Federal Update | 116th Congress to be Sworn in as Partial Shutdown Continues

January 2, 2019

Congress officially returns on January 3 to begin the 116^th Congress with Democrats taking control of the House on the strength of their strong returns in November. Divided control of government will face an immediate challenge in the stalled efforts to address the partial government shutdown which began December 22. The new House leaders have pledged to act immediately on legislation to end the shutdown, although Republican Senate leaders indicate they will follow the President’s lead and are unlikely to take up the House legislation. With the shutdown heading into its second week, it will remain the focus of policymakers and hopefully of bipartisan negotiations. Below we provide a brief update on FY19 (as it stands), some legislative highlights from the lame duck, and a quick look at the 116^th.

Fiscal Year 2019 Funding

Despite the September completion of appropriations for nearly 75% of discretionary funding, including Defense, NIH, Energy, and Education, Congress and the Administration have struggled to complete the remaining seven of twelve FY19 annual funding bills and reached an impasse that resulted in the current partial federal shutdown. Effected agencies include NSF, NASA, NEH, the Smithsonian, FDA, and EPA, along with funding for the Departments of State, Agriculture, Transportation, HUD, and others. The central obstacle has been funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the President’s insistence on $5 billion to move forward on construction of a Southern border wall.

The shutdown is affecting approximately 800,000 federal workers. Essential workers remain on duty, including many in federal law enforcement such as the TSA, FBI, Secret Service, and Customs and Border Patrol, but are serving without pay. 350,000 other employees have been furloughed. In some areas, the impacts of the partial shutdown were mitigated by the holidays but are expected to accelerate as the shutdown lengthens. At Harvard, we are working closely with grants administrators, Harvard’s International Office, and others affected.

In an effort to end the shutdown, the House will take up two bills when they reconvene this week. The first would fund all agencies, except DHS, for the remainder of FY19. In general, the bill tracks the bipartisan funding levels adopted by the Senate committee earlier; these numbers are quite positive for science accounts, such as NSF and NASA. A second bill would provide continuing funding for DHS at last year’s levels (with no extra dollars for the wall) until February 8 to provide time for further negotiations. Unfortunately, the Senate seems unlikely to take up the House bills and instead at this point appears committed to wait until the President endorses an approach for ending the shutdown. It seems likely that with Congress returning, negotiations between the White House and Democratic and Republican congressional leaders will resume and hopefully a path forward will be identified quickly.

Legislation in the Lame Duck

As is often the case, the lame duck Congressional session provided legislators with a chance to complete action on many bills, big and small, that have been making their way through the legislative process. Notably, for Harvard, the House and Senate completed action on the National Quantum Initiative Act that seeks to accelerate research and development in quantum information science by enhancing and coordinating the work of NSF, the Department of Energy, and NIST. It authorizes $1.2 billion for this work over the next ten years. Other legislation completed by Congress includes a new Farm bill and a significant bipartisan criminal justice reform package. Several other important measures at risk of expiring, such as the Violence Against Women Act and the National Flood Insurance program, are extended in the CR.

Organization of the 116^th Congress

Finally, the charts below provide you with a quick preview of the new Congress. The Congress will convene on January 3, 2019, to swear-in new and returning members and officially elect leadership. Below we have included a list of those expected to fill key leadership and committee positions and an updated chart of Harvard’s alumni in Congress post the November elections. (Interestingly, one race is still outstanding with North Carolina not yet certifying a winner in the 9th Congressional District contest between Dan McCready (D-NC, MBA’11) and Mark Harris (R-NC) amid evidence of voter fraud.)

As we look ahead, we will keep you updated on developments, and as always please feel free to be in touch with Suzanne Day (suzanne_day@harvard.edu) or Jon Groteboer (jon_groteboer@harvard.edu) with any questions or concerns.

	Party Leadership
	House	Senate
	*Speaker of the House*: Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)	Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
	*Majority Leader*: Steny Hoyer (D-MD)	Majority Whip: John Thune (R-SD)
	Minority Leader: Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)	Minority Leader: Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
	Minority Whip: Steve Scalise (R-LA)	Minority Whip: Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Education Committee Leadership
House		Senate
Chair: Bobby Scott (D-VA)		Chair: Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Ranking Member: Virginia Foxx (R-NC)		Ranking Member: Patty Murray (D-WA)
Tax Committee Leadership
House		Senate
Chair: Richard Neal (D-MA)		Chair: Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Ranking Member: Kevin Brady (R-TX)		Ranking Member: Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Appropriations Committee Leadership
House		Senate
Chair: Nita Lowey (D-NY)		Chair: Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Ranking Member: Kay Granger (R-TX)		Ranking Member: Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Science Committee Leadership
House		Senate
Chair: Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)		Chair: John Thune (R-SD)
Ranking Member: Frank Lucas (R-OK)		Ranking Member: Maria Cantwell (D-WA )

*Italics = new leadership

ALUMNI IN THE 116^TH CONGRESS – HOUSE

ALUMNI	PARTY-STATE	HARVARD AFFILIATION
Brendan Boyle	D-PA 13th	MPP04
Anthony Brown	D-MD 4th	AB84, JD92
Joaquin Castro	D-TX 20th	JD00
Katherine Clark	D-MA 5th	MPA97
Gerald Connolly	D-VA 11th	MPA79
Jim Cooper	D-TN 5th	JD80
*Dan Crenshaw*	*R-TX-2*	*MC/MPA17*
*Antonio Delgado*	*D-NY-19*	*JD05*
Bill Foster	D-IL 11th	PhD83
Ruben Gallego	D-AZ 7th	AB04
John Garamendi	D-CA 3rd	MBA70
Jimmy Gomez	D-CA 34^th	MPP03
Josh Gottheimer	D-NJ 5th	JD04
*Josh Harder*	*D-CA-10*	*MBA14, MPP14*
Brian Higgins	D-NY 26th	MPA96
Jim Himes	D-CT 4th	AB88
Joseph Kennedy III	D-MA 4th	JD09
Ron Kind	D-WI 3rd	AB85
Raja Krishnamoorthi	D-IL 8th	JD00
Jim Langevin	D-RI 2nd	MPA94
*Andy Levin*	*D-MI 9th*	*JD94*
John Lewis	D-GA 5th	Honorary LLD12
Stephen Lynch	D-MA 8th	MPA99
Brian Mast	R-FL 18th	ALB16
John Moolenaar	R-MI 4th	MPA89
Seth Moulton	D-MA 6th	AB01, MBA11, MPA11
*Chris Pappas*	*D-NH-1*	*AB02*
*Katie Porter*	*D-CA-45*	*JD01*
Jamie Raskin	D-MD 8th	AB83, JD87
Raul Ruiz	D-CA 36th	MD01, MPP01, MPH07
John Sarbanes	D-MD 3rd	JD88
Adam Schiff	D-CA 28th	JD85
Bobby Scott	D-VA 3rd	AB69
Terri Sewell	D-AL 7th	JD92
Brad Sherman	D-CA 30th	JD79
Elise Stefanik	R-NY 21st	AB06
Mark Takano	D-CA 41st	AB83
*Van Taylor*	*R-TX-3*	*AB95, MBA01*
Juan Vargas	D-CA 51st	JD91
*Steve Watkins*	*R-KS 2*	*MC/MPA17*
UNRESOLVED RACE
*Dan McCready*	*D-NC-9*	*MBA11*

ALUMNI IN THE 116^TH CONGRESS - SENATE
ALUMNI	PARTY-STATE	HARVARD AFFILIATION
Richard Blumenthal	D-CT	AB67
*Mike Braun*	*R-IN*	*MBA78*
Tom Cotton	R-AR	AB99, JD02
Michael Crapo	R-ID	JD77
Ted Cruz	R-TX	JD95
Tim Kaine	D-VA	JD83
*Martha McSally*	*R-AZ*	*MPP90*
Jack Reed	D-RI	MPP73, JD82
*Mitt Romney*	*R-UT*	*JD75, MBA75*
Benjamin Sasse	R-NE	AB94
Charles Schumer	D-NY	AB71, JD74
Daniel Sullivan	R-AK	AB87
Patrick Toomey	R-PA	AB84
Chris Van Hollen	D-MD	MPP85
Mark Warner	D-VA	JD80 and IOP Fellow 06

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