November 20, 2015
The House and Senate passed a short-term bill reauthorizing surface transportation programs through December 4, and the President signed the measure before the current authorization expired today. The House passed HR 511, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015; HR 1201, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act; HR 1737, the Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act; and HR 3189, the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization (FORM) Act of 2015. The House also passed HR 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act with a veto-proof majority (the White House has issued a veto threat for the bill). The measure would enhance the vetting procedures for Iraqi and Syrian refugees. The Senate passed two joint resolutions providing for congressional disapproval of two rules submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units” and “Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units.” The White House said the President would veto the latter resolution. The Senate also passed by unanimous consent HR 2297, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, and confirmed Peter William Bodde, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to Libya. The Senate began consideration of the FY16 Transportation HUD appropriations bill but abandoned the effort before leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday. Finally, the Senate agreed to go to conference on the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 (S 1177), and the conference committee agreed 38 to 1 to advance a final package that would give state and local leaders more control over education decisions. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted no by proxy.
FY16 Appropriations
The current continuing resolution funding the government expires on December 11. House and Senate Appropriations committees have been working on an FY16 omnibus spending bill and negotiations are ongoing. An omnibus bill is likely to be released during the week of Dec. 7. Currently the biggest holdups are possible inclusion of language regarding funding for Syrian refugees, dividing up the $30B spending increase both sides have agreed to in principle, environmental policy riders, crop insurance subsidies, and policy riders pushing back Dodd-Frank financial regulations. Senate Appropriations Ranking Democrat Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said that they are also waiting to hear from the President about any supplemental funding needs post-Paris attacks. And new House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said this week that he would like to move permanent business and individual tax breaks extensions in the final omnibus.
This week, House Republican leaders held a series of listening sessions getting GOP members’ input on the spending bills. While it is unclear how much of an impact these sessions will have on the final omnibus, they did buy the new leadership team some goodwill by making members part of the process.
Republicans have discussed including policy riders in the omnibus, while Democrats have promised to stand firm against them. This week a group of 165 House Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) and other House leaders calling for an FY16 omnibus spending bill without riders. Republicans are aware that they will need the support and votes of some Democrats to carry the final package, and therefore, may resist the urge to overload the legislation with contentious provisions.
House Democrat Letter re: FY16 Omnibus and Policy Riders:
https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=529
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act Conference Report
The House adopted a Senate resolution making technical corrections to the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act, including changing the formal title of the bill, fixing spelling errors (mostly dealing with Ukraine), and replacing one of the bill’s funding tables. The bill was then enrolled and sent to the President for his signature.
New Ways and Means Committee Chairs and Members
The House Ways and Means Committee did a bit of reshuffling this week after Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) moved to take the gavel of the Health Subcommittee. Tiberi lost to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) in his bid to succeed House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) as chairman of the full committee. Brady had been the chair of the Health subcommittee, the panel that presides over issues including Medicare, Medicaid, drug prices, and efforts to rollback provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) was selected to fill the vacancy on the committee. And the Committee adopted new rules that 1) increased the size of the Health subcommittee by one Republican member and one Democrat member, 2) renamed the Subcommittee on Select Measures as the Subcommittee on Tax Policy, and 3) increased the size of the Subcommittee on Tax Policy by two Republican members and one Democrat member.
The new Republican subcommittee chairs and members are as follows:
Health
Chairman Tiberi – OH
Mr. Johnson – TX
Mr. Nunes – CA
Mr. Roskam – IL
Mr. Price – GA
Mr. Buchanan – FL
Mr. A. Smith – NE
Ms. Jenkins – KS
Mr. Marchant – TX
Ms. Black – TN
Mr. Paulsen – MN
Trade
Chairman Reichert – WA
Mr. Nunes – CA
Mr. A. Smith – NE
Ms. Jenkins – KS
Mr. Boustany – LA
Mr. Paulsen – MN
Mr. Marchant – TX
Mr. Young – IN
Mr. Kelly – PA
Mr. Meehan – PA
Tax Policy
Chairman Boustany – LA
Mr. Reichert – WA
Mr. Tiberi – OH
Mr. Reed – NY
Mr. Young – IN
Mr. Kelly – PA
Mr. Renacci – OH
Ms. Noem – SD
Mr. Holding – NC
Oversight
Chairman Roskam – IL
Mr. Meehan – PA
Mr. Holding – NC
Mr. J. Smith – MO
Mr. Reed – NY
Mr. Rice – SC
Mr. Marchant – TX
Human Resources
Chairman Buchanan – FL
Ms. Noem – SD
Mr. J. Smith – MO
Mr. Dold – IL
Mr. Rice – SC
Mr. Reed – NY
Mr. Reichert – WA
Social Security
Chairman Johnson – TX
Mr. Dold – IL
Mr. Buchanan – FL
Mr. A. Smith – NE
Mr. Kelly – PA
Mr. Renacci – OH
Mr. Rice – SC
House Republican Steering Committee Changes
House Republicans passed changes to overhaul the membership and operation of its Steering Committee by voice vote on Thursday. The Steering Committee assigns Republican members to the House committees. The biggest change Republicans adopted was the elimination of the six committee (Rules, Financial Services, Ways and Means, Budget, Appropriations, and Energy and Commerce) chairmen who currently have seats on the Steering Committee. Until the end of 2016, these chairmen will be replaced by six “at-large” members elected by the GOP conference by secret ballot. The candidates who receive the most votes will be on the Steering Committee. The vote has not been scheduled yet but will take place in 2015. After 2016, the six “at-large” members will be replaced by six regional representatives. Other changes adopted include adding one “rotating committee chairman” slot to be occupied by any chairman whose committee membership is under consideration by the Steering committee, and adding one slot to be filled at the discretion of the Speaker to address gaps in representation (women, Freedom Caucus representatives, etc.). Finally, for the first time, House Republican leadership would be required to make the Steering Committee roster public.
Political Updates
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal dropped out of the Republican Presidential primary race this week after struggling to gain traction in the crowded field of candidates.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Deputy Administrator Mark Hatfield announced his retirement this week as well as his new role as the Chief Security Officer for Miami International Airport. Hatfield worked at the TSA for 13 years taking over as Deputy Administrator in January 2015.
President Obama announced the following nominations this week: Hester Maria Peirce for reappointment as a Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Philip Cullom to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment at the Department of Defense; Swati Dandekar to be United States Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank; Harry Hoglander to be a Member of the National Mediation Board; Daniel Maffei to be a Commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission; Georgette Mosbacher to be a Member of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy; and Patrick Pizzella to be a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
William LaPlante and Heidi Shyu, the top acquisition officials from the Air Force and Army, both announced this week that they will be stepping down from their positions. LaPlante announced his departure in an email writing that he would leave at the end of November and return to the MITRE Corp where he worked before going to the Pentagon. Shyu said that she would retire at the end of January. Frank Kendall, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, has said that he plans to stay in his post until the end of the Obama Administration.
Jimmy Panetta, son of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, announced his campaign for Congress this week. Panetta is running for the 20th Congressional District seat, which is being vacated by retiring Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) at the end of 2016.
Jeffrey Chen joined the Commerce Department as Chief Data Scientist this week to lead the projects for the Commerce Data Service, a newly launched internal startup that harnesses the power of data science. Chen is a former Presidential Innovation Fellow who worked for NASA’s Climate Data Initiative. He has also worked in the Office of Science and Technology Policy as well as the New York Fire Department. He was most recently the data scientist in residence at Georgetown University.
Next Week
The House and Senate are in recess next week and will return the week of November 30.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of your family and friends!