June 26, 2015
Trade was the big winner in Congress this week as the Senate passed HR 2146, the Trade Promotion Authority Act. The bill passed the House last week and now heads to the President for his signature. The House and Senate also passed HR 1295, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. They have one remaining trade bill to finish – HR 644, a customs enforcement measure. Differing versions of the bill have passed each chamber and now needs to go to conference to produce a compromise. In addition to the trade measures, the House passed HR 1190, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act and HR 2042, the Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015. The House began consideration of the FY16 Interior-Environment Appropriations Act. The Senate passed HR 91, the Veteran’s ID Card Act and confirmed Peter Neffenger to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration at the Department of Homeland Security, Daniel Elliott to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board, LaVerne Horton Council to be Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Anne Wall to be Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the Treasury Department, and David Shulkin to be Undersecretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
FY16 Appropriations
House
The House began consideration of the FY16 Interior spending bill on the floor this week. The House Appropriations Committee met to mark up its FY16 Labor HHS Education appropriations bill, but postponed a full committee markup of its FY16 Agriculture spending bill and revised FY16 subcommittee allocations.
Interior
On Thursday, the House began consideration on the floor of its $30.17B FY16 Interior spending bill. This is the first time in four years that the Interior bill has been considered on the House floor as this bill tends to be one of the more controversial of the 12 annual spending bills. Republicans amendments offered this week targeted funding for EPA programs and shifted the money to other agencies or to deficit reduction. Lawmakers will resume consideration of the bill after the July 4th recess when the House is expected to consider a number of amendments related to controversial policy riders included in the bill.
The White House issued a veto threat for the bill in a Statement of Administration Policy they released this week. The Administration cited funding issues and “numerous highly problematic ideological provisions” as reasons for their opposition to the measure.
White House Statement of Administration Policy on House FY16 Interior Bill:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2822r_20150623.pdf
Labor HHS Education
The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $153B FY16 Labor HHS Education spending bill this week and passed it out of committee by a vote of 30 to 21. The legislation includes funding for programs within the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and other related agencies. The bill is $3.7B below FY15 enacted levels and $14.6B below the President’s FY16 budget request.
The committee adopted the following amendments during full committee consideration:
- Cole – The amendment makes technical and non-controversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
- Roybal-Allard– The amendment designates $750,000 in funding within the Children and Families Services Programs account to be used for a Child Poverty Study. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
- Kilmer – The amendment adds report language urging the Department of Education to provide clear and timely guidance to local school districts on how to calculate tax rates for the purposes of receiving certain types of federal aid. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
- Harris – The amendment prohibits funding to implement or enforce a National Labor Relations Board ruling that allows certain groups of employees within a larger company to form separate unions. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
- Kaptur – The amendment adds report language directing the Secretary of HHS, in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to provide a report on certain prescription drug costs for Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA, as well as comparisons of these costs to other countries. In addition, it directs HHS to review and report on steps taken to competitively reduce prescription drug costs since 2001. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers this week stating the administration’s concerns with this spending bill stating that it would underfund programs important to the middle class.
OMB Director Donovan’s Letter to Chairman Rogers re: FY16 Labor HHS Bill:
House FY16 Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bill Text:
House FY16 Labor HHS Education Appropriations Report Language:
http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-laborhhsed.pdf
Senate
The Senate Appropriations Committee continued its work marking up their FY16 Transportation HUD and Labor HHS Education spending bills in subcommittee and full committee this week.
Transportation HUD
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $55.65B FY16 Transportation HUD spending bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The bill is $7B less than the President’s FY16 budget request, but $1.88B more than FY15 enacted levels. The bill increases funding for rail and aviation programs, but makes deep cuts to certain housing and transit programs. The bill provides $17.78B for the Transportation Department and $37.56B for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition to a manager’s amendment, the committee approved an amendment offered by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) that would extend the allowable length of double trailers from 28 to 33 feet. The amendment was approved by a vote of 16 to 14. The committee also approved by voice vote an amendment offered by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) that would modify Kansas’ truck length law for hauling custom harvesting equipment. The bill was reported out of committee by a vote of 20 to 10.
Senate Transportation Appropriations Bill Text:
Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=451
Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=452
Part 3 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=453
Part 4 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=454
Part 5 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=455
Part 6 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=456
Senate Transportation Appropriations Report Language:
Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=457
Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=458
Part 3 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=459
Labor HHS Education
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $153.2B FY16 Labor HHS Education spending bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The bill is $14.5B less than the President’s FY16 budget request and $3.6B less than FY15 enacted levels. The bill provides $11.4B for the Department of Labor, $70.4B for the Department of Health and Human Services, $65.5B for the Department of Education, $247M for the National Labor Relations Board, $228M for the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences, and $445M for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. During full committee consideration, the committee adopted a manager’s amendment, an amendment offered by Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) that would prohibit the use of funds to promulgate or implement regulations relating to occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica until additional studies and reports are completed, and an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) that would increase funding for the Preventive Medicine Residency Program. The bill was reported out of committee by a vote of 16 to 14.
Senate Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bill Text:
Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=460
Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=461
Senate Labor HHS Education Appropriations Report Language:
Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=462
Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=463
Part 3 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=464
Part 4 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=465
Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills
| Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture | Subcommittee: 6/18/15
Full Committee: Floor: |
Subcommittee:
Full Committee: Floor: |
| Commerce-Justice-Science | Subcommittee: 5/14/15
Full Committee: 5/20/15 Floor: 6/3/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/10/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
| Defense | Subcommittee: 5/20/15
Full Committee: 6/2/15 Floor: 6/11/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/9/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
| Energy & Water | Subcommittee: 4/15/15
Full Committee: 4/22/15 Floor: 5/1/15 |
Subcommittee: 5/19/15
Full Committee: 5/21/15 Floor: |
| Financial Services | Subcommittee: 6/11/15
Full Committee: 6/17/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee:
Full Committee: Floor: |
| Homeland Security | Subcommittee:
Full Committee: Floor: |
Subcommittee: 6/16/15
Full Committee: 6/18/15 Floor: |
| Interior-Environment | Subcommittee: 6/10/15
Full Committee: 6/16/15 Floor: week of June 22 |
Subcommittee: 6/16/15
Full Committee: 6/18/15 Floor: |
| Labor-HHS-Education | Subcommittee: 6/17/15
Full Committee: 6/24/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 6/23/15
Full Committee: 6/25/15 Floor: |
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: 4/23/15
Full Committee: 4/30/15 Floor: 5/19/15 |
Subcommittee:
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
| Military Construction-VA | Subcommittee: 4/15/15
Full Committee: 4/22/15 Floor: 4/30/15 |
Subcommittee: 5/19/15
Full Committee: 5/21/15 Floor: |
| State-Foreign Operations | Subcommittee: 6/3/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee:
Full Committee: Floor: |
| Transportation-HUD | Subcommittee: 4/29/15
Full Committee: 5/13/15 Floor: 6/9/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/23/15
Full Committee: 6/25/15 Floor: |
Budget Reconciliation Primer
The Senate Budget Committee released a Budget Bulletin this week, which is a primer on the budget reconciliation process. As it has been five years since the Senate considered a reconciliation bill, the intent of the primer is to help familiarize readers with some of the unique aspects of a reconciliation bill, including its restricted contents and privileged consideration.
A copy of the Budget Bulletin can be found at:
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act
The FY 16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) hit a procedural snag this week preventing it from going to conference. Under the Constitution, bills that raise revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. If the House determines that the Senate has violated this clause in the Constitution, it returns the bill to the Senate. The process is known as “blue-slipping” as the House places a blue slip on the offending legislation and immediately returns it to the Senate without taking further action. Section 636 of the Senate-passed NDAA changed the way the Defense Military Retirement Fund is treated under the tax code, prompting the House Ways and Means Committee to issue the blue slip. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) worked with Senate leaders on Thursday to strike the provision under a unanimous consent agreement. Once the blue-slip problem was resolved, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) named its conferees for the NDAA conference committee. And the HASC and SASC committee members gathered for a “passing of the gavel” from McCain to HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) (the committee alternates who chairs the conference each year). The meeting also provided an opportunity for rank-and-file committee members to voice their priorities for the FY16 NDAA conference.
A list of the HASC FY16 NDAA conferees can be found at:
Congressional Budget Office Affordable Care Act Repeal Analysis
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report last Friday on the “Budgetary and Economic Effects of Repealing the Affordable Care Act.” Using a dynamic scoring methodology, CBO estimates that repealing the health care law would increase the federal deficit by $137 billion from FY16 to FY25 compared to $353 billion for the same time period using traditional budget scoring practices. This analysis is the first time CBO has provided an estimate based on dynamic scoring. This may complicate Republicans efforts to repeal the law through the reconciliation process this year. Reconciliation would allow the repeal to pass the Senate with just a simple majority vote, but the Republican-written reconciliation instructions require any measure that is moved through the reconciliation procedure to reduce the deficit. Therefore, any repeal measure the Republicans intend to consider using the reconciliation process will have to be different than the repeal bill that was used by CBO for their analysis and would have to reduce the deficit between 2016 and 2025.
CBO 2015 Analysis of Repealing the Affordable Care Act:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50252
Political Updates
One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring this week for the 2016 Presidential race – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He joins the already crowded Republican field that includes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, businessman Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former NY Governor George Pataki, and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). And Ohio Governor John Kasich, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are expected to announce their candidacies soon. On the Democrat side, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have all announced their candidacies.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced this week that he was naming Maura Sullivan as the new Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Sullivan currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She will be taking over the position from Brent Colburn, who is stepping down in July.
President Obama nominated Ken Kopocis and Janet Garvin McCabe to be Assistant Administrators at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Next Week
The House and Senate are in recess next week. When they return the week of July 6, the House will resume consideration of the FY16 Interior Appropriations bill and the Senate will take up the No Child Left Behind reauthorization bill (S 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015).