 by a vote of 267–157, with 47 Republicans voting in favor of it. Proponents of the legislation need ten Republican senators to support their effort to defeat the legislative filibuster. If the act does not pass during this session of Congress, it will have to be reintroduced in the 118th Congress, and its proponents will have to start the legislative process from scratch. The Buzz...
MANILA (UPDATED) — The Chinese Embassy on Monday claimed that some Filipino politicians have “fabricated and spread a false narrative” about China’s alleged funding for an unnamed local political ...