August 14, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week.

DHS Cybersecurity Announcements

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson announced this week that he was elevating the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) within the Department’s structure with an incident reporting line directly to the Secretary. Johnson also directed the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) to develop a reorganization plan that will ensure that the NCCIC is focused on strengthening DHS’ operational capabilities for mitigating and responding to cyber incidents. As part of this reorganization, Dr. Andy Ozment, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, assumed overall and direct responsibility for the NCCIC, and John Felkner, formerly the Director of Cyber and Intelligence Strategy for HP Enterprise Services, joined DHS as the new NCCIC Director of Operations. Felker replaces Larry Zelvin, who departed last summer.

And earlier this month, Secretary Johnson tasked his Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) to establish a subcommittee entitled Cybersecurity Subcommittee. A notice in today’s Federal Register announced that the subcommittee was officially established. The Cybersecurity subcommittee will provide actionable findings and recommendations to the HSAC on best practices sourced from industry, state and local government, academic experts, and community leaders. It will also address the following: (1) Identify the readiness of the Department’s lifeline sectors to meet the emerging cyber threat and provide recommendations for building cross-sector capabilities to rapidly restore critical functions and services following a significant cyber event; and (2) How can the Department provide a more unified approach to support State, Local, Tribal and Territorial cybersecurity? The subcommittee’s findings and recommendations will be submitted to the HSAC for their deliberation and vote during a public meeting. Once the report is voted on by the HSAC, it will be sent to the Secretary for his review and acceptance.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-08-14/html/2015-20034.htm

CBO Report on Eliminating Budget Control Act Caps

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report this week that concludes that eliminating the Budget Control Act of 2011 caps on discretionary budget authority for FY16 and FY17 would make GDP larger than predicted under current law and increase full-time-equivalent employment. The report, “The Macroeconomic Effects of Eliminating Automatic Reductions to Discretionary Spending Caps,” was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Fully eliminating the automatic reductions would allow for an increase of $90B in FY16 and $91B in FY17. In FY16, CBO estimates that elimination of the caps would make real GDP 0.4% larger and would increase full-time-equivalent employment by 0.5 million. In FY17, the results would be smaller as CBO estimates that elimination of the caps would make real GDP 0.2% larger and would increase full-time-equivalent employment by 0.3 million. CBO warns, though, that while eliminating the reductions to the spending caps for FY16 and FY17 would increase output and employment over the next few years, the resulting increases in federal deficits would, in the longer term, make the nation’s output and income lower than they would be otherwise.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50725?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=812526&utm_campaign=Hourly_2015-08-11_15:00

NIST Proposed International Cybersecurity Standards

The National Security Council’s (NSC) Cyber Interagency Policy Committee’s International Cybersecurity Standardization Working Group drafted a report that sets out proposed US Government strategic objectives for pursuing the development and use of international standards for cybersecurity, and makes recommendations to achieve those objectives. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 requires the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to work with relevant Federal agencies to ensure interagency coordination “in the development of international technical standards related to information system security,” and develop and transmit to Congress a plan for ensuring such coordination within one year of enactment. This NSC report will also serve as the basis of this required report to Congress.

The draft document proposes four broad objectives for the government’s pursuit of international standards in cyberspace:

1. Improve national and economic security;
2. Ensure standards are technically sound;
3. Support standards that promote international trade; and
4. Develop standards in tandem with industry to boost innovation.

The public comment period is August 10 – September 24.

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/nistir-8074/nistir_8074_vol1_draft_report.pdf

Proposed Guidance for Strengthening Cybersecurity in Federal Acquisitions

The threats facing Federal information systems have dramatically increased as agencies provide more services online, digitally store data, and rely on contractors for a variety of these information technology services. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards provide agencies with a framework for securing their information and information systems regardless of where this information is stored. This information can be on government information systems, contractor information systems, and contractor information systems that are part of an Information Technology (IT) service operated on behalf of the government. The increase in threats facing Federal information systems demand that certain issues regarding security of information on these systems is clearly, effectively, and consistently addressed in Federal contracts.

The Federal Chief Information Officers Council, the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, and Office of Management and Budget released draft guidance this week on how agencies should write acquisition policies and contracts to strengthen cybersecurity in Federal acquisitions. The guidance also defines who is responsible in the event of a breach, how incidents should be reported, and how systems operated by companies on behalf of the government should be assessed and monitored. The General Services Administration has 90 days to review the guidance and make recommendations on a baseline for better business due diligence to support risk management throughout the entire lifespan of an outsourced capability. The public has less than 30 days to provide their comments and recommendations for making the guidance more meaningful and effective. The draft guidance is posted on the open source platform GitHub and comments are due by September 10. Comments will be reviewed using an iterative approach.

Once the guidance is finalized, the Federal Acquisition Regulation will be amended for inclusion of contract clauses that address, as appropriate, the guidance covered in key sections of the new rules. After publication, federal agencies’ chief information officers, chief acquisition officers, chief information security officers, senior privacy officers, and other relevant officials shall immediately begin working together to apply the guidance.

https://policy.cio.gov

GSA Cybersecurity Special Item Number

The General Services Administration (GSA) issued a request for information (RFI) this week in which they said that they are considering adding a special item number (SIN) for cybersecurity and information assurance (CyberIA) to IT Schedule 70. The goal is to make it faster and easier for agencies to buy security tools and services. GSA is looking for feedback on the CyberIA SIN from companies whose products and services would be listed there.

The proposed SIN would include hardware, software and services in eight categories:

1. Information Assurance
2. Virus Detection
3. Intrusion Detection and Prevention
4. Network Management
5. Situational Awareness and Incident Response
6. Secure Web Hosting
7. Backup and Security Services
8. Communications Security

The RFI is looking for industry feedback on how companies sell cybersecurity products and services, general opinions on creating a cybersecurity SIN, and thoughts on the eight proposed categories. Responses are due by 4 PM on September 11.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=68e1e8b5cc17539fc9d4d8ee53189344

Political Updates

Stanley Lowe, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Security at the Veterans Affairs Department announced last week that he is retiring effective August 22 after 25 years in federal service.

Former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) announced this week that she will run for her old congressional seat challenging Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH). This will be Shea-Porter’s sixth campaign for the seat, which she won in 2006, 2008, and 2012. Guinta is currently facing a campaign finance scandal after signing a conciliation agreement with the Federal Election Commission, which found that in 2010 Guinta loaned his campaign $355,000 in contributions that came from his parents. While Guinta agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and return the money, several Republicans in New Hampshire have called for his resignation including Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). Guinta has refused to resign and has said he may seek re-election in 2016.

“Little House on the Prairie” actress Melissa Gilbert announced this week that she’ll run for Congress against freshman Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) who succeeded Mike Rogers when he retired in 2014. The congressional district is considered a competitive district with Obama winning it in 2008 and Romney carrying it in 2012.

Next Week

The House and Senate are in recess until September 8.

August 7, 2015

The House was in recess this week. The Senate failed to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed on a measure to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood (S 1881). Planned Parenthood received $528.4M from the federal government in FY2014. The motion failed by a vote of 53 to 46. The Senate then called up S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, but set it aside when they could not reach agreement on amendments. The Senate confirmed General Mark Milley to be Chief of Staff of the Army, Admiral John Richardson to be Chief of Naval Operations, and Lieutenant General Robert Neller to be Commandant of the Marine Corps. The Senate also confirmed Marie Therese Dominguez to be Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Monica Regalbuto to be Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management at the Department of Energy, Jonathan Elkind to be Assistant Secretary of International Affairs at the Department of Energy, and Joyce Connery and Joseph Hamilton to be Board Members of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board.

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations

There are only 15 legislative days scheduled for the Senate and 12 for the House before the end of the fiscal year and government funding expires. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have passed all of their FY16 spending bills, but floor action on the bills has been stalled in both chambers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said this week that he would not attach language cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood to a continuing resolution. He also reiterated that Republicans will not shut down the government nor default on the national debt.

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) (S 754) was brought up on the Senate floor this week, but set aside after Senators could not come to agreement on which amendments to consider. Under a deal struck before the Senate recessed, the bill will come up again in September and 21 amendments will receive votes (11 Democratic and 10 Republican).

Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a July 1 letter from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in which Franken asked for information on how private entities share cyber threat information with the federal government, concerns the CISA legislation raises with respect to information sharing, and DHS’ policies for removing personally identifiable information. Mayorkas took the opportunity in his response letter to raise the concerns DHS has with the CISA bill.  A copy of Mayorkas’ letter to Sen. Franken can be found at:http://www.franken.senate.gov/files/documents/150731DHSresponse.pdf

Political Updates

CNN will host the first Democratic presidential debate in Nevada on October 13, with the exact location to be unveiled in the coming weeks. And the next Republican presidential debate will also be hosted by CNN on September 16 in California.

The President nominated Richard Otto Buckius to be Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation, Thomas Darling III to be Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Linda Etim to be Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Africa at the US Agency for International Development, Marcel Lettre II to be Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, former congressman Patrick Murphy to be Under Secretary of the Army at the Department of Defense, and Cherry Ann Murray to be Director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy.

Stephen Warren, the Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Chief Information Officer, announced this week that he will leave the agency effective Aug. 28 to become the Office of the Comptroller of Currency’s CIO. The VA has yet to pick a successor to Warren. The U.S. Secret Service appointed George Mulligan, a former director of the White House Military Office, as its first Chief Operating Officer. Mulligan comes from the Department of Defense, where he spent 29 years as both a senior civilian executive and a former naval officer. As COO, Mulligan will be the principal administrator for planning and directing all business and programming activities for the agency. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced that he selected Dr. Jason Matheny to be the next director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, effective immediately. Dr. Matheny had been serving as Director of IARPA’s new office for Anticipating Surprise overseeing research efforts to develop new capabilities to deliver timely and accurate forecasts for a range of events relevant to national security. He served concurrently as the program manager for the Open Source Indicators program, the Foresight and Understanding from Scientific Exposition program, and the Forecasting Science and Technology program. Dr. Matheny is succeeding Dr. Peter Highnam, who moved to a position at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in July. Glenn Gerstell was sworn in as the General Counsel of the NSA. Gerstell is a leading legal expert in technology and cybersecurity matters. He practiced for nearly 40 years at the international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, where he served for 18 years as the managing partner of Milbank’s Washington, D.C., office. Gerstell recently served on the D.C. Homeland Security Commission, was appointed by President Obama as a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Next Week

The House and Senate are in recess until September 8. The Senate will resume consideration of S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act when it reconvenes in September. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have also reached an agreement to start consideration of the Iran deal when they return in September. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that when the House returns in September they will vote on a resolution disapproving of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. The disapproval resolution was introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) this week.

July 31, 2015

The House passed HR 1994, the VA Accountability Act; HR 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015; HR 675, the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2015; HR 2770, the Keeping our Travelers Safe and Secure Act; HR 1656, the Secret Service Improvements Act of 2015; and S 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015. The House and Senate passed HR 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. The bill authorizes appropriations for federal-aid highway programs through Oct. 29, which were set to expire on July 31. The measure also provides the Veterans Affairs Department with $3 billion to cover a shortfall. The bill now goes to the President for his signature. The Senate also passed a six-year highway authorization, voting 65 to 34 on HR 22. And the Senate passed HR 23, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015; HR 2499, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Act; S 1599, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015; and HR 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015. The Senate confirmed Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford Jr. to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Paul Selva to be Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jeffrey Michael Prieto to be General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture, Allison Beck to be Federal Mediation and Conciliation Director, and Carol Fortine Ochoa to be Inspector General at the General Services Administration.

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations

There are only 20 legislative days scheduled for the Senate and 12 for the House before the end of the fiscal year and government funding expires. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have passed all of their FY16 spending bills, but floor action on the bills has been stalled in both chambers. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) recently said that Congress is going to have to pass a continuing resolution (CR) in order to avoid a shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), however, has said that they have not begun to talk about a CR yet. Further complicating the CR process is a push by House conservatives to include in the CR a provision to defund Planned Parenthood. How long a CR would last and how many would be needed until Congress and the Administration can negotiate a broader budget deal is unclear at this point in time. Talks are not likely to begin before mid-September, right before the end of the fiscal year.

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

House Appropriations Committee Chairmanship

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) is in his fifth year as chairman of the committee and is unlikely to seek a waiver to continue as chairman at the end of the 114th Congress in 2016. Speculation is now centered on three contenders for the leadership position (assuming Republicans retain control of the House after the 2016 elections) – Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), and Kay Granger (R-TX). Frelinghuysen is currently chair of the Defense subcommittee, Aderholt is chair of the Agriculture subcommittee, and Granger is chair of the State Foreign Operations subcommittee. Frelinghuysen is considered the frontrunner at this point in time. If he succeeds Rogers it would free up the Defense subcommittee chair, which is a position Granger has expressed interest in.

Debt Ceiling

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent a letter to Congress this week regarding the extraordinary measures the Department of the Treasury is taking to avoid default. On March 16, 2015, the outstanding debt of the US reached the statutory limit. At that time, Treasury had to begin employing extraordinary measures to continue to finance the government on a temporary basis. These measures include a debt issuance suspension period with respect to investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and a suspension of the daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan. The debt issuance suspension period was originally through July 30. Secretary Lew informed lawmakers that he was extending the period through October 30. Lew wrote that his best estimate is that the measures would last for at least through the end of October and maybe for a “brief additional period of time.” Some independent economists have estimated that the measures will prevent default into December giving Congress some more time to determine how they are going to deal with raising the debt limit.

Treasury Secretary Lew Letter to Congress:

http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Treasury-Sends-Debt-Limit-Letter-to-Congress.aspx

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act

House and Senate conferees on FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) did not complete their negotiations before the August recess. Differences over military pay benefits (increases to Tricare pharmacy co-pays and troops’ out-of-pocket housing costs), closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and acquisition reform stalled the conference process. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said that despite not being in DC in August, negotiations would continue during the recess over the phone and other communication methods. The House and Senate Ranking Democrats, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Jack Reed (D-RI) are apparently in agreement with McCain on including the Senate provision for phasing in increases in the Tricare pharmacy copays.

Cybersecurity

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee marked up and reported out of committee this week S 1869, the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015. The bill would mandate that federal agencies implement several cybersecurity controls and best practices, including two-factor authentication for access to sensitive systems and database encryption. The bill would also formally authorize and accelerate deployment of the EINSTEIN 3 Accelerated program, a federal intrusion detection and prevention system. If the bill is signed into law, all federal agencies will be required to adopt EINSTEIN 3. And federal agencies would have to provide annual status reports of the EINSTEIN programs. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced a similar bill this week HR 3313, the Cyber Defense of Federal Networks Act of 2015. McCaul commended the Senate for their quick action and encouraged his peers in the House to take action.

S 1869 Bill Text:

http://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/39cfd76e-8084-4216-9f2a-e6a3d589243f/s.-1869.pdf

HR 3313 Bill Text:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/072915-HR3313.pdf

In other cybersecurity news, the Senate may take up S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) next week on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the Senate would first vote on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. If that vote fails, McConnell said that the Senate would then turn to the cybersecurity bill. However, some Senators oppose CISA and could try to filibuster the legislation. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU, Sunlight Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and others have lined up against the bill because of privacy and civil liberties concerns. Their opposition and some Republican Senators desire for robust debate on the bill allowing for several amendments may push its consideration until after the August recess.

Political Updates

One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring for the 2016 Presidential race – Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore. 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), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, 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). The first Republican debate is next Thursday August 6, with the top 10 candidates on at 9 pm and the remaining seven candidates on at 5 pm. On the Democrat side, the field includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb.

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) was indicted by federal prosecutors this week on 29 counts including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud. Fattah stepped down from his position as ranking Democrat on the House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations subcommittee. He has also stepped aside from his chairmanship of the board of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Fattah maintains his innocence and has vowed to run for re-election in 2016.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) filed a motion to try to force House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) from his leadership post. The move, called a motion to vacate the chair, represents a new level of opposition to GOP leadership from the conservative wing of the House Republican Conference. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted that he cosponsored Meadows’ resolution. The motion was referred to the House Rules Committee, which is packed with supporters of the Speaker so the motion is unlikely to go any further.

Peter Cook has been appointed as the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (press secretary), Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs in the Pentagon. Cook previously served as the chief Washington correspondent for Bloomberg Television in Washington, DC. Susan Yarwood has been assigned as the Deputy Director in the Washington Headquarters Services in Washington, DC. Yarwood previously served as the Director of the Human Resources Directorate in the Washington Headquarters Services.

Retired Navy Rear Admiral Earl Gay withdrew himself from consideration after being nominated by the President for the position of Deputy Director at the Office of Personnel Management. Gay’s nomination had been blocked by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) since January over an OPM-issued Obamacare exemption.

Former Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) was nominated by the President to be the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training. During his time in Congress, Michaud was the ranking member on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. The President also nominated Darryl DePriest to be Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the Small Business Administration, Victoria Wassmer to be Under Secretary of Energy at the Department of Energy, Beverly Scott to be a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Michael Suarez to be a member of the National Council on the Humanities, Brigadier General Richard Kaiser to be Commissioner of the Mississippi River Commission, Major General Michael Wehr to be President of the Mississippi River Commission, and Judith Kimble to be Chairman of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science.

Next Week

The House is in recess until September 8. The Senate will be in session next week and is scheduled to vote on a procedural motion on a measure to defund Planned Parenthood (S 1881). If they are not successful on that vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act would be up next.

July 24, 2015

The House passed HR 1557, the Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act; HR 2256, the Veterans Information Modernization Act; HR 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act of 2015; HR 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015; and HR 3009, the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act. The Senate voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on consideration of a six-year highway reauthorization bill. They will resume consideration of this measure when they convene for a rare Sunday session. This is the second time this year the Senate has convened on a Sunday; the last time was in May when they met to consider passage of the USA Freedom Act before expiration of some controversial Patriot Act provisions. The Senate also passed HR 23, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015; HR 2499, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Act; S 1599, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015; and HR 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015.

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations

House

While the House Appropriations Committee has completed action on all of its 12 FY2016 spending bills, action on the House floor has come to a complete stop. House Speaker John Boehner said this week that a continuing resolution will be necessary given the limited time lawmakers have to resolve their budget differences. The House is scheduled to be in session only 16 more days before the end of FY2015.

Meanwhile, House Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) released a report this week charging Republicans with shortchanging several programs that would place “our national and economic security at risk.” The report gives an issue-by-issue breakdown of the funding cuts and policy riders. This report may give some indication of the negotiating position of House Democrats and what they will push for during any potential budget negotiations later this year.

House Appropriations Committee Minority Report:

http://democrats.appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/documents/FY16-report-July2015.pdf

Senate

The Senate Appropriations Committee has now passed all 12 of its FY2016 spending bills as it marked up its Financial Services spending measure in subcommittee and full committee this week. This is the first time since 2009 that the committee has approved all 12 annual spending bills.

Financial Services

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out its FY16 Financial Services Appropriations bill this week. The bill was considered in subcommittee on Tuesday and full committee on Thursday. The full committee passed the $20.6B measure by a vote of 16 to 14. The bill is $4B less than the President’s FY16 budget request and $1.3B below the FY15 enacted level, but it does provide about $400M more than the House version. The bill also includes the language of a Republican banking overhaul bill (S 1484).

In addition to a manager’s amendment, 5 amendments were adopted during committee consideration – Sen. Moran’s (R-KS) Cuba travel ban repeal amendment, Sen. Mikulski’s (D-MD) data breach amendment, Sen. Tester’s (D-MT) 180-day shipping prohibition repeal amendment, Sen. Boozman’s (R-AR) Cuba private credit for agriculture amendment, and Sen. Merkley’s (D-OR) marijuana banking amendment.

Bill Text:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FSGGBillFinal.PDF

Report Language:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FSGGReptFinal.PDF

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act

House and Senate conferees on FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) are not expected to complete their negotiations before the August recess due to a number of unresolved issues. The issues range from reforms to the military retirement system, the greater sage-grouse, and basic housing allowances. Other issues such as acquisition reform and the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba appear to have been resolved. The President has threatened to veto the measure if the final conference measures includes restrictions on closing Guantanamo as well as the additional funds authorized in the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.

FISMA Bill

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) led a bipartisan delegation of Senators to introduce legislation this week that would bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority to protect federal civilian networks. The other original co-sponsors of the legislation include Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Dan Coats (R-IN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the mandate to protect the .gov domain, it only has limited authorities to do so. At present, DHS does not have the authority to monitor the networks of government agencies unless they have permission from that agency.  DHS also cannot regularly deploy countermeasures to block malware without permission from the agency. To fix this problem, Sen. Collins’ bill takes five steps to change the way DHS oversees the .gov domain:

1. Allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate intrusion detection and prevention capabilities on all federal agencies on the .gov domain.
2. Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct risk assessments of any network within the government domain.
3. Allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate defensive countermeasures on these networks once a cyber threat has been detected.
4. Strengthens and streamlines the authority Congress gave to DHS last year to issue binding operational directives to federal agencies, especially to respond to substantial cyber security threats in emergency circumstances.
5. Requires the Office of Management and Budget to report to Congress annually on the extent to which OMB has exercised its existing authority to enforce government wide cyber security standards.

The Federal Information Security Management Reform Act of 2015:

http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/abced13c-de46-4bfc-a96f-aac0be8b29d5/ARM15K46.pdf

Political Updates

One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring for the 2016 Presidential race – Ohio Governor John Kasich. 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), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, 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). Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore is expected to announce his candidacy sometime in August. On the Democrat side, the field includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb.

The President nominated Victoria Wassmer to be Undersecretary of Energy for Management and Performance at the Department of Energy, Dr. Sandra Black to be a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Raymond Cook to be the Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Ambassador Brooke Anderson and Robert Stein to be a members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn took command of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in a ceremony on Thursday, succeeding retiring DISA Director Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins. Lynn will also be commander of the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Networks. Lynn previously led the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command at Fort Huachuca, AZ.

Navy Vice Adm. James Caldwell Jr. has been nominated to become an admiral and director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. He would replace Adm. John Richardson, who has been nominated to become the Chief of Naval Operations, the service’s top officer.

Stacia Hylton, Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, is leaving her position Saturday and will be temporarily replaced by the agency’s deputy director, David Harlow, who will serve as Acting Director starting Sunday. Hylton has served since January 2011 as Director of the agency.

Next Week

The House will consider HR 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015 and HR 1994, the VA Accountability Act of 2015. The Senate is scheduled to be in session next week beginning on Sunday when they resume consideration of the 6-year highway reauthorization bill. If and when the Senate completes action on the highway bill, they are then expected to take up S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.

July 17, 2015

The House passed HR 2898, a bill that increases the availability of water for certain users in California’s drought-stricken Central Valley; HR 3038, a five-month highway funding reauthorization; HR 2499, the Veterans Entrepreneurship Act of 2015; HR 2722, the Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin Act; HR 1723, the Small Company Simple Registration Act; HR 2997, the Private Investment in Housing Act of 2015; and HR 251, the Homes for Heroes Act of 2015. The Senate passed S 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act by a vote of 81 to 17. The bill is an overhaul of the long-expired No Child Left Behind education law, and it now heads to a conference with the House-passed version, HR 5, the Student Success Act. The Senate also passed S 1300, the Adoptive Family Relief Act; S 756, the Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act; S 192, the Older Americans Reauthorization Act of 2015; and S 139, the Ensuring Access to Clinical Trials Act of 2015.

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations

House

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) commended his committee members this week after the committee completed action on the last of its 12 annual spending bills. Rogers said, “You have restored the reputation of this committee.”

While the committee has completed its work, the House has passed only six of its 12 annual spending bills. With the House scheduled to be in session only 20 more days before the end of fiscal year 2015, it is now likely that Congress will have to rely on a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government running past Sept 30. Further complicating the House’s September schedule is the recent addition of the Iran Nuclear agreement, which Congress has 60 days to review setting up a potential vote in the House right around the end of the fiscal year. Some lawmakers are predicting the need for at least two CRs funding the government through late December when a final budget agreement could be worked out between Republicans and Democrats.

Homeland Security

The House Appropriations subcommittee met this week to mark up its $39.3B FY16 spending bill, which is $337M below the FY15 enacted level and $2.1B below the President’s FY16 budget request. Immigration policy dominated the debate during the full committee markup. However, the focus was now on sanctuary cities rather than on the President’s executive actions on immigration policy. The committee reported the bill out by a vote of 32 to 17 after adopting the following amendments:

• Carter – The amendment made technical and other noncontroversial changes and additions to the report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Rooney – The amendment prohibits funding for TSA uniforms that include badges that resemble law-enforcement badges. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Culberson – The amendment requires ICE to detain Priority 1 and Priority 2 illegal aliens. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Yoder – The amendment prohibits certain state and local grants from going to “Sanctuary Cities.” The amendment was adopted on a vote of 28-21.
• Aderholt– The amendment restates current law prohibiting federal funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide for abortions, except in certain life-threatening cases, rape, and incest. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 31-18.
• Young – The amendment withholds $5 million in funding for ICE until ICE completes a congressional briefing on the status of local communities participating in the Priority Enforcement Program. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.

OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to Chairman Rogers earlier in the week outlining the administration’s opposition to the FY16 Homeland Security spending bill. In addition to opposing sequestration funding levels, the administration also called out the committee’s failure to incorporate the administration’s proposed restructuring of FEMA grant programs, lack of investment in DHS headquarters consolidation at St. Elizabeth’s, the reduction in funding for FEMA’s flood risk mapping efforts, and the inclusion of controversial riders including provisions related to the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and the newly proposed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents policies, as well as a provision that prohibits funds to be used to allow property confiscated by the Cuban Government to enter the United States.

House FY16 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-hsecurity.pdf

House FY16 Homeland Security Appropriations Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-hsecurity.pdf

OMB Director Donovan Letter to Chairman Rogers:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/house-homeland-letter-rogers.pdf

Senate

The Senate Appropriations Committee has passed 11 of its 12 annual spending bills. Financial Services is the only FY16 bill that has not yet been considered by the subcommittee or full committee.

Agriculture

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out its FY16 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill this week. The bill was considered in subcommittee on Tuesday and full committee on Thursday. The $143.8B ($20.5B discretionary and $123.3B mandatory) measure was passed by the full committee by a vote of 28 to 2. The bill is $24B ($1.1B discretionary) less than the President’s FY16 budget request and $3.7B ($65M discretionary) below the FY15 enacted level. In addition to a manager’s amendment, four amendments were adopted during committee consideration – Sen. Hoeven’s (R-ND) school meals amendment granting waivers to schools unable to meet the 100% whole-grain requirement, Sen. Feinstein’s (D-CA) captive marine mammals amendment, Sen. Murkowski’s (R-AK) genetically engineered salmon amendment, and a horse slaughter amendment offered by Sens. Udall (D-NM), Mikulski (D-MD), Kirk (R-IL), and Feinstein (D-CA).

Bill Text:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FY2016%20Agriculture%20Approps%20Bill.pdf

Report Language:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FY2016%20Agriculture%20Approps%20Report.pdf

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

Defense Business Board

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced this week the appointment of eight new members to the Defense Business Board (DBB). The DBB was established in 2002 to provide the Secretary of Defense and other senior leaders of the Department of Defense with independent advice on best business practices for consideration and potential application to the Department.

The eight new members are:

• Mahlon (Sandy) Apgar, IV, asset advisor and former assistant secretary for installations and environment, Department of the Army
• Robert Holland, corporate director, managing partner, chief mentor and advisory board member of Essex Lake Group, LLC, and former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s
• Jerry MacArthur Hultin, senior presidential fellow of NYU and president emeritus of Polytechnic Institute of New York University
• William Swanson, chairman of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and former CEO of the Raytheon Corporation
• Lon Levin, president, SkySeven Ventures and cofounder of XM Satellite Radio
• John O’Connor, Chairman of J.H. Whitney Investment Management, LLC
• Gen. (ret.) Arnold Punaro, president, Punaro Group and former executive vice president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
• Atul Vashistha, founder & chairman, Neo Group

The current members of the DBB are:

• Michael Bayer, DBB chair and president and CEO, Dumbarton Strategies
• Nancy Killefer, DBB vice chair and former senior partner, McKinsey & Company Inc.
• Cynthia Trudell, DBB vice chair and executive vice president of Human Resources and Chief HR Officer, PepsiCo
• Denis Bovin, chairman and managing partner, Palimere Group, LLC
• Howard Cox, Jr., advisory partner, Greylock Partners
• Roxanne Decyk, former executive vice president, Royal Dutch Shell PLC
• Taylor Glover, president and CEO, Turner Enterprises, Inc.
• Shelly Lazarus, chairman emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather
• David Langstaff, former president and CEO, TASC, Inc.
• Emil Michael, senior vice president of business, Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Philip Odeen, former chairman, AES Corporation
• William Phillips, principal in charge, Federal Advisory Services, KPMG
• Mark Ronald, former president and CEO, BAE Systems, Inc.
• Kevin Walker, COO, Iberdrola USA
• Daniel Werfel, director of public sector practice, The Boston Consulting Group
• Joe Wright, executive director, Seamobile/MTN Satellite Communications
• Dov Zakheim, senior fellow, CNA Corporation
• Jack Zoeller, president and CEO, Cordia Bancorp

The DBB will convene its next meeting July 23.

Political Updates

One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring for the 2016 Presidential race – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. 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), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 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). Ohio Governor John Kasich and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore are expected to announce their candidacies soon (July 21 for Kasich and August for Gilmore). On the Democrat side, the field now includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb.

Rep. Todd Young (R-IN) announced that he will run for the open Senate seat in Indiana in 2016. Young is the third Republican to enter the race to replace retiring Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN).

President Obama nominated Susan Coppedge to be Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking at the Department of State and Jessie Roberson to be a Commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter named Arsenio Gumahad II to be Deputy Director of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; Dr. Wendin Smith to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction; Christopher Maier to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism; Andrew Exum to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy; Aaron Hughes to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy; Abraham Denmark to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, East Asia; and Maura Sullivan to be Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs in the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.

Next Week

The House will consider HR 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act and HR 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. The Senate will take up a highway and transportation funding bill. The House may also consider the conference report for the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act conference. The Senate Finance Committee will mark up on Tuesday a $96B tax extenders package that will retroactively extend 52 expired provisions through the end of 2016.

July 10, 2015

The House passed HR5, the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act; HR2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act; and HR 6, the 21^st Century Cures Act. The House began consideration of HR2822, the FY16 Interior Appropriations bill, but pulled the bill from the floor after a dispute over amendments. The Senate passed S286, the Department of the Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act of 2015; S143, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Improvements Act; S1180, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act; and S1359, the E-Warranty Act. The Senate began consideration of S1177, the Every Child Achieves Act. 

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations

The House has passed six of its 12 annual FY16 appropriations bills. But with the House scheduled to be in session for only 24 more days before the end of the fiscal year it is looking less and less likely that they will be able to complete all bills before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The Senate has a little more time as it is scheduled to be in session 35 more days before the end of the fiscal year. However, the Senate has not considered any of its bills on the Senate floor yet.

House

The House was expected to vote on final passage of its $30B FY16 Interior-EPA Appropriations bill on Thursday, but leadership pulled the bill after a Republican dispute over amendments that would have banned the sale of Confederate flags in national parks and their display in federal cemeteries. In committee this week, the House marked up the FY16 Agriculture spending bill in full committee and the FY16 Homeland Security spending bill in subcommittee.

The House Appropriations Committee also approved adjustments to its FY16 302(b) subcommittee allocations. House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said that the adjustments were mostly technical in nature to account for updated Congressional Budget Office scoring and changes made to spending bills on the House floor. The adjustments added $1.48B to the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill and $13M to the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, and trimmed small amounts from the Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation-HUD, and Defense spending bills. The changes also shifted $1.82B from the Defense-related Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account to the State-Foreign Operations OCO account. All Democrats on the committee voted against the 302(b) allocation adjustments.

Agriculture

The House Appropriations Committee approved their $20.65B FY16 Agriculture spending bill in full committee this week. The bill is $175M lower than the FY15 level and $1.1 billion below the President’s FY16 budget request. Democrats on the committee opposed the inclusion of a provision that would make tobacco-related products (e.g. e-cigarettes and small cigars) exempt from rigorous pre-market review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While these products are currently unregulated, they would come under FDA oversight once the agency has completed a regulation giving itself broader authority over a range of tobacco-related products. The Administration also voiced its opposition to the provision, and the overall bill, in a letter from OMB Director Shaun Donovan to Chairman Rogers.

Three amendments were offered and approved during the full committee markup:

• Aderholt – The amendment makes technical and non-controversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Harris –The amendment would add a provision to grant legal protections from frivolous lawsuits to the users of partially hydrogenated oils until the compliance date issued by FDA. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• DeLauro – The amendment ensures U.S. food safety laws are protected in new trade agreements. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.

House FY16 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-agriculture.pdf

House FY16 Agriculture Appropriations Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-agriculture.pdf

Letter from OMB Director Donovan to House Appropriations Chairman Rogers:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/House-Ag-Letter-7-7-15-Rogers.pdf

Homeland Security

The House Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee met this week to mark up its $39.3B FY16 spending bill, which is $337M below the FY15 enacted level and $2.1B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill did not include funding to implement the President’s Executive Orders on immigration, and it specifically bars the use of funds for these activities for the duration of ongoing legal proceedings on the issue. It also retains a prohibition on funds to transfer or release detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The bill does provide $11.1B for Customs and Border Protection, $5.8B for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $4.65B for the Transportation Security Administration, $1.6B for Cybersecurity, Critical Infrastructure, and Communications, $8.5B for the Coast Guard, $1.9B for the Secret Service, $7.4B for FEMA disaster relief, $119.7M for Citizenship and Immigration Services, and $786.9M for Science and Technology. The bill is scheduled to be marked up in full committee on Tuesday, July 14.

Draft House FY16 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-114HR-SC-AP-FY2016-HSecurity-SubcommitteeDraft.pdf

Senate

State Foreign Operations

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $49.03B FY16 State Foreign Operations bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. Of this amount, $39.01B is for the base budget and $9.26B is for Overseas Contingency Operations. The bill is $2.8B below the FY15 enacted level and $4.9B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill contains $16.7B for the Department of State ($14B in base funding and $2.7B in OCO funding), $1.28B for USAID, $141.2M for programs to counter violent extremism, $8.47B for global health programs, $6B for global HIV/AIDS assistance, and $7.9B for international security assistance, $2.3B for democracy programs. The bill also prohibits the use of funds to support external email servers at the State Department and USAID. During consideration of the bill, the committee voted to repeal a policy that essentially blocks recipients of U.S. aid from promoting or providing abortions for family planning purposes. The amendment offered by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) originally failed on a voice vote, but passed after she requested a recorded vote.

Administration Letters to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Cochran

OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent three letters this week to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) stating the administration’s opposition to three of the committee’s FY16 spending bills – Department of Homeland Security, Interior, and Labor-HHS-Education.

DHS Letter from OMB Director Donovan to Senate Appropriations Chairman Cochran:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/senate-homeland-approps-letter-cochran.pdf

Interior Letter from OMB Director Donovan to Senate Appropriations Chairman Cochran:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/senate-interior-letter-cochran.pdf

Labor HHS Letter from OMB Director Donovan to Senate Appropriations Chairman Cochran:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/senate-labor-h-ed-letter-cochran.pdf

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

National Defense Authorization Act

The Senate approved a motion to go to conference on the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act this week. The cloture vote on the motion was agreed to by a vote of 81 to 15, and then the motion was agreed to by voice vote. The Senate then appointed the following members as conferees: McCain (R-AZ), Inhofe (R-OK), Sessions (R-AL), Wicker (R-MS), Ayotte (R-NH), Fischer (R-NE), Cotton (R-AR), Rounds (R-SD), Graham (R-SC), Reed (D-RI), Nelson (D-FL), Manchin (D-WV), Gillibrand (D-NY), Donnelly (D-IN), Hirono (D-HI), and Kaine (D-VA).

Budget Reconciliation

The July 24 deadline for reporting budget reconciliation instructions is fast approaching, and it isn’t clear how Republican leaders will use the process. Initially, they wanted to use it to repeal the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). However, after the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis last month in which they estimated that repealing the law would increase the federal deficit anywhere from $137 billion from FY16 to FY25 (dynamic scoring) up to $353 billion (traditional budget scoring) and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal health subsidies, they may be rethinking their strategy. The reconciliation process must reduce the deficit by at least $1 billion – either through cutting spending, raising revenue, or a combination of the two. Three House committees (Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and the Workforce) and two Senate Committees (Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) are involved in the process and are still considering their options on how to proceed. While the committees are required to present legislation to their respective Budget Committees by the July 24 deadline, it is considered a “soft” deadline and committees have regularly missed it in the past without jeopardizing the use of reconciliation procedures. Once they have presented their legislation, the Budget Committees then assemble the provisions into a reconciliation package and report the legislation to their full chambers.

Political Updates

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Katherine Archuleta submitted her resignation to President Obama this morning, which he accepted. Calls for her resignation started to include Democratic members of Congress (Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA and Rep. Jim Langevin, D-RI) after OPM announced yesterday that the breach of its background investigations had compromised sensitive information (including social security numbers) of more than 21.5 million individuals. Beth Cobert, the Deputy Director of Management at the Office of Management and Budget will step in temporarily to replace Archuleta while a permanent replacement is found.

One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring for the 2016 Presidential race – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. 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), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, 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 former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore are expected to announce their candidacies soon. On the Democrat side, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb announced his candidacy this week. He joins the Democratic field that includes 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).

State Senator Darin LaHood (R-IL) easily won the GOP primary in a special election to replace former Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock. Schock resigned earlier this year after investigations into his spending habits. The district is a safe Republican district. LaHood is the son of former Illinois Representative and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter appointed his Chief of Staff Eric Fanning to be Acting Undersecretary of the Army. Carter also promoted Eric Rosenbach to become his new Chief of Staff. Rosenbach is currently Deputy Chief of Staff. Fanning is a former acting Secretary of the Air Force, and has been discussed as a potential replacement for Army Secretary John McHugh, who is stepping down no later than November 1, 2015. Carter also made the following appointments in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics: James Galvin to be Deputy Director of Portfolio Management and Outreach, Clothilda Taylor to be Principal Deputy Director for Administration, and Richard Pino to be Principal Deputy Director of Command, Control, Communications, Cyber, and Business Systems and Deputy Director of Command and Control Programs. And Brad Carson, was nominated by the President to be Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Department of Defense. Carson has been in an acting capacity in the position since last year. Carson is a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma.

President Obama nominated Mary Wakefield to be Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, Anthony Coscia and Derek Kan to be Directors on the AMTRAK Board of Directors, Matthew Rhett Jeppson to be Director of the U.S. Mint, and Andy Slavitt to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Michael Brown will take over as Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 26. Brown replaces Kevin Kern who left nine months ago.

Next Week

The House will take up HR 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, and may take up the FY16 Financial Services Appropriations bill. The Senate is expected to complete consideration of S1177, the Every Child Achieves Act and then move on to a highway funding bill, whose current authorization expires at the end of July.

July 2, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week.

FY16 Appropriations

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

Department of Labor Proposed Overtime Rule

The Department of Labor released a proposed rule this week that would update the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA guarantees a minimum wage and overtime pay rate of not less than one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. While these protections extend to most workers, the FLSA does provide a number of exemptions. This rulemaking proposes updating and revising the regulations issued under the FLSA implementing the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. This exemption is referred to as the FLSA’s “EAP” or “white collar” exemption. To be considered exempt, employees must meet certain minimum tests related to their primary job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than a specified minimum amount. The standard salary level required for exemption is currently $455 a week ($23,660 for a full-year worker) and was last updated in 2004. The Department projects that the wage in the final rule would likely be $970, or $50,440 for a full-year worker. The Department also proposes automatically updating the salary and compensation thresholds on an annual basis using either a fixed percentile of wages or the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Comments on the proposed rule are due in 60 days.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015/OT-NPRM.pdf

Political Updates

The fourteenth Republican candidate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, threw his hat into the ring this week for the 2016 Presidential race. 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 Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former NY Governor George Pataki, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, businessman Donald Trump, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Ohio Governor John Kasich said that he would announce his candidacy on July 21, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is expected to announce his candidacy 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.

President Obama will nominate Marine Lt. Gen. Bob Neller to replace Gen. Joseph Dunford as the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Neller now serves as Commander of Marine Corps Forces Command in Norfolk, VA. He also commands Marine Corps Forces Europe.

Cathy Conrad, the Deputy Associate Administrator in the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, is leaving government. Conrad plans to pursue new challenges and her last day will be July 24.

The Acting Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Richard Griffin, announced his plans to step down from the post after criticism from a group of whistleblowers that he’s done little to uncover fraud and abuse in the VA. Griffin was appointed Deputy Inspector General in 2008, and has served in the Acting IG position since Georg Opfer stepped down from the job 18 months ago. Linda Halliday will replace Griffin as Deputy Inspector General. Halliday is the current Assistant Inspector for Audits and Evaluations.

Next Week

The House and Senate return from recess next week. 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).

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:

1. Cole – The amendment makes technical and non-controversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/labor-h-house-letter-rogers.pdf

House FY16 Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-laborhhs-subcommitteedraft.pdf

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

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:

http://www.budget.senate.gov/republican/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=f19cdb93-31eb-4867-8dfb-dc6ee1471339

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:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=9AF1CE27-61D1-49CB-AF6B-644738C43A18&ContentType_id=E0C7B822-826F-493D-8CEF-1E21AA53E12A&Group_id=12580721-af41-4987-849c-c25b730d096d

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).

Washington Weekly

June 19, 2015

The House passed HR 2596, the FY16 Intelligence Authorization Act and HR 160, the Protect Medical Innovation Act, which repeals the 2.3% excise tax on medical devices. The House also voted 218 to 208 to grant the President fast-track authority to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Backing the trade authority bill were 190 Republicans and 28 Democrats; 50 Republicans and 158 Democrats voted against it. The House rejected a resolution offered by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) that would require the President to remove United States Armed Forces deployed to Iraq or Syria on or after August 7, 2014. The resolution failed by a vote of 139 to 288. The resolution was intended as a way of forcing action on an Authorization to Use Military Force against the Islamic State. The Senate passed the FY 16 National Defense Authorization Act and S 808, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2105. The Senate also confirmed Matthew McGuire to be United States Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Gentry Smith to be Director of the Office of Foreign Missions. And the Senate passed two resolutions congratulating the Chicago Blackhawks on winning the 2015 Stanley Cup and the Golden State Warriors on winning the 2015 National Basketball Association Championships.

FY16 Appropriations

House

The House Appropriations Committee met this week to mark up their FY16 Interior and Financial Services spending bills in full committee and their FY16 Labor HHS Education and Agriculture spending bills in subcommittee.

Interior

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $30.17B FY16 Interior spending bill this week. The bill is $246M below FY15 enacted levels and $3B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill was reported out of committee by a vote of 30 to 21 and will be considered on the House floor next week. The bill would permanently prohibit the EPA from developing or implementing any changes to its definition of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act, and would prevent the EPA from limiting greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing plants in FY16. Five amendments, in addition to a manager’s amendment, were approved during the full committee markup. The amendments are as follows:

• Calvert – The Manager’s amendment makes technical and non-controversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Visclosky –The amendment changes bill language requiring that all iron and steel used in water infrastructure projects be sourced within the United States. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Amodei – The amendment adds report language clarifying the process for products to be designated as “made in America.” The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Jenkins – The amendment prohibits funding for the EPA to implement or administer updates to existing ozone regulations.The amendment was adopted on a vote of 31-20.
• Cole – The amendment prohibits funding to implement, administer, or enforce a final rule titled “Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands.” The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Valadao – The amendment adds report language relating to the Delta Smelt and directs the Fish and Wildlife Service to complete a five-year status review of the species, as required by law. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.

OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) stating the Administration’s concerns with the bill including underfunding the Administration’s priorities and the inclusion of controversial policy riders.

House Appropriations FY16 Interior Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-interior.pdf

House Appropriations FY16 Interior Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-interior.pdf

OMB Director Shaun Donovan’s Letter to House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/fy-16-house-interior-letter-rogers.pdf

Financial Services

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $20.2B FY16 Financial Services spending bill this week. The bill is $1.3B below FY15 enacted levels and $4.8B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill was passed out of committee by a party line vote of 30 to 20. Eight amendments, in addition to a manager’s amendment, were approved during the full committee markup. The committee rejected amendments to eliminate restrictions on the SEC, FCC, and relations with Cuba as well as an amendment to allow DC to use local funds however its officials see fit reversing a long-standing ban on such funding going towards abortions. The amendments that were adopted are as follows:

• Crenshaw – The manager’s amendment makes technical and non-controversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Crenshaw – The amendment prohibits funding for the Financial Stability Oversight Council to designate non-banks as “systemically important financial institutions,” thereby imposing new regulations on their activities, without allowing non-banks to change their business practices prior to final designation. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 31-19.
• Fattah – The amendment restores mail delivery standards to the July 1, 2012 level. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 26-23.
• Culberson – The amendment prohibits funding for the IRS to audit a faith-based 501(c)3 organization, unless the audit is approved the IRS Commissioner.  The amendment was adopted on a vote of 30-19.
• Womack – The amendment prohibits funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue a final rule on the use of arbitration until the Bureau conducts a thorough study. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Quigley – The amendment adds report language encouraging GSA to incorporate bird safe materials and design features for GSA-owned federal buildings. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Harris – The amendment stops the FCC  “joint sales agreements” rule for fiscal year 2016, which will allow local media outlets to continue to share equipment and advertising between stations. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 38-11.
• Harris – The amendment prohibits funding for abortions through OPM-negotiated “multi-state qualified health plans” offered under Obamacare. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 29-18.
• Palazzo – The amendment prohibits the District of Columbia from using federal or local funds to implement or enforce the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 28-22.

OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) stating the Administration’s concerns with the bill including provisions that would jeopardize the independence of financial regulators, diminish the enforcement capabilities of the IRS, make cuts to the GSA, and hinder implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

House Appropriations FY16 Financial Services Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-fservices.pdf

House Appropriations FY16 Financial Services Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-fservices.pdf

OMB Director Shaun Donovan’s Letter to House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/fy-16-house-fsgg-letter-rogers.pdf

Labor HHS Education

The House Labor HHS Education Appropriations subcommittee marked up its $153B FY16 spending bill this week. 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 bill provides $11.7B for the Department of Labor ($206M below FY15, $1.4B below President’s FY16 budget request), $71.3B for the Department of Health and Human Services (($298M above FY15, but $3.9B below President’s FY16 budget request), $64.4B for the Department of Education ($2.8B below FY15, $6.4B below President’s FY16 budget request), $687.8M for the Corporation for National and Community Service, $445M for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, $200M for the National Labor Relations Board, and $11.8B for the Social Security Administration. The bill also contains several controversial provisions that would defund the Affordable Care Act and restrict funding for abortions. The measure was reported out of subcommittee by voice vote. The full committee will consider the bill next Wednesday, June 24.

House Appropriations FY16 Labor HHS Education Draft Subcommittee Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-laborhhs-subcommitteedraft.pdf

Agriculture

The House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee marked up its $20.65B FY16 spending bill this week. The legislation includes funding for agricultural and food programs and services, including food and medical product safety, animal and plant health programs, rural development and farm services, marketplace oversight, and nutrition programs. The bill is $175M below FY15 enacted levels and $1.1B below the President’s FY16 budget request. Including both discretionary and mandatory funding for various nutrition programs, the overall bill totals $143.9 billion ($3.8B below FY15 and $3.2B below the President’s FY16 budget request). The bill includes some contentious policy riders that would delay implementation of a federal menu labeling regulation and ensure e-cigarettes can continue to be sold without restrictions by the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. The measure was reported out of subcommittee by voice vote.

FY16 Agriculture Appropriations Draft Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-114HR-SC-AP-FY2016-Agriculture-SubcommitteeDraft.pdf

Senate

The FY16 Defense Appropriations bill suffered a setback on the Senate floor this week after failing to garner 60 “ayes” in a procedural vote. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee continued its work marking up their FY16 Interior and Homeland Security spending bills in subcommittee and full committee. The committee plans to mark up its FY16 Transportation-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education spending bills next week.

Defense

The $567B FY16 Defense Appropriations bill was brought up on the Senate floor yesterday, but hit an anticipated roadblock when Democrats voted against a procedural motion on the bill. The vote of 50 to 45 was 10 votes shy of the 60 votes needed to commence consideration of the bill. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) voted in favor of the procedural motion. Democrats are hoping that their move to block the bill (and all other future appropriations bills) will force Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan, multi-year budget agreement lifting the sequestration caps. Senate Democratic Leadership sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday formally requesting another set of bipartisan budget negotiations similar to the round that resulted in the Ryan-Murray deal. At a Bloomberg event this week, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) commented on the Senate Democrats’ strategy, “It’s a dangerous game they’re playing – dangerous for the country and dangerous politically.” And, as expected, the White House has issued a veto threat in a Statement of Administration Policy released this week.

OMB Director Shaun Donovan’s Letter to Senate Appropriations Chair Thad Cochran:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/senate-dod-appropriations-letter-cochran.pdf

White House Statement of Administration Policy on Senate FY16 Defense

Appropriations Bill:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saps1558s_20150618.pdf

Interior

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $30.01B FY16 Interior spending bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The bill is about $2.2B less than the President’s FY16 budget request. This is the first time since 2009 that an Interior bill has been marked up by the committee. The bill provides $11.05B for the Department of Interior, $1.18B for the Bureau of Land Management, $2.72B for the National Park Service, $1.43B for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, $1.06B for the US Geological Survey, $5.12B for the US Forest Service, $3.61B for the Wildland Fire Suppression, $4.77B for the Indian Health Service, $2.69B for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education, $819.5M for the Smithsonian Institution, $146M each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, $3M for the Council on Environmental Quality, and $7.6B for the EPA (including several policy riders for the agency). During full committee consideration, the panel adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and an amendment offered by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) prohibiting the use of funds to implement or enforce the threatened species listing of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The bill was reported out of committee by a party line vote of 16 to 14.

Senate Interior Appropriations Bill Text:

Part 1: https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?attachment_id=448

Part 2: https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=449

Homeland Security

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $47.09B FY16 Homeland Security spending bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The bill is $765M above the FY15 enacted level and $1.02B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill provides $11.08B for Customs and Border Protection, $5.81B for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $4.72B for the Transportation Security Administration, $10.33B for the US Coast Guard, $1.92B for the US Secret Service, $1.638B for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, $123M for the Office of Health Affairs, $7.37B for the Disaster Relief Fund and $929 for FEMA salaries and expenses, $120M for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, $246M for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, $765M for the Science and Technology Directorate, $320M for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, and $1.1B for Departmental Management and Operations. In addition to a manager’s amendment that was adopted during the full committee markup, the committee also adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would permit the DHS Secretary to designate Poland as a program country under the visa waiver program. The committee rejected an amendment by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) seeking to add an additional $1.2B in funding to the bill. The bill was reported out of committee by a vote of 26 to 4.

Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Text:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FY16%20Homeland%20Security%20Bill.pdf

Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Report Language:

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FY16%20Homeland%20Security%20Report.pdf

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act

The Senate passed their FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on the Senate floor this week by a vote of 71 to 25. This is the earliest the bill has passed the Senate in several years, and it is the first NDAA passed by the Senate in 3 years. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-CA) said that they believe that they can wrap up conference on the bill and get it to the floor before the August recess. The question is whether or not President Obama will veto the final conference measure. The President issued veto threats for both the House and Senate NDAAs before their floor consideration objecting to the use of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounts for an additional $38B in funding. The President may consider vetoing this high-profile piece of legislation to demonstrate how serious he is about wanting non-defense discretionary spending caps raised.

FY16 Intelligence Authorization Act

The House of Representatives approved its FY16 Intelligence Authorization (HR 2596) this week by a vote of 247 to 178. The bill authorizes classified amounts for 16 U.S intelligence agencies and intelligence-related activities of the U.S. government. The bill includes new reporting requirements to enhance Congress’ role in and understanding of the classification process. It also includes a new restriction on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board barring its access information on covert actions and restrictions preventing the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison. During floor consideration the House adopted several amendments, one of which was offered by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) that would require the Director of National Intelligence to provide a report to the Intelligence and Defense committees on the trends related to tunnel use by U.S. adversaries. The White House issued a veto threat for the bill in its Statement of Administration Policy objecting to the use of OCO funds to circumvent budget caps, the Guantanamo detainee provisions, provisions concerning the roles and responsibilities of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), and certain reporting requirements in the bill.

Statement of Administration Policy on HR 2596, Intelligence Authorization Act for FY16

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2596r_20150615.pdf

Congressional Budget Office 2015 Long-Term Budget Outlook

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2015 long-term budget outlook this week. The 2015 CBO outlook states that if current laws remain unchanged, the federal debt held by the public would decline slightly relative to GDP over the next few years but then start to grow caused by the aging population, rising health care costs, and an increasing number of recipients of healthcare exchange subsidies and Medicaid benefits. The federal debt would exceed 100% of GDP by 2040 and continue on an upward path relative to the size of the economy – a trend that CBO says is not sustainable. The policy changes needed to reduce the debt would become larger and larger over time. And because the rising debt could not be sustained indefinitely, the government’s creditors would begin to doubt its ability to cut spending or raise revenues, which could lead to the government paying much higher interest rates to borrow money. CBO analyzed the effects of three alternative fiscal policies – an extended fiscal scenario in which CBO projects the federal debt rising sharply to about 175% of GDP in 2040, a scenario in which budget deficits are smaller than those projected under current law in which CBO projects the federal debt at 72% of GDP in 2040, and a scenario with twice as much deficit reduction as the previous scenario in which CBO projects the federal debt would fall to 39% of GDP in 2040. In the first scenario, CBO assumed that Congress would repeal the discretionary spending caps and extend a host of temporary tax breaks without paying for them with other spending cuts or tax increases, thereby increasing the deficit by $2T over the next 10 years. Finally, the outlook provides analysis for choices for policymakers to put the federal budget on a sustainable path for the long term, choices that include major changes to tax policies, spending policies or both, and the timing for implementing new policies.

CBO 2015 Long-Term Budget Outlook:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50250

Political Updates

Two new Republican candidates threw their hats into the ring this week for the 2016 Presidential race – former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and businessman Donald Trump. They join 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 HP CEO Carly Fiorina, 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 is expected to announce his candidacy in July. 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.

In response to their votes against a rule governing debate on the trade bill last week, three Republicans were removed from the GOP Whip Team. Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Pearce (R-NM), and Trent Franks (R-AZ) were removed from the whip team based on longstanding whip team rules that stated members must “vote as a team on procedural matters” but are free to vote against leadership on underlying legislation.

President Obama nominated John Morton to be Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Morton is currently the Chief of Staff of OPIC.

At the Department of Defense, Peter Cook, a Washington correspondent for Bloomberg TV, has been chosen to be Pentagon press secretary for Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Cook succeeds Rear Adm. John Kirby, who stepped down after Secretary Carter told him that he preferred a civilian in the role. Claire Grady has been assigned as the Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Grady previously served as the Deputy Assistant Commandant for Acquisition and Director of Acquisition Services for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Next Week

The House will consider the FY16 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill as well as H.R. 2042, the Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015, and H.R. 1190, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act of 2015 . This is the first time the Interior spending bill has been considered on the House floor since 2011. The Senate will take a series of votes on the House-passed Trade Promotion Authority vehicle (HR 2146) and on trade preferences legislation (HR 1295) with Trade Adjustment Assistance attached as an amendment. While the Senate passed these bills all together originally, they are now following the House and passing them separately. The Senate will also consider the nominations of Peter Neffenger to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and Daniel Elliott, III, to be a Member of the Surface Transportation Board.

June 12, 2015

The House passed HR 2289, the Commodity End-User Relief Act, HR 2577, the FY16 Transportation HUD appropriations bill, HR 2393, the Repealing Country of Origin Labeling Act, and HR 2685, the FY16 Defense appropriations bill. And while the House voted in favor of a fast track negotiating authority provision by a vote of 219 to 211, the House rejected the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) provision by a vote of 126 to 302. The adopted rule of debate required approval of both provisions. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) then moved to reconsider the TAA, which could be back on the House floor next Tuesday. The Senate resumed consideration of HR 1735 (S 1736), the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act, confirmed the nomination of Douglas Kramer to be Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and passed, with amendment, HR 615, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act.

FY16 Appropriations

House

The House passed the FY16 Transportation HUD and Defense spending bills on the House floor this week, and marked up the FY16 Interior and Financial Services spending bills in subcommittee and the State Foreign Operations bill in full committee. Next week, the House Appropriations Committee will mark up its FY16 Interior and Financial Services spending bills in full committee on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The FY16 Labor HHS Education spending bill will be marked up in subcommittee on Wednesday.

Transportation HUD Appropriations

The House passed its $55.3B FY16 Transportation HUD appropriations bill (HR 2577) on Tuesday by a vote of 216 to 210. Thirty-one Republicans voted against the measure while 3 Democrats voted in favor of the bill’s passage. The Heritage Foundation announced on Monday that it would be scoring the bill as “key vote” stating that a vote in favor of the bill “is an explicit endorsement of bailing out our nation’s surface transportation program.”

White House Statement of Administration Policy on HR 2577:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2577r_20150601.pdf

Defense

The House also passed HR 2685, the FY16 Defense Appropriations bill by a vote of 278 to 149 on Thursday after clearing more than 65 amendments. Five Republicans voted against the measure while 43 Democrats voted in favor of the bill’s passage. It is the sixth FY16 appropriations bill to pass the House this year. The bill provides $578.6B, which includes $88.4B in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding. This is an increase of $24.4B above FY15 enacted levels and $800M above the President’s FY16 budget request. The White House issued a veto threat for the bill earlier in the week citing concerns with the use of the OCO account to circumvent budget caps as well as prohibitions on conducting additional BRAC rounds, funding for A-10 aircraft, and restrictions on the Executive Branch’s ability to manage detainees at Guantanamo Bay among other issues.

White House Statement of Administration Policy on HR 2685:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2685r_20150609.pdf

State Foreign Operations

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $47.8B FY16 spending bill this week. The bill appropriates $40.5B in base discretionary funding and $7.3B for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)/Global War on Terror (GWOT) funding. The bill is $1.4B below the FY15 enacted level and $6.1B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill contains $8.6B for International Security Assistance (an increase of $165M over FY15 enacted levels), $15.8B for State Department Operations and Related Agencies (increase of $132.5M over FY15), $1.1B for USAID (decrease of $93M below FY15), $21.5B for Bilateral Assistance (decrease of $863M from FY15), and $1.4B for Multilateral Assistance (decrease of $1.3B from FY15). The bill does not extend the authorization of the Export-Import Bank, and states that if an authorization is not in effect in FY16 no funds may be made available for new loans and other financing.

House Appropriations FY16 State Foreign Operations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-stateforop.pdf

House Appropriations FY16 State Foreign Operations Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-stateforop.pdf

OMB Director Donovan Letter to House Appropriators re: State Foreign Ops:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=431

Interior

The House Interior Appropriations subcommittee marked up its $30.17B FY16 spending bill this week. The bill is $246M below FY15 enacted levels and $3B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill provides $3.6B for Wildland Firefighting and Prevention, $452M for the “Payments in Lieu of Taxes” program, $7.4B for the EPA, $2.8B for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Education, $180M for the Office of Surface Mining, $1.1B for the Bureau of Land Management, $2.7B for the National Park Service, $5B for the US Forest Service, $1.4B for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, $1.05B for the US Geological Survey, $820M for the Smithsonian Institution, and $146M for each of the endowments of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. The measure also includes a number of policy riders targeting EPA regulations. The bill was passed out of subcommittee by voice vote and will be marked up in full committee next Tuesday, June 16.

House Appropriations FY16 Interior Subcommittee Draft Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-interior-subcommitteedraft.pdf

Financial Services

The House Financial Services Appropriations subcommittee marked up its $20.2B FY16 spending bill this week. The bill is $1.3B below FY15 enacted levels and $4.8B below the President’s FY16 budget request. The bill provides $10.1B for the IRS, $853M for the Small Business Administration, $1.5B for the Securities and Exchange Commission, $122M for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, $315M for the FCC, $302M for the FTC, $676M for the Executive Office of the President, and $678M for the District of Columbia. The bill also includes several controversial policy riders including provisions prohibiting the IRS from further implementing the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), prohibiting the use of DC federal and local funds to be used to further marijuana legalization, prohibiting the use of funds to implement an Executive Order on flood management, preventing the FCC from implementing its net neutrality rule until three pending lawsuits are settled, restricting government dealings with Cuba, and prohibiting the use of funds for abortion in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program. The bill will be marked up in full committee next Wednesday, June 17.

House Appropriations FY16 Financial Services Subcommittee Draft Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-fservices-subcommitteedraft.pdf

Senate

The Senate Appropriations Defense and Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittees marked up their spending bills earlier this week with a full committee mark up of both bills plus the Legislative Branch appropriations bill on Thursday. Senate appropriators plan to mark up two FY16 spending bills next week: Interior-Environment and Homeland Security, and intends to mark up the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill before the July 4^th recess. Despite the full committee reporting out the three bills this week and mark up plans for next week, warnings from Democrats about a possible government shutdown persisted in the Senate.

Commerce-Justice-Science

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $51.1B FY16 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) spending bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The bill would provide $27.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Justice Department, $8.5B for the Department of Commerce, $7.3B for the National Science Foundation, and $18.3 billion for NASA, an increase of $279 million from fiscal 2015. During the full committee markup, the committee adopted an amendment offered by Ranking Democrat Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) that directs the Department of Justice to take no action against states where marijuana use for medical purposes is legal. However, they rejected along party lines another amendment by the ranking member that would have added $2.78B to the bill contingent on a new budget deal being reached to end sequester spending caps.

Senate CJS Appropriations Bill Text:

Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=435

Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=436

Senate CJS Appropriations Report Language:

Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=432

Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=434

Defense

The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their $575.9B FY16 Defense bill in subcommittee and full committee this week. The base budget is $489.1B and OCO is $86.9B. The bill provides a 1.3% military pay raise, adds $1B for a Navy destroyer, adds $1B for a special National Guard equipment fund, and provides $300M to arm, train, and equip Ukrainian forces, $400M for a new “technology offset” to fund investment in cutting-edge technologies, $400M for the Rapid Innovation Fund, and $200M for the assessment of equipment for cyber threats. The Senate bill proposes reductions to 486 programs based on schedule slips, cost growth and poor budget justification During full committee markup, the Defense Appropriations subcommittee Ranking Democrat Richard Durbin (D-IL) unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have moved $35.9B in OCO funding back to the base budget. Since the base budget is subject to the sequestration caps set by the Budget Control Act, the funding would only become available upon the enactment of a new bipartisan budget agreement. The amendment failed in a party line vote of 14 to 16.

Senate Defense Appropriations Bill Text:

Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=437

Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=438

Senate Defense Appropriations Report Language:

Part 1 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=439

Part 2 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=440

Part 3 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=441

Part 4 – https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=442

Legislative Branch

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted on their $4.3B FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill in full committee this week passing it out of committee by a vote of 27 to 3. The bill funds Senate activities as well as a number of other legislative branch activities, including the Library of Congress, Capitol Police, and the Architect of the Capitol. Funding for the Senate totals $870.2M, $60.2M below the President’s FY16 budget request and $5.9M above the FY15 enacted levels.

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act

The Senate continued floor consideration of its FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and in the process rejected an amendment offered by Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Ranking Democrat Jack Reed (D-RI) that would have limited the availability of amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account pending relief from spending limits under the Budget Control Act (BCA). The amendment failed by a vote of 46 to 51. While Senate Democrats were unsuccessful in this attempt, they were successful in blocking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s attempts to attach S754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 to the NDAA. McConnell was unable to get the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move to an up-or-down vote on the CISA amendment. The Senate will resume consideration of the bill next week. SASC Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) announced that the filing deadline for amendments is 4 pm on Monday, June 15.

Political Updates

U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh announced this week that he will step down from his position no later than November 1, 2015. McHugh is the 21^st Secretary of the Army, a position he has held since he was sworn in on September 21, 2009. He is a former Republican member of Congress who represented the 23^rd congressional district in the state of New York from 1993 to 2009. Eric Fanning, current Chief of Staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter is considered a frontrunner for replacing McHugh.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) disclosed this week that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 and announced that he plans to still run for re-election in 2016. Isakson is the only Republican senator to chair two committees in the 114th Congress: the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He is also a member of the Finance; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Foreign Relations committees.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee has scheduled a vote for June 15 on the nomination of Peter Neffenger to be the next TSA Administrator.

The Navy announced earlier this week that Rob Foster will be the next Chief Information Officer for the Navy. Foster; a retired Navy officer, has been Deputy CIO for Health and Human Services since January 2013 and Deputy CIO for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2007. The Navy has not had a CIO for more than a year after its previous CIO, Terry Halvorsen, was promoted to DOD CIO.

Peter Davidson, Executive Director of the Loan Programs Office at the US Department of Energy is stepping down at the end of June. Mark McCall, a managing director and the chief financial officer at the energy-focused equity firm Lime Rock Partners, will become executive director of the Loan Programs Office in July. Dong Kim, the Loan Programs Office’s chief operating officer, will serve as acting executive director in the interim.

President Obama nominated Scott Allen to be United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Mary Kendall to be Inspector General at the Department of the Interior.

Stacia Hylton, the Director of the US Marshals Service announced her resignation earlier this week and will step down later this year staying on for an interim period until her replacement takes over. Hylton has served as director of the agency since January 2011.

Next Week

The House will take up the FY16 Intelligence Authorization Act, which it postponed this week in order to spend time debating and voting on trade legislation. The House will also consider HR 1190, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act and HR 160, the Protect Medical Innovation Act. And they may reconsider the Trade Adjustment Assistance as well as vote on a resolution that would direct the President to remove US Armed Forces deployed to Iraq or Syria on or after August 7, 2014. The Senate will resume consideration of their FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after which they will take up their FY16 Defense Appropriations bill. The Senate will also consider the nominations of Matthew McGuire to be United States Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Gentry Smith to be Director of the Office of Foreign Missions.