Situational Awareness

The House of Representatives and Senate are in session this week. Lawmakers have seven legislative days to pass a short-term spending measure, referred to as a continuing resolution (CR), and prevent a government shutdown. House Republicans are expected to introduce a CR that extends funding through mid-November, giving lawmakers an extra month to reach a bipartisan agreement on top-line spending levels and expiring Medicaid subsidies. Appropriations aside, the House will consider legislation this week that would overhaul energy permitting and modify local policing and criminal justice laws in Washington, D.C. The Senate is aiming to finalize changes to the upper chamber’s rules that would allow most executive branch nominees to be confirmed in batches.

Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Cancel Humanitarian Parole  

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a district court ruling from April that blocked the Trump administration from revoking temporary protections for 500,000 migrant parolees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In May, the Supreme Court lifted the lower court’s order. The Trump administration had argued the appeals court should follow the Supreme Court and reverse the district court ruling.

Plaintiffs had requested that the appeals court endorse the district court ruling, which found that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could not categorically end protections for these groups, but instead had to evaluate each case individually. In its ruling, the appeals court said that the plaintiffs hadn’t demonstrated that the Trump administration’s decision was arbitrary and capricious.