Outlook for This Week in the Nation’s Capital
Congress. The House and Senate are both in session this week. The House will take up the DC statehood bill (H.R. 51), the NO BAN Act (H.R. 1333), which would prohibit religious discrimination in immigration-related decisions, and the Access to Counsel Act of 2021 (H.R. 1573), which would require lawyers to be given to migrants in danger of deportation. The Senate will consider the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (S. 937), which addresses the increase of hate crimes and violence targeted at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). The Senate is also still in the process of confirming President Joe Biden’s nominees, and on Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on the nominations of former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) to be NASA administrator and Lina Khan to be commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.