Been a week in Congress and it's not done yet. In order from easiest to hardest boss battles, we present the week that was. We've also got a preview of next week.

Iran Bills

There were votes on 16 bills on Iran, punishing the state and some specific individuals, that passed this week.

Highest Support:

• H.R. 6245: Holding Iranian Leaders Accountable Act of 2023 - 419-4
• H.R. 5917: Strengthening Tools to Counter the Use of Human Shields Act - 419-4

Impeachment

The Senate convened for their portion of the Mayorkas impeachment process on April 17. The outcome was never in doubt: all Democrats and the Independents who caucus with them were unanimously opposed to the impeachment and planned to dispense with it as soon as possible. Majority Leader Schumer offered a motion that would have allowed a few hours of debate from Republicans on the substance of the charges before he moved to dismiss charges. This would have been an opportunity to for Republicans to force Democrats to vote against holding a trial, something many Senate Republicans felt they could use later.

However, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) refused to allow unanimous consent on Schumer's offer. Sen. Schmitt's reasoning was that he would settle for nothing less than a trial even though his move precluded even a vote to hold one. That meant Republicans could only offer procedural motions to postpone the inevitable. By about 4:15 pm, on party line votes, articles one and two had been declared unconstitutional and the court of impeachment was adjourned.

Foreign Aid Bills in the House

Foreign Aid bills for Ukraine, Israel/Gaza and other allies have been floating undealt with for months. The House as a whole supports the bills at issue; the Republicans don't necessarily. Because part of House procedure typically relies on votes from only the majority party to bring bills to the floor, House leadership has either used another procedure which skips that part (voting on suspension), but requires the bill to pass by a much larger margin or let bills be held hostage by those Republicans who don't want them to come to the floor because they would indeed pass. Speaker Johnson has finally decided he's tired of being held hostage.

In attempt to give everyone an opportunity to oppose or support whatever they wish, he's put forth a complicated plan that will allow individual votes on each of the foreign aid bills so that opponents of Ukraine aid can vote against it while opponents of aid to Israel can vote against that without those variations sinking all the bills. Then, ideally, the individual bills will be presented to the Senate as a single entity, Senate passes, president signs, Congress moves to the next crisis. So far, the plan is working. The bills have made it through two procedural votes and they'll be voted on for passage tomorrow. But they've required Democratic support to pass even though support from the opposing party in these circumstances is extremely rare.

The only wrinkle is for Speaker Johnson personally. The Republican minority that is mad about these bills coming to the floor and requiring Democratic votes to pass says that they will move to vacate the Speaker. Again. Will it work again? Probably not. A few Democrats have already said publicly that they would support Johnson in a motion to vacate.

Foreign Aid & FISA in the Senate

The Senate is currently working on the FISA bill. However, there are not yet any agreements on amendments. As The Hill reports, the opposition to the bill in the Senate isn't large, but it is deeply held. There's even disagreement over whether Seciton 702 authorities really end today or not. Odds are that the bill passes; amendments reeling in expanded warrantless surveillance don't and that no more than a day or two passes with Section 702 out of authorization.

After that, the Senate would move to the foreign aid bills. The Senate is supposed to be in recess next week, but it's possible they'll stay in Washington to get those bills passed as needed.

Next Week (Maybe) (See Above)

This upcoming week should be quiet on Capitol Hill as the House and Senate both are having "district work weeks." What this means is that no floor action or committee hearings are scheduled to occur and many members will be spending the week back in their home district.

It does not mean that Congress isn't at work. Much of the time, Members split their weeks between Washington, D.C. and offices back. This is pretty much the same, except they don't have to fly into Washington. Members likely will spend a lot of their time meeting with constituents and local notables. Of course, some of the members use this time off to do other work, such as fly on congressional delegations to foreign countries, fundraise for their campaigns (which is not official work), or just take a little time off.

Congress is more than members of Congress. Congressional staff in Washington, D.C. will be able to relax their dress code a bit, but they'll be busy doing all the work they couldn't accomplish when their bosses were around. And, as we're in the middle of appropriations season, many staffers will be busy working on figuring out how to get their bosses' proposals into that must-pass legislation. They'll also be preparing for when the big show comes back to town -- getting questions ready for hearings, drafting language for mark-ups, meeting with constituents and lobbyists, and working to move their boss's agenda forward.