Washington Weekly – September 12, 2014

September 12, 2014

The House and Senate returned from their August recess this week. The House passed HR 5078, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act; HR 3522, the Employee Health Care Protection Act of 2013, a bill that would allow Americans to retain their health care policies until 2018 even if their plans do not meet federal rules set under the 2010 Affordable Care Act; and HR 5161, the E-LABEL Act. The Senate voted on a proposed constitutional amendment to let Congress limit campaign contributions and expenditures, but failed to reach the 2/3 vote needed for a constitutional amendment (vote 54 to 42). The Senate did pass HR 4197, the All Circuit Review Extension Act and S 2258, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2014.

Appropriations

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) introduced a continuing resolution (CR) earlier this week to fund the government into the new fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. The House had intended to begin consideration of the bill this week, but delayed action until next week in order to consider including authorization language for administration action against the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS). Instead, the House will begin consideration of the CR next Tuesday with a vote on the measure most likely on Wednesday. It isn’t clear at this point whether the authorization language will be tacked on to the CR or considered as separate legislation. If the strategy is to include the language in the CR, the House would bring up the CR on the floor and then add the language as an amendment, allowing for a separate vote on the issue. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said that his chamber will follow the House’s lead and decide whether to concur or make changes after they have received it.

The $1.012T CR introduced earlier this week funds non-defense-related programs at an annualized level of $494.548B, $2B above the FY15 cap in last year’s budget agreement making it a potential target for procedural objections in the Senate. The CR funds the government at current levels through December 11, 2014. While the CR was considered relatively “clean” and free of policy riders, it did include a number of provisions for expiring programs such as DOD activities, including counter-drug operations, support to the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, and rewards for assistance in combatting terrorism, and a provision to continue a surge in funding for State Department programs to counter regional aggression toward Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries. The CR also includes several provisions related to the treatment of veterans and continued oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as extending the operating authority for the Export-Import Bank through June 30, 2015 and extending the Internet Tax Freedom Act through December 11, 2014. And, finally, the CR includes provisions allowing funding flexibility for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to maintain staffing levels, border security operations, detention space, and immigration enforcement activities; addressing the recent Ebola crisis; additional funds to offset food price increases in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program; funding flexibility to maintain weather satellite programs; and the continuation of current funding for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

Appropriators say that they are still working toward a year-end omnibus that would include most, if not all of the FY15 spending bills. This could change if Republicans win control of the Senate in the November elections. In that scenario, Republicans might opt for a short-term CR extending funding into the new Congress giving them a chance to write new bills that are more to their liking in the new Congress.

Tax Extenders

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) are reportedly considering a post-election, lame duck deal on a potential one-year extension of approximately 60 expired tax breaks. The tax breaks expired at the end of 2013 and include tax deductions for contributions to charitable organizations directly from an individual retirement account, mortgage interest premiums, state and local sales taxes, and some higher-education expenses. The duration of the tax breaks extensions has not been decided, as well as whether or not they would be retroactive. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that a one-year extension package would cost about $47 billion. Earlier this summer, the House passed bills that would make the IRA charitable contribution and several other extenders permanent, but the White House threatened to veto those bills because no tax revenue was provided to pay for the extensions.

Defense

Earlier this week, the Pentagon sent a $1.9B reprogramming request to Congress. The request diverts $1.2B for 8 new F-35s to replace older aircraft destroyed in the war, $404M for 21 new Apache helicopters to replace 21 Kiowa helicopters, and $122M for a “Massive Ordnance Penetration” weapon and pays for all of them from previously appropriated funds that are no longer needed because of the drawdown in Afghanistan. Four congressional committees – House Armed Services, Senate Armed Services, House Defense Appropriations, and Senate Defense Appropriations – all have to approve the request.

A copy of the request can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=266

Political Updates

The Senate confirmed the nominations of David Radzanowski to be Chief Financial Officer at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Miranda Ballentine to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, and Joseph Nimmich to be Deputy Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Department of Homeland Security.

Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) lost his primary race in Massachusetts’ 6th congressional district. Tierney was ousted by primary challenger Seth Moulton, a first-time candidate and Iraq War Veteran. Tierney held seats on the House Education and Workforce and Oversight and Government committees. Moulton will face Repubican Richard Tisei in the November election. Tisei narrowly lost to Tierney in 2012. The loss makes Tierney the fourth House incumbent to lose primaries this cycle. The others are Reps. Ralph Hall (R-TX), Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI), and Eric Cantor (R-VA), who has since resigned.

Next Week

The House and Senate will return on Monday. The House will take up the FY15 CR, but it is not clear right now if the ISIS authorization language will be packaged in with the CR or will be a separate vote. The House will also take up a 14-bill jobs package and a 13-bill energy package as well as receive the President of Ukraine on Thursday. The House is scheduled to be in session through Friday. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also announced that as of right now there is no change to the House schedule for the last week of September (9/29-10/2) when they are scheduled to be in session. The Senate will resume consideration of S 2199, the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would require employers to demonstrate that wage gaps between men and women doing the same work are the result of factors other than gender. The Senate is also scheduled to vote on two nominations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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