FY2017 Budget and Appropriations Update – April 29, 2016

House

The House Appropriations Committee did not mark up any bills this week, nor was any action taken on the House floor on the three bills already passed out of committee (Agriculture, Energy and Water, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs). Since the House has not passed an FY17 budget resolution, they can’t move their appropriations bills to the floor until May 15. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-KY) said that he hopes the first appropriations bill that will be brought to the floor after May 15 is the Military Construction-VA bill, but no final decisions have been made on that matter.

FY17 Agriculture Appropriations Report Language:

https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt531/CRPT-114hrpt531.pdf

FY17 Energy and Water Appropriations Report Language:

https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt532/CRPT-114hrpt532.pdf

FY17 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Report Language:

https://www.congress.gov/114/crpt/hrpt497/CRPT-114hrpt497.pdf

The House Republican Conference held a meeting this morning to discuss their budget resolution. Republicans are still searching for a compromise on spending levels. Conservative members of the party want to accept only $1.04T in discretionary spending levels this year to comply with what was agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011 rather than the $1.07T in discretionary spending set by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.

Senate

The Senate resumed consideration of their FY17 Energy and Water appropriations bill on the Senate floor this week, but was unable to complete action on the measure. The Senate voted twice on cloture on the bill and both times failed to muster the 60 votes needed. The first vote failed 50 to 46 and the second vote failed 52 to 43. The Senate will vote again on cloture when they reconvene on Monday, May 9.

Senate Democrats are objecting to an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) that they have called a “poison pill.” The Democrats won’t vote for cloture without assurance that Cotton’s amendment will not be offered. The amendment would prohibit the use of FY17 funds to purchase heavy water from Iran. Heavy water can be used in reactor research and the development of nuclear weapons. As part of last year’s deal with Iran, Tehran must reduce its heavy water inventory to a preset limit by July by either selling, diluting, or destroying it. The US agreed on Friday to buy 32 metric tons for $8.6M but doesn’t have plans to buy any more after that. And Iran is in negotiations with Russia to sell off more. Cotton’s amendment would only apply after Oct 1 when the new fiscal year starts, so it would not apply to the agreement the US made last week with Tehran. Cotton wants to hold the administration to their promise that this is only a one-time deal.

Given the uncertainty of the appropriations process at this point in time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) withdrew the cloture motion for the FY17 Transportation HUD spending bill.

Zika Virus

Negotiations over bringing an emergency supplemental package to combat the Zika virus to the Senate floor also reached an impasse this week with each side blaming the other. Democrats are blaming Republicans for not responding to the President’s request for $1.9B to combat the virus, while Republicans are blaming the White House for failing to detail how and when the money would be spent. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) sought unanimous consent to bring up the Zika package (S 2843) for a vote knowing that it lacked support and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) objected. On the House side, House Democrats introduced their own $1.9B bill on Monday while House Republican leaders have said that they want any Zika money to be offset with cuts to other programs.