December 5, 2014
The House passed two tax measures this week – HR 647, the ABLE Act of 2014 and HR 5771, the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014. The House also passed HR 5759, the Executive Amnesty Prevention Act of 2014; HR 3979, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014; and HR 5769 a bill reauthorizing the Coast Guard. HR 5759 is a largely symbolic bill disapproving of President Obama’s executive action in immigration, as it will not be considered in the Senate. The Senate approved a number of nominations and passed HR 2203, a bill awarding the congressional gold medal to Jack Nicklaus and HR 5739, the No Social Security for Nazis Act. The oath of office was administered to Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Tim Scott (R-SC) as both won special elections Nov. 4 after earlier being appointed to their seats.
Tax Extenders
The House passed two tax measures this week – HR 647, the ABLE Act of 2014 and HR 5771, the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014. HR 5771 is a short-term tax extenders package retroactively reviving more than 50 expired tax breaks for 2014 only. A list of the tax breaks can be found at: http://rules.house.gov/sites/republicans.rules.house.gov/files/113-2/PDF/113-HR5771-SxS.pdf.
HR 647 is a tax measure designed to provide families who care for people with disabilities with tax-preferred savings accounts. It’s still not clear if the Senate will accept this one-year extension, try to pass a two-year framework forcing the House in its last few days in session to accept a longer bill, or take no action. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Thursday night that the Senate might not be able to pass the House tax extenders bill before the end of the year. Reid had tried to negotiate an agreement with the House making a number of the tax extenders permanent; including ones allowing companies to write off investments and costs associated with research and development programs. The president threatened to veto the agreement because “it would help well-connected corporations while neglecting working families.” The Administration indicated that it would not veto a clean, short-term extension of the tax extenders in the absence of a broader agreement.
FY15 Appropriations
House and Senate Appropriations staff will be working through the weekend ironing out final details of a year-end FY15 spending package, which could be released on Monday morning. The final omnibus/continuing resolution (CR) is expected to include full-year funding for 11 appropriations bills and a short-term CR for the Department of Homeland Security in protest of the president’s recent executive orders on immigration. However, any policy fights that cannot be resolved by House and Senate Appropriations Chairmen Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) could result in a CR for the agency in which the issue resides. The bill will also include emergency funding for combating the Islamic State as well as fighting the Ebola virus. The current CR expires on Thursday, December 11.
FY15 National Defense Authorization Act Conference Agreement
The House on Thursday passed the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a largely bipartisan vote of 300 to 119. The bill now heads to the Senate where it is expected to be approved before they adjourn for the year. The $584.2 billion measure was named after the retiring chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee – “Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.”The bill authorizes $521.3 billion in base discretionary spending ($495.5B for the Department of Defense and $17.9 billion for the defense activities of the Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board) and $63.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
The bill text can be found here:
http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=926D63B6-5E50-49FC-99EF-A59B98825265
The joint explanatory statement can be found here:
http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=78ED7A79-9066-43FD-AA75-1D8F14B4B4A2
A summary from HASC Republicans can be found here:
http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=F477F464-90AE-4B7A-AD7A-438065807D04
A summary from HASC Democrats can be found here:
https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/govdoc-4581940.pdf
National Counterintelligence Security Center
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) announced the establishment of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) within ODNI. Effective Dec. 1, Bill Evanina, the current National Counterintelligence Executive will be dual hatted as he takes on an additional role as NCSC director. The NCSC will become the parent organization of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX), which was created by the Counterintelligence Enhancement Act of 2002 to carry out counterintelligence and security responsibilities for the Director of National Intelligence. The NCSC will integrate and align counterintelligence and security mission areas, and carry out counterintelligence and security responsibilities under a single organizational model. The creation of the NCSC was predicated by the destructive growth and complexity of cyber threats, economic espionage, insider threats, and supply chain threats.
Political Updates
Following Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement last week that he was resigning, President Obama today nominated Ash Carter for the position. Carter is a physicist who has served as deputy secretary of defense, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and assistant secretary of defense for international security policy. Carter has also been a senior partner at Global Technology Partners, an advisor to Goldman Sachs on global affairs, and a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He has served on the boards of the MITRE Corporation, Mitretek Systems, and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories. He has been a member of the Draper Laboratory Corporation, the Defense Policy Board, the Defense Science Board, and the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board. While Carter is a highly regarded technocrat who was unanimously confirmed for his last position, his nomination could face some hurdles in the new GOP Senate.
The Justice Department announced this week that it will create a special unit to combat cyber attacks, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell announced that the unit will be part of the Criminal Division and will serve as a central hub for law enforcement officials to provide legal guidance regarding the criminal electronic surveillance statutes that cover cyber investigations. The unit will also share information with the private sector about how to protect their networks and advise Congress on cybersecurity legislation.
The Senate voted on the following confirmations this week: Joseph Hezir to be Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Energy, Nani Coloretti to be Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Robert Adler to be Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Next Week
The House will take up HR 5781, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014; an FY15 appropriations omnibus/continuing resolution; and a Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) reauthorization bill. The Senate will also consider the FY15 appropriations bill as well as the tax bills and the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act conference agreement that were passed by the House this week. The Senate could also take up the TRIA reauthorization, HR 1163, the Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2013 and HR 3696, the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, both of which have already passed the House. Both the House and Senate are expected to complete their work and adjourn for the year on Thursday, December 11.