Legislative Activity Omnibus Negotiations Continue, Funding Runs Out This Friday Despite having a budget deal, negotiations over policy riders in the forthcoming $1.1 trillion omnibus bill continue this week. Last week, Congressional Republicans proposed an omnibus bill that included several contentious policy riders, which the Democrats were quick to reject and make a counter-offer. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Omnibus Negotiations Continue As Deadline Approaches The House and Senate continue to negotiate an omnibus spending bill, though time is running out as the current continuing resolution (CR) only funds the Federal government through December 11. Complicating the negotiations are disagreements over several policy riders that Republicans would like to include in the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate and House to Focus on Appropriations Bills Under New Caps Following the recent two-year budget and debt ceiling agreement, The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the House and Senate are now working under new discretionary caps, increased by $50 billion for FY 2016 and equally divided between defense and non-defense programs. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Two-Year Budget Agreement Approved Late last week, the House and Senate sent to the President a two-year bipartisan budget/debt ceiling agreement, The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (House vote 266-167; Senate vote 64-35). In addition to suspending the debt limit through March 15, 2017, the proposal raises sequestration-level discretionary budget caps by $80 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Debt Ceiling Looms Over House Speaker Elections According to the Treasury Department, the debt ceiling will be reached on November 3, leaving the House only five more legislative days to increase it. Complicating the issue, the floor vote for a new House Speaker is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, with Rep. Paul Ryan … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget Negotiations Continue Amidst Busy Congressional Calendar Budget negotiations between staff for Republican leadership, the White House, and Democrats are ongoing, but there have been few signs of progress. Democrats have recently announced they will not accept changes to entitlements as part of a budget deal to increase government spending, increasing the likelihood … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget Negotiations Begin Recently, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) began discussions with President Barack Obama on a budget deal. The three of them participated in a conference call to lay the foundation for negotiations, and while Majority Leader McConnell reportedly pushed to keep Democratic Leadership in … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Likely to Move CR Soon, But Complications Remain With only eight legislative days scheduled in the House before government funding runs out on September 30, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is under a short timeline to push a Continuing Resolution (CR) through the House. Speaker Boehner could bring a CR to the floor … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Process All But Over, CR Likely The appropriations process is almost certainly over and when Congress returns from the August recess there will be just ten legislative days before federal funding runs out, hardly enough time to negotiate a budget deal or an omnibus spending bill. As anticipated, Congress will likely pass … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Shuffles Closer to a Budget Deal, as Appropriations Process Stops The appropriations process is all but over, after a Confederate flag flap during floor debate of the House Interior-Environment bill brought the process to a standstill. While the appropriations committees in both the House and Senate may mark-up their final appropriations bills … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Process on the Floor Comes to a Standstill, in Both Houses After an unplanned public fight over a confederate flag amendment in the Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill the House appropriations process has stalled, effectively bringing appropriations efforts on the floor for both Houses of Congress to a standstill just three weeks before the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Process Stalled for Foreseeable Future Both the House and Senate are on schedule to finish voting all 12 appropriations bills out of committee, which if successful would be the first time in six years. However, the process is likely to remain stalled in the Senate, as Senate Democrats are expected to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Process Stalls as Democrats Look to Force a Budget Deal The Senate appropriations process has stalled, and it is unclear how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will proceed this week. Last Thursday, Senate Democrats followed through with their announced strategy to stop appropriations bills from reaching the Senate floor by … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Democrats Continue to Push for a Budget Deal In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats will implement a strategy intended to force Republicans into a budget deal. Senate Democratic leadership does not want to rely on President Obama’s vetoes of appropriations bills to force Republicans into negotiations, and will likely prevent any appropriations … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Transportation-Housing and Defense Appropriations Bills on the House Floor The House will continue consideration of the Transportation-Housing (T-HUD) Appropriations Bill this week. The House was expected to vote on the $55.3 billion measure last Thursday, but leadership said a large number of amendments required pushing the vote to this week. Rail safety was … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Bills Head to House Floor The House will debate the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and the Transportation and Housing (T-HUD) FY 2016 Appropriations Bills on the floor this week. Both bills adhere to the sequester’s spending limits, even though President Obama has threatened to veto any appropriations bills that do not adjust the caps. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Joins House in Appropriations Effort Senate Appropriators begin work on their FY 2016 spending bills this week, with subcommittee markups scheduled Tuesday for the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy-Water appropriations bills. Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) has not publicly revealed how he apportions the mandated topline discretionary funding level of $1.07 trillion … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Democrats Oppose House DHS Funding Bill Led by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), all 46 Senate Democrats filibustered the Senate’s attempt to take up the House-passed FY 2015 Department of Homeland Security [DHS] Appropriations Act (H.R. 240) multiple … Continue Reading
As was previewed in the President’s State of the Union Address, the Administration’s FY 2016 Budget includes approximately US$640 billion in proposed new revenue raisers, aimed largely at investment income, large financial institutions, and offshore income. This additional revenue would “invest in helping working families make their paychecks go further, preparing hardworking Americans to earn … Continue Reading
On February 2, 2015, President Obama submitted his FY 2016 Budget Proposal to Congress, echoing many elements outlined in his State of the Union address. The Budget proposal exceeds restrictive spending caps (“sequestration”) mandated by Congress four years ago and proposes new capital gains and bank taxes, emphasizing tax credits to help the middle class, … Continue Reading
President Obama to Release FY 2016 Budget Later today, President Obama is set to unveil his FY 2016 Budget (Budget), much of which has already been previewed in the weeks leading up to its release. Squire Patton Boggs will release a comprehensive Budget analysis on Wednesday, February 4. Senate Legislative Activity On Monday, February 2, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Previewing the President’s FY 2016 Budget The Administration will release the President’s FY 2016 budget later today, Monday, February 2. Federal agencies will host briefings to outline the President’s priorities and provide background on the proposed budget numbers. Congressional budget committees will then kick-off a series of hearings on these proposals starting Tuesday, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Confirmation Hearing This Wednesday morning, the Senate Armed Services Committee will convene a hearing to examine Ashton Carter’s nomination to be the next Secretary of Defense. While he is expected to face questions critical of the Administration’s policies, it is anticipated that Mr. Carter will eventually be confirmed by the full Senate. FY 2016 Budget … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President Obama to Unveil FY 2016 Budget Later today, President Obama is set to unveil his FY 2016 Budget (Budget). We anticipate that the Budget will include various proposals previewed in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Squire Patton Boggs will release a comprehensive Budget analysis in the days following. Senate Finance … Continue Reading
