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FIRST ON FOX: House GOP leaders are looking to kick off next week in high gear to make up for the six weeks they spent out of session during the government shutdown.
With the end of Congress’ 42-day fiscal standoff in sight, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital that House lawmakers will be faced with an accelerated schedule to accomplish the GOP’s priorities for this term.
“I wanted to rework the schedule to create more time to make up for what happened during the shutdown, and the fact that there were a lot of bills that stacked up that we planned to bring to the floor in October that weren’t able to go,” he said in an interview on Tuesday night.
Priorities for next week include legislation to help reduce federal restrictions on liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a bill aimed at expanding refining capacity in a bid to reduce soaring energy costs.
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Measures aimed at D.C. are also expected to see votes, including a bill that D.C.’s pretrial release and detention processes require mandatory pre-trial detention for defendants charged with violent crimes.
Another bill expected to get a vote next week would undo local ordinances that Republicans say place burdensome barriers on the Metropolitan Police Department.
A largely symbolic measure to denounce socialism in the U.S. is also on next week’s schedule.
Lawmakers will be expected to work long into the night in a departure from their traditional day-to-day in D.C. Votes will be scheduled in the evenings when lawmakers have normally departed Capitol Hill for other events.
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Scalise also noted the House would have a five-day legislative week from Monday through Friday, rather than the more traditional four days in D.C.
More time will also be allotted during the day for House committees to conduct hearings and advance their legislation, something that has not been done on Capitol Hill since Sept. 19.
“We’re going to do that for the next few weeks until we catch up on the time that we missed when everybody was back in their districts,” Scalise said.
The latter point is critical considering Congress will be reckoning with several key priorities in the coming months.
The bill to end the government shutdown, expected to pass the House on Wednesday, kicks the majority of fiscal year (FY) 2026 federal spending to a Jan. 30 deadline. It would also authorize funding for three of Congress’ 12 annual spending bills for FY 2026.
However, it will be an uphill battle for both the Senate and House appropriations committees to strike their remaining spending deals by then.
“There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime as well,” Scalise said.
Congress also still has to find a bipartisan compromise on the federal government’s annual defense policy bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
“There have been a lot of negotiations ongoing. I think we’re getting close on the NDAA,” Scalise said.
Scalise said Republicans would also be busy at work on a new Farm Bill, legislation that sets agricultural priorities as well as federal food policies for urban, suburban and rural areas across the country, as well as a highway bill — legislation that authorizes policy for surface infrastructure like roads, bridges and rail lines nationwide.
“A lot of those bills have been very active in the committee process. They just haven’t gotten a lot of attention nationally during the shutdown. But the committees have been working, especially the chairman, to try to get those bills ready to move,” he said.
“And so we will have a lot of big ticket items that are important to our America First agenda ready to go. And that’s why we’re going to just add more floor time to be able to get all of it done by the end of this year.”
But in order to get all those “big-ticket items” done, the House will first need to pass the Senate’s bipartisan bill to end the government shutdown.
Asked if his chamber had the votes to do so, Scalise said, “I’m very hopeful we will.”
“I’m very confident our members are really eager to get back to a full House schedule. Many of them have been working overtime in their districts to mop up the mess Democrats created during the shutdown,” he said.
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