November 13, 2015
The House was in recess this week. The Senate passed the FY16 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bill and the revised FY16 National Defense Authorization Act, which now goes to the President for his signature. The Senate passed by unanimous consent S 1203, the 21st Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act; HR 2262, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act; and S 2280, the POWER Act. The Senate also agreed to go to conference with the House on a six-year highway and transit authorization bill. And the Senate confirmed Scott Allen to be U.S. Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
FY16 Appropriations
While the Senate was not able to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on the FY16 Defense spending bill last week, they were able to consider and pass the FY16 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs this week. The $79.74B bill (HR 2029) passed by a vote of 93 to 0. The bill will likely serve as the legislative vehicle for the anticipated FY16 omnibus spending bill. The Senate may next turn to its $55.65B FY16 Transportation HUD spending bill for consideration on the floor.
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act Conference Report
The Senate passed the adjusted FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (S 1356) by a vote of 91 to 3. The three “no” votes in the Senate on the legislation came from Sens. Merkley (D-OR), Sanders (I-VT), and Wyden (D-OR). And the four GOP Presidential candidates (Cruz, Graham, Paul, and Rubio) missed the vote in addition to Sens. Heller (R-NV) and Vitter (R-LA).
The House passed the measure last week. While the bill is now poised to go to the President for his signature, the House needs to adopt a resolution making technical corrections to the bill. The Senate adopted a resolution instructing clerks handling the bill’s enrollment to make technical corrections, which include changing the formal title of the bill, fixing spelling errors (mostly dealing with Ukraine), and replacing one of the bill’s funding tables. The House is expected to make the corrections next week allowing the President to sign the bill sometime before the end of the month.
Political Updates
Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) is reported to be eyeing the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee chair that Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) vacated when he was chosen for chair of the full Ways and Means Committee. This may set off a bit of reshuffling as Tiberi is currently the chair of the Trade Subcommittee. Brady is interested in filling the vacant subcommittee chairmanships next week.
Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) announced last Friday that he will not seek re-election in 2016. Pitts was first elected in 1996, and has chaired the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee since 2011. State Senator Lloyd Smucker announced that he is running to replace Pitts. And Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) announced this week that they would retire when their terms end in 2017. Farr is a member of the House Appropriations Committee holding the ranking member position on the Agriculture subcommittee. Lummis is on the Natural Resources and Oversight and Government Reform committees and is the only female member of the House Freedom Caucus. Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s eldest daughter, Liz Cheney, said she is seriously considering running for Lummis’ seat. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) is expected to announce his retirement today. Hinojosa is on the Education and the Workforce and Financial Services committees.
And speaking of the House Freedom Caucus, they are scheduled to elect their new chairman Monday night. This will be the caucus’ second election since its founding. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is expected to win re-election.
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) drew a primary challenge Monday from businessman Curtis Coleman of Little Rock, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nominations for Senate in 2010 and governor in 2014.
President Obama nominated Beth Cobert to be Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Cobert has been “Acting” Director since Katherine Archuleta resigned in July.
The White House is bringing on Jason Schultz, a New York University law professor and former Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney, to serve as a senior adviser to Megan Smith, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Schultz will advise Smith on intellectual property and innovation focusing on patent and digital copyright issues.
Brian Burns is taking over as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Burns takes over for Dan Galick, who was serving as Acting CISO since Stan Lowe retired in August. Burns most recently served as Deputy Director of the Joint VA-Defense Department Interagency Program Office (IPO) charged with improving interoperability between the two agencies’ electronic health record system. Burns will retain his IPO responsibilities as he takes on the added role of implementing the VA’s cybersecurity strategy.
President Obama withdrew the nomination of Kenneth Kopocis to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. His nomination was originally sent to the Senate on June 24, 2015. Kopocis retired this month as the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water at the EPA concluding 32 years of public service. His departure comes as the EPA is involved in the battle over its Waters of the U.S. regulation, and it will set off a leadership reorganization at EPA. Joel Beauvais will take on Kopocis’ job as EPA’s Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water, Laura Vaught will fill Beauvais’ old job as Acting Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy, and Nicole Distefano will take over Vaught’s job as Acting Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Congressional Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter removed Army Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis from his post Thursday morning amid allegations of misconduct. Lewis has been serving as the senior military assistant to Secretary Carter and routinely accompanied him on his trips abroad. The matter has been referred to the Defense Department’s Inspector General for an official investigation.
Next Week
The House will consider HR 1737, the Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act; HR 3189, the FORM Act of 2015; and HR 1210, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, which eases some mortgage lending standards set by the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul. The Senate may take up the FY16 Transportation HUD appropriations bill.