The House Appropriations Committee marked up two of its 12 annual spending bills in subcommittee (Interior and Transportation-HUD) this week and three in full committee (Agriculture, CJS, and Energy & Water). The committee has now reported out five of their FY19 appropriations bills.

House

House FY19 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $23.27B Agriculture spending bill this week and reported it out of full committee by a vote of 31 to 20. The bill is $14M above the FY18 enacted level, but when including both discretionary and mandatory funding it is $922M below FY18.

Before passage, the committee approved (29-20) a contentious amendment to ease the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of e-cigarettes and premium cigars. The amendment requires the FDA to issue final tobacco product standards no later than 36 months from enactment. The panel rejected by voice vote an amendment to continue a ban on funding for the USDA to carry out inspections of horses to be slaughtered for meat. The committee also rejected an amendment from Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to strike a provision in the bill that would give USDA regulatory oversight of the emerging technology of growing meat-like products from animal cells. DeLauro argued that they should wait for more information to determine whether USDA or FDA is the better agency to regulate it. And the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) to increase funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Committee did adopt the following amendments:

• Aderholt –The amendment makes technical and noncontroversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Lee – The amendment increases the Healthy Food Financing Initiative by $1 million. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Cole/Rep. Bishop– The amendment adds bill language to modernize the February 2007 predicate date for certain tobacco products. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 29-20.
• Young– The amendment adds bill language to ensure that disclosure requirements related to genetically engineered salmon and finfish be made in accordance with the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Simpson/Rep. Pingree– The amendment adds bill language preventing the USDA from disallowing potatoes as part of the school breakfast program. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Newhouse/Rep. Bishop– The amendment adds bill language to protect SNAP retailers from certain invasive disclosure requirements. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Harris– The amendment adds report language to require an FDA report on adverse health events linked to attorney or lead generators advertisements, and to collaborate with the FTC to address patient safety concerns. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Newhouse– The amendment adds report language directing the Secretary of Agriculture to work with other federal agencies to establish a comprehensive online system for agriculture employers to complete the H-2A applications process. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.

It’s unclear when the bill will go to the House floor for consideration.

House FY19 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180516/108312/BILLS-115HR-FC-AP-FY2019-AP00-Final.pdf

House FY19 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395290

House FY19 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Report Language

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180516/108312/HRPT-115-HR-FY2019-Agriculture.pdf

House FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its $62.5B CJS spending bill this week and reported it out of full committee by a vote of 32 to 19. The bill is $2.9B above the FY18 enacted level, and funds the Departments of Commerce and Justice, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the decennial census, and other related programs.

During debate, disagreements emerged over the Trump administration’s immigration policies, gun control provisions and the need to protect Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into potential connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential election.

The committee adopted the following amendments during the markup:

• Culberson – The manager’s amendment makes technical and noncontroversial changes to the bill and report. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Valadao – The amendment prohibits funding for the Commerce Department to implement or administer new rules on certain California dam hydroelectric projects. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Joyce – The amendment prohibits funding to prevent states from implementing their own medical marijuana laws. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• McCollum – The amendment changes Justice Department funding designations for Native Americans. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Ruppersberger – The amendment prohibits funds to be used in contravention of the ZTE suspension order. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Ruppersberger – The amendment targets $2 million to halt illegal cell phone use in prisons. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.
• Harris ­– The amendment urges the Drug Enforcement Administration to expeditiously process medical marijuana research applications. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote.

House FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180517/108330/BILLS-115HR-SC-AP-FY2019-AP00-CJSBILL.pdf

House FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395291

House FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill Report Language

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180517/108330/HRPT-115-HR.pdf

House FY19 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its FY19 spending bill this week and reported it out of full committee by a vote of 29 to 20 after adopting a managers amendment. The $44.7B bill is $1.5B above the FY18 enacted level and $8.17B above the President’s FY19 budget request. In addition to providing funding for various Department of Education programs, the bill provides $15.3B for national nuclear weapons activities and $7.28B for the Army Corps of Engineers.

House FY19 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180516/108312/BILLS-115HR-FC-AP-FY2019-AP00-FinalBill.pdf

House FY19 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395283

House FY19 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill Report Language

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20180516/108312/HRPT-115-HR-FY2019-EnergyandWater.pdf

House FY19 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

The House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee met and marked up its $35.252B FY19 spending bill this week and approved it by voice vote. The bill’s funding level is equal to its FY18 enacted level.

The bill includes $3.9B for wildland firefighting and prevention programs, $500M for Payments in Lieu of Taxes (funds for local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within their counties), $7.958B for the EPA ($100M below FY18), $5.9B for the Indian Health Service ($370M above FY18), $3.1B for the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education ($40M above FY18), $229M for the Office of Surface Mining, $1.4B for the Bureau of Land Management ($55M above FY18), $3.25B for the National Park Service ($53M above FY18), $6.1B for the U.S. Forest Service, $1.6B for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ($11M below FY18), $1.2B for the U.S. Geological Survey ($19M above FY18), $1B for the Smithsonian Institution ($12M above FY18), $155M for the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities ($2M above FY18), $1.8M for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission salaries, $360M for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and $12M for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board ($1M above FY18).

The bill also includes several policy riders that repeal the Waters of the United States regulation, prohibits the regulation of lead content in ammunition and fishing tackle, relieves livestock operations from EPA permitting requirements, exempts livestock producers from EPA greenhouse gas regulations, directives to federal agencies to establish policies that reflect the carbon neutrality of biomass, prohibit the EPA from making changes to certain agriculture exemptions under the Clean Water Act,

House FY19 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP06/20180515/108314/BILLS-115HR-SC-AP-FY2019-Interior-SubcommitteeDraft.pdf

House FY19 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395297

House FY19 Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

The House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee approved its $71.8B FY19 spending bill by voice vote on Wednesday. The bill is $1.5B over the FY18 enacted level and $23.8B above the President’s FY18 budget request. The bill includes $27.8B for the Department of Transportation ($542M above FY18) and $43.6B for the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($941M above FY18).

While there has been discussion of an infrastructure bill being considered this year, subcommittee chairman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said that they don’t need to wait to do a separate infrastructure bill and that this funding bill is an infrastructure bill. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) disagreed and said that he still plans to introduce an infrastructure bill this year, possibly before the August recess.

The full appropriations committee is likely to mark up the bill next week.

House FY19 Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP20/20180516/108309/BILLS-115HR-SC-AP-FY2019-TransHUD-SubcommitteeDraft.pdf

House FY19 Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395298

Senate

The Senate Appropriations Committee is still holding hearings on the FY19 budgets submitted by the federal agencies, but they did announce their preliminary schedule for marking up their FY19 spending bills. The schedule is tentative and subject to change. The committee did not announce specific dates, but instead weeks during which each spending bill will be taken up. See chart below for the schedule. The committee is expected to adopt a full slate of 302(b) allocations at its first full committee markup. The allocations have been given to the subcommittee chairs so they can begin writing their FY19 spending bills.

While Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) expects the first FY19 spending bills will be on the Senate floor during the second week of June, there are only 13 weeks left when the Senate will be in session before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. The Senate floor calendar is also crowded with judicial and executive branch nominations that are proceeding at a slow pace. Congress has to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (July 31), the FAA and Airport and Airway Trust Fund (Sept 30), the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (Sept 30), E-Verify (Sept 30), and the Farm Bill (Sept 30). Republican senators are concerned that there is not enough time to pass all 12 annual spending bills.

While Congress routinely misses the October 1 deadline and usually catches up with an omnibus spending package several months into the new fiscal year, President Trump has vowed that he will never sign another omnibus bill. Sixteen Republican senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) requesting that he start bundling the 12 spending bills into minibuses. The group also called for extending Senate work hours to Mondays and Fridays and forgoing the August recess. Senate Appropriations Committee ranking democrat Patrick Leahy (D-VT) responded that there is no need to cancel the August recess to finish spending work.

The House will markup its FY2019 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Legislative Branch bills in full committee and the Energy and Water bill in subcommittee next week. The House Republican strategy for considering all of the FY2019 spending bills may be to move the less-controversial bills to the floor first. They may also “pre-conference” with the Senate on a few measures in order to expedite passage through both chambers before the August recess. The Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill is expected to be the first spending bill on the floor. The Defense spending bill might also be in the first batch of bills.

The House Appropriations Committee introduced another FY18 continuing resolution (CR) this week that would fund most of the federal government through January 19, 2018. The current CR expires on December 22. This new CR also includes a full-year funding bill for the Department of Defense, $2.1B for the Veterans Choice program, and a fix for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), extending funding for the program for five years and extending funding for community health centers for two years. The full year defense bill includes the additional funds for missile defense that were requested by the Trump administration. The bill does not include emergency aid for hurricane and fire states and territories. The House plans to vote on the measure after they have completed action on a tax reform conference bill.

House and Senate Republicans admit that they do not have the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate. Democrats are reluctant to fund the military for the full year before reaching an agreement with Republicans on nondefense spending. The budget caps for FY18 are $549B for defense and $516B for nondefense. A few weeks ago, Republicans offered to increase the defense limit by $54B and nondefense by $37B. The same increases would be allowed for FY19 as well. Democrats rejected the offer, demanding equivalent increases in defense and nondefense spending.

The Senate may strip out the full-year defense spending bill as well as the CHIP provision because of the way it was financed. They may also add emergency funding for disaster relief for hurricane and wildfire victims. The House is expected to release a third disaster aid package today. Their package is expected to be significantly larger than the $44B the administration requested on November 17.

House FY18 Continuing Resolution

https://rules.house.gov/sites/republicans.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-115HJRes124IH.pdf

Administration’s November 17 Emergency Funding Request

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/Letters/fy_2018_hurricanes_supp_111717.pdf

The Senate held confirmation hearings this week for Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) for Secretary of Interior, Wilbur Ross for Secretary of Commerce, Scott Pruitt for Administrator of the EPA, Rep. Tom Price (R-SC) for Secretary of Health and Human Services, former Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) for Secretary of Energy, Steve Mnuchin for Secretary of Treasury, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) to be U.S. Representative to the United Nations, and Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) said that he hoped that seven Cabinet nominees would be confirmed by the Senate on Friday, comparable to the number confirmed the first day of the Obama administration. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 26 to 1 to recommend the Senate confirm retired Marine Corps General James Mattis to be the next Secretary of Defense. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was the only Senator to vote against the nomination of Mattis stating that civilian control of the military is fundamental. The full Senate is expected to confirm Mattis tomorrow. Mattis still needs to be officially nominated by President-Elect Trump after he is sworn in and signs the legislation providing the waiver for Mattis to serve as Defense Secretary. Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly is also expected to be confirmed by the full Senate for Secretary of Homeland Security as is Transportation Secretary-designee Elaine Chao.

The following hearings and nomination votes are scheduled for next week:

January 24, 2017

Vote on the Nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to be Secretary of HUD

Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee

10:00 AM

538 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Vote on the Nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to be US Attorney General

Judiciary Committee

10:00 AM

226 Dirksen Senate Office Building

*Senate Democrats may use a rule to delay the vote a week.

Hearing on the Nomination of Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to be Secretary of HHS

Finance Committee

10:00 AM

215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Hearing on the Nomination of Rep. Rick Mulvaney (R-SC) to be Director of OMB

Budget Committee

10:30 AM

608 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Hearing on the Nomination of Linda McMahon to be Administrator of the SBA

Small Business Committee

10:30 AM

428A Russell Senate Office Building

Hearing on the Nomination of Rep. Rick Mulvaney (R-SC) to be Director of OMB

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

2:30 PM

342 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Finally, fast food executive Andy Puzder, President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick for Labor Secretary, is scheduled to face questioning from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on February 2.

The Senate approved an FY17 budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 3) by a vote of 51 to 48, with all Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voting against the measure. The House also passed the measure by a vote of 227 to 198 (nine Republicans voted no). The budget resolution includes reconciliation instructions (Title II) that will allow Congress to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

The reconciliation instructions require two House committees (Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means) and two Senate committees (Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) to submit changes in law to reduce the deficit by not less than $1B for FY17-FY26 to their respective Budget Committees by January 27, 2017. The reconciliation process allows the Senate to approve legislation by a simple majority vote, instead of the 60-vote threshold normally required under Senate rules.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) said that a replacement health care bill would come at the same time as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. President-Elect Trump told reporters this week that a plan to replace Obamacare would come as soon as his nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary gets confirmed by the Senate. Rep. Tom Price’s (R-GA) confirmation may not come until mid-February. Therefore, repeal and replacement of the health care law may not occur until later in February or March.

Senate Democrats announced their 115^th committee rosters this week. The number of Democrats on several Senate committees increased in the new Congress to reflect the lower Republican majority in the entire Senate. Republicans are expected to announce their committee rosters in January. The updated Senate Democratic committee rosters can be found at: https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/115th-Congress-Senate-Committees-12-23-16.pdf.

On January 20, 2017 Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States. During the campaign, Trump mentioned the following issues as his priorities for his first 100 days in office:

Pass a 10-year $1 trillion infrastructure plan

• Bill would be revenue neutral leveraging public-private partnerships and private investments through tax incentives
• Revenue neutral – tax breaks for investors who would be willing to lend the money to state and local governments would be offset by new tax revenue paid by the workers and companies undertaking these infrastructure projects
• Applies only to revenue-producing infrastructure projects (e.g. airports, toll roads)

Nominate a “Scalia-like” judge for the Supreme Court

• Diane S. Sykes
• Bill Pryor
• David Stras
• Joan Larsen
• Raymond Kethledge
• Don Willett
• Thomas Lee
• Steven Colloton
• Allison Eid
• Raymond Gruender
• Thomas Hardiman
• Keith Blackwell
• Charles Canady
• Neil Gorsuch
• Mike Lee
• Edward Mansfield
• Federico Moreno
• Margaret Ryan
• Amul Thapar
• Timothy Tymkovich
• Robert Young

Repeal the Affordable Care Act/Obama care

• Replace it with health savings accounts and interstate insurance marketing (the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines)
• Lets states manage Medicaid funds
• Cut “red tape” at the FDA to speed approval of over 4,000 drugs

Propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress

Pass the “Restore National Security Act”

• Work with Congress to fully repeal the defense sequester and submit a new budget to rebuild and expand the military
• Provide Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice
• Protect vital infrastructure from cyber-attack
• Establish new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to the S. support the U.S. people and its values

Cancel Obama executive orders on climate, energy, immigration, overtime, and retirement saving

Renegotiate trade deals like NAFTA (or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205) and withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Instruct his Secretary of Treasury to label China as a currency manipulator

Deport criminal immigrants living in the country illegally

• Cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back

Cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities

Suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

Pass the “End Illegal Immigration Act”

• Fully-funds the construction of a wall on U.S. southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall
• Establish a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations
• Reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first

Institute a federal hiring freeze (except for military, public safety, public health) and change civil service laws to ease the firing of disloyal workers

Agency review reports

• Thoroughly review every federal agency

Roll back regulations

• Department heads review regulations and identify regulations that are wasteful and unnecessary
• Institute a requirement that for every new regulation, two have to be eliminated

Hold Cabinet orientation and briefings

Fill top 100 Senate confirmed positions

Pass the “End The Off-shoring Act”

• Impose tariffs on companies that move offshore

Impose the following bans

• 5-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service
• Lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government
• A complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections

Direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately

Lift the restrictions on the production of shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal

Lift the roadblocks on energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to allow it to move forward

Cancel payments to U.N. climate change programs and redirect funds for water and environmental infrastructure

Pass the “Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act”

• Massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy.
• A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut.
• The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3
• Tax forms will be greatly simplified
• Business rate will be lowered from 35% to 15%
• Trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10% rate.

Pass the “School Choice And Education Opportunity Act”

• Redirects education dollars to give parents choice to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice
• Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities.
• Expands vocational and technical education
• Makes 2 and 4-year college more affordable.

Pass the “Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act”

• Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes
• Incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services
• Creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.

Pass the “Restoring Community Safety Act”

• Creates a Task Force On Violent Crime
• Increases funding for programs that train and assist local police
• Increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.

FY17 Continuing Resolution (CR)

There are 7 days left until the end of the fiscal year. While the text of a continuing resolution (CR) wasn’t made available until Thursday, the Senate voted 89 to 7 on Tuesday evening to move forward on HR 5325, the legislative vehicle for CR. This vote had been postponed twice while negotiators continued discussions trying to hammer out a final deal. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed what he called a “clean CR” funding the government through Dec. 9 (at FY16 levels reduced by 0.496%). The CR includes funding for the opioid epidemic, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), flood relief in MD, WV and LA, and $1.1B for the Zika Virus, as well as full-year funding for the FY17 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. The bill did not include the ICANN provision proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). And it did allow for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico to get reimbursed for Zika-related spending.

The Senate will hold a cloture vote on this substitute amendment on Tuesday at 2:15 pm. McConnell said that this would give the Senate time to also hold a veto override vote on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that the President is expected to veto today (the 10-day window for the President to submit his rejection of the JASTA bill closes on Friday).

Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Democrat Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) spoke on the Senate floor after McConnell and said that Democrats wanted a clean CR with no riders. However, she claims that the substitute amendment McConnell filed is a “Republican only bill” that Democrats cannot support. She said that the bill fails to help the people of Flint, MI. The Senate passed a Water Resources Development Act recently that does include funding for Flint, MI, and the House has it on the calendar for next week. Democrats are also objecting to a policy provision preventing the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring corporations to disclose their political spending. If Democrats remain united in their opposition, the cloture vote will fail, as Republicans won’t be able to get the 60 votes required under Senate rules. Senate Republicans are also not united on the measure as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued a statement that he would vote against the measure unless is provides a provision to restore full power to the Export-Import Bank and Cruz could oppose it over not including language to delay a transition of internet oversight from the United States to a global group.

The House Rules Committee approved a rule this week that allows for same-day authority (informally called “martial law”) through September 27, which will allow House leaders to potentially bring legislation to the chamber floor the same day that its advanced by Rules. This shows that they are hoping to quickly pass the CR once it is sent over from the Senate.

Continuing Resolution Legislation:

http://bit.ly/2coPRXR

Continuing Resolution Section-by-Section Summary:

http://bit.ly/2dmKiyi

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Summary:

http://bit.ly/2cZLfbo

Zika Research, Treatment, and Control Funding Summary:

http://bit.ly/2d4akE4

Explanatory Statement: Front:

http://bit.ly/2d3Eadv

Explanatory Statement: Division A:

http://bit.ly/2crGHip

Explanatory Statement: Divisions B, C, D:

http://bit.ly/2cPdLlK

Last Thursday the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo to all federal agency heads revising its guidance on the roles and responsibilities of Senior Agency Officials for Privacy (SAOP). The memo rescinds and replaces the original guidance that was issued in 2005; and it gives the agency heads 60 days to assess the management, structure, and operation of their agency’s privacy program and designate or re-designate a new official to serve as the SAOP. The memo outlines the requirements for the role and designation of the SAOP, the responsibilities of the SAOP, and the requirement to identify the resources (financial, human, informational, and infrastructural) needed to carry out privacy related functions required by law and by OMB policies.

Link to OMB Memo:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2016/m_16_24_0.pdf

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the vehicle (HR 5325, the House-passed Legislative Branch appropriations bill) for the continuing resolution (CR). McConnell said that he expects the CR to fund the government through December 9 at last year’s enacted levels (with a potential across-the-board cut to comply with budget caps) and include funds for Zika control as well as the FY17 Military Construction Veterans Affairs spending bill. House and Senate leadership are meeting at the White House this afternoon to work out the details and discuss the path forward. Once the Senate clears the funding measure, they may adjourn to return home to campaign. This would put pressure on the House to accept the Senate-passed CR or risk a shutdown. This puts House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in a difficult position as House Freedom Caucus members have been pushing for a CR into next year. Ryan is also advocating for smaller “mini-buses” in December with several regular spending bills packaged together. Whatever bills couldn’t get funded in a “mini-bus” would then be funded through a year-long CR. Republican appropriators and Democrats will likely oppose this strategy. A year-long CR forces agencies to operate on auto-pilot, unable to start new programs or make any policy changes.