Legislative Activity Markups on Appropriations Bills Begin in the House this Week with FY2018 MilCon-VA Bill; House Republican Members Push for an Omnibus Before August Recess Appropriations subcommittees in the House will commence FY 2018 spending bill markups this week, with the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) subcommittee markup scheduled for this evening. Still … 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 House To Consider Transportation Bill on Floor Both chambers passed a short-term extension last week, reauthorizing highway, highway safety, and transit programs through November 20. The House now turns to floor consideration of their six-year surface transportation bill on Wednesday. The House appears determined to make productive use of the 22-day extension. On … 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 House Transportation Bill Marked-Up, But Short-Term Extension Needed Facing the October 29 expiration of surface transportation programs, the House will vote this week on a bill to extend these programs for three weeks, through November 20, buying time for the House to finish work on its six-year bill. The extension legislation also includes … 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 House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Releases Highway Bill, Markup Scheduled This Week On Friday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) released its long-awaited surface transportation reauthorization bill and scheduled the markup of the bill for this Thursday, October 22. The House provides six years of authorizations from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) … 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 House Committee on Energy and Commerce to Mark Up Health Legislation The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has announced that it will hold a markup on Tuesday, July 28. Several health bills are on the agenda: H.R. 1344, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act of 2015, which reauthorizes a program for … 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 Committee on Energy and Commerce to Mark Up 21st Century Cures Act On Tuesday, May 19, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will begin its markup of the 21st Century Cures Act, to be continued on Wednesday, May 20. The legislation is the product of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Initiative that … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Democrats Continue to Push for a Budget Deal The President and Democrats in the House and Senate continue to pressure Republicans for a budget deal to replace the sequester’s strict spending limits. Most House Democrats voted against the two sequester-level appropriations bills that were recently considered on the House floor, President Obama has … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Budget Conference The House and Senate budget conference committee will hold a public conference meeting on Monday, as they attempt to negotiate a joint agreement on a fiscal 2016 budget resolution that can pass both houses of Congress. Most of the Committee’s upcoming negotiations will take place in private, and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Budget Conference The House and Senate Budget Committees are working towards a budget resolution that will pass both the House and the Senate. The Budget Committee Chairmen, Representative Tom Price (R-GA) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), returned early from the two-week recess to discuss the budget resolutions, as they try … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House, Senate to Vote on FY 2016 Budget Resolutions Last week, both the House and Senate Budget Committees approved their respective FY 2016 Budget Resolutions. On the House side, Republicans are using their FY 2016 Budget Resolution to push for comprehensive tax reform that reduces individual and corporate tax rates and eliminates the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Banking Committee Postpones Markup of GSE Reform Bill On Tuesday, April 29, the Senate Banking Committee announced that it was postponing the markup of legislation to reform the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), the “Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013” (S. 1217). According to Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD), “[w]hile we have the … Continue Reading