Congress returns from its one-week recess to a packed agenda, diving back into many of the same high-stakes issues that dominated lawmakers’ attention last month.
Among the most pressing on GOP leaders’ to-do list is passing the bill to fund immigration enforcement, which they aim to advance through the budget reconciliation process that bypasses the need for Democratic buy-in.
President Trump had set a June 1 deadline for lawmakers to deliver the bill to his desk.
The Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee last week released legislative text for the $72 billion budget reconciliation bill that includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol through 2029.
Also at the top of the agenda is renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to spy on foreigners abroad without a judicial warrant.
Congress approved a temporary 45-day extension before recess amid mounting pressure from hardline conservatives in the lower chamber, who have argued that any reauthorization must include a ban on the creation of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and a warrant requirement — a nonstarter in the Senate, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S. D.).
Privacy hawks from both parties are also expected to use that time to make another push to add a requirement for a warrant to access data swept up on Americans communicating with foreign targets.
With Section 702 set to expire on June 15, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces a tight timeline to strike a deal.
And the upper chamber will take up legislation to reauthorize spending for food and agriculture programs. The farm bill faces an uphill climb in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
What you can expect this week:
FISA deadline ticking: Johnson must rally conservatives around a deal on reforms to a Section 702 FISA extension before the June deadline.
Reconciliation 2.0 underway: Two key Senate committees have released text on a second reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement for three years.
Senate to take up farm bill: The Senate will take up a farm bill, which was the subject of controversy in the House over certain provisions.
Kevin Warsh confirmation vote: The Senate is expected to hold a confirmation vote on Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
Housing bill back on the agenda: The House is making changes to a Senate-passed housing bill, which both parties in the lower chamber have grumbled about.
House to vote on first 2027 appropriations bill: The House is expected to hold a vote on a military construction and veterans affair 2027 appropriations bill.
Conservatives divided on FISA reauthorization
Members of the House Freedom Caucus and other privacy-minded conservatives are pushing for a CBDC ban and a warrant requirement in a Section 702 reauthorization, complicating matters for Johnson as the deadline approaches.
“Here we are again. We’re gonna have another 45 days. So the question is, this time when we get together, will we run a bill through committee, through Judiciary, Intel [committees], work with the chairmen and deliver a product that actually answers the questions the American people want us to answer to prevent spying and warrantless surveillance?” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said last month.
But Thune has warned that a FISA extension paired with a CBDC ban would be “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber. And moderates have cautioned that a warrant requirement would impede law enforcers at the expense of national security.
Nonetheless, conservatives hope they can get their reforms in if they push hard enough.
“CBDC can still make it across the finish line. Let’s just push on,” Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) said. “The Senate will respond to the people if they push hard enough. I’m positive on it.”
Johnson, who is navigating a razor-thin margin, will need near-unanimous GOP support in the House to pass the rule governing a Section 702 extension — assuming he decides to move it through regular order — which means even a small handful of Republican dissenters could stop the legislation in its tracks.
Thune said the extra time would give both chambers space to negotiate reforms before moving ahead with a longer-term extension.
Senate committees to advance reconciliation bill
The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are expected to meet this week to discuss and advance their portions of the reconciliation bill funding immigration enforcement.
Text released by the committees would allocate $22.57 billion through fiscal 2029 to hire, train, pay and equip Customs and Border Protection personnel.
The text released by the Judiciary Committee would also provide $30.73 billion for hiring, paying, training and equipping ICE personnel, including officers, agents, investigators, attorneys and support staff through fiscal 2029, a year past the end of Trump’s second term.
Thune said last month that he expects committee markups on the package this week, according to CQ Roll Call. And the Judiciary Committee has set its meeting for Tuesday.
Reconciliation is a special process that allows Republicans to bypass a filibuster in the Senate, as long as the legislation meets certain budgetary requirements. Republicans opted to move the funding through reconciliation after Democrats and Republicans failed to strike a deal on immigration enforcement reforms — a key demand from the minority party after federal agents fatally shot two U. S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.
But the path forward is still riddled with challenges. In the Senate, the bill must go through “Byrd Bath,” which allows the Senate parliamentarian to strip out provisions that are considered extraneous and non-budgetary in nature.
And a proposed $1 billion toward security for Trump’s White House ballroom has become a political landmine, with some Republican senators worrying about the optics of the spending in an election year.
In the House, Johnson must rally both hardline conservatives and moderates to get on board with the package.
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), House Budget Committee chairman, told reporters he expects the reconciliation process to take a “few weeks,” but he added, “We can’t wait until June 1. That’s what I can tell you.”
Senate to take up the farm bill
The upper chamber is set to take up a farm bill that would “expand investments in rural communities, bring science-backed management back to our national forests and restore regulatory certainty in the interstate marketplace,” among other things, according to the House Agriculture Committee.
The sprawling piece of legislation was the subject of controversy in the House over several provisions aimed at limiting lawsuits against pesticide makers, preventing localities from adopting pesticide regulations and blocking the need for additional permits for pesticide use.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-Fla.) amendment to strike all three provisions passed the lower chamber last week — a move that was cheered by the GOP’s “Make America Healthy Again” wing, but it infuriated pro-business Republicans who accused Luna of padding the wallets of trial lawyers. Luna has warned the Senate not to strike down her amendment.
“Hearing from trusted sources in the Senate that there’s an active push to reinsert pesticide liability protections into the Farm Bill, even after the House stripped them out,” Luna wrote last week on the social platform X. “To the Senate: don’t. If this comes back with those protections included, we have the votes to kill it.”
The package, with its changes, will need to be taken up by the Senate, which is expected to make its own revisions requiring the House to hold another vote.
Senate to hold confirmation vote on Kevin Warsh for Fed chair
The Senate is expected to hold a confirmation vote on Warsh, Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, this week.
Trump had tapped Warsh to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ends May 15. Powell said last month he would not step down until his successor is confirmed.
Warsh, who advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee in a party-line vote, has faced repeated questions from Democrats about his ability to maintain the Fed’s independence in the face of Trump’s demands to lower interest rates.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued that if Warsh is confirmed, he “will be Donald Trump’s sock puppet.”
Warsh’s confirmation had remained in limbo for nearly two months. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N. C.), who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, vowed to block him from advancing while the administration’s investigation into Powell was ongoing. He dropped his opposition after U. S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she was handing over the case to the Fed’s inspector general.
House to make changes to Senate-passed housing bill
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), House Financial Services Committee chair, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member, have been negotiating changes to a Senate-passed housing bill, which has stalled in the lower chamber for months amid bipartisan dissatisfaction with the legislation, according to Punchbowl News.
The housing package combines provisions from the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House in February, as well as the ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the Senate Banking Committee unanimously last year. It overwhelmingly passed the Senate, 89-10.
One key sticking point among hard-liners in the House has been a provision in the bill that would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC through 2030, which the Senate included in the package. Luna and other House Republicans have called for a permanent ban instead.
Some House Republicans and Democrats have also been unhappy with a provision in the bill requiring large institutional investors of build-to-rent single-family homes to sell that property within seven years.
“When is it constitutional for us as a government to tell a business when they take the risk, they go out, they build something that we’re going to take away your right to do with it, whatever you are legally able to do with it? That is unconstitutional. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness,” Rep. Richard McCormick (R-Ga.) previously told The Hill.
Punchbowl News reported that Waters and Hill haven’t come to an agreement yet. Talks are likely to continue this week.
House to vote on first 2027 appropriations bill
The House is expected to hold a vote on a military construction and veteran affairs (VA) appropriations bill — the first one for fiscal 2027. The legislation would fund veterans’ benefits and invest over $2 billion in infrastructure improvements for VA medical facilities and four cemeteries, among other things.
“As the first bill to move out of full committee this year, it sets a strong foundation for the FY27 work ahead,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), House Appropriations Committee chairman, said in a statement.
That bill, which has broad bipartisan support, represents some of the lowest-hanging fruit. And Johnson is sure to face much tougher resistance — both from Democrats and within his own party — when the topic shifts to funding other agencies, including the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Defense.
House GOP leaders must pass 12 appropriations bills by the end of September, on top of what will likely be a packed agenda for Republicans as they seek to adopt two reconciliation bills, finalize a farm bill, renew the government’s foreign spying powers and move a slate of other priorities tied to Trump’s agenda.
Alexander Bolton and Mike Lillis contributed.
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