July 24, 2015
The House passed HR 1557, the Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act; HR 2256, the Veterans Information Modernization Act; HR 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act of 2015; HR 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015; and HR 3009, the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act. The Senate voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on consideration of a six-year highway reauthorization bill. They will resume consideration of this measure when they convene for a rare Sunday session. This is the second time this year the Senate has convened on a Sunday; the last time was in May when they met to consider passage of the USA Freedom Act before expiration of some controversial Patriot Act provisions. The Senate also passed HR 23, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015; HR 2499, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Act; S 1599, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015; and HR 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015.
Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations
House
While the House Appropriations Committee has completed action on all of its 12 FY2016 spending bills, action on the House floor has come to a complete stop. House Speaker John Boehner said this week that a continuing resolution will be necessary given the limited time lawmakers have to resolve their budget differences. The House is scheduled to be in session only 16 more days before the end of FY2015.
Meanwhile, House Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) released a report this week charging Republicans with shortchanging several programs that would place “our national and economic security at risk.” The report gives an issue-by-issue breakdown of the funding cuts and policy riders. This report may give some indication of the negotiating position of House Democrats and what they will push for during any potential budget negotiations later this year.
House Appropriations Committee Minority Report:
Senate
The Senate Appropriations Committee has now passed all 12 of its FY2016 spending bills as it marked up its Financial Services spending measure in subcommittee and full committee this week. This is the first time since 2009 that the committee has approved all 12 annual spending bills.
Financial Services
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out its FY16 Financial Services Appropriations bill this week. The bill was considered in subcommittee on Tuesday and full committee on Thursday. The full committee passed the $20.6B measure by a vote of 16 to 14. The bill is $4B less than the President’s FY16 budget request and $1.3B below the FY15 enacted level, but it does provide about $400M more than the House version. The bill also includes the language of a Republican banking overhaul bill (S 1484).
In addition to a manager’s amendment, 5 amendments were adopted during committee consideration – Sen. Moran’s (R-KS) Cuba travel ban repeal amendment, Sen. Mikulski’s (D-MD) data breach amendment, Sen. Tester’s (D-MT) 180-day shipping prohibition repeal amendment, Sen. Boozman’s (R-AR) Cuba private credit for agriculture amendment, and Sen. Merkley’s (D-OR) marijuana banking amendment.
Bill Text:
http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FSGGBillFinal.PDF
Report Language:
http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FSGGReptFinal.PDF
Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills
| Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture | Subcommittee: 6/18/15
Full Committee: 7/8/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 7/14/15
Full Committee: 7/16/15 Floor: |
| Commerce-Justice-Science | Subcommittee: 5/14/15
Full Committee: 5/20/15 Floor: 6/3/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/10/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
| Defense | Subcommittee: 5/20/15
Full Committee: 6/2/15 Floor: 6/11/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/9/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
| Energy & Water | Subcommittee: 4/15/15
Full Committee: 4/22/15 Floor: 5/1/15 |
Subcommittee: 5/19/15
Full Committee: 5/21/15 Floor: |
| Financial Services | Subcommittee: 6/11/15
Full Committee: 6/17/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 7/21/15
Full Committee: 7/23/15 Floor: |
| Homeland Security | Subcommittee: 7/9/15
Full Committee: 7/14/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 6/16/15
Full Committee: 6/18/15 Floor: |
| Interior-Environment | Subcommittee: 6/10/15
Full Committee: 6/16/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 6/16/15
Full Committee: 6/18/15 Floor: |
| Labor-HHS-Education | Subcommittee: 6/17/15
Full Committee: 6/24/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 6/23/15
Full Committee: 6/25/15 Floor: |
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: 4/23/15
Full Committee: 4/30/15 Floor: 5/19/15 |
Full Committee: 6/11/15
Floor: |
| Military Construction-VA | Subcommittee: 4/15/15
Full Committee: 4/22/15 Floor: 4/30/15 |
Subcommittee: 5/19/15
Full Committee: 5/21/15 Floor: |
| State-Foreign Operations | Subcommittee: 6/3/15
Full Committee: 6/11/15 Floor: |
Subcommittee: 7/7/15
Full Committee: 7/9/15 Floor: |
| Transportation-HUD | Subcommittee: 4/29/15
Full Committee: 5/13/15 Floor: 6/9/15 |
Subcommittee: 6/23/15
Full Committee: 6/25/15 Floor: |
FY16 National Defense Authorization Act
House and Senate conferees on FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) are not expected to complete their negotiations before the August recess due to a number of unresolved issues. The issues range from reforms to the military retirement system, the greater sage-grouse, and basic housing allowances. Other issues such as acquisition reform and the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba appear to have been resolved. The President has threatened to veto the measure if the final conference measures includes restrictions on closing Guantanamo as well as the additional funds authorized in the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.
FISMA Bill
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) led a bipartisan delegation of Senators to introduce legislation this week that would bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority to protect federal civilian networks. The other original co-sponsors of the legislation include Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Dan Coats (R-IN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO).
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the mandate to protect the .gov domain, it only has limited authorities to do so. At present, DHS does not have the authority to monitor the networks of government agencies unless they have permission from that agency. DHS also cannot regularly deploy countermeasures to block malware without permission from the agency. To fix this problem, Sen. Collins’ bill takes five steps to change the way DHS oversees the .gov domain:
- Allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate intrusion detection and prevention capabilities on all federal agencies on the .gov domain.
- Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct risk assessments of any network within the government domain.
- Allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate defensive countermeasures on these networks once a cyber threat has been detected.
- Strengthens and streamlines the authority Congress gave to DHS last year to issue binding operational directives to federal agencies, especially to respond to substantial cyber security threats in emergency circumstances.
- Requires the Office of Management and Budget to report to Congress annually on the extent to which OMB has exercised its existing authority to enforce government wide cyber security standards.
The Federal Information Security Management Reform Act of 2015:
http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/abced13c-de46-4bfc-a96f-aac0be8b29d5/ARM15K46.pdf
Political Updates
One more Republican candidate threw his hat into the ring for the 2016 Presidential race – Ohio Governor John Kasich. He joins the already crowded Republican field that includes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, businessman Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former NY Governor George Pataki, and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore is expected to announce his candidacy sometime in August. On the Democrat side, the field includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb.
The President nominated Victoria Wassmer to be Undersecretary of Energy for Management and Performance at the Department of Energy, Dr. Sandra Black to be a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Raymond Cook to be the Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Ambassador Brooke Anderson and Robert Stein to be a members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn took command of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in a ceremony on Thursday, succeeding retiring DISA Director Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins. Lynn will also be commander of the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Networks. Lynn previously led the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command at Fort Huachuca, AZ.
Navy Vice Adm. James Caldwell Jr. has been nominated to become an admiral and director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. He would replace Adm. John Richardson, who has been nominated to become the Chief of Naval Operations, the service’s top officer.
Stacia Hylton, Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, is leaving her position Saturday and will be temporarily replaced by the agency’s deputy director, David Harlow, who will serve as Acting Director starting Sunday. Hylton has served since January 2011 as Director of the agency.
Next Week
The House will consider HR 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015 and HR 1994, the VA Accountability Act of 2015. The Senate is scheduled to be in session next week beginning on Sunday when they resume consideration of the 6-year highway reauthorization bill. If and when the Senate completes action on the highway bill, they are then expected to take up S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.