Legislative Activity Waters Introduces GSE Legislation On Thursday, March 27, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) released a proposal to reform the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). Ranking Member Waters’ proposal, the HOME Forward Act of 2014, would wind down the GSEs and replace them with a new government agency that would oversee a fund … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Wyden, Camp to Take Next Steps on Tax Extenders On March 24, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) sent a memo to his Committee members regarding next steps on tax reform. In the memo, Chairman Camp suggests that the Committee will: (1) continue its efforts to educate Members and stakeholders; … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Energy Committee to Consider LNG Export Legislation On Tuesday, March 25, the House Energy and Committee will hold a hearing to review H.R.6, the “Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act.” H.R.6 was introduced by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO), and would force the Department of Energy to expeditiously approve pending applications to export … Continue Reading
Executive Branch Activity Climate Change Announcement The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has announced the creation and launch of www.data.gov/climate which is intended to collect information related to climate change in order to help cities and the business community prepare to become more resilient to climate change. Initially focusing on sea level rise … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Johnson and Crapo Release GSE Reform Draft On March 16, 2014, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) released a draft legislation to reform the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the section-by-section of the legislation can be found here, and a detailed summary can … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Wyden Planning Extenders Markup in Early April Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) is planning to hold a markup of a tax extenders package sometime in early April. While an official date has yet to be announced, there has been suggestion that Chairman Wyden is planning to hold the markup on April … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Subcommittee Schedules Markup Of STELA Reauthorization Bill The House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has scheduled a markup of draft legislation to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA). The subcommittee will convene for opening statements on Monday, March 24 and will reconvene this Tuesday, March 25 to complete … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Appropriations Work Begins Following last week’s submission by President Obama of his FY 2015 Budget Proposal to Congress, appropriators are set to begin work in earnest on the FY 2015 spending bills. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) previously stated that her committee would not take up a budget resolution for FY … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Hold Hearing on Federal Reserve Nominees This Thursday, March 13, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on various nominations to the Federal Reserve Board, including the nomination of Stanley Fischer, former Bank of Israel Governor, to be Vice Chairman. The committee will also consider the nominations of former U.S. Treasury … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lew Before Taxwriting Committees on Presidents’ Budget Proposal Following last week’s release of the President’s FY 2015 Budget Proposal, Treasury Secretary Lew appeared before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees to discuss the Administration’s proposal. In addition to addressing the Administration’s budget, Members discussed comprehensive tax reform, specifically focusing on … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity FY 2015 Budgets On Tuesday, March 4, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Interior will release their budget requests for Fiscal Year 2015. Oil and Gas Activity The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is creating a proposed rule concerning managing activities of non-federal oil and gas development in the National … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Flood Insurance Bill After delaying plans for a vote last week, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is expected to hold a vote on the amended Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (H.R. 3370) on Wednesday, March 5, under suspension of the rules. Among some of the changes, the latest draft … Continue Reading
Legislative Branch Activity Upcoming Hearings: Tuesday, February 25: The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled “Reauthorizing TRIA (Terrorism Risk Insurance Act): The State of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Market, Part II.” Thursday, February 27: The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing to examine the U.S. Strategic Command and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity This Week’s Hearings Wednesday, February 26: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Natural Resource Adaptation: Protecting Ecosystems and Economies.” Wednesday, February 26: The House Natural Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearing titled, “American Energy Jobs: Opportunities for Veterans.” Thursday, February 27: The House Energy and Commerce … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity EPA To Propose New GHG Emissions Rule for Oil and Gas Facilities The EPA is proposing revisions to the greenhouse gas reporting rule for oil and gas facilities that will revise calculation methods, monitoring and data reporting requirements, terms and definitions including confidentiality determinations. Affected parties are likely to include: pipeline transportation of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Proposed Merger Of Comcast And Time Warner Cable To Face Scrutiny On Thursday, February 13, Comcast announced its intent to acquire Time Warner Cable (TWC) in a $45 billion transaction that would combine the two largest cable companies in the country. The proposed acquisition, however, is expected to receive close scrutiny from the … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Debt Ceiling According to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Congress has approximately three weeks – until February 27 – to extend the nation’s debt ceiling (the current suspension expired on Friday; however, the Department of Treasury is able to extend the deadline using “extraordinary measures”). House Republicans are still considering options for add-ons to … Continue Reading
Legislative Branch Activity Data Breach This week, several Congressional Committees will hold a number of hearings focused on the recent data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and other large companies that compromised the financial information of millions of customers. The hearings will focus on how to prevent future data breaches and the appropriate course of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Energy Committee Approves Bill to Limit EPA GHG Regulatory Authority On Tuesday, January 28, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to favorably report H.R. 3826, the “Electricity Security and Affordability Act,” to the full House by a near party-line vote of 29-19, with only two Democrats – Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Examines A Series of Regulatory Reports Last week, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing to explore the annual report and oversight of the Department of Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR) and the House Financial Services Committee probed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Debt Ceiling The FY 2014 Continuing Resolution enacted in October (P.L. 113-46) suspended the debt ceiling through February 7. While this deadline can typically be extended for a length of time through accounting techniques known as “extraordinary measures”, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is urging Congress to address an increase in the debt ceiling … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity Funding for Autos The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will provide $50 million in funding for its FY 14 Vehicle Technologies Program to help “make plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) more affordable and convenient…within the next 10 years.” The funding will be dedicated to target areas including: advanced light-weighting, advanced battery development, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Releases Volcker Fix Bills House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Representative Shelley Moore Capito, and four other House Republicans introduced the “Fairness for Community Job Creators Act” (H.R. 3819) last week, to exempt all banks, regardless of size, from divesting collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) backed by trust preferred securities (TruPS) under … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Appropriators Ready Omnibus For Action Closely guarding any progress, House and Senate Appropriations staff worked over the holiday recess to reconcile their respective versions of FY 2014 spending bills in order to incorporate them into a comprehensive omnibus package. Early this week, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ranking Member Richard Shelby … Continue Reading
