Committee Cliff Notes: Weekly Recap – Week of December 16, 2024

Here’s a recap of key moments from House Republican committees during the week:

Education and the Workforce
 
On Tuesday, December 17, the House passed three Education and the Workforce Committee bills:

• S. 3448, Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023
• S.1147, Jenna Quinn Law
• S. 5355, National Advisory Council on Indian Education Improvement Act

These three bills help protect children and students. S. 3448, the Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023, helps fight antisemitism by providing high school students with Holocaust education resources; S. 1147, the Jenna Quinn Law, aims to prevent child sexual abuse; and S. 5355, the NACIE Improvement Act, gives Tribal Colleges or Universities a voice in decisions that directly impact Native American students.

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Homeland Security
 
On Wednesday, December 18, the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security held a hearing entitled “Examining the Polar Security Cutter: An Update on Coast Guard Acquisitions.” In this hearing, members heard testimony from Vice Admiral Thomas Allan about the U.S. Coast Guard’s delay in building a new icebreaker and why it’s critical for us to catch up with our adversaries’ capabilities in the Arctic region.

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House Administration

On Wednesday, December 18, the Committee on House Administration held a full committee hearing titled “American Confidence in Elections: Prohibiting Foreign Interference.”

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Judiciary

On Tuesday, December 17, the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing called "Oversight of the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division," to examine how the FBI's CJIS Division manages and maintains several data systems, including the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and many others.

On Wednesday, December 18, the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet held a hearing called "IP and Strategic Competition with China: Part IV – Patents, Standards, and Lawfare," to examine the role of standard essential patents (SEPs) in the strategic competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC), including recent developments with respect to international technical standards, SEP policies in the PRC and other jurisdictions, SEP licensing practices involving the PRC, the weaponization of courts and legal processes, and the impact on American innovators and businesses.

On Wednesday, December 18, the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government held a hearing called "Revisiting the Implications of the FACE Act: Part II,"  to examine the Biden-Harris Department of Justice's unequal application of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

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Natural Resources

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Rules

On Monday, December 16, the Committee on Rules met on the following measures:

• H.R. 115, the Midnight Rules Relief Act (Biggs)

This week, the Rules Committee met on the Midnight Rules Relief Act. Members detailed how rulemaking typically explodes during the final year of a president’s term. They also defended the bill from Democrat attempts at partisan misdirection. Rules Republicans stressed the simplicity of the measure and how it will help Congress maintain crucial oversight of the Executive Branch.

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Select Committee on the CCP

On Tuesday, December 17, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party joined Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), co-leads of the Committee’s Fentanyl Policy Working Group, to introduce bipartisan legislation that helps hold China responsible for the fentanyl crisis.

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Veterans Affairs

On Tuesday, December 17, the Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing on the following bills:

• H.R. 214, the Veterans’ True Choice Act of 2023 (Steube)
• H.R. 3176, the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act (Biggs)
• H.R. 5287, the Veterans Access to Direct Primary Care Act (Roy)
• H.R. 8481, the Emergency Community Care Notification Time Adjustment Act of 2024 (Mast)
• H.R. 10012, To amend title 38, United States Code, to include eyeglass lens fittings in the category of medical services authorized to be furnished to veterans under the Veterans Community Care Program, and for other purposes (Maloy)
• H.R. 9924, the What Works for Preventing Veteran Suicide Act (Landsman)
• H.R. 8347, the Improving Menopause Care for Veterans Act (Brownley)
• H.R. 6333, the Veterans Emergency Care Reimbursement Act (Dingell)
• H.R. 10381, the Supporting Medical Students and VA Workforce Act (Takano)
• H.R. 10267, the Complete the Mission Act of 2024 (Bost)

The subcommittee on Health legislative hearing on December 17, 2024, highlighted many important bills focused on ensuring veterans have access to timely healthcare. The hearing included the Completing the MISSION Act of 2024 (H.R. 10267), introduced by Chairman Bost, which would ensure veterans have access to care in the community, and included language which would codify the Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA’s) current community care access standards. The hearing also included Rep. Maloy’s Servicemembers’ Eyeglasses Efficiency Act (H.R. 10012), Rep. Steube’s Veterans’ True Choice Act of 2023 (H.R. 214), and Rep. Roy’s Veterans Access to Direct Primary Care Act (H.R. 5287), which all offer creative solutions to ensuring veterans have choice in determining what healthcare solutions are best for them.  Each one of these bills, and others in the hearing, are meaningful steps towards improving access to care for our nation's veterans.