WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Congressional lawmakers approved an eleventh-hour deal to fund the government and avert a shutdown, after the rejection of such a deal the previous day left them scrambling.
The same week in Washington, House lawmakers held a hearing on the FACE Act. President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Pope Francis next month during his last foreign trip as president, and new polling found an uptick in public approval of the U.S. Supreme Court since 2022, while still facing majority disapproval.
Congress passes deal to avoid shutdown despite Trump’s call to raise debt ceiling
The Senate approved a bill early in the morning on Dec. 21 to keep the government funded through March 14, as well as fund some disaster aid, just hours after the House approved their version of that bill. Although lawmakers missed their midnight deadline, the government will not shut down, the White House said.
The Senate approved the measure in an 85-11 vote. The legislation extends current fiscal levels until mid-March, as well as another $110 billion for disaster relief and farm aid. But it stripped a provision that would have raised the debt ceiling, a provision that had been sought by President-elect Donald Trump.
But the version of the legislation sought by Trump previously failed Dec. 19 after dozens of Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the measure, in part due to opposition to raising the debt ceiling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Dec. 20 the House would vote on a modified version of the previously defeated bill, one that stripped the provision to raise the debt ceiling.
Raising the debt limit sparked the ire of some Republicans concerned about the nation’s deficit, but others supported it, as increasing the amount of debt the government can acquire could aid them in pushing through some of Trump’s agenda items after he takes office next year.
The bill is expected to be the last piece of legislation voted on by the 118th Congress.
Lawmakers hold hearing on FACE Act
Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Dec. 18 on the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which prohibits actions including obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic.
Republicans alleged the Biden administration improperly prosecuted pro-life activists under that law, while Democrats alleged targeting the FACE Act is part of a broader effort to curb abortion access.
Erin Hawley, senior counsel and vice president of the Center for Life and regulatory practice at the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, argued in her testimony that the written text of the FACE Act extends protection not only to abortion clinics but also to pregnancy centers and places of worship in an effort to prevent violence at such locations. But the Biden administration has narrowed it to abortion clinics in application, she said.
“Instead of applying the FACE Act in an even-handed way, the Biden DOJ has weaponized the act to target pro-life advocates,” she said.
Jessica Waters, an assistant professor of justice, law and criminology at American University in Washington, argued the FACE Act “authorizes both civil remedies and criminal penalties against a person who engages in violent or obstructive conduct intended to interfere with people seeking or providing reproductive health services or seeking to exercise religious freedom at houses of worship.”
The law, she said, “protects both people and places from unlawful conduct while explicitly excluding protected speech, such as peaceful protest, from its purview.”
Biden to meet with Pope Francis
Biden is scheduled to meet with the pontiff at the Vatican on Jan. 10 as part of his last planned foreign trip as president, the White House’s press secretary said.
According to a readout of a Dec. 19 telephone call between the pair, the White House said Biden “thanked the Pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms. President Biden also graciously accepted His Holiness Pope Francis’s invitation to visit the Vatican next month.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a separate statement Biden would travel to Rome from Jan. 9-12, where on Jan. 10 he will have an “audience with the Pope and discuss efforts to advance peace around the world.”
Marquette Poll finds SCOTUS approval split
A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey found public approval of the U.S. Supreme Court is split, but has increased in the last two years.
The poll found 48% of adults said they approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, while 52% said they disapprove. In October, the same poll found the high court’s level of approval was 45% and disapproval was 55%. The new poll marked the highest court approval rate since Marquette’s same poll in March 2022, when 54% approved.
A vast majority of respondents — 79% — said that in a case where the high court rules against the president’s position, the president must follow the court’s ruling. An even larger majority, 83%, said the Supreme Court has the power to review laws passed by Congress and to declare them invalid if they conflict with the U.S. Constitution.
The poll found that Americans largely opposed a July decision by the Supreme Court holding that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. This decision was favored by just 38% and opposed by 62%.
Americans also remain opposed to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade, the poll found, with just 37% favoring the Dobbs decision and 63% opposing it.
The poll also found Americans strongly favor the Bostock v. Clayton County decision from 2020, which held that federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, at 80%, with 20% opposed. However, 76% of Americans support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth.
At the same time, 61% said they favor banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender, an issue the high court is considering in its current term in United States v. Skrmetti, concerning one such law in Tennessee.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) @kgscanlon.
