Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin return from meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, the first visit by senior U.S. officials since Russia’s invasion.
• Congress returns from its Easter-Passover recess aiming to approve additional funding for aid to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion.
• Lawmakers may also take up additional COVID funding, and begin House-Senate negotiations on legislation to promote competitiveness with China.

HOUSE

• The House will be in session Tuesday through Friday, including votes on “Lend-Lease” legislation aiming to speed weapons shipments to Ukraine.
• The president’s cabinet will be all over Capitol Hill this week for hearings on the White House budget – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could face the most heat from lawmakers on the southern border and other issues, as he testifies Wednesday at the Appropriations Committee and Homeland Security Committee and Thursday at the Judiciary Committee.
• The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on mobile banking and payments.
• The full schedule of hearings, including several more with the cabinet, can be found here.

SENATE

• The Senate will begin its week taking up nominations to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, including Lael Brainard to be vice chair.
• Budget hearings on the Senate side will include Secretary of State Blinken, fresh off his Ukraine trip, at the Foreign Relations Committee and the Appropriations Committee.
• The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee agreements with industry.
• The current list of committee meetings can be found here.

WHITE HOUSE

• President Joe Biden this afternoon will host the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning at the White House.
• Wednesday, Biden will eulogize former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Washington National Cathedral, and will honor Kurt Russell, the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Teacher of the Year, at the White House.

Saturday, Biden will speak at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

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