Legislative Calls to Action -- Aug 12, 2026
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 23 hours ago
Congress is now in August recess. The Senate will return Sept. 14. The House is back August 31. The Senate ended its session last Friday— which stretched into early Saturday morning.
During this Congressional recess, lawmakers are expected to be in their local offices. This is a good time to reach out to them to share your concerns.
Summary of the Legislative Session
Republicans had some notable wins, but they left plenty on the table for September and beyond. Despite a late push by Trump, the Senate never held a procedural vote on the Clarity Act, the crypto market structure bill Thune had vowed would get an initial vote before the recess. Both are expected to be taken up in September. Most glaring: Republicans scrapped plans to vote on a budget resolution to start the floor process for reconciliation 3.0, which includes elements of the SAVE America Act. Because of various additions to each of these bills for SAVE America Act provisions and other Republican priorities, these bills will, once the Senate considers them, almost certainly be amended and have to come back to the House for another vote. They are not anywhere near becoming law. (Punchbowl News)
House votes
H.R. 9770: Making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2027, which will provide federal funding for all agencies that need it through December 4, passed 220-205.
H.Con.Res. 113: Establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2027 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2028 through 2036, which is step one in yet another reconciliation bill process, passed 216-214.
H.R. 8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, which provides the framework for what Congress would like to see done with national defense appropriations, passed 216-212.
H.R. 6955: Main Street Capital Access Act, a bank deregulation bill, passed 270-155. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep. Carson who voted nay. This bill lessens and otherwise modifies banking regulations, including those regarding institution formation, supervision by federal financial regulators, and bank merger requirements. (GovTrack.us)
H.R. 7008: Stop Insider Trading Act passed 232-198. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay. Per Roll Call, it would “prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying new stocks. It would allow them to keep the ones they already own, as well as buy and sell diversified investment funds.” Allowing members to continue selling existing holdings—even with a brief advance notice period—fails to eliminate conflicts of interest or the appearance of trading on non-public information. (Campaign Legal Center) Opponents note the rules do not restrict top officials in the executive or judicial branches under the primary House bill version, leaving broader government-wide trading unaddressed. The bill falls well short of what the most vocal advocates of a congressional trading ban have called for. (CNBC) Tacked onto the end of the bill is a provision to require photo ID to vote nationwide. This bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, especially with the voter ID provision added to it.
H.R. 8884: Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, which would (per CBO) reauthorize the Social Security Administration (SSA) to conduct Disability Insurance (DI) demonstration projects through calendar year 2031 and allow SSA to temporarily change how benefit amounts are calculated for participants in demonstration projects, passed 232-188. All Indiana representatives voted yea except Rep Carson who voted nay.
H.Con.Res. 89: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran, which does not force any action from either the Senate or the President, passed 214-208. All Indiana representatives voted nay except Reps Mrvan and Carson who voted nay.
Senate Votes
The Senate spent much of the past two weeks confirming nominations, including Todd Blanche, President Trump’s personal attorney, for Attorney General.
The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown Oct. 1 passed. This measure will fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. This Senate passage may cause a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be approved by both chambers. (Politico) The Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 90-6.The bill would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders sped up consideration of the legislation as part of an agreement reached Saturday morning to allow members to leave for August recess. The Senate bill includes language Democrats sought to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol don’t get any new funding under the patch. Republicans enacted $70 billion for those agencies along party lines earlier this year. (Politico)
Oppose Passage of CORCA in the Senate Defense Authorization Bill
The Senate is positioning to attach the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) as an amendment to the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).CORCA expands federal surveillance, adds to the existing and sensationalized problem of over-prosecution of low level crime, and further enables federal forces to insert themselves into local policing.
CORCA’s establishment of an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center sitting under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would drastically expand domestic surveillance; allowing agents to tap into expansive biometric and facial recognition databases, license plate readers, and other private retail monitoring systems. This would amplify already-rampant use of surveillance technology by ICE and pair their mandate from the supreme court to racially profile people with technology that’s as much as 100 times more likely to misidentify Black and Brown individuals than White ones.
By requiring low-level thefts to be aggregated over a 12 month period, the bill also effectively lowers the monetary threshold for federal prosecution. From numerous case studies of similar legislation at the state level, policies like these are likely to lead to harsher sentencing, increased recidivism, and ballooning costs in prison funding. In contrast, research shows that states have safely raised felony theft thresholds without leading to any increases in theft or disruption of the overall trend of decreasing property crime.
Tell your senators to vote against CORCA in the upcoming NDAA and any similar legislation expanding federal surveillance.
Script:
Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, ZIP].
I’m calling to demand [SEN NAME] to oppose any version of S.4784 the Senate National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) containing the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) or similar legislation expanding federal surveillance.
CORCA would expand DHS and ICE domestic surveillance authorities, use invasive facial recognition technology in public spaces, and federalize minor low-level offenses better addressed at the local level.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
IF LEAVING VOICEMAIL: Please leave your full street address to ensure your call is tallied.
