May 16, 2014
The Senate failed to invoke cloture on S 2262, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act and on their tax extenders legislation (S 2260). The House was in recess this week.
FY2015 Appropriations
The House is scheduled to markup its FY15 Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies spending bill in subcommittee next week. The FY15 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill that was approved by the full committee on May 8 will go to the Rules Committee next week and the House floor the following week.
The 302(b) allocations for the House are as follows:
*in millions
| Subcommittee | FY13 (with sequestration) | FY14 Omnibus | FY15 House |
| Agriculture | $19,560 | $20,880 | $20,880 |
| Commerce-Justice-Science | 47,020 | 51,600 | 51,202 |
| Defense | 486,297 | 486,851 | 490,960 |
| Overseas Contingency
Operations (OCO) |
82,190 | 85,191 | 79,445 |
| Energy & Water | 34,263 | 34,060 | 34,010 |
| Financial Services | 19,874 | 21,851 | 21,276 |
| Homeland Security | 37,759 | 39,270 | 39,220 |
| Interior-Environment | 28,240 | 30,058 | 30,220 |
| Labor-HHS-Education | 149,640 | 156,773 | 155,693 |
| Legislative Branch | 4,061 | 4,258 | 4,258 |
| Military Construction-VA | 70,909 | 73,299 | 71,499 |
| State-Foreign Operations | 40,358 | 42,481 | 42,381 |
| OCO | 10,843 | 6,520 | 5,912 |
| Transportation-HUD | 48,441 | 50,856 | 52,029 |
Senate Appropriations chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said this week that her goal is to have all of the non-national security appropriations bills marked up in committee by the July 4th recess. The national security appropriations bills would follow and be done by July 10. Bills will start coming to the Senate floor the second week in July. Senate Defense Appropriations chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) confirmed that schedule this week saying that he wants to have his bill drafted by the first week of July (July 7 as Congress is in recess the previous week).
Sen. Mikulski kicked off the FY15 appropriations process this week by informing subcommittee chairs of their tentative 302(b) allocations. The full committee will finalize the allocations next Thursday. Senate Republicans are meeting next week to decide if they will support the allocations. Controversy over the allocations stems from a $4.3 billion accounting disparity between the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office related to government earnings from Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages and the need to find offsets for that disparity. In addition to approving the 302(b)s next week, the committee will also markup the FY15 Agriculture and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bills in subcommittee on Tuesday and full committee on Thursday.
FY2015 Appropriations Bill Status
| Appropriations Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: May 20 | Subcommittee: May 20
Full Committee: May 22 |
| Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: April 30
Full Committee: May 8 House Floor: Week of May 26 |
|
| Defense | Subcommittee: Week of May 26 (tentative) | |
| Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies | ||
| Financial Services and General Government | ||
| Homeland Security | Subcommittee: Week of May 19 | |
| Interior | ||
| Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies | ||
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: April 3
Full Committee: April 9 Floor: May 1 |
|
| Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: April 3
Full Committee: April 9 Floor: April 30 |
Subcommittee: May 20
Full Committee: May 22 |
| State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs | ||
| Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies | Subcommittee: May 7
Full Committee: Week of May 19 |
FY15 National Defense Authorization Act
The FY15 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will be debated on the House floor next week. Amendments are due to the House Rules Committee by 10 am on Monday. Some likely amendments include blocking the purchase of helicopters from Russian contractors, as well as proposals to remove the military chain of command from decisions to prosecute sexual assault cases and to allow relocation of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On the Senate side, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has the following markup schedule next week:
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.
Tax Extenders
The Senate failed this week to invoke cloture on their tax extenders bill (S 2260). The $85 billion extenders bill would have renewed for two years nearly all of the 55 tax breaks that expired on Dec 31. Some of the energy tax breaks included in the bill are a renewable electricity production tax credit, credits for cellulosic biofuels, biodiesel and renewable diesels, home energy efficiency upgrades, new energy efficient homes and commercial buildings, alternative fuel refueling property, electric motorcycles, and fuel cell motor vehicles. Other tax breaks in the bill include the research credit, a provision allowing companies to defer US taxes on overseas financing operations, continuing the 50% bonus depreciation for capital investments, letting teachers deduct out-of-pocket expenses for school supplies, letting homeowners exclude forgiven debt from income, providing incentives for businesses to hire veterans and other members of disadvantaged groups, and a cost depreciation for racehorses. While the bill had bipartisan support when it was marked up and approved by voice vote in the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Democrats and Republicans disagreed over offering amendments on the Senate floor. The bill isn’t likely to come up again until after the elections in November.
On the House side, members are pursuing a piece-by-piece approach. Last week they passed a $156 billion bill (HR 4438) to permanently extend the research and development credit. The White House threatened to veto the bill because there was no offset.
Political Updates
The Wayne County Clerk’s office ruled this week that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) is ineligible to appear on the Aug. 5 primary ballot because he did not submit enough valid petition signatures. Conyers is expected to appeal the ruling, but could also run a write-in campaign if he is unsuccessful in his appeal. Conyers is the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work announced this week that Terry Halvorsen, Navy Chief Information Officer, would become the department’s acting CIO on May 21 replacing Teri Takai who stepped down May 2.
The President nominated Victor Mendez to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation and Peter Rogoff to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy. Mendez has been Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration at the Department of Transportation (DOT) since 2009 and was designated the Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation in 2013. Prior to this position, he was a member of former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano’s Cabinet, serving as the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) from 2003 to 2009. Peter Rogoff has been the Federal Transit Administrator (FTA) for DOT since 2009 and was designated Acting Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy in 2014. Prior to joining the FTA, he served as a Democratic Staff Director on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee 1995 to 2009.
On Monday President Obama formally withdrew the nomination of Tommy Beaudreau to be the assistant secretary of the interior, since Beaudreau has instead become Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s Chief of Staff. His nomination was sent to the Senate in January after being announced in October. Beaudreau first came to Interior in June 2010 to reorganize the federal government’s oversight of offshore oil and gas drilling, and became director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2011.
Next Week
The House will consider the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act on the floor. The House could also vote on legislation to scale back bulk collection of domestic phone records by the National Security Agency and other government entities. The Senate will consider two nominations early in the week.