May 1, 2015
The House passed the FY16 Budget Resolution conference report as well as the FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy and Water appropriations bills. The House also passed a resolution disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014.The Senate confirmed Dava Newman to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and began consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
FY16 Appropriations
The FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) and Energy and Water (E&W) appropriations bills were on the House floor this week. MilCon-VA passed by a vote of 255 to 163 and E&W passed by a vote of 240 to 177.
FY16 Energy & Water (E&W) Appropriations Bill
Final passage of the $35.4B FY16 E&W came after the House voted to adopt two climate-related amendments. One would bar funding for the Department of Energy to consider a report that analyzed the life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions when making determinations on liquefied natural gas exports and the other would bar funding for a DOE program that evaluates predictive models of the Earth’s climate. The House also adopted an amendment that would bar funding from being used to implement or enforce energy efficiency standards for incandescent light bulbs. Democrats who opposed the bill criticized the funding levels that lock in sequestration as well as policy riders including ones that would bar the Obama administration from implementing its National Oceans Policy and its clean water rule. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) threatening a veto of the measure.
White House FY16 E&W appropriations bill SAP:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2028r_20150428.pdf
FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Bill
The $76.1B MilCon-VA spending bill hit a roadblock when a series of amendments offered by Rep. Mulvaney (R-SC) and Rep. Van Hollen (D-MD) gained significant support and looked like they might pass. The amendments would have stricken $532M in military construction related funding from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account citing the use of the OCO fund as a budget gimmick. The bill was pulled from the floor until Republicans were sure they had enough votes to defeat the amendments. Mulvaney and Van Hollen have vowed to bring up similar amendments to every spending bill that includes OCO funding, which may cause problems for the FY16 Defense appropriations bill when it comes to the House floor later this year. The House did adopt a number of amendments to the bill including one by Rep. Stefanik (R-NY) that would shift $30M from overall Defense Department construction funding to defense-wide planning and design funding with the goal of creating an East Coast missile defense site. The House also adopted an amendment prohibiting funding from being used to implement a new round of BRAC.
White House FY16 MilCon-VA appropriations bill SAP:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2029r_20150428.pdf
FY16 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill
The House Appropriations full committee approved its $3.3B FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill by voice vote this week. The bill could be on the House floor the week of May 18 after the House returns from recess.
FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill full committee:
http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-legbranch.pdf
FY16 Legislative Branch draft committee report:
http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-legbranch.pdf
FY16 Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill
The House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved its $55.3B FY16 spending bill this week, which is an increase of $1.5B over FY15, but $9.7B below the President’s budget request. The bill includes several policy riders including provisions that would continue to stall enforcement of trucker rest rules and allow longer double-trailers on highways. The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Diaz-Balart (R-FL) also included provisions that would block regularly scheduled flights to Cuba and prevent cruise ships from docking in Cuban ports. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration.
FY16 Transportation-HUD subcommittee bill:
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) met this week in full committee to mark up its FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The committee worked its way through more than 300 proposed amendments and approved the $515B bill at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday by a vote of 60 to 2. Reps. Garamendi (D-CA) and Brooks (R-AL) voted against the measure. The bill authorizes $495.9B for the Pentagon’s base budget and $19B for national security programs within the Department of Energy. It also authorizes $89.2B in OCO funding. The bill will be considered on the House floor the week of May 11.
The committee adopted several amendments during consideration of the bill. Most notably was an amendment offered by Rep. McSally (R-AZ) that would prohibit the retirement of the A-10 Warthog. The bill authorizes $682.7M to keep the A-10s flying in FY16. Also adopted was an amendment by Rep. Conaway (R-TX) that would require congressional authorization before the Department of Defense enters into any contract to plan for, design, refurbish, or construct a biofuels refinery. The committee also passed two significant cybersecurity amendments. The first requires the Secretary of Defense to brief Congress on progress toward providing an annual budget justification for Cyber Mission Forces and related programs by the time the FY17 budget request is submitted. The second requires the Secretary of Defense to brief Congress on cyber risks introduced by smart building technologies including access control systems.
The panel rejected an amendment by ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) that would have stripped provisions in the bill that limit the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the U.S. and require certifications for international transfers and releases. Smith also offered but withdrew an amendment that would have authorized another BRAC round in 2017. He will instead push for a floor vote on the amendment. The panel also rejected an amendment from Rep. Gibson (R-NY) that would strike the provision in the bill that overhauls the DOD retirement system and would have replaced it with a requirement for the Pentagon to assess the modification further and report to Congress. And Rep. Speier (D-CA) failed in her amendment that would have redirected funding for six F-35s.
Text of the legislation and amendments as well as the recorded votes can be found at:
http://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=103288
FY16 Budget
The House adopted an FY16 Budget Resolution conference agreement by a vote of 226 to 197. All Democrats and 14 Republicans voted against the measure. The Senate will consider the measure next week. The budget resolution is not a bill and does not go the President for his signature.
The conference agreement reflects the FY16 statutory caps for discretionary spending of $523B for defense and $493.5B for non-defense, but it also calls for $96B for OCO funding. The agreement does not include the Senate point of order requiring a 60-vote threshold for OCO funding exceeding $58B in FY16 and $59.5B in FY17.
The compromise does include budget reconciliation instructions that could result in the partial repeal or changes to the 2010 Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Workforce committees in the House and the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees in the Senate have until July 24 to write legislation to repeal or change the health care law. This provides legislators enough time to move a legislative response to a Supreme Court ruling on federal health care subsidies that is expected in June. Reconciliation legislation only needs a simply majority of 51 votes in the Senate. While it could pass both the House and the Senate, the President would likely veto the measure with Congress unable to override the veto.
DHS Acquisition Reform Legislation Introduced in House
Today a bipartisan group of House Homeland Security Committee members introduced HR 2199, the DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act. The bill is similar to HR 4228, a bill that passed the House last June. This new bill requires that every major acquisition program have an approved Acquisition Program Baseline (APB); authorizes the Department’s Chief Acquisition Officer, the Undersecretary for Management, to approve, halt, modify, or cancel major acquisition programs as needed; compels DHS to submit to Congress major acquisition programs that fail to meet cost, schedule, or performance metrics through quarterly status and accountability reports; and requires that a Multiyear Acquisition Strategy be included in each Future Years Homeland Security Program. The committee is interested in additional ideas to improve the bill through amendment by regular order.
A copy of the bill can be found at:
http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/050115-HR2199.pdf
Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act Draft Guidance for Federal Agencies
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its draft guidance for federal agencies to ensure that the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) is applied consistently government-wide.
FITARA was passed by Congress and enacted into law on December 19, 2014. The Act outlines specific requirements related to:
- Chief Information Officer (CIO) Authority Enhancements
- Enhanced Transparency and Improved Risk Management in IT Investments
- Portfolio Review
- Expansion of Training and Use of IT Cadres
- Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative
- Maximizing the Benefit of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative
- Government-wide Software Purchasing Program
To implement the requirements of FITARA, combined with the need to update policy and guidance related to other modern IT practices, OMB is establishing this guidance. This guidance reflects input from a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO), Assistant Secretary for Management (ASAM), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CIO communities.
OMB is seeking feedback and suggestions on the draft guidance. Comments are due May 30, 2015, but OMB is encouraging responders to submit more substantive comments by May 15. Feedback can be provided in three ways:
- Email comments to fitara@cio.gov (to comment privately).
- Submit comments/suggestions via GitHub issues. https://github.com/WhiteHouse/fitara Each issues is a conversation initiated by a member of the public. You can join in on discussions or start a new issue.
- Use GitHub’s in-browser editor to edit files and submit a pull request. https://github.com/WhiteHouse/fitara
A copy of the guidance can be found at:
House May Agenda
House Majority Leader McCarthy (R-CA) sent a memo to House Republicans on Friday outlining the House agenda for the month of May. The May agenda includes legislation requiring the EPA and Corps of Engineers to withdraw proposed regulations for the Clear Water Act as well as three national security related measures – the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, and the USA Freedom Act. The agenda also calls for a week of science and technology related measures including: H.R. 880, the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2015; H.R. 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act; H.R. 1561, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act; H.R. 1119, the Research and Development Efficiency Act; H.R. 1156, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Act; H.R. 1162, the Science Prize Competitions Act; H.R. 1158, the DOE Lab Modernization & Technology Transfer Act; and H.R. 874, the American Super Computing Leadership Act. The House will also consider the FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill, and members will need to act on the impending expiration of the authorities under the Highway Trust Fund.
A copy of Majority Leader McCarthy’s memo can be found at:
http://www.majorityleader.gov/2015/05/01/memorandum-may-agenda/
Political Updates
Loretta Lynch was officially sworn in on Monday as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, but the first African-American woman to hold the position.
Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) announced his intent to run for President this week giving Hillary Clinton her first official challenger in the Democratic primary. Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas is expected to announce his candidacy on Tuesday May 5 in Hope, Arkansas. This will be his second bid for President.
President Obama nominated Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger as Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration at the Department of Homeland Security and Gayle Smith as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Neffenger has served as the Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard since May of last year. And Smith is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy on the National Security Council. Prior to joining the administration, Smith was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and lived and worked in Africa for almost 20 years.
Stephen Preston, General Counsel at the Department of Defense, will leave federal service at the end of June after serving for six years in the Obama administration. Preston previously served as General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and played a leading role in the administration’s counterterrorism and drone campaigns including in the preparation for the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Preston will return to work in the private sector and has accepted an adjunct faculty appointment at Yale Law School.
Al Tarasiuk, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI), retired this week after more than 28 years in the federal government. Prior to joining ODNI, Taraksiuk spent five years as the CIO of CIA.
Michael Vickers, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence at the Department of Defense stepped down on Thursday. Vickers has held this position since March of 2011, but announced his decision to leave earlier this year. Vickers has not announced his next step.
Next Week
The House is in recess next week. When it returns the following week it could take up the FY16 Legislative Branch appropriations bill as well as the FY16 NDAA. The Senate will resume consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and take up the FY16 Budget Resolution conference report. The Senate will also make its second attempt this year to override a presidential veto when they take up a measure (S J Res 8) that aims to block union election rules.