April 25, 2014
The House and Senate were in recess this week and last week.
FY2015 Appropriations
The FY15 Commerce Justice Science (CJS) Appropriations bill will be the next bill House Appropriators consider when they return from their two-week spring recess. The bill is scheduled to be marked up in subcommittee on April 30. The FY15 Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch spending bills will be on the House floor next week. Action in the House is expected to pick up after the Congressional Budget Office released its score of the FY15 White House budget request on April 17. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) continues to work towards his goal of reporting all 12 annual spending bills by the July 4 recess.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said that the FY15 Military Construction-VA bill would be the first bill marked up in her committee, likely followed by the Legislative Branch and CJS bills. The MilCon-VA bill may be marked up sometime around May 22. Mikulski has also said that she will move some bills to the floor individually, while others will be packaged together into “minibuses.”
| Appropriations Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies | ||
| Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: April 30 | |
| Defense | ||
| Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies | ||
| Financial Services and General Government | ||
| Homeland Security | ||
| Interior | ||
| Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies | ||
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: April 3
Full Committee: April 9 Floor: April 30/May 1 |
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| Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: April 3
Full Committee: April 9 Floor: April 30/May 1 |
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| State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs | ||
| Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies |
As a reminder, the deadlines for members of Congress to submit their programmatic and language requests for the FY15 appropriations process are as follows:
| Appropriations Subcommittee | House Deadline | Senate Deadline |
| Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies | Mar. 31 | Apr. 4 |
| Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies | Mar. 31 | Apr. 11 |
| Defense | Apr. 2 | May 2 |
| Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies | Apr. 2 | Apr. 4 |
| Financial Services and General Government | Apr. 2 | Apr. 11 |
| Homeland Security | Mar. 31 | Apr. 4 |
| Interior | Apr. 4 | Apr. 9 |
| Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies | Apr. 4 | Apr. 4 |
| Legislative Branch | Mar. 17 | Apr. 3 |
| Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies | Mar. 17 | Apr. 10 |
| State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs | Apr. 4 | Apr. 9 |
| Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies | Apr. 2 | Apr. 4 |
FY15 Defense Budget
An internal Pentagon email obtained by Bloomberg News this week indicated that the Department of Defense is preparing three scenarios for FY15 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding. The scenarios are zero, 5000, and 10,000 US troops stationed in Afghanistan. The President’s FY15 budget request submitted to Congress in March included a $79.4 billion placeholder for OCO funding but did not include any specifics. The email stated that the three scenarios are for budget planning purposes only and did not imply any operational decisions or plans. The email also indicates that the White House Office of Management and Budget plans to negotiate the final OCO funding position with the Department of Defense on May 23.
FY15 National Defense Authorization Act
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will release the subcommittee inputs for the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Tuesday, 24 hours before the subcommittees will meet to markup their plans. Four HASC subcommittees will mark up their sections on Wednesday, with the two remaining subcommittees conducting their markups on Thursday. The subcommittees’ markups will then be incorporated into the full committee markup, which will take place on May 7 and is led by the chairman. The text of the full committee markup will be released three days beforehand. HASC Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) has indicated that his priorities for the FY15 NDAA are intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) assets; nuclear deterrence; and ready forces.
The HASC FY15 NDAA markup schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
10:30 AM—Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Markup (Room 2212)
12:00 PM—Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Markup (Room 2118)
1:30 PM—Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces Markup (Room 2212)
3:00 PM—Subcommittee on Military Personnel Markup (Room 2118)
Thursday, May 1, 2014
9:30 AM—Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Markup (Room 2118)
10:30 AM—Subcommittee on Readiness Markup (Room 2212)
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
10:00 AM—Full Committee Markup (Room 2118)
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) FY15 NDAA markup schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
9:30 a.m. — Subcommittee on Airland. OPEN. Room SD-G50.
11:00 a.m. —Subcommittee on Seapower. CLOSED. Room SR-222.
2:00 p.m. —Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. CLOSED. Room SR-222.
3:30 p.m. —Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. OPEN. Room SD-G50.
5:00 p.m. —Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. OPEN. Room SD-G50.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
10:00 a.m. —Subcommittee on Personnel. OPEN. Room SD-G50.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
2:30 p.m. — 9:00 p.m. Full Committee. CLOSED. Room SR-222.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
9:30 a.m. — 9:00 p.m. [with a break for lunch] Full Committee. CLOSED. Room SR-222.
If markup is not completed on Thursday, May 22, then:
Friday, May 23, 2014
9:30 a.m. — Completion Full Committee. CLOSED. Room SR-222.
Homeland Security
The House Homeland Security Committee is holding a full committee markup on Wednesday April 30 on HR 4228, the DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act; HR 4007, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Authorization and Accountability Act; and HR 3283, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2013.
Political Updates
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns announced last week that he is stepping down in October. Burns has delayed his retirement several times at the request of the President and Secretary Kerry. His 32-year career in the Foreign Service included stints as US ambassador to Russia and Jordan, top Middle East hand and leader of a team that held secret talks with Iran that led to the current negotiations over that country’s nuclear program.
Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) announced earlier this month that he would not seek reelection in November. Petri is a centrist Republican with a 35-year history in Congress. He serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee where he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, as well as the Education and Workforce Committee.
Businessman Curt Clawson won the special Republican primary in Florida’s 19th District on Tuesday. The self-funding manufacturing executive and former Purdue University basketball player defeated three other Republicans and becomes the favorite in the June 24 special general election to replace former Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL), who resigned earlier this year after pleading guilty to cocaine possession.
President Barack Obama chose W. Neil Eggleston as his next White House counsel. Eggleston was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis and a Clinton administration veteran with experience representing government officials in oversight investigations.
Next Week
The House and Senate return from a two-week recess. The House will consider the FY15 Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch appropriations bills. The Senate is expected to take up a bill to raise the hourly minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016 and a tax extenders bill, and hold a confirmation hearing on Sylvia Mathews Burwell for Secretary of Health and Human Services.