On the Senate floor on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch (R-KY) announced that he would file cloture on motions to proceed to two FY20 spending bills, setting up votes for next week. The first vote will be on a package of domestic funding bill. While the contents of that package are still being negotiated, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that measure could include three bills and specifically mentioned the Agriculture and Transportation-HUD bills. McConnell said that if the Senate can get bipartisan support to take up that bill, they will stay on it until they complete it. Afterward, they will turn to a second package that will include the FY20 Defense, Labor HHS Education, State Foreign Operations, and Energy & Water appropriations bills. 

The only bill not yet released by the Senate is the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill. The subcommittee chairman, John Boozman (R-AR), said the bill could be introduced this week or next. He indicated that it would include $3.6B to fund military construction projects the President wanted to delay in order to fund the border wall. 

The federal government is currently funded through November 21 under a continuing resolution (CR). They need to pass all 12 annual spending bills or another CR before then to avoid a shutdown. The President has indicated that he is not interested in signing other domestic spending bills until he has an agreement on funding for his border wall. He could force another shutdown, or use his executive authority to transfer funds from other accounts using a national emergency declaration.

As it stands now, the House has passed 10 of its 12 Fiscal Year 2020 (“FY20”) spending bills, and the remaining two bills were passed out of the Appropriations Committee. On the Senate side, the Appropriations Committee has passed 10 of its 12 FY20 bills, and those bills are now awaiting action by the full Senate. House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff have been meeting over the October recess to work out the differences between their FY20 spending bills. Ultimately, differences between the House and Senate bills must be resolved before they can go to the president for signature. In the meantime, the federal government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that goes through November 21.

One of the biggest issues for Senate appropriators to work out when they return next week is determining what is a “poison pill.” The bipartisan budget deal Congress agreed to in July included an agreement banning “poison pill” policy riders on the FY20 and FY21 spending bills. The annual spending bills usually include some contentious riders that trigger partisan clashes and slow down the process. Past poison pill riders have been on issues such as abortion, gun control, and environmental regulations. The ban on riders was intended to speed up the appropriations process. However, there isn’t agreement on what constitutes a poison pill. Democrats on the committee wanted to offer an amendment to reverse the Mexico City Policy in the FY20 State Foreign Operations bill when it was considered in committee. They argued that the amendment long had bipartisan support and should have been permitted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has defined a poison pill as anything that is not in existing law. A resolution may be needed to get the spending bills moving again in the Senate.

The Senate Appropriations Committee reported out five more FY20 spending bills this week leaving only the Labor HHS Education and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bills on their “to do” list for when they return the week of October 15. The Commerce Justice Science, Interior-Environment, and Homeland Security bills were marked up in subcommittee on Tuesday, and the Legislative Branch and State Foreign Operations bills were added to the full committee agenda for the Thursday markup. All of the spending bills, except for the Homeland Security bill, were voted on unanimously. The Homeland Security bill passed by a vote of 17 to 14 with all Democrats, except for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), voting against the bill.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) is meeting with President Trump this afternoon to discuss the path forward. House and Senate Appropriations staff will meet during the October recess to discuss compromise spending allocations. The House FY20 spending bills were written before the budget agreement was reached in August and will have to be reduced to the agreed upon nondefense spending limit.

Commerce Justice Science

The $70.833B FY20 Commerce Justice Science bill is $6.715B above the FY19 enacted level and $1.1B more than the President’s FY20 budget request.

Bill Text

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20CJS%20Appropriations%20Act,%20S.2584.pdf

Report Language

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20CJS%20Appropriations%20Act,%20Report%20116-127.pdf

Republican Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/fy2020-commerce-justice-science-appropriations-bill-approved-for-senate-consideration

Democratic Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/summary-fiscal-year-2020-senate-commerce-justice-science-and-related-agencies-appropriations-bill-

Homeland Security

The $70.725B FY20 Homeland Security bill includes $17.352B for Disaster Relief and $190M for Coast Guard Overseas Contingency Operations. After excluding those two amounts, the net discretionary appropriations for DHS is $53.183B which is $3.772B above the FY19 enacted level. 

The bill includes the President’s $5B for the border wall system that, in addition to funding construction of the wall, includes funding for towers, sensors, roads, lights, cameras, gates, etc. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Jon Tester (D-MT) offered two wall-related amendments during the full committee markup that were defeated. The first amendment struck the $5B for the border wall and reallocated $1.375B of that funding to make investments in non-intrusive inspection (NII) border technology, computed tomography (CT) for TSA screening, FEMA Flood Mapping grants, and a second Polar Security Coast Guard Cutter. The second amendment prevented funds from being diverted from military construction projects to pay for the border wall. Sen. Tester acknowledged that the amendment would be more appropriately offered when the committee considers the FY20 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill, but markup of that bill was cancelled earlier this month when a similar amendment was going to be offered and was going to prevail in the markup. 

Bill Text

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Homeland%20Security%20Appropriations%20Act,%20S.2582.pdf

Report Language

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Homeland%20Security%20Appropriations%20Act,%20Report%20116-125.pdf

Sen. Tester Amendments

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/tester1.pdf

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/tester2.pdf

Republican Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/senate-appropriations-committee-sends-fy2020-homeland-security-bill-to-full-senate

Democratic Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/summary-fiscal-year-2020-senate-homeland-security-appropriations-bill-

Interior-Environment

The $35.8B FY20 Interior bill is $248M above the FY19 enacted level and $5.46B more than the President’s FY20 budget request. In addition, for the first time, the bill provides $2.25B in a wildfire budget cap adjustment to respond to the increasing incidence of catastrophic wildfires across the country.

Bill Text

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Interior%20Environment%20Appropriations%20Act,%20S.2580.pdf

Report Language

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Interior%20Environment%20Appropriations%20Act,%20Report%20116-123.pdf

Republican Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/fy2020-interior-environment-appropriations-bill-approved-by-full-committee

Democratic Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/summary-fiscal-year-2020-interior-environment-and-related-agencies-appropriations-bill-

Legislative Branch

The FY20 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill provides $3.593B in discretionary budget authority, excluding items pertaining solely to the House, which total an additional $1.499B.  Total funding accommodated in the bill is $5.092B, which is $256M more than the FY19 enacted level and $197M less than the budget request.

Bill Text

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Legislative%20Branch%20Appropriations%20Act,%20S.2581.pdf

Report Language

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20Legislative%20Branch%20Appropriations%20Act,%20Report%20116-124.pdf

Republican Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/senate-committee-advances-fy2020-legislative-branch-appropriations-bill

Democratic Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/summary-fiscal-year-2020-senate-legislative-branch-appropriations-bill-

State Foreign Operations

The $55B FY20 State Foreign Operations bill is $782M above the FY19 enacted level and $11.6B more than the President’s FY20 budget request. The bill includes $8B for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).

Bill Text

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20SFOPS%20Appropriations%20Act,%20S.2583.pdf

Report Language

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2020%20SFOPS%20Appropriations%20Act,%20Report%20116-126.pdf

Republican Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/fy2020-state-and-foreign-operations-bill-advanced-by-full-committee

Democratic Press Release

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/summary-fiscal-year-2020-state-foreign-operations-and-related-programs-appropriations-bill-

FY2020 Appropriations Bills Status

Subcommittee	House Action	Senate Action
Agriculture	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4Floor: June 25	Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19
Commerce Justice Science	Subcommittee: May 17Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25	Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26
Defense	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19	Subcommittee: Sept 10Full Committee: Sept 12
Energy & Water	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19	Full Committee: Sept 12
Financial Services	Subcommittee: June 3Full Committee: June 11Floor: June 26	Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19
Homeland Security	Subcommittee: June 5Full Committee: June 11Floor:	Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26
Interior Environment	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25	Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26
Labor HHS Education	Subcommittee: April 30Full Committee: May 8Floor: June 19	Released: Sept 18
Legislative Branch	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor:	Full Committee: Sept 26
Military Construction VA	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: June 25
State Foreign Operations	Subcommittee: May 10Full Committee: May 16Floor: June 19	Full Committee: Sept 26
Transportation HUD	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4 Floor: June 25	Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19

Today the House will vote on a resolution calling for the Acting Director of National Intelligence to provide the House and Senate Intelligence Committees with the whistleblower’s complaint and the IG’s determination that the complaint was a credible urgent concern as well as any other comments the Acting Director considers appropriate. The resolution also requires the Acting Director to take steps to protect the whistleblower and to preserve all records, documents, communications, and other information relating to the allegations. While it is only a non-binding resolution, the vote will put Republicans on record on this issue.

H.Res. 576

https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116hres576ih.pdf

Yesterday, three House committee chairs (Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight) sent a letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone following up on a September 9^th letter they sent in which they requested by September 16 all records related to the whistleblowers complaint, the transcript of the President’s call, a full list of staff who participated in the call and in preparation for the call, and any records on the suspension of aid to Ukraine.

September 24^th Letter

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2019-09-24.eec_engel_schiff_to_cipollone-wh_re_potus_ukraine.pdf

September 9^th Letter

https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ele_schiff_cummings_letter_to_sec_pompeo_on_ukraine.pdf

Also yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. The Speaker directed six Committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The committees are: Judiciary, Selection Committee on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, Ways and Means, and Financial Services. There was no concrete timeline laid out for the impeachment inquiry, although Pelosi wants it completed expeditiously. Some said it could move ahead within weeks. Others said it might continue to next year’s election. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler (D-NY) said he would like it done by the end of this year.

Speaker Pelosi did not say whether the full House would vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry or whether the six committee investigations would be condensed into a single probe. In past impeachment proceedings, each of the committees involved provided input to include in articles of impeachment. In this case, the articles could be written up by the House Judiciary Committee, which then would vote on whether to refer them to the full House of Representatives. After the Judiciary committee vote, the articles, if approved, would be given special status on the House floor and it requires a simple majority of voting lawmakers to approve them.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) announced the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations and Defense Appropriations subcommittees will mark up their FY20 spending bills in subcommittee on Tuesday, September 10, and the State-Foreign Operations bill in subcommittee on September 11. The full committee will mark up those three bills as well as the Energy and Water bills on Thursday, September 12 at 10:30 am. The committee will also approve its 302(b) allocations during the full committee markup.

The Senate Appropriations committee’s goal is to mark up four bills each week for the next three weeks in order to get all 12 of its annual spending bills done by the end of September. The Homeland Security spending bill will go the last week of September given its contentious nature.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) sent a Dear Colleague yesterday in which he wrote that the House will vote on a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) the week of September 16. The CR will keep the government funded through late November. The House is scheduled to be in session through November 21 when they break for Thanksgiving. The list of anomalies (https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/anomalies-2/) sent by the White House to Congress a few weeks ago assumed a CR through mid-December.

Hoyer’s Dear Colleague also set out the legislative agenda for the House for the month of September. The House will focus on three bills next week that will block oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. In addition to considering the CR the week of September 16, they will also vote on H.R. 1423, legislationthat would eliminate forced arbitration in employment, consumer, and civil rights cases and H.R. 3106, the DATA Act. Democrats in the House also want to consider gun violence prevention legislation that the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark up next week. The House also will address a number of items that expire on September 30th, including the National Flood Insurance Program, authorization of the Export-Import Bank, and a number of health programs. Hoyer expects the House to go to conference on the National Defense Authorization Act. Finally, the House may consider additional legislation addressing the humanitarian crisis at the border and take up additional legislation to strengthen election security.

FY2020 Appropriations Bills Status

Subcommittee	House Action	Senate Action
Agriculture	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4Floor: June 25
Commerce Justice Science	Subcommittee: May 17Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25
Defense	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19	Subcommittee: Sept 10Full Committee: Sept 12
Energy & Water	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19	Full Committee: Sept 12
Financial Services	Subcommittee: June 3Full Committee: June 11Floor: June 26
Homeland Security	Subcommittee: June 5Full Committee: June 11Floor:
Interior Environment	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25
Labor HHS Education	Subcommittee: April 30Full Committee: May 8Floor: June 19	Subcommittee: Sept 10Full Committee: Sept 12
Legislative Branch	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor:
Military Construction VA	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: June 25
State Foreign Operations	Subcommittee: May 10Full Committee: May 16Floor: June 19	Subcommittee: Sept 11Full Committee: Sept 12
Transportation HUD	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4 Floor: June 25

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a $271M reprogramming notification to Congress on July 26. DHS cited the record surge in migrant arrivals at the U.S. Southern border and ensuing humanitarian crisis as the reason for needing to reprogram these funds. “Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk.” While DHS has received supplemental funding to expand migrant processing centers, the administration contends that they need additional funding for detention beds, ground transportation, air transportation, transportation costs related to Migrant Protection Protocol, and the establishment and operation of temporary immigration hearing facilities on the southwest border.

House Homeland Security Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Lucille Roybal-Allard responded to DHS Acting Secretary McAleenan in a letter this week in which she stated that she has, “significant concerns about the intended use of funds and, consequently, about the tradeoffs between that use and the activities that would otherwise be funded from the source accounts.” While the chairwoman objected to the reprogramming, she noted in her letter that it was a moot point as the Department has already incurred most of the obligations related to the notification and doesn’t need congressional approval to go ahead with the transfers. Roybal-Allard wrote, “the late submission of this notification undermines and ignores the time-tested mechanism for ensuring that the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations are in concurrence with proposed transfer and reprogramming actions.” She urged DHS to work with the Committee to “restore the partnership we once had in support of the Department’s many important missions.”

Department of Homeland Security FY 2019 Southwest Border Emergency Transfer and Reprogramming Notification

Department of Homeland Security FY 2019 Southwest Border Emergency Transfer and Reprogramming Notification

Chairwoman Roybal-Allard Letter to DHS Acting Secretary McAleenan

Chairwoman Roybal-Allard Letter to DHS Acting Secretary McAleenan

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Thompson Statement

https://homeland.house.gov/news/press-releases/thompson-reckless-for-trump-administration-to-divert-funding-from-tsa-and-fema-to-pay-for-ice-indefinite-detention-of-families-and-children

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) release an update to its 10-year budget and economic outlook projections. CBO estimates that the U.S. federal deficit is forecasted to be $960B in FY2019 and will reach $1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year. The estimate for FY2019 is $63B or 7% above the estimate CBO released three months ago. Over the 2020 to 2029 period, projected annual deficits will equal $12.2T, or $800B more than projected in May. This is an average of $1.2T per year, or 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). In 2018, debt held by the public reached 78% of GDP. By 2029, the national debt is projected to grow to 95% of GDP – its highest level since immediately after WWII.

The increase in the deficit comes mostly from the higher discretionary funding limits for FY2020 and FY2021 in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. An anticipated reduction in interest rates provides some relief as it lowered projections of net interest outlays by $1.4 trillion (including interest savings from the resulting reductions in deficits and debt).

CBO “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2019 to 2029”

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-08/55551-CBO-outlook-update_0.pdf

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published its Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report to Congress on the implementation of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA). The document includes data reported by agencies to OMB and the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA). The report highlights government-wide cybersecurity programs and initiatives, and federal agencies’ progress to enhance federal cybersecurity over the past year and into the future. In FY18, federal agencies reported 31,107 incidents, which is a 12% decrease from FY17. While the number of incidents has decreased, several large agencies continue to be at risk for cyberattacks. The most at risk agencies are the departments of Energy and Health and Human Services, EPA, FCC, and FTC. Email-based threats are the most prevalent means of cyberattack. And the main deficiencies are lack of data protection, inconsistent application of software security fixes, lack of strong authentication requirements for accessing systems, and absence of continuous monitoring of systems.

Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) FY2018 Report 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/FISMA-2018-Report-FINAL-to-post.pdf

The President signed the Bipartisan Budget Act (H.R. 3877) last week. Senate appropriators can now turn their attention to their FY20 spending bills. Last week Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) distributed the individual spending allocations for each of his 12 subcommittees, but those figures have not been made public. The allocations will allow the Senators and committee staff to finish drafting their bills during the August recess so that they are ready when Congress returns the week of September 9. 

Senate Republicans are looking to decrease the Labor HHS Education FY20 allocation by $5 billion in order to fund the President’s border wall. This is a clear signal that negotiations between the House and Senate on the Homeland Security FY20 spending bill could be contentious. Congress approved $1.3B for the wall in the FY19 omnibus signed into law in February. The President has requested an additional $8.6B for border barriers in FY20 – $5B for the Department of Homeland Security and $3.6B for the Department of Defense to assist with the project.

The first full committee markup will be on September 12. The first package the Senate marks up could be a three-bill minibus that includes the Defense, Labor HHS Education, and Energy & Water spending bills. Chairman Shelby has the goal of marking up all 12 FY20 spending bills before the end of September. The committee will mark up four bills per week to meet that goal.

The Senate passed the bipartisan budget deal this week by a vote of 67-28. Five Democrats and 23 Republicans voted against the measure. The President signed the bill this morning. The deal sets an overall funding level of $1.37T for FY20 and suspends the debt limit through July 31, 2021. This deal officially ends the budget caps and threat of sequestration imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

	FY18	FY19	BCA FY20 Budget Caps	FY20 Budget Deal	BCA FY21 Budget Caps	FY21Budget Deal
Defense	$629.000B	$647.0B	$576.156B	$666.5B	$590.160B	$671.5B
OCO	$71.939B	$69.0B		$71.5B		$69.0B
Total Defense	$700.939B	$716.0B		$738.0B		$740.5B
Non-Defense	$579.000B	$597.000B	$542.096B	$621.5B	$554.559B	$626.5B
OCO + Disaster Relief	$125.646B	$23.577B		$8.0B		$8.0B
Census				$2.5B
Total Non-Defense	$704.646B*	$620.577B		$632.0B		$634.5B

• Includes $103.812B in emergency supplemental disaster relief funding (P.L. 115-72) to respond to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Senate appropriators can now turn their attention to their FY20 spending bills. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that he hopes to finalize the spending allocations for each of his 12 subcommittees by the end of this week or early next week. Shelby is still negotiating with Democrats on those allocations. The allocations will allow the Senators and committee staff to finish drafting their bills during the August recess so that they are ready when Congress returns the week of September 9. The first full committee markup will be on September 12. The first package the Senate marks up could be a three-bill minbus that includes the Defense, Labor HHS Education, and Energy & Water spending bills. 

The House has passed 10 of its 12 annual spending bills, but most of them will have to be rewritten to the newly agreed upon overall spending limits. House Democrats had allocated more for nondefense spending and less for defense spending when they marked up their FY20 spending bills earlier this year.

Getting all 12 bills passed, conferenced, and passed again before the end of the fiscal year is unlikely, so a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to keep the government open. How long that CR will last – a few weeks or several months – is up for debate. And there will be much debate over the controversial Homeland Security spending bill, which could result in a year-long CR for DHS.

FY2020 Appropriations Bills Status

Subcommittee	House Action	Senate Action
Agriculture	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4Floor: June 25
Commerce Justice Science	Subcommittee: May 17Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25
Defense	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19
Energy & Water	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19
Financial Services	Subcommittee: June 3Full Committee: June 11Floor: June 26
Homeland Security	Subcommittee: June 5Full Committee: June 11Floor:
Interior Environment	Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25
Labor HHS Education	Subcommittee: April 30Full Committee: May 8Floor: June 19
Legislative Branch	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor:
Military Construction VA	Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: June 25
State Foreign Operations	Subcommittee: May 10Full Committee: May 16Floor: June 19
Transportation HUD	Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4 Floor: June 25