April Washington D.C. Preview

QUICK FIX

— After a lightning-speed House vote to force the sale of TikTok or ban it in the U.S., the bill has moved to the Senate, where it will likely remain for some time.   — Tax filing season is upon us, with many wondering how the IRS will respond to taxpayer questions, unprocessed returns and their new pilot program allowing a small number of people to file electronically for free.   — Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to hold a vote on fresh funding to arm Ukraine, signaling that the House might finally consider a funding package nearly six months after President Joe Biden requested the money.

AGRICULTURE — GOP to put nutrition funding under renewed scrutiny: Congress is heading toward a major fight over key agriculture and nutrition programs just weeks after finally approving long-delayed fiscal 2024 funding.   Top Democratic appropriators fear the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, will become a major point of contention with House Republicans ahead of the November elections. Fiscal 2025 funding talks are already underway and will heat up in the coming weeks.   Johnson pushed to use the threat of cutting funds to the WIC program, which serves millions of low-income moms and babies, as “leverage” to force Democrats to agree to cuts elsewhere in the spending talks, according to one GOP lawmaker at the time.   Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Ag-FDA subcommittee, said in a recent interview that he “would not be at all surprised” if WIC becomes another fight in the fiscal 2025 Ag-FDA funding bill, along with a host of other issues.   “The personnel are still the same,” Bishop said. “I think the issues that a handful of folks on the other side are raising are probably still the same.”   — Other funding issues Republicans and Democrats are set to grapple over include spending cuts for rural energy programs, restrictions on the Agriculture Department’s internal fund and a pilot program to test restrictions on the country’s leading anti-hunger program.   — The USDA is expected in the next month to issue two final rules. One would modernize the types of foods and items that can be purchased using WIC benefits. Another would tighten nutrition requirements for school meals. — Meredith Lee Hill

TECHNOLOGY — More CHIPS: Biden announced an $8.5 billion grant to Intel in March, and in the coming weeks, the Commerce Department is expected to announce more CHIPS awards. Leading-edge chipmakers like Idaho’s Micron, South Korea’s Samsung and Taiwan’s TSMC are all in negotiations with the department. Administration officials also say more details will come about operating a “secure enclave” to produce advanced chips for the military, funded by billions earmarked by Congress in its latest spending package.   — Congress goes after TikTok: After a lightning-speed House vote to force the sale of TikTok or ban it in the U.S. (H.R. 7521), the bill has to pass the Senate next — where it will likely languish for some time. Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) support the bill; Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) says it has constitutional issues and wants to hold a public hearing on the app’s threats.   — Data broker limits: The House voted unopposed in March to restrict data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive information to foreign adversaries. The bill (H.R. 7520) would block brokers from selling data including locations, information about people under age 17 and information about members of the U.S. military — to countries including Russia, China and North Korea. There is no companion bill in the Senate, though Senate Commerce Chair Cantwell said she supports the legislation. — Christine Mui, Rebecca Kern and Alfred Ng

TAX — Tax filing season: Much of the tax world will be eagerly watching to see what happens with a nearly $80 billion tax package when Congress returns to work next week. The chances of it clearing the Senate are not good, but it can’t be written off quite yet. Many hope Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will bring it to the floor and dare Republicans to kill it.   — The Treasury Department, meanwhile, continues to churn out regulations, including ones expected soon explaining how a new tax on corporate stock buybacks will work. It’s also tax filing season, and many will be watching to see how the IRS does when it comes to responding to taxpayers’ questions and catching up on a backlog of unprocessed returns, not to mention its pilot program allowing a small number of people to file electronically for free with the agency. The IRS also says it will lift a moratorium on processing Employee Retention Credit applications sometime this spring, though it hasn’t said when.   — Beyond that, there’s the ongoing question of what happens with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s bid to remake the international tax system, including whether the Biden administration can continue to forestall the rise of foreign digital service taxes aimed at American internet giants. — Brian Faler

DEFENSE Ukraine aid fight comes to a head: April is a make-or-break month for efforts on Capitol Hill to finally approve Ukraine aid worth billions.   There’s bipartisan pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on fresh funding to arm Ukraine, and he’s signaled that the House may finally consider an aid package nearly six months after Biden requested the money.   But what proposal ultimately gets a vote is unclear. House Democrats want a vote on the Senate-passed $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Johnson could consider a stripped-down bipartisan alternative that includes border-security provisions. He’s also signaled he may split up votes on funding for Ukraine and Israel.   The issue is politically contentious among Republicans and could even trigger a vote to oust Johnson. Some Democrats — whose votes will be needed to pass any aid bill — have said they’re open to helping save Johnson's job if he commits to a vote on Ukraine funding. — Connor O’Brien

TRADE — Trade legislation complicated by election politics: April could bring multiple trade policy developments — though election-year politics threatens each item as November edges closer.   — TikTok bill: The House-passed bill to force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the video-sharing app or face a U.S. ban has been handed over to the Senate, where Schumer referred it to the Commerce Committee. That’s seen as a sign that the bill will not move quickly, since Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has her own TikTok legislation she wants to reconcile with the House-passed measure, not to mention a lengthy backlog of other bills. Most Washington insiders expect the Senate will bury the issue until after the election, but given the speed with which the bill moved through the lower chamber of Congress, it’s still an issue to watch.   — Other Trade legislation? Back in the House, trade lawmakers are still trying to cobble together a compromise to renew an expired tariff exemption program — the Generalized System of Preferences. Leaders on the Ways and Means Committee had hoped to debut that legislation this spring but are still struggling to come to an agreement. If they can get that bill out the door, the next step is legislation to reform the so-called de minimis loophole that allows shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free. Critics say the current law has become a back door for China to export goods to the U.S. without paying tariffs.   — CFIUS watch: The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is also busy reviewing the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel Co. as well as a less-noticed acquisition of U.S. ammunition maker Vista by Czech company CSG. Biden’s March announcement that he opposes the Nippon acquisition likely pushes the transaction until after the election, but Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will probably bring the issue up during his state visit in April. Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned about the sale of Vista — which owns ammo manufacturer Remington — into foreign hands and have called on CFIUS to scrutinize the deal closely. — Gavin Bade

ENERGY The quest for energy permitting reform: Lawmakers in both chambers are intensifying bipartisan negotiations in a bid to reach a long-elusive compromise to update permitting rules to speed the build-out of energy infrastructure.   But time is running out before key negotiators depart Congress or their respective committees at the end of 2024.   In addition to well-publicized talks between Senate Energy Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Environment Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) and ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) are holding weekly permitting talks. In the House, Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) have also recently restarted bipartisan negotiations they launched last year.   Negotiators hope that permitting will rise above election-year politics since enabling faster construction for renewable and fossil fuel projects could satisfy the interests of both parties by reducing emissions and lowering energy costs.   Despite optimism from lawmakers, the political obstacles that tripped up previous permitting reform efforts are still a factor. Those include Republican resistance to changing transmission rules to boost clean energy and opposition from progressives to enabling more oil and gas infrastructure. — Josh Siegel

HEALTH CARE — Legislative health care priorities ahead: Following a two-week recess, Congress will return in mid-April after finishing fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation nearly six months late. In the weeks ahead, lawmakers will start fiscal 2025 discussions, including funding for the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. House Republicans will have a new top appropriator; House Appropriations Chair Rep. Kay Granger of Texas is stepping down from the post.   — Expect continued discussions over pharmacy benefit manager, transparency and site-neutral payment reforms not included in the fiscal 2024 spending package despite bipartisan interest from key committee leaders. That battle will likely play out later this year when advocates are expected to target an end-of-year package for their priorities. The future of telehealth and hospital care at home will also be a major policy question that lawmakers must address by year’s end.   — More discussion on the future of expanded telehealth access is expected, with eased pandemic rules in Medicare and the commercial market set to expire at the end of the year. That will also likely be addressed via a temporary extension or permanent expansion at the end of the year. — Pro Health Care Staff

TRANSPORTATION FAA deadline drawing nearer: Congress has managed to buy itself through early May to enact a bill that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and set aviation policy for years to come. The House has passed its version of a bill, but the Senate has yet to act — and there's a reason why.   Lawmakers in both chambers are trying hard to essentially pre-conference a bill that would then require only one more vote in the House, which could help minimize the potential for damage in the House as Johnson continues to have trouble corraling his caucus. The idea is that negotiators in both chambers would agree on the final text of the bill, which would then be appended to the Senate bill and passed. The House would then have to follow suit and clear the bill for Biden’s signature.   But the current authorization expires May 10, and lawmakers in both chambers have indicated they want this process wrapped up before then. — Kathryn A. Wolfe

EDUCATION Eyes turn to college: The Education Department finished processing its backlog of roughly 6 million federal student aid applications by the end of March. Now it’s up to colleges to quickly turn that data around into financial aid packages for prospective students who are expected to make their college-going decisions in just a matter of weeks. But higher education groups have already warned Education Secretary Miguel Cardona that processing the student records “within a few weeks is unrealistic — it will take at least four to six weeks.”   This means students might not get their financial aid offers until closer to May, instead of the expected mid-April target.   The Education Department’s turbulent rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid upended the college admissions season after several delays in releasing and processing the forms and technical errors in the system. Many colleges have since pushed back their traditional May 1 commitment days and other deadlines to make up for the delays and ensure students know how much aid they will receive before selecting an institution. The federal agency has said it now expects to be on its regular schedule of sending student aid data to schools within one to three days following the submission of a FAFSA form. — Bianca Quilantan