Editor’s Note: Dead dogs, porn stars and brain-eating worms: Congress can barely keep up

Give credit where it’s due: Congress is moving toward a full reauthorization of the FAA despite numerous potential distractions on and off Capitol Hill. The question is: how long can it continue to focus on legislation?

Lawmakers had to look past the political spectacle of a porn actor’s testimony in the criminal trial of a former president, the indictment of a House member, the impending criminal trial of a senator and the attempted ouster of the House speaker.

There was also a sitting governor and potential vice presidential candidate who talked about killing her dog, and a presidential candidate and descendant of the Kennedy clan revealed that a worm had eaten part of his brain.

In a week when the House swore in a new member, Democrat Tim Kennedy of New York, and the GOP majority further shrank to 217 to 213 with five vacancies, the chamber easily passed a one-week FAA extension on May 8 – 24.

Members then found more things to agree on when they voted shortly thereafter to reject a motion to remove speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and defeat that motion from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. , on a 359-47 vote.

It wasn’t just a good mood in the House of Representatives. On the way to passage, several measures caused discontent among party members and almost certainly led to the demise of the Senate. One of them was the unintentional one – maybe? Who knows? Sometimes it’s hard to tell – funny HOOHAA, or Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, passed May 7, 212-195.

After spending most of the week waiting for a time and amendment agreement, the Senate passed a reauthorization of the FAA through 2028 by a vote of 88-4 on May 9, also unanimously approving the House’s short-term extension. The House is expected to finalize the FAA measure the week of May 13, more than half a year after the current reauthorization expires.

To use a term from the early 2000s during the debate over the No Child Left Behind education law, such achievements might seem like the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” but consider that the 217-213 party split in the House of Representatives and the effective 51-49 splits in the Senate. Saying goodbye to something important and popular by a wide margin deserves a modest golf clap.

It could also become increasingly difficult to cut through the noise.

One senator, Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey, is scheduled to stand trial in New York on corruption charges beginning May 13, with jury selection scheduled to begin that day.

Another Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, was indicted on corruption charges earlier this month and may become increasingly busy defending himself.

There are more elections ahead, not just primaries with national implications like the May 14 Senate primary in Maryland, but also special elections to fill the remaining vacancies in the House of Representatives.

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial was marked last week by the testimony of porn star Stormy Daniels, but there is more to come, including whether Trump could go to prison for contempt of court and the testimony of his combative former Fixer’s Michael Cohen.

And who knows if South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem will still talk about shooting her dog? That may not even mean disqualifying her vice-presidential ambitions. As more than one person has pointed out: Trump famously hates dogs.

What else could we find out about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate who is running in the state elections as people desperately search for information about how a worm invaded his brain and snacked on it before he died? could take?

The be-all and end-all of passing legislation could provide a refuge from the turmoil.

Jason Dick is Editor-in-Chief of CQ Roll Call.