April 17, 2015
The House passed HR 650, the Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act; HR 685, the Mortgage Choice Act of 2015; HR 1562, the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2015; HR 622, the State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act; and HR 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act. The Senate passed HR 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which replaced the sustainable growth rate formula by which Medicare pays doctors. The bill was sent to the President who signed it on Thursday. The Senate also confirmed Russell Deyo to be Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security and Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission.
FY16 Budget
FY16 Budget Resolution Conference Committee
The House and Senate appointed conferees this week. Conferees will work to meld the differences between the two chambers FY16 budget resolutions.
House Budget Conferees are as follows: House Budget Committee Chairman Price (R-GA), Ranking Member Van Hollen (D-MD), Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Black (R-TN), Rokita (R-IN), Moolenar (R-MI), Yarmuth (D-KY), and Moore (D-WI).
Senate Budget Conferees are as follows: Senate Budget Committee Chairman Enzi (R-WY), Grassley (R-IA), Sessions (R-AL), Crapo (R-ID), Graham (R-SC), Portman (R-OH), Toomey (R-PA), Johnson (R-WI), Ayotte (R-NH), McCain (R-AZ), Wicker (R-MS), Corker (R-TN), Perdue (R-GA), Ranking Member Sanders (I-VT), Murray (D-WA), Wyden (D-OR), Stabenow (D-MI), Whitehouse (D-RI), Warner (D-VA), Merkley (D-OR), and Baldwin (D-WI).
Conferees are scheduled to meet on Monday, April 20 at 3 pm to begin working out the differences between their two FY16 budget resolutions (H Con Res 27 and S Con Res 11). House and Senate leaders are hopeful to have a final budget resolution by the end of the month.
Two main issues for conferees to consider are defense spending and the budget reconciliation process. With respect to Defense funding, the Senate budget resolution includes a budgetary point of order against spending more than $58 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations account. A budgetary point of order requires 60 votes to waive. It is likely that this point of order will be dropped in any final conference agreement in order to win the support of military hawks. With respect to the budget reconciliation process, the House resolution contains much broader reconciliation instructions than the Senate version, which limits its instructions to the two committees with jurisdiction over health care programs. Republicans are planning to use the budget reconciliation process to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but some want the process to be used only for that and not for changes to mandatory spending programs.
FY16 Budget Amendments Submitted by Administration to Congress
The Administration submitted to Congress several FY16 budget amendments for the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, the Interior, Justice, State, and Transportation, as well as the General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration. These amendments are fully offset and do not change the overall discretionary budget authority. These amendments were requested in order to reflect correctly policies assumed in the President’s FY16 budget request. The amendments decrease by $2.7 million the overall discretionary budget authority in the FY16 budget request.
The amendments and their details can be found at:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/budget_amendments/amendment_04_14_15.pdf
FY16 Appropriations Process Begins in House
Two House Appropriations subcommittees met this week to mark up their FY16 spending bills. The Energy and Water Subcommittee marked up its $35.4B measure first followed by the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Subcommittee with their $76.6B measure. Both bills received a boost over their FY15 funding levels – a $1.2B increase for Energy & Water and a $4.6B increase for MilCon-VA.
The House Appropriations Committee will meet next Wednesday morning to mark up both bills in full committee as well as approve their FY16 suballocations or 302(b)s. And the bills are scheduled to be on the House floor the following week (week of April 27).
FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill Text:
FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill Text:
http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-milcon-subcommitteedraft.pdf
Cybersecurity
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the three cybersecurity bills this week – HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015; HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. CBO estimates that the requirements imposed by HR 1731 would cost approximately $20M over the FY16-FY20 period. For the same time period, HR 1560 would cost $186M and S 754 would cost $20M. The House Intelligence Committee’s bill (HR 1560) is significantly more because it contains a provision codifying the President’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Center.
CBO Score of HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50116
CBO Score of HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50110
CBO Score of S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50113
The House Homeland Security Committee marked up HR 1731 in committee this week. The bill includes liability protection for companies sharing cyberthreat information with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) or other private entities. The committee approved an amendment during the markup that clarifies that the shared cyberthreat information processed by the NCCIC could not be used for law enforcement purposes. The legislation would require private companies to remove personally identifiable information (PII) unrelated to cybersecurity risk before sharing the information with the NCCIC or other private entities. It would also require the NCCIC to conduct a second scrub and destroy any personal information that is unrelated to the cybersecurity risk before further sharing it with other government agencies or private organizations. The bill also allows companies to monitor their own networks with liability coverage and to engage in defensive measures, which are clarified to say that they cannot include harming another network. And it provides for “sector specific agency” information-sharing agreements, which will allow critical infrastructure sectors to maintain pre-existing relationships with regulators. The bill was passed out of the committee by a unanimous voice vote.
HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:
http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20150420/CPRT-114-HPRT-RU00-HR1731.pdf
HR 1731 Bill Summary:
http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/04-14-15-NCPA-Act-Summary.pdf
List of Full Committee Amendments and Roll Call Votes:
http://homeland.house.gov/markup/markup-hr-national-cybersecurity-protection-advancement-act-2015
Both HR 1731 and HR 1560 will be considered on the House floor next week. They will be considered separately according to the process released by the House Rules Committee. House members have until 3 pm on Monday to submit amendments to the Rules Committee.
Trade Promotion Authority
The House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee released a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill this week, the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA-2015). TPA (aka “fast track authority”) expired in 2007. TPA-2015 would give the administration the ability to negotiate two big trade pacts (the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), but would require the President to consult with Congress at key points in the negotiations. The President would be required to publish a trade agreement 60 days before he signs it and sends it to Congress for a vote. And Congress could only vote agreements up or down, not change them.
Labor (AFL-CIO), consumer, and environmental groups are launching campaigns to oppose the bill, while business groups (US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers) support it.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is planning an April 23 markup of the bill. Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) is hoping to move the bill in tandem with legislation to renew trade adjustment assistance for workers and businesses adversely affected by trade.
TPA-2015 Bill Text:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=FEC41212-F7AF-4A6D-BF83-978401999DAF
Summary of TPA-2015:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=070F3045-8E10-4284-896C-95344D75ECDE
Section-by-Section Summary of TPA-2015:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=0009D10C-38FD-4D67-AC17-C9F29ABEAF05
Political Updates
Jonathan Levy, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week that he’s leaving for a job in the private sector. His last day will be April 28. Also at DOE, Don Adcock, the Deputy CIO announced this week that he’s leaving the government April 17 and will be joining the private sector. It’s unclear who will replace Adcock, but Michael Johnson was recently named to be the new DOE CIO.
The President nominated Gabriel Camarillo to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserves at the Department of Defense and Jonathan Elkind to be an Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Energy. At the Treasury Department, the President nominated Adam Szubin for Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes and Victoria Esser for Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
The White House announced that Deesha Dyer was promoted to Special Assistant to the President and Social Secretary. Dyer currently serves as Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary.
Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Brendler has been promoted to chief of staff at U.S. Cyber Command. Brendler was formerly Cybercom’s director of plans and policy.
Next Week
The House will take up HR 1195, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act; HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act. The Senate will resume consideration of S 178, the Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act, followed by the nomination of Loretta Lynch for US Attorney General, and then S 615, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.