October 9, 2015
The House passed HR3192, the Homebuyers Assistance House; HR 538, the Native American Energy Act; and HR 702, a bill to adapt to changing crude oil market conditions. The Senate passed the conference report to the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act and passed by unanimous consent HR 34, the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act; HR 3116, the Quarterly Financial Report Reauthorization Act; S 32, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act; HR 623, the DHS Social Media Improvement Act of 2015; and S 2162, a bill establishing a 10-year term for the service of the Librarian of Congress. The Senate also confirmed Mario Cordero to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner, Sarah Mendelson to be Representative of the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and to be an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Stephen Hedger to be the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the Department of Defense, and W. Thomas Reeder, Jr. to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
House Leadership Elections
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) shocked DC with his announcement Thursday morning that he was no longer seeking the speakership. This prompted House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to postpone the elections with no new vote date set. While Rep. Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) had also declared their candidacies for Speaker, neither has been taken seriously as a frontrunner even though Webster won the endorsement of the House Freedom Caucus. McCarthy’s decision raises several questions for which there are not a lot of answers right now.
Why did McCarthy step aside?
McCarthy said in an interview that he felt that the party needed a Speaker that could get all 247 votes, not just the 218 needed to win. And it was unclear if he could even get the 218. The Freedom Caucus had made impossible demands of McCarthy such as publicly opposing efforts by establishment groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce to run radio and TV ads criticizing conservatives. There was also the gaffe McCarthy made when speaking about the Benghazi Committee that prompted Chaffetz to enter the race.
What happens next?
It isn’t clear yet if Speaker Boehner will remain in his leadership position until a new permanent Speaker is elected or if the Republican Conference will elect an Interim Speaker. Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) and Rep. John Kline (R-MN) who are both retiring at the end of 2016, are two names being raised as potential interim speakers. And Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) has expressed an interest in being interim speaker.
Who will be the next Speaker?
The list of contenders remains fluid. While Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) immediately put out a statement saying he wasn’t interested in the position after McCarthy’s surprise announcement, a number of Republicans (including Romney, Boehner, McMorris-Rodgers, and McCarthy) are lobbying Ryan to run. Other names being mentioned are Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Gowdy has said he is backing Ryan, and Jordan has said he doesn’t want the position. And Chaffetz and Webster are still continuing their bids.
Several senior House members and Chairmen are saying they have no interest in replacing Boehner such as House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) who is publicly backing Ryan. And House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) said he is not interested in the position, confirming in a tweet “I’d rather be a vegetarian.”
What impact does this have on budget and debt ceiling negotiations?
Does McCarthy’s withdrawal improve or hurt the chances of a budget deal that would raise the caps for defense and non-defense spending for FY16 and FY17 and raise the debt ceiling? If Speaker Boehner stays on in his position, it could give him more time to negotiate a deal with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and President Obama. Others think the “chaos” hurts these efforts. But if Boehner leaves before a deal is passed, a full-year continuing resolution becomes the more likely outcome.
What happens to McCarthy?
McCarthy said that he intends to stay in Congress and keep his current job as Majority Leader. But many are speculating that he will either resign or retire.
FY16 Appropriations
The government is currently funded through December 11 under a continuing resolution. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brought up the FY16 Energy and Water appropriations bill for a cloture vote this week. The motion to invoke cloture failed by a vote of 49 to 47. Three Republicans voted with the Democrats to oppose moving forward on the bill, while Sen. Manchin (D-WV) was the only Democrat to vote yes.
The Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations committee, Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) called on budget negotiators to provide them with a revised topline spending limit (302(a) allocation) by November 1 so that appropriators can wrap up an omnibus spending bill before the December 11 deadline. On the House side, the Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) said that her drop-dead date for a new 302(a) is November 11.
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act
The Senate passed the conference report to the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week by a vote of 70 to 27. The House passed the measure by a vote of 270 to 156 last week, short of the 2/3 majority needed to override President Obama’s threatened veto. The President and Democrats objected to the authorization of $38B in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding included in the bill that they claim is being used to skirt the budget caps for defense spending.
If the President decides to veto the NDAA conference report, Congress can try to override the veto. There are two types of vetoes – a regular veto and a pocket veto. In this case the President would have to employ a regular veto as a pocket veto requires Congress to adjourn. For a regular veto, the President would return the unsigned legislation to the House within a 10-day period with a message of disapproval or a “veto message.” If the NDAA is vetoed, it will first go to the House since it is a House-originated measure. A vetoed bill can become law if 2/3 of the Members voting in each chamber agree, by recorded vote, a quorum being present, to repass the bill. If the House fails to override the veto, the Senate won’t have to consider it. The House typically considers the question of overriding a presidential veto under the hour rule, with the time customarily controlled and allocated by the chair and ranking Member of the committee with jurisdiction over the bill (in this case the HASC). The Senate usually considers the question of overriding a veto under the terms of a unanimous consent agreement.
Defense Acquisition Report
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall released the annual “Performance of the Defense Acquisition System” report and spoke about it at conference this week. The third annual report found that the Pentagon’s system for buying weapons, vehicles, and services has improved, and the cost growth on major programs is generally “at or better than historical levels.” But there were some outliers that remain a problem, including the Army’s Paladin howitzer and MQ-1 Grey Eagle drone; the Navy’s Littoral Combat ship, upgrades to its H-1 helicopter, and its DDG-1000 destroyer program; and the Air Force’s Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle and a pair of its major satellite programs, the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite. The new data also confirmed that first-tier subcontract margins are generally higher than those on prime contracts, which the department wants to further analyze from a policy perspective. And the report presents evidence that DOD has been pursuing less complex systems with about the same or less risk since 2009 raising concerns that the department is not pursuing state-of-the-art enough endangering the US’ military technical superiority. Finally, the report shows a correlation between high acquisition cost growth for programs and tight budgetary environments, which Kendall partly attributed to unrealistic bids.
A copy of the report can be found at:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/fo/docs/Performance-of-Defense-Acquisition-System-2015.pdf
Political Updates
The President nominated Steven Haro to be Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Commerce, John Kotek to be Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy, Carolyn Lerner to be Special Counsel in the Office of Special Counsel, Matthew Matthews to be the United States Senior Official for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum at the State Department, Michael Missal to be Inspector General at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Amos Hochstein to be Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources at the Department of State, and Raymond Dolan to be a member of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Michael Amato, communications director for the minority on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), is leaving the committee on Oct. 15 to become the communications director for the Office of Personnel and Management. Amato has worked for the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), for more than seven years in both his personal office and on the committee.
Next Week
The House and Senate are in recess next week. The Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to a “sanctuary cities” bill (S 2146) when they return the following week. The Senate Intelligence Committee is also pushing for their cybersecurity legislation (S 754) to be considered after the recess.