CQ Morning Briefing

State and Pentagon officials testify on countering Russian aggression. A wrench was tossed into the Senate’s attempt to organize this week. The House GOP may try to buy time on the debt ceiling. Megan Mineiro has your CQ Morning Briefing for Thursday, Jan. 26.

David Higgins explains what's delaying Senate committees from organizing, a House GOP attempt to restrict the president’s authority to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and a return of Biden’s pick to lead the Agriculture Department’s long-troubled civil rights division.

Megan Mineiro previews a hearing on Ticketmaster’s debacle selling Taylor Swift concert tickets, a push to confirm more Biden judges and the debate over the debt ceiling. 

David Higgins unpacks a slowdown for the House GOP majority’s “ready-to-go” bills, a hearing on Ticketmaster’s meltdown and a challenge for the 2023 farm bill.

David Higgins has a recess update on negotiations over the debt limit, the new chair of a powerful Appropriations panel, and the Biden administration’s vacancies at key health agencies.

Megan Mineiro has an outlook on appropriations in the 118th Congress, Santos facing another call for the FEC to probe his campaign finances and the GOP reeling in a tough-on-crime bill. 

Megan Mineiro previews a vote on a bill to ban the sale of crude oil reserves to China, a pileup of work for a tax panel to tackle and changes ahead for appropriations "cardinals." 

David Higgins discusses a possible Appropriations subcommittee shuffle, House Republican border security plans and a vow to return to regular order for Senate spending bills.

Megan Mineiro unpacks the House GOP’s three anti-abortion measures and two new potential investigating panels, and a commitment from the largest ever Congressional Progressive Caucus. 

David Higgins starts out the week with a vote on the House rules package that includes concessions for members who opposed Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid.

Megan Mineiro closes out the week with the dayslong process of picking a speaker not over yet, lawmakers marking the second anniversary of the Capitol attack and senators planning to probe Southwest Airlines.

Megan Mineiro has the latest on the House speaker vote, the uncertainty it’s causing members and their staff and a planned trip by President Joe Biden to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

David Higgins unpacks a second day of speaker votes, stalled nominees resubmitted to the Senate and changes that advocacy groups say could gut the Office of Congressional Ethics.

David Higgins starts out the 118th Congress with a look at today’s vote for speaker, early priorities for the new House Republican majority, and the reopening of the House for visitors.

David Higgins discusses a final vote on the omnibus, how the bill got through the Senate, and a controversy over a lawmaker-to-be from New York.

David Higgins runs through the Senate’s omnibus situation, top Senate Republican appropriator Richard Shelby's earmark haul, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plea to lawmakers.

David Higgins has the latest on the fiscal 2023 omnibus spending bill, a surprise visit by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and new developments on Donald Trump’s taxes.

David Higgins has the latest on the omnibus spending bill, plus a key meeting by the House Ways and Means Committee and a pause in efforts to end the Title 42 border policy.

David Higgins previews the week with a race to finish the omnibus, the Jan. 6 panel’s potential criminal referrals and a closed-door meeting on Trump’s tax returns.

Megan Mineiro wraps up the week with passage of the NDAA, a shutdown averted and low odds for a tax package to ride the omnibus.

Megan Mineiro unpacks the latest on spending talks and passage of the NDAA, plus a vote on Puerto Rico’s self-determination. 

David Higgins unpacks spending talks, the Senate’s FTX hearing and testimony from survivors of the Club Q deadly shooting.

Megan Mineiro has the latest on a one-week stopgap, the arrest of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and a hearing on a “culture of abuse” in federal women’s prisons.

David Higgins examines the pace of omnibus talks while the end of current federal funding approaches, the Senate’s vote on the NDAA and hearings on the FTX crash.

Megan Mineiro wraps up the week with a look at the omnibus talks (spoiler: they're still at a standoff), a provision to seize Russian assets that could ride an omnibus and a break from tradition by Senate Democratic leaders.