GovTrac for June 14
Mike SP
Update on Activity in Congress and the White House
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Fraud, Funding, but not FISABy Amy West (June 12, 2026)
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We titled the June 8 preview “Fraud, Funding, and FISA”, so in that spirit, we bring you the recap in which many anti-fraud bills passed (mostly by voice vote) and DHS got even more funding through 2029, but FISA’s Section 702 authorization has lapsed (although the program itself is likely to continue uninterrupted).
FraudIn addition to the majority of the bills brought to the floor this week passing by voice vote, there were a few roll call votes. None of these is near to becoming law because so far they have only passed in the House.
- H.R. 8428: Federal Fraud Prevention Workforce Training Act passed 393-0.
- H.R. 8466: TRUE Accountability Act, which would require federal agencies to develop plans for spending emergency funds, passed 384-0.
- H.R. 7892: No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, which would attempt to prevent student aid going to non-existent students, passed 249-172.
- H.R. 8312: Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act, which would (per CBO) “…establish the Office of the Inspector General (IG) for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery that would assume the responsibilities and resources of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) starting in 2029, passed 240-181.
- H.R. 8464: Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act, which would (per CBO) “…allow the government to pause, place conditions on, or make partial disbursements for payments when an agency determines that there is an elevated risk of fraud”, passed 218-200.
Because this Congress has an unusually small majority, House Leadership has attempted to force even more control over what comes to the floor for a vote than it has previously. (Although this is absolutely the result of a long developing trend discussed by our colleagues at the First Branch Forecast in a post called Master of the House: The Pelosi Paradox. They referred back to this in a post last month called The Breaking Point.)
The result of this control is that a previously very rare procedural tool, the discharge petition, has become more common as members attempt to force to the floor bills that would never get a vote otherwise. To succeed, the discharge petition requires 218 co-sponsors. In other words, it requires that at least a few Republicans agree to be cosponsors and publicly go against their party leadership’s wishes.
Why would this ever work given the acrimonious nature of the current Congress? Because there are a small number of issues about which a small number of Republicans feel very strongly and there’s no other way to get action on them in the House. Previous examples have included the now law to force release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, a House vote to restore TPS status to Haitians, and a vote to provide economic assistance to Ukraine. This week another discharge petition (number 19) and its related bill made it to the floor and passed with a fair amount of Republican support considering the topic.
- H.R. 5408: Faster Labor Contracts Act passed 230-193 with 20 Republicans voting in support.
Unusually, the discharge petition passed by voice vote instead of a recorded vote.
If you too keep hearing this line from Star Wars every time a discharge petition passes, you’re not alone.
FundingThe Department of Homeland Security and specifically its sub-agencies Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) got even more money from Congress with no Democratic support in either the Senate or House. How much money? We talked about it in our post from June 5th. DHS will not need any appropriations again before this administration ends.
Not FISA Section 702FISA’s Section 702, which allows some warrantless surveillance of US citizens, will lapse tonight. To quote from our preview this week:
The combination of pre-existing objections to Section 702, the fact that it won’t really end if the law lapses and Trump’s preference for Pulte as acting Director of National lntelligence all point to another last-minute short-term reauthorization of the law as it currently exists or possibly of it lapsing.
The President is determined to have Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence; Democrats said that was a red line and now the authorization has lapsed.
However, because a court can certify agencies to continue their work separately from the status of the law, it’s expected to continue operating through next year. It’s possible the private companies that hold the data that the government wants to see will refuse to turn it over now, but no one actually knows what will happen. And while Democrats were the bulk of the no votes, 19 Republicans voted against the extension yesterday too. It was already a controversial provision as currently written; the President’s choice of Pulte just made the lapse much more likely.
Yesterday the President announced he is nominating Jay Clayton to be the permanent Director of National Intelligence. Pulte is still scheduled to take the acting position on June 19th; the House doesn’t return until June 23. It’s possible that if Clayton can be confirmed by the Senate before June 19, this specific problem will go away and upon their return on the 23rd, the House will agree to another temporary extension of Section 702.
The Senate is in next week and then out for three weeks. The House is out next week, and then back for two weeks.
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