Washington Update - June 1
Congress returns to session this week with 40 legislative days scheduled before the November general election. This week, both chambers hope to advance partisan appropriations bills, the annual Agriculture appropriation in the House and the immigration enforcement reconciliation bill in the Senate. Appropriations legislation will dominate the summer agenda, along with another reconciliation bill, the Defense authorization, foreign spying authority, war powers resolutions, a highway and a farm bill.
Completing the agenda would be ambitious for the most efficient Congress, but this one is anything but efficient, complicated by President Donald Trump’s governance style. For instance, the Senate is struggling to pass the immigration reconciliation proposal because Republican leaders fear a handful of Republican senators will vote with Democrats to stop the President’s anti-weaponization fund even though the program has been stymied by federal judges (along with a number of President Trump’s other initiatives). The leadership won’t bring the bill to a vote until they are assured they have the votes to defeat Democratic amendments and pass the legislation.
Another complication is the agenda does little to address the cost-of-living problems most voters identify as their top priority. Last month’s economic data doesn’t give Republicans much to brag about. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge increased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in April, while economic growth for the first quarter of 2026 was downgraded to a lethargic 1.6 percent.
A sense that the social contract of the United States is unraveling (two-thirds report the country is on the wrong track) has contributed to voters choosing change in almost every election this century. The economic and social instability that has marked President Trump’s second term seems to be heightening voters’ concerns, giving Democrats the advantage in the mid-term elections, despite the opposition party’s lack of concrete reform proposals to improve people’s lives.
