Iran War Powers: The Senate voted down S.J.Res.118 (47-53), which would direct the president to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by Congress. This is the second time in a month the Senate has voted down a measure of this kind. More measures are expected to be taken up in the near future.

Deporting Fraudsters: The House passed H.R.1958 (231-186), which makes foreign nationals inadmissible to the United States and deportable if they admit to or are convicted of defrauding the federal government or unlawfully receiving federal benefits administered by federal, state or local governments.

Federal Working Animal Protection: The House passed H.R.4638 (228-190), which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to expand the grounds for inadmissibility for noncitizen migrants who are convicted of, admit to having committed, or admit committing acts that constitute harming animals used in law enforcement.

Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals (BOWOW): The House passed H.R.4638 (228-190), which makes foreign nationals inadmissible to the United States and deportable if they are convicted of, or admit to, harming animals used in law enforcement operations.

Small Business Innovation and Economic Security: The House passed S.3971, which would reauthorizes through FY2031 and modify the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, and related pilot programs. Specifically, the bill expands the requirements for federal agencies administering these programs to evaluate the security risks of the small businesses that apply for awards under the programs. If an agency denies an application for security reasons, the agency must provide the small business with the basis for such a determination.

Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers: The House passed H.R.556 (215-202), would prohibit the Interior and Agriculture departments from banning the use of lead-based hunting ammunition and fishing tackle or limiting the level of lead in those items for use on federal lands or waters. It allows exemptions for particular lands or waters if the area is experiencing a decline in wildlife populations due to the use of lead ammo or tackle.

Mitigation Action and Watermen Support: The House passed H.R.4294, which requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a pilot program to facilitate the purchase of blue catfish caught within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Under the program, NOAA must enter into cooperative agreements with manufacturers or processors of pet food, animal feed, or aquaculture feed for the purchase of blue catfish from watermen and seafood processors. NOAA must determine the minimum price per pound after considering market factors; feedback from watermen, seafood processors, and participants in the program; and differentiation of price points for fillet and byproduct. 

The House is planning to vote this week on another bill to fund the Homeland Security Department, which is entering its sixth week of a partial shutdown, along with a resolution expressing gratitude for DHS employees.

Senators met with officials over the weekend to seek an agreement on reopening the department and modifying immigration enforcement procedures,  and is expected to vote to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow on the two DHS measures, along with bills to create a commission to oversee crime prevention efforts in Washington, DC, and to prevent vessels from entering US ports if they previously visited Western Hemisphere countries where US-owned port facilities have been seized.

The House Rules Committee is set to meet on March 24 to set the terms of floor debate on the four measures, which would need simple majorities for passage or adoption.

The House is slated to consider another 15 measures under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority. The list includes a measure to update Federal Aviation Administration regulations to allow civilian aircraft to operate at supersonic speeds in US airspace, and a measure to allow recreational drones to be flown in a broader range of airspace. Action is also planned on a bill that would create an alternative regulatory system for the professional boxing industry, through “unified boxing organizations.”

House business is planned for tomorrow through Friday, according to the weekly schedule from Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).

FY 2026 Homeland Security Appropriations — HR 8029, Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. The House this week will again consider a stand-alone FY 2026 Homeland Security spending bill that is nearly identical to the bipartisan negotiated version dropped from a final spending package in January after the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. The shutdown of DHS is entering its sixth week, and Republicans say it must be fully funded to protect the homeland against rising threats sparked by the war with Iran. Democrats continue to staunchly oppose funding ICE and CBP without substantive changes to immigration enforcement practices, and have proposed funding the department outside of those agencies — filing a discharge petition on a measure to do so. While Democrats and the White House have continued to exchange "reform" proposals, each accuses the other of not negotiating seriously. The measure is expected to be considered under a closed rule that prohibits amendments. (Write Congress)

Express Support for Full DHS Funding — H Res 1128, Supporting the Homeland Security Department. The resolution states that the House recognizes the importance of fully funding the Homeland Security Department and that partial funding of individual DHS components would create uncertainty in a heightened threat environment. Although DHS is "shut down," most Homeland employees continue to work, as they are considered essential. More than 300 TSA workers have resigned, which has drastically increased airline passenger security wait times at airports. The measure is expected to be considered under a closed rule that prohibits amendments. (Write Congress)

Defending American Property — HR 7084, Defending American Property Abroad Act. The bill authorizes the president to deny entry into U.S. ports to vessels that use ports in Western Hemisphere countries that have free trade agreements with the U.S. and have seized American property — which is intended to apply a port in Mexico developed by the U.S. company Vulcan Materials that has been seized by the Mexican government. Republicans say it protects American companies by imposing serious consequences on foreign governments that steal from Americans. Democrats say it is written to benefit one company and grants the president a power that could be exploited to serve a rogue foreign policy agenda. The measure is expected to be considered under a closed rule that prohibits amendments. (Write Congress)

Federal Commission for D.C. Safety & Maintenance — HR 5103, Make the District of Columbia Safe & Beautiful Act. The bill establishes a federal commission to promote collaboration with the D.C. local government to enforce federal immigration priorities and increase the processing of concealed carry license requests. It also requires the Interior Department to coordinate and maintain District monuments and public spaces. Republicans say it is essential to maintain the lower crime rates achieved by the collaboration between the District and federal law enforcement. Democrats say it continues the erosion of District home rule and simply seeks to support President Trump's desire to control the city. The measure is expected to be considered under a closed rule that prohibits amendments. (Write Congress)

Homeland Security Appropriations: The House passed H.R.7744 (221-209), which would provide about $64.4 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

 A Senate procedural vote on a full-year DHS funding bill (H.R. 7147) failed 51-45 as negotiators make little to no progress on a deal with immigration enforcement policy changes.

 Iran State Sponsor of Terrorism: The House passed H.Res.1099, which states that the House of Representatives declares it is the policy of the United States that Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

 End Unauthorized U.S. Military Actions Against Iran:

 House: The House failed to pass H.Con.Res.38 (212-219), which would direct the president to terminate the use of the United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran unless authorized by a formal declaration of war or an authorization for the use of military force. It does not prohibit the gathering or sharing of intelligence or counterintelligence and permits the United States to defend itself from imminent attack, including on our bases and personnel abroad.

 Senate: The Senate failed to move forward on S.J.Res.104 (47-53), which directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted. The resolution specifies that it shall not be construed to prevent the United States from defending against an attack on the United States or its personnel or facilities in other nations.

 Congressional Ethics Violation Records: The House voted (357-65) to refer H.Res.1100 to the House Ethics Committee. The resolution would also force the Ethics panel to share its records on cases where a lawmaker had a relationship with a subordinate. The referral to the Ethics Committee is seen as the House’s way of killing the bill after the opposition of top leadership from both parties was made known.

 Housing for the 21st Century: The Senate agreed to proceed on to debate of H.R.6644, which is a bipartisan bill that focuses on incentives for building new homes. It would approve new grants to revamp aging houses, allow for accelerated environmental reviews for housing developments, and create a new program to turn abandoned buildings into housing and more. The bill would also ban large institutional investors from owning more than 350 single-family homes. The bill marks the most consequential housing legislation in roughly three decades and has widespread support among builders, legislators, trade groups, and more. 

 Tribal Trust Land Homeownership: The House passed S.723, which advocates for homeownership and streamlines the approval process for mortgages on tribal trust land. Currently, in order to be finalized, mortgages involving property on tribal trust land must be reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The BIA Mortgage Handbook establishes timelines for BIA offices to process and approve these mortgages. However, these timelines are not always adhered to. The Senate passed the bill in December 2025 and now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

 Territorial Student Access to Higher Education: The House passed H.R.6472, which would help students from U.S. territories pursue higher education by allowing them to receive in-state tuition at public colleges and universities across the 50 states. Students from U.S. territories are American citizens, but are treated as out-of-state students when applying to public colleges and universities across the country. As a result, families often face significantly higher tuition costs—sometimes tens of thousands of dollars more per year—simply because they reside in a territory.

Congress will be on Recess the week of March 9th. They will return to normally scheduled business on March 16th. Be looking for your next R&P on March 23rd.

State of the Union Address: President Donald Trump gave his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 24th, the longest in US history.

 In a two-hour speech delivered to a joint session of Congress, President Trump focused much of his speech on his economic agenda, touting his administration's effort to lower consumer prices. He said his policies have lowered the cost of housing, healthcare, and energy. He also announced that the White House plans to create retirement accounts for Americans without employer-sponsored plans, with qualified enrollees eligible to receive a $1,000 annual match from the federal government.

 President Trump spoke about tax breaks in his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump Accounts, his recently unveiled plan to increase healthcare cost transparency, and his efforts to make mortgages more accessible. He also defended the White House's tariff policies, despite what he called a "disappointing" ruling by the Supreme Court.

 He called on Congress to pass legislation that would "end deadly sanctuary cities" as well as legislation "barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens." Other asks included passing voter ID legislation (S.1383), codifying his health care plan and passing a measure to restrict lawmakers' stock trading (H.R.7008).

 President Trump dedicated the bulk of the second half of the speech to national security, in what was at once a foreign policy victory lap of his first year back in office and a warning to Iran, reiterating his oft-repeated tagline that in the first year of his second term he had ended eight wars -- and hoped that the ongoing war in Ukraine would be the ninth.

 Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) Funding: The Senate failed to move forward on H.R.7147 (50-45), which would fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown that is currently taking place. The major sticking point has been over reigning in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Democrats have been demanding reforms to how the Trump administration carries out its immigration enforcement campaign as a condition of funding DHS.

 Information Quality Assurance: The House passed H.R.6329, would require that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) update guidance to improve the quality of information and evidence that federal agencies use to promulgate federal regulations. 

 Preventing Mid-Air Collisions: The House failed to pass S.2503 (264-133), which would have  required all civilian and military aircraft that operate in civilian airspace nationwide to be equipped with certain aircraft tracking technology to prevent mid-air collisions like the one over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. in January 2025. It would also repeal FY 2026 Defense Authorization provisions that prescribe less rigorous anti-collision systems for military helicopters operating in D.C. airspace and allow them to turn off their position signaling devices. A two-thirds majority was required to clear the legislation under a fast-track procedure. More than 130 Republicans voted against it.

 The Senate passed the bill unanimously in December. But it stalled in the House amid opposition from Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who recently introduced his own bipartisan bill. In recent weeks, the cross-chamber fight intensified, ultimately culminating in the rare floor defeat for a bill that was being considered under a process typically reserved for non-controversial legislation.

 Don’t Mess with My Home Appliances: The House passed H.R.4626 (217-190), which overhauls the Energy Department's process for setting consumer product efficiency standards, including by ending the requirement to review standards every six years. DOE would be prohibited from setting an efficiency standard without first prescribing a test procedure for the product, and it must conduct an economic analysis to determine if the standard is economically justified; standards must result in minimum energy or water savings prescribed by the bill and could not reduce a product's utility or performance.

 Homeowner Energy Freedom: The House passed H.R.4758 (210-199), which repeals three sections of the 2022 Democratic climate, health and tax reconciliation law (PL 117-169) that established energy efficiency and green energy programs, and it rescinds an estimated $300 million in unobligated funds appropriated by that law for those programs. Programs to be repealed include Home Electrification and Appliances Rebates, Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training Grants, and the Energy Efficient Building Codes grant program.

Iran War Powers Resolution This concurrent resolution (H.Con.Res.38) directs the president, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran or any part of its government or military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force.

Balance Budget Amendment The House looks to consider, under suspension of the rules, H.J.Res.139, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring a balanced budget for the Federal Government. A two-thirds vote of the Members present and voting is required for passage under suspension of the rules in the House of Representatives.

Pulled From Consideration

Deporting Fraudsters Under H.R. 1958, the bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make non-citizens who have defrauded the United States government or unlawfully received public benefits both inadmissible for entry and deportable if they are already in the country.

Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals Act Under H.R.4638, the BOWOW Act, animals used by federal law enforcement agencies would be protected. In June, an immigrant from Egypt assaulted a Customs and Border Patrol agriculture detector dog, Freddie, a beagle who had detected prohibited items in the luggage of the offending immigrant at Dulles Airport.

FY 2026 Homeland Security Appropriations The House looks to consider a stand-alone FY 2026 Homeland Security spending bill that is nearly identical to the bipartisan negotiated version dropped from a final spending package in January after the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Democrats and the White House have been trading proposals on possible "reforms" to immigration enforcement practices, without much progress, and Democrats say they won't fund ICE and CBP without fundamental reforms.

The government has warned of possible terrorist threats to the U.S. in response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, and GOP leaders are bringing the new stand-alone bill (which includes ICE and CBP funding) to the floor to challenge Democrats to reopen the Homeland Security Department; the department is technically "shut down," although most employees are still required to work.

Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE): The House passed S.1383 (218-213), which requires that individuals provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and requires voters to present photo identification in order to cast a ballot. It also requires states to remove noncitizens from their existing voter rolls, provides states with access to federal databases to help identify noncitizens and requires states to submit their voter rolls to the Homeland Security Department for vetting, and allows private citizens to sue election officials who register individuals to vote without receiving proof of citizenship while also establishing criminal penalties against such officials. It is being considered as an amendment to a Senate passed bill, Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee, to eliminate in the Senate an initial opportunity for Democrats to filibuster the measure.

Homeland Security Funding: The Senate rejected a motion to begin consideration of H.R.7147 (52-47), failing to send the House passed bill to the President. Senate Democrats want to stop "roving patrols" by immigration enforcement agents and arrests at churches and schools; bar agents from wearing masks; and require judicial warrants, not just administrative warrants, for arrests. Republicans, on the other hand, want to curtail jurisdictions known as sanctuary cities, which they criticize for refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and prevent doxing of immigration officials. Current DHS funding was set to run out on Feb. 13th.

Law-Enforcement Innovate to De-Escalate: The House passed H.R.2189 (233-185), which establishes the term “less-than-lethal projectile device” in Federal statute. The updated definition would ensure that these devices are properly classified by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) based on a new five step criteria. A device that cannot fire projectiles at velocities exceeding 500 feet per second and is designed in a manner that minimizes the likelihood of causing death or serious injury would be re-classified as a less-than-lethal projectile device and no longer be considered a firearm. Mostly used for crowd control, such weapons generally include beanbag guns and rubber bullets, pepper spray and rounds, and stun guns and tasers.

Eliminating Tariffs on Canada: The House passed H.J.Res.72 (219-211), which ends the national emergency declared by President Donald Trump on Feb. 1, 2025, under which the president imposed new tariffs on goods from Canada. The Executive Order invoking the emergency cited Canada's failure to stem the flow of illicit drugs entering the United States, especially fentanyl.

Undersea Cable Protection: The House passed H.R.261 (218-212), which prohibits the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from requiring any additional permitting (including a Special Use Permit) for the installation, continued presence, operation, maintenance, repair or recovery of undersea fiber optic cable projects within a National Marine Sanctuary — if the cable project has been previously authorized by a federal or state agency.

Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply: The House passed H.R.3617 (223-203), which expands the statutory mission of the Energy Department by requiring it to assess and take actions to strengthen the nation's supply of critical energy resources. It defines a "critical energy resource" as any energy resource that is essential to the energy sector and energy systems of the United States, and for which the supply chain is vulnerable to disruption.

PROTECT Taiwan: The House passed H.R.1531, which directs the United States to exclude China from a variety of international financial institutions if Chinese actions threaten Taiwan's security.

Housing for the 21st Century: The House passed H.R.6644, which would require the Housing and Urban Development Department would issue new zoning and design blueprints for cities and states, expand affordable housing aid, and ease certain regulations for federally funded housing developments. Under the bill, HUD would draw up best practices for state and local governments on zoning codes and home designs. The agency would expand a grant program previously limited to low-income households and create several new programs aimed at borrowers, tenants, and families living in affordable housing. It also would modify a number of regulatory requirements to develop and build housing, including by exempting certain projects from environmental reviews.

Congress will be on Recess the week of Feb. 16th. Although they have been told to be ready to fly back should a DHS funding deal be made. They will return to normally scheduled business on Feb. 23rd. Be looking for your next R&P on March 2nd.